Marana Rotary Club Meeting Sept. 1, 2015

 

Can anyone imagine a better way to start a new month than going Rotary? President Alice Rigney opened our meeting and Tony Hunter stepped in for Javier Teran as Sergeant at Arms (Javier was busy in the kitchen). Given that the Sergeant at Arms is charged with keeping order at meetings and, if necessary, forcibly removing any members who are disruptive, we found Tony quite in his element and appropriately intimidating. Still unfazed, however, Dan Contorno was again without pin (WP), and even otherwise highly organized Clint Kuntz admitted that he “pulled a Dan” and forgot his pin. And then there was a strangely familiar face in the crowd – who exactly is that guy? Why, it’s none other than Don Jorgensen. Don said he had been visiting family in Seattle, but there was some scuttlebutt on one side of the room that he’d actually been in the hoosegow. Whatever your story, welcome back Don!

 

A special Board meeting with District Governor Frank Presson and Assistant District Governor Jim Lamb in the evening at Jo Holt’s home in Oro Valley. All committee chairs will be reporting to the DG.

 

Our regular Club meeting will host District Governor Frank Presson, and all members are encouraged to attend.

 

The Community Food Bank Hunger Walk will take place at Tucson’s Kino Sports Complex (www.HungerWalkArizona.org). Marana Rotary is sponsoring a bus to take Marana participants to the walk.

 

The annual District 5500 Conference will be held at the Hilton El Conquistador in Oro Valley. Our Club, in conjunction with the Dove Mountain and Oro Valley Clubs, will be hosting an ice cream social on Friday Sept 25. To register for the Conference, go to the District website, www.RotaryD5500.org, where you’ll be directed to the District Conference 2015 Site Page.

 

The Service Above Self Awards Dinner at Dove Mountain Highlands Clubhouse.

 

In 2016, Mary Straus’ installation as Club President. No, we’ll not let you forget it.

 

 

We were joined today by our exchange student Matus and by Mary’s lovely daughter Lilly! Hey, and don’t forget -- in his next gig at Nana’s, Randy Brooks will be joined by good friend Bert Beatty from Las Vegas. You won’t want to miss it on Sept. 18 from 6-8pm!

 

We have a new member!! Today Marana Rotary inducted Veronica Harper as our newest member. Veronica has led a busy life, working for Boeing in Texas while raising cattle at the same time. Moving to Arizona opened up the opportunity for her to participate in a service organization, while working for Raytheon and traveling all over, and we’re very happy that she chose to be with us!

 

Today’s very special guest speaker was Mr. Tony Hunter, who used to be our newest member, from the Town of Marana. He told us the story of his life. Now, Tony is one of our youngest members, and so it was a pretty short story. But really interesting! Tony is one of those rare individuals who was actually born and raised in Tucson, graduated from Catalina Foothills High, and attended the UofA for two years while deciding what he wanted to do with his life, and then relocated to NAU where he graduated with a degree in English. Meanwhile, his long-time interest in music was growing, and he moved to Hollywood to pursue playing guitar and piano. Living and working in LA was fun, and he learned a lot from working with people in the music business. He then tried his luck in Nashville, where he held down an unusual job for a young man as a Merry Maid (to pay the bills). There were several comments from members at this point which will go undocumented herein. After Nashville, Tony found his way back to Marana and used his house-cleaning skills to clean dorms at the UofA. This was, he said, a character-building experience. But working for the UofA also gave him free tuition, and he took night classes in public administration. This really appealed to Tony – he found preparing for a career in public admin followed more logical steps than in the music industry. Marana Town Manager Gilbert Davidson gave a talk at one class, and Tony remembers thinking that “it would be cool to work for that guy someday.” Sure enough, in 2014 Tony became a summer intern in the Town Manager’s office, he completed his Master’s degree in May, and was hired full time. Tony is really a joy to have in our Rotary Club, and we appreciated getting to know him better today!