Here’s what really went down at our Rotary Meeting this week - Artfully massaged and submitted by Ramona Pleva, DC.

 

On the 27th of June 2017, the Rotary Club of Traverse City gathered to commemorate President Mike Meindertsma’s last meeting (sniff, sniff) as Club President of the BEST Rotary Club in the World!! It was a meeting FULL of well-deserved standing ovations (or what some people might refer to as “exercise”!)

 

The meeting started in typical Rotary Club fashion with God Bless America, The Pledge of Allegiance and the invocation presented by Nikki Sobkowski.

 

Marlene Bevan got her patriotic on and led the group in “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “God Bless the USA” Lee Greenwood’s famous one hit wonder!

 

Rick Vida introduced our visiting Rotarians and guests.  Among our guests was the distinguished Peter Garthe (a Paul Harris Fellow no less!!) who for the last 25 years has been the top pin seller for the National Cherry Festival.  Over 200,000 pins have been sold to Peter’s credit which pretty much makes his sales untouchable by any other mere mortal in Traverse City.  (Standing ovation!)

 

Dale Chilcote introducing our newest Rotarian and fellow MSU Spartan Jim Dobbyn.  Jim was a member of the Rotary Club in Clinton, Iowa and now serves as the CEO of Great Lakes Orthopedic Center. (Standing ovation!)

 

Deb Allen gave a shout out that the Lifetime Leadership Award breakfast will be this Monday, July 3 at the Elks Lodge.  Our very own Leo Hughes has been nominated for this award!  Congrats on your nomination Leo!

 

World Community Service was holding a meeting after our meeting today.

 

A huge congratulations goes out to Lynne Moon on receiving the highly acclaimed Zonta Athena Award. Thank you Lynn for your contributions to our club and our community!! (Standing ovation!)

 

President Mike recognized our very own Jim Beckett on his 95th birthday today!  Jim has been a member of this club for 65 years, served as president and holds badge #1. (Standing ovation!)  Jim received a birthday cupcake and a beer! It was also Christopher Cox’s birthday too.  (Sorry Christopher, no standing ovation for turning 40!)

 

A whopping $68 from our 50/50 went to Ruth Blick.

President Mike shared some reflections on his totally EPIC year at the helm of the BEST Rotary Club in the world. His mission during the last 12 months was to have fun, have more fun and when you’re done having fun, squeeze in just a little more fun and try to not screw things up. (But if you do, well at least it was fun!)  Well done President Mike!  We all had a blast this past year!

 

President Mike’s plethora of thank you’s for this past year included:

●His team at Northwestern Mutual

●Brenda, his fabulous and beautiful wife and his amazing kids

●The Rotary Exchange students - seriously people spend time with these kids!

●Al Olson and Bob Stow for serving as club officers

●Retiring Directors: Andy Robitshek, Monica Larsen, Pat Parker

●Continuing Directors: Tom Haase, Mark Eckhoff, Mark Newhouse

●Dale Chilcote who is 50 Shades of Awesome

●Past Presidents: Jeff Hickman, Dale Chilcote, George Powell

●Kathy Bussell who ROCKS as our club administrator

●And the rest of us club members who dutifully serve and made him look good!

(Standing Ovation)

 

Al Bonney conducted the peaceful transfer of power, inducting new board of directors, acknowledging the outgoing board directors and of course presenting the NEW president John Racine with his President’s pin and the now “I used to be someone” Past President Mike with his Past President’s pin. (Standing ovation)

 

Then came the traditional pep talk from all the past presidents to President John.  Basically, to sum it up: the club has your back President John, the success of your year depends on the Rotary show and keep your head up.

 

President John conducted his first duties as President by again recognizing the “Quintessential Role Model” Jim Beckett and Past President Mike. (Standing Ovation)

 

The theme for the 2017-18 Rotary Year is “Rotary: Making a Difference”. Both President John and Past President Mike attended the Rotary International Convention and came back with impactful insights for our club. Here they go:

●Next year’s Rotary International convention is in Toronto - we should ALL go!  http://www.riconvention.org/en

●Our club is 97 years old - that’s something to be immensely proud of

●We don’t get to rest on our laurels because we’re awesome.  We’re awesome because we serve and get stuff done (I paraphrased that one!)

●All of this started because of one guy (and it’s not Sid Lammers!)

●As Rotarians we are encouraged to bring forth ideas for service to our club and community - don’t be bashful, this is NOT the time to be shy or a wallflower (again, paraphrased!)

●Things get done at the club level because of our committees and one of President John’s goals is to create a transition of leadership within the committees.

●The Four Way Test is a gold nugget of how we choose to conduct ourselves as Rotarians, business professionals and community leaders.  We’ll be embracing that more in the coming year.

●Let’s go forth and do good, have fun and make sure we have an incredible Rotary Show to commemorate President John’s year. (I don’t know about all y’all but I’m already working on my part for the Show!)

 

With that, we will reconvene in 2 weeks at the Park Place.  Everyone have a safe and fun Fourth of July and Cherry Festival. 

 

CURRENT CAREER --  Retired since June 2002 at which time I moved to Old Mission Peninsula.

 

EDUCATION --  B.S. Aeronautical Engineering - University of Michigan; M.S. Engineering Management - University of Missouri.

 

FAMILY --  Married to Nancy--a fellow Rotarian.  I also have two daughters Allison and Rachel. Allison is an equine veterinarian in Richmond, Virginia; married with three children.  Rachel and her husband have three children. They live in Petoskey where they own and operate a property management firm. 

 

FAVORITE DESSERT --  Anything with too many calories.

 

FAVORITE ACTIVITY --  Reading and outdoor activities including lawn care, gardening and walking.

 

LAST BOOK READ --  "Three Days In January" by Bret Baier. 

 

FAVORITE MOVIE --  "Casablanca" or "Ground Hog Day" because they have such similar themes.

 

FAVORITE SONG -- "Proud To Be An American" by Lee Greenwood.

 

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF NO ONE IN THE CLUB LIKELY KNOWS --  I was a member of two consecutive Muskegon Heights Class A State Championship basketball teams.  Both teams were inducted into the Greater Muskegon Sports Hall of Fame, and selected by MHSAA as a "Legend of the Games."

 

LIFE ROLE MODEL --  Abraham Lincoln because of his wisdom, patience and understanding of how to deal with adversities. 

 

MOST SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENT --  Serving and retiring after 25 years in the U.S. Air Force and the Air National Guard.

 

PROUDEST MOMENT --  Every time I have an opportunity to salute our flag or repeat the Pledge of Alliance.  

 

FUNNIEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU --  My daughters like to remind me of the time we were coloring Easter eggs and I mistook a glass of blue dye for what I thought was my glass of Coke.  I really did "Go Blue!"

 

SECRET AMBITION --  To be a major league baseball player.

 

IF YOU COULD BE ANYONE IN THE WORLD FOR A DAY (present or historical), WHO WOULD THAT BE--AND WHY?  -- I would be a United States Air Force fighter pilot.

 

MOST FAMOUS PERSON MET --  Major John Boyd.  I worked with Major Boyd at Eglin AFB, who later became instrumental in the design of current Air Force fighter aircraft--ie, F-15 and F-16.

 

ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO SHARE --  I feel very fortunate to live in Traverse City and be a member of this Rotary club.

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          August 22nd  will be at the