Rotary Club of Traverse City Weekly Bulletin – as artfully massaged by Ramona
It was Giving Tuesday on Nov. 27, 2018 and the giving of a hard time to Marsha Smith was in rare form!
Our meeting today went a little off script, but for good reason! Today we roasted our dear friend and Rotarian Marsha Smith for all her work at the helm of Rotary Charities for a bajillion years!
President Awesome opened the meeting with God Bless America and much to everyone’s surprise we skipped over the Gratitude and Reflection moment. But we have so much to be grateful for…… moving on…..
Chuck Korn introduced Rotarians and we had a plethora of guests in the house!
Announcements:
President Awesome congratulated Vern Gauthier on being a Team of One in the Ride for Polio recently at Fit For You. The team raised money for Al Bonney’s polio ride in Arizona. For some reason, Al was MIA today (more than likely the first time he’s ever missed a meeting!) Any who…… Al’s team in Arizona – when combined with the match from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – raised 12 million buck-a-roos for polio. Yes, that’s 12 MILLION….. THAT.IS.A.LOT.OF.MONEY. Soooooooo……….. to commemorate polio eradication, we will be doing the Purple Pinky Drive over the next few weeks. Basically, you’ll get your pinky fingernail painted purple. Hey, they could have opted for tattoos!
Kurt Rivard thanked all those who gave to the Paul Harris Fellowship this year and quoted Beth Karczewski as it being “the right thing to do”. That Beth……. she’s a wise one, super smart, made a great club president!
Steve Wade reminded up of giving for Christmas Baskets. He read one application of a family in need. There are 60-70 more just like that. Please sign up to shop and give generously to the Christmas Basket program this year.
And with that, the meeting turned into more of an MSU Tailgate! And no MSU tailgate is complete without SPARTY!! WHOOP, WHOOP! All Spartans in the house sang out their Fight Song loud and proud. Marsha was led by SPARTY to her thorn chair.
And this point, things hit a new level of “entertainment”. Please note the following you are about to read does not reflect a typical Rotary Club of Traverse City meeting. Things were said and done that shall remain in strict confidence of the club. But in case you missed it, read on!
When President Awesome asked Marsha whom she wanted to roast her, her answer of course was Bryan Crough (I mean, who wouldn’t want Bryan Crough roasting you!?) Unfortunately, no amount of Rotary Charities money was going to make THAT possible. (No grants have been given to raise the dead!) Paul LaPorte stepped in (hey Paul, how does it feel to be #2 to a dead guy!?).
Paul reflected on some of Marsha’s honors this year. They included Prom Queen, Miss Congeniality and Spartan of the Year. Paul fondly recalled meeting Marsha’s lovely Southern bred mother who repeatedly said “Bless your heart” several times to Paul. Gotta love a Southern woman’s charm at telling you off!
Highlights included comments from Becky Ewing. Becky who is forever grateful to Marsha not only has a wonderful colleague but as a matchmaker! Becky met her husband Bob through Marsha, Bob came in second place to a dicey match.com suitor! But hey, it’s better than playing second fiddle to a dead guy, right Paul?!
And through some act of God that only Paul could arrange, Marsha’s 3rd-grade teacher showed up to congratulate Marsha on her retirement. The “sister” looked suspiciously like Tom Gilbert in Mother Fred’s habit. Which makes one wonder, what’s Mother Fred wearing?! Hmmm…… perhaps that’s a thought to not ponder for too long……
Dave Mengebier and Steve Wade made a “heartfelt”, slightly rehearsed speech regarding donations to the Marsha J Smith Leadership Fund. It makes one wonder: “What does the “J” stand for in “Marsha J Smith”? Could it be “Jovial”, “Jolly”, “Juggler”, “Just Plain Awesome”?! Anyway, give to the fund to support community leadership in the five-county area!
Paul rounded up the roast with some lovely and thoughtful gifts for Marsha. They included: a gift card to Petertyls, season tickets to the Beach Bums and a gift certificate to Ebel’s for venison processing. (Clearly, a day at the spa was just not appropriate!?!)
In good fun, Paul did take one for the team and for about 6.8 seconds donned a Michigan State ball cap in honor of Marsha. He probably won’t ever wear that hat again and any Spartan fan can buy it off of him for a donation to the Marsha Just Plan Awesome Smith Leadership Fund.
The entire club serenaded Marsha with “She’s a Jolly Good Lady”.
Oh and a squeal of excitement was heard as $109 from 50/50 raffle went to Daniella, our Mexican exchange student.
Marsha was given the chance to talk. She thanked Bob Dean (our 60 -year Rotarian!) for hiring her many moons ago. She reminded us that at the end of the day it’s not about the Rotary money, it’s about doing good work so that Paul doesn’t have ammunition to use against you later.
And with that, Marsha gave that Rotary bell a swift karate chop and the meeting was adjourned.
