Kee-Notes
President John Ratnavale presided over an overflow crowd, 32 by my count, and a great meeting!
Great to see Club Past President Ann Black, Scotty Brewer, Steve Hersh, Adi Vulasi.
Guests: Louise Richardson, guest of Pat Tiede.
Interclub: Wheaton Club with five people, including
Division 17 Lt. Gov-Elect Betty Gardiner, DPLG Bernie Gardiner and
DPLG Eddie Koebke. Welcome!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Pres.
John announced that Sunday July 16 we had about 20 Kiwanians and guests at
the Picnic for Caithness House. Jeanne Smith grilled the food and
helped organize the event. And Rev. John Walker (shown at right
with his wife, Bobbie), was awarded a plaque from our Club
commemorating his 50 years of service as a Kiwanian - Congratulations
Johnny!!
Next Thursday, July 27, our speaker will be Bob
Gray. Bob is a tour guide in DC and will tell us some things we may not
know about our area.
Everyone please put Sunday, August 20 on your calendars – our own Bob
Cressy will be inducted as Governor of the Capital District at
approximately 10 am at the 88th Annual Capital District Kiwanis Convention
in Reston, VA at the Hyatt Regency Reston, 1800 Presidents Street in Reston.
Let’s take that short drive on Sunday morning next month and support Bob!
Golf tournament: Gary Boswell has brochures for ads and sponsors –
please, let’s get busy on this!
Past President Debbie Van Horn reported on the successful Gildner
Institute (RICA)-Wheaton Kiwanis Golf Tournament and thanked everyone for
their support, and also thanked Past President Ben Schlesinger for
speaking at RICA’s June 6th Graduation, and for our Club’s key support in
providing scholarships to graduating seniors again this year. RICA is a
pleasure to work with!
NEW MEMBER INDUCTION:
Our
newest member, Kathleen French was inducted today by Gov-Elect Bob
Cressy. Pat Tiede sponsored Kathleen, who is her neighbor at the
Promenade. Kathleen is a golfer and is a great addition to our Club! Bob
reminded us that Kiwanis is unique among the service organizations in that
we sponsor clubs for our youth – K-Kids for elementary school, Builders
Clubs for junior high, Key Clubs for High School, Circle K for college
students, as well as Aktion Clubs for disabled of all ages. Welcome,
Kathleen!
HAPPY DOLLARS:
John Ratnavale had 13 HD’s- he is glad to be back after 4 weeks, had
a great time at the Kiwanis International Convention in Montreal- thanked
Ed Smith and Jeanne Smith, Bob Quinn and Liz Quinn,
Stephanie McCabe, Shira Oler, Sue Kirk, George Patterson, Ben
Schlesinger, Jim Leder, Scott Brewer, Gary Boswell and Drew Flott.
Stephanie McCabe- 10 HD on her and Mike Stern’s behalf to
thank our club for the picnic and support.
Jeanne Smith- HD for Kathleen French and for the Wheaton
Interclub, and the RICA Golf Tournament.
Pat Tiede- HD for our speaker MSG Brad Irish, for her
invitees, new member Kathleen French and Louise Richardson.
Kathleen French - HD for becoming a member.
PG Scott Brewer- HD for Gov-Elect Bob Cressy and for the visiting
Wheaton Club.
Jim Leder- HD for the KI Convention in Montreal last month, HD for
his wife, Pat Leder, winning several golf tournaments – way to go,
Pat!!
Bernie Gardiner- HD for our speaker and for his forming a new club in
Potomac.
Dick Ruprecht- 10 HD for newest member Kathleen French, and
John Ratnavale for his great job as President this year.
Ben Schlesinger- 5 HD for Kathleen, for our speaker, for the Wheaton
Interclub, and glad to be back after two weeks in a hearing room in Alaska.
SPEAKER OF THE DAY:
Ben
Schlesinger introduced our speaker
Master Sergeant Bradly Irish.
Brad was in Iraq in 2003-04 as First Sergeant in the 299th Engineering
Company. Because of his leadership skills he became the youngest First
Sergeant at age 36. He had a slide show of pictures from Iraq and also
brought along some of his equipment. Of special note was his helmet which
took a round from a 9 mm pistol that clearly grazed the helmet but saved his
life. His philosophy of leadership is that a leader leads by example, not by
intimidation. He welcomes respectful questions and realizes that leaders
don’t always know everything. When his troops are training he believes in
giving them as much responsibility as possible, to let them make mistakes in
training so that in the real war they have confidence in themselves.
We are truly fortunate in this country to have brave men and women like MSG
Irish who are risking their lives so that we can have freedom.
George Patterson, Editor
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Editor - GEORGE PATTERSON (301-652-7061, geopatersn@aol.com)
Website Editor - BEN SCHLESINGER (301-951-7266,
bschles@bsaenergy.com)