Welcome
President Bob Grady opened the meeting at 12:10; pretty good crowd for summer!
New Member Jim Kester offered the invocation.
The Menu offered a hamburger almost 3 inches thick. PDG Kirk almost couldn’t eat it – but, somehow managed! The “piece de resistance,” however, was the chocolate cupcake (with chocolate icing)! Barbara Kiernan figured it was for her birthday – with plenty to share with everyone else!
Announcements
Dick Palmer’s Memorial Service at St. Philips in the Hills Episcopal Church will take place on September 7th at 1 PM (NE corner of Campbell and River. In lieu of flowers, donations of remembrance may be made to The Catalina Rotary Club for the Boys & Girls Club of Tucson, The Desert Museum or your favorite charity.
Catalina Rotary’s August Happy Hour will be held at 6 PM on Thursday August 29th at the Hacienda del Sol). Come at 5 or 5:30 for happy hour prices. No meeting on last Friday of Month, August 30th.
Grand Opening and Dedication of the Catalina Rotary Creative Arts Center at the Boys & Girls Club on Grant Road will be held on Wednesday, September 25th from 4 – 5 PM.
Introductions
Arturo Mojica introduced his guest, Carlos Garcia, Past President of the Kino Rotary Club. Welcome Carlos!
New Member Minute
Jim Kester. Jim was borne in Belgium and brought up in several countries in Africa. He practically learned to read by reading the Bible. In fact, he brought with him a very large Bible translated from Greek and Latin into a native African tongue called Waali. This actually gave the Waali people an alphabet. Up until that time there was no written language. The Waali people themselves live in the upper west corner of Ghana, West Africa. He also brought a very small Book of Psalms, miniscule in comparison. So far, Jim has read the entire Bible 4 times, one chapter a day. Not surprisingly, he is now pastor of the Sahuaro Baptist Church on the corner of Houghton and Old Spanish Trail.
Queen of Hearts
Our guest, Carlos Garcia, pulled the ticket, Norm Rebenstorf won the draw, but the 4 of Clubs came out of the deck. Sorry Norm! The pot rolls over once again: 50 cards left.
Paul Harris Presentation
President Bob recognized Andy Kerr for achieving his +4 Paul Harris Pin. Congratulations, Andy, and Thank you!
Sergeant at Arms
Norm Rebenstorf was up next and immediately put $ in the can for bringing his wife, Becky, home safely from the hospital following an emergency appendectomy. Glad to see she is on her way to a full recovery! He then asked everyone what this month’s Rotary Theme was and, even though Al Chesser was not in the room, some members knew that it was Membership month! So, in that spirit, Norm went from table to table asking about why Rotary was important to members: sponsors, friendships, service projects, and the welcoming spirit of our club were often mentioned.
Happy Bucks: JoAnne Westerman (looking forward to speaker), Bob DeLaney (memories of Woodstock), Barbara Kiernan (B’day, District Grant award, and September 6th program), Jimmy Muñozcano (kudos to Norm R. as last year’s Membership Chair – this year he is it!), Arturo Mojica (school is back in for his kids), Irv Mindes (son’s gift of digital tire gauge), Anita McDonald (visit to growing family and new (adorable) grandson).
Program
Former JAG Officer, Matt Matthewson, answered the call to duty once again and introduced our speaker, Edward P. Maxwell, Major General, USAF (Ret.).
Ted Maxwell joined the Southern Arizona Leadership Council (SALC) in April 2013. This organization was established in 1997 and has used a business lens to focus on engagement, collaboration, and advocacy to influence strategic public policy and decision makers. He assumed the role of President and Chief Executive Officer in July 2018. The nearly 140 CEOs, business and community leaders of SALC are actively involved in creating a vibrant future for the Tucson region and state of Arizona by engaging the critical issues of education, infrastructure, healthcare, governance as well as economic growth and innovation.
Ted’s broad-based leadership and command experiences have served him well in his role at SALC. During his 34 years of military experience, Ted established himself as a leader capable of motivating and managing a large diverse workforce, with extensive experience working with Congress, with government officials and with foreign dignitaries. Ted retired as a Major General in 2018. His final military position was as the Commander of the Arizona Air National Guard. In that role he oversaw and was responsible for over 2700 Airmen and the operations of units flying the F-16, the KC-135 and the MQ-9 aircraft supporting the Air Force at home and abroad. A pilot himself, he has logged more than 4600 flying hours predominately in the F-16.
Ted was a 1984 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, earning a Bachelor of Science degree. He received his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Arizona in 2014. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Arizona Town Hall, the Tucson Hispanic Chamber, the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl and Tucson Values Teachers. He was also voted Father of the Year in 2016!
Thank you, Ted, for your informative and very user-friendly presentation and for your encouragement to use the MAP AZ Dashboard for real-time information on Southern Arizona’s economy, education, health and social well-being, infrastructure, quality of place, and workforce & demographics. This website can be found at mapazdashboard.arizona.edu.
President Bob adjourned the meeting at 1:30 PM.