COG July 18, 2014

Volume 32 The Rotary Club of Calgary is an organization of Number 02 professional and community leaders who come together through commitment and July 18, 2014 fellowship to create opportunities and a better future for generations to follow. District No. 5360 David Woodward – Centennial of the Fairmont Palliser Hotel Barbara Burggraf, your faithful COG Reporter, had the honour of introducing David Woodward, Director, Sales and Marketing for the Fairmont Palliser Hotel. David hails from Vancouver Island, and has worked in the hotel industry for 33 years. He has worked at Victoria’s Empress and the Banff Springs hotels, but the Palliser Hotel has been his second home for the past six years. His talk focused on the remarkable 100 year history of this Calgary landmark. David began by giving us a short history of the Canadian Pacific Railway and Sir John A. MacDonald’s dream of a transcontinental nation bound together by a ribbon of steel. The railway became a necessity once British Columbia signed on as our most westerly province in 1871, and Sir John’s dream became a reality in November 1885 when the CPR’s last spike was driven at Craigellachie, BC. Soon after, visitors to Canada were able to begin exploring the country by rail. The tremendous CPR marketing machine showed the magnificent scenery of our young country to the world, and affluent tourists soon began flocking to Banff. As Calgary became the major gateway to the mountains, the second rate hotels lining the streets near the railway were no longer acceptable. By 1910 there was the sense that Calgary was on the verge of greatness, and a grand railway hotel in Calgary was essential. The new Calgary Hotel was completed in May 1914, and was named for Captain John Palliser, a geographer and explorer who arrived in Canada in 1850. The hotel, the tallest building in Calgary at the time, showcased many of the architectural styles of the day. The exterior, with straight geometric lines resembling prairie grain elevators, has a distinctive Chicago styling. Unfortunately, the hotel’s opening was overshadowed by a tragic event. On May 29 the Empress of Ireland, the pride of the Canadian Pacific Steamships fleet, sank in the Saint Lawrence River after a collision with the Norwegian coal ship SS Storstad. Of 1,477 people on board, the accident claimed the lives of 1,012 crew and passengers, and the accident remains as Canada’s worst peacetime disaster. As a consequence of this, the Palliser’s opening celebration was cancelled, and the hotel opened its doors without much fanfare. COG Staff July 18 Issue Calgary, Alberta ● Chartered April 1914 ● Club #949 Editor Craig Henderson Suite 300, 105 – 12th Avenue SE, Calgary Alberta T2G 1A1 Reporting Barbara Burggraf Tel: (403) 398-9969 ● Fax: (403) 264-2393 Photography Ralph Lundberg www.rotaryclubofcalgary.org ● [email protected] Sponsorships Lorne Larson President: Ron Esch ● Vice-President: Sid Mark Office Support Jo-Ann Clarke RI President: Gary C.K. Huang ● District Governor: Garth Toombs The Palliser Hotel has been renovated many times since its opening day, but its spirit remains the same. The “Castle by the Tracks”, the grandest hotel in Calgary, is still a favourite destination for Calgarians and tourists. David left us with one final thought: “A hotel is just bricks and mortar without our greatest assets, our colleagues.” Carman Goss thanked David in our club’s usual fashion by presenting him with a certificate acknowledging a donation to CAWST, made in appreciation of his sharing the rich history of the Fairmont Palliser Hotel with us. The Meeting President Ron Esch tried to call the meeting to order, but was interrupted by Bill Kaufman delivers the ghosts of Rotary Club presidents past. “the most unkindest cut of all” The ghost of 1919 President Jim Davidson told him to “think big”. Harry Hayes told him to maintain attendance while finding new members. Curly Galbraith told him to set his sights on becoming a District Governor. Bill Grant’s ghost told him to make a difference by serving his community. Former President Bill Kaufman, who isn’t a ghost, took to the podium with a pair of garden clippers and cut off Ron’s tie. (Bill lost 52 ties the year he was our Club President.) Ron later told us that he would be wearing an invincible Rotary tie that no Rotarian would dare to cut it off. George Bookman, also a past president, introduced the Rotary ghost actors to a hardy round of applause, and Ron Esch then officially called the meeting to order. Frank McKitrick set the meeting’s tone with a lightning fast rendition of O Canada, which was followed by an invocation delivered by Paul Chave. Bob Ermter introduced us to 17 students from Asia who are studying English at the University of Calgary. Other guests included our former RYE student Lise Lykke, who is visiting Canada from Denmark with her parents, a past Club President Ron Esch President of the Rotary Club of Edinburgh (founded 1912), and a Rotarian sports his demi-tie! from Colorado. As the club has not had a regular meeting in three weeks, there were many birthdays to note (including that of your scribe). Bob Ermter is introducing a twist on birthday recognition for the new Rotary year. He will be interviewing birthday celebrants in advance of their announcements, and will be asking questions about memorable and outlandish moments, as well as bucket lists. Back at the podium, Ron reminded us to pay our Rotary dues. He spoke about the sold-out Stay-in-School Golf tournament that raised $105,000. He also thanked all of the volunteers who made the Stampede barbecues a great success, and acknowledged the leadership of our club in organizing two great events. Approximately 20,000 people attended the Wednesday night event, and 14,000 attended on Friday night. Doug MacDonald took the stage to thank us for supporting Scouts Canada’s rebuilding of Camp Gardner near Bragg Creek. We donated $35,000 toward rebuilding the obstacle course destroyed by the 2013 flood. He invited Ron to be the first to test the new course, which should be ready in August. Our outbound RYE Student, Erna John Hsu introduced this year’s outbound RYE student, Erna Aiukic, who is currently in Grade 10 at Western Canada High School. She will be attending the Bertha-von-Suttner Gymnasium, a school housed in two ships moored in the Danube river in Vienna. Erna impressed us with her presentation and her sense of humour. She thanked Rotary for the opportunities she is being provided to spread her wings, to learn new languages, and to discover more about living in the global community. Her interests in medicine and sports are leading her to consider a career in sports medicine. John Hsu also had the pleasure of introducing our inbound student, Simon Peer, who is also from Austria. Unfortunately the ghosts from the start of the meeting haunted Jo-Ann’s laptop, and we were unable to hear the video presentation that Simon prepared. The video presentation will be posted on our website where the ghosts won’t be able to find it. [Thank you Barbara Burggraf for this week’s COG report! – Editor] Upcoming Meeting July 22 Craig Snodgrass, Mayor of the Town of High River Recovery from the Disastrous Summer 2013 Flooding Thank-you Rotarian Rob Brookwell and Gemini Corporation for sponsoring this week’s COG Newsletter THE ROTARY CLUB OF CALGARY NEW MEMBERSHIP PROCESS - WHITE SLIP Greg Stevenson (Reinstate- NAME NAME David Carlson Transferred from Canmore) PROFESSION Director, Wealth Management PROFESSION VP–Portfolio Management COMPANY Richardson GMP COMPANY RBC Dominion Securities Inc. CLASSIFICATION Banking–Money Management CLASSIFICATION Financial Management Rob Brookwell Al McMillan PROPOSED BY PROPOSED BY Larry Shelley Garry Kelman DATE July 18, 2014 DATE July 18, 2014 NAME Wesley Scott NAME Franco Savoia PROFESSION Executive Vice-President PROFESSION Director COMPANY dmg::events Canada Inc. COMPANY Vibrant Communities Calgary Services, Trade Shows and Associations, CLASSIFICATION CLASSIFICATION Conferences Poverty Reduction Catherine Brownlee Carol Rosdobutko PROPOSED BY PROPOSED BY Larry Shelley Larry Shelley DATE July 18, 2014 DATE July 18, 2014.

Load more