President CLIFF opened our meeting and Past President CLIFF BOWMAN gave the inspiration, a touching video in honor of Memorial Day. CAM MOORE led us in the Pledge and Song, the “Star Spangled Banner” performed admirably by GARY HIRSCH.
LUCY HOWELL introduced our guests and Visiting Rotarians, and we had three Birthday Rotarians:
JO DeCHATELET got married, raised four children, went back to school at age 36 for her degree which she earned Summa cum Laude. JO spoke about the importance of supporting the Foundation and made her birthday donation to it.
IRENE DECKER witnessed candy being dropped in the Netherlands during World War II, emigrated to the US as the only eligible woman of four on a ship with 1500 men, which led her to think “What a country!” IRENE thanked her sponsor GARY SCHEER and her daughter in law STACIA DECKER.
SCOTT VAUGHAN shared possibly too much information about the first tattoo he got at age 69 (a Picasso sketch of a horse) and recognized Rotary for the opportunity it offers to give back to society.
The Dynamic Duo of President Elect BOB LOGAN and Past President CHARLOTTE HARRIS made Paul Harris Presentations to the following folks:
JILL MADDEN is the current owner of Madden Media, publisher of City Guides across the nation and current owner of the Aravaipa Farm which supplies Asian Pears to TUSD every year. JILL supports Rotary because of the endless supply of generous people and local causes it supports.
DALE BERG had a 20-year career as a Marine followed by a new career as the Director of the Pima Medical Institute. Asked why he supports Rotary, DALEe answered “How can one not?”
Rob Webb received a Paul Harris courtesy of his father, BOB WEBB. Rob is currently a criminal defense lawyer in Maricopa County
BOB WEBB also received his second Paul Harris. BOB’S family came to Arizona in 1882, and after a career in the Navy including time served in Vietnam, BOB founded a winery and was recognized as the father of the Arizona wine industry.
MARGARET HIGGINS gave context for and Past President JONI CONDIT introduced this year’s Orville McPherson Award winner, Past President JIM LUBINSKI who was accompanied by his wife Karen. Congratulations JIM!
Sergeant at Arms BOBBY LARSON recognized two Rotarians for significant accomplishments: PAT LENNAN was awarded by a coveted Dick Tracy Crimefighter’s Badge for helping chase down a robbery suspect while getting shot at, and Past President CHARLOTTE HARRIS was recognized for contributions to education including three generations of teachers (and one well-loved son-in-law named “CLIFFY”.) BOBBY then led us through the following announcements:
President CHUCK reminded us that the Rotary Office is closed Monday for Memorial Day, that the Change of Administration Party is 6/29 at Hacienda del Sol, and that the JTED Groundbreaking Ceremony is 5/30.
Past President BOB SHAFF asked that everyone complete their High-Profile surveys and noted some interesting facts that have come to light about current members (including one who once performed a life saving operation on a monkey!)
BRETT STEIN reminded us of the replacement mixer on 5/29 - everyone sign up by Friday!
NANCY PURDIN presented a Blue Badge to MARCY EULER. MARCY is the past president of the Tucson Festival of Books and the current Foundation Director at Pima Community College.
JULIE PAULSON introduced our speaker, Dr. Allan Hamilton from the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Dr. Hamilton is a neurosurgeon who holds professorships at the UA in Neurosurgery, Radiation Oncology, Psychology, and Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is a winner of the prestigious Regents’ Professorship, has written three books, authored a TED Talk, and works with retired racehorses in Ireland to train them for equine therapy. Dr. Hamilton discussed the differences in how the brains of psychopaths function from typical human brains, including especially lack of reaction in frontal lobe areas (the locus of impulse control) and the amygdala (the locus of fear, including fear of getting caught.) He discussed National Geographic twin studies that seemed to indicate life choices have quite a lot to do with physical brain structure and evidence that tumors in key brain areas can initiate aberrant behavior. He closed with a discussion of the effect of violent video games on the brains of participants, noting that we are in the middle of an extended experiment with the brains of children who play the games. Thank you, Dr. Hamilton, for a fascinating talk. Dr. Hamilton signed a book for our lending library: “You are Not a Cat”.
President CHUCK closed with a toast and a quote from Charles Best about the importance of education.
.jpg)
Our next Replacement/Social Mixer is at Pastiche Modern Eatery, located at 3025 N. Campbell Ave., Suite 121, start time is 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 29th. Hope to see you all there for some Fellowship and Fun! There is no regular lunch meeting on Wednesday, May 29th. If you cannot attend, don't forget to do your makeup! Please call the Rotary office with any questions, 623-2281.
Looking ahead to June, the Change of Administration Event will be held on Saturday, June 29th at Hacienda Del Sol. Rooms will be available for those who would like to spend the night. Be sure to mark your calendar for this special evening when President Chuck will pass the gavel to our 2019-2020 President, Bob Logan.
