Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; March 23, 2021
Recognition of the Mountain View Interact Club, sponsored by Dove Mountain Rotary. Mountain View Interact donated 200 pairs of socks to Youth On their Own and has a nice write-up in today’s newspaper. Congratulations, Interactors!
Club Business
- Don has been in communication with Kathleen Schnell, honorary member and faculty sponsor of our Interact Club at Tortolita middle school. The club has been meeting periodically via zoom but resumes in class instruction and meetings this week.
- A report from the Rotary Club of Nogales includes pictures of some of the oxygen tanks and supplies purchased with our donation. John reflected that we touch the lives of people we will never meet. We are honored to have the opportunity.
- Dan and John are aiming for a Poker Tournament Fundraiser in April.
Happy Bucks
- Harold is just plain happy and considering getting his first haircut since the start of the pandemic.
- Dan warned those eager to get their first post-Covid haircut that he likely contracted Covid at his barber’s. Dan, also, lamented that on his first excursion in his brand new truck, he broke down in the Salt River Valley. No cheer here.
- Joyce and the Zwick family celebrated the completion of her mother’s and father’s vaccinations with an outing that ended up in the emergency room. Her mother fell and required stitches in her forehead. Typical of Sylvia, “I don’t know what all the fuss is.” Joyce will return home a week tomorrow. She has mixed feelings about leaving. She is sad to leave her mother and father, but eager to see her husband and dogs.
- Denise received her first covid vaccine and is grateful she suffered only a slight headache for 2 days and a sore arm.
- Don brought attention to the pain of the Boulder shootings.
- Becky got her hair cut!!!! Instead of celebrating with an outing with her husband as intended, she, like Joyce, ended up in the emergency room with her husband. She has been worried about her husband since Thanksgiving and is relieved that he is finally getting the medical attention he’s been resisting.
- Laura’s delighting in the fragrance of her citrus trees that are in full bloom.
- Sulee sat with her 15 year old puppy on her lap and reported life is good.
- Andy was able to score his first vaccine in Oregon and will need to return there for his 2nd after 28 days.
- Peter had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic prescribed for an eye infection. He is feeling a bit better today, for which he is grateful. He is also in awe at the success of the 15 year old Miracle Glo he in found in his shed. His trees have never looked happier.
Program
In Celebration of Women’s History Month, Laura invited Jan Cleere to speak with us today. Jan is an author and historian who writes about experiences of first settlers in the southwest territories. She is particularly “fascinated with the hardships women faced in early settlements and forts in the western territories.” Her newest book is titled Military Wives in Arizona Territory: A History of Women Who Shaped the Frontier. In addition to books and magazine articles, the Arizona Daily Star publishes monthly articles by Jan that each introduce us to one of the women she has
Jan introduced us to a couple of remarkable women who were in Arizona in the 1600s; Julia Davis and Elizabeth Hutchin Smith. Elizabeth was a black woman who at one time owned ½ of Wickenberg. Each story was a treat.
We also, however, got a good taste of what it is like to research; to play hide and seek with sources, chasing rabbits into holes. The journeys generally begin in one of the following:
- Primary Sources
- Obituaries
- Public records
- Geneology Societies
- Photographs
- Archivists
- Local historical museums
- Local libraries
- National Museum
- Military Bases
One of Jan’s closing remarks was sharing that the more a historian finds primary sources, the more one realizes that what is told and taught in history is not accurate.
We are so pleased that Jan Cleere joined us today, inspiring each of us to connect to past times.
Submitted by Mary Straus,