Pagosa Springs Rotary ClubRose Cheadle, this year’s Grand Marshall for the 4th of July Parade, was President Kim's special guest and she thanked Rotarians for the honor of her selection. We also welcomed Karen Ross, mother of Sarah Ross, one of our RYLA students. Rotarian Lisa Scott introduced this year’s visiting exchange student, Laura Delgado, from Padua, Brazil, a small city with about 40,000 residents, about four hours from Rio Di Janeiro. Laura, a junior at Pagosa Springs High School, will discuss her life in Brazil at a later Rotary meeting in October. A Blue Whale's heart is the size of a VW Beetle and you could swim through some of its arteries. In other NEWS:
- Sergeant-at-Arms Betty Switzer led the meeting in observance of September Birthdays for Lisa Scott, Bob Tillerson, and Patty Tillerson. A rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” was joined by all, to the accompaniment of party horns tooted vigorously by the honorees (especially Bob). Betty mentioned also the birthdays of two additional Rotarians, who were not able to be present for the meeting, Dan McPherson and Jenelle Syverson
- Betty followed up by also honouring 30-year Rotarian Jan Pitcher with the presentation of a “genuine Rotary ballpoint pen,” to mark the anniversary of Jan’s membership. Jan commented that jointing was the “best decision I ever made.” It was noted that when she jointed, Jan was the first woman to become a member of Rotary in the state of Colorado.Additional membership anniversaries noted by Betty included Bob Eggleston (25 yr.), Carrie Weiss (18 yr.), Jo Ann Laird (14 yr.), Lassie Olin (13 yr.) and David Smith (7 yr.)
The Rotarians’ version of “This Is Your Life,” more prosaically known as “Who Am I,” challenged meeting participants to guess the identity of a member who provided the clue that his/her experience of butchering an elk for the first time followed the severe injury of a “beautiful cow elk” in a traffic accident near her Pagosa home. The self-proclaimed “road kill butcher,” Sharon Crump, was not successfully identified by meeting attendees. After stumping the audience, Sharon described how the unfortunate elk had to be put down due to her injuries. Despite Sharon’s lack of experience, she took the initiative to butcher it to make sure the meat would be preserved for those in need.