NEWSLETTER DISTRICT 5650 “SOW THE SEEDS OF LOVE” MARY GARRISON District Governor 2002-2003 Governor’s Message June, 2003 This has been a great year! I am so very proud of the clubs in District 5650 and of so many individual Rotarians! One can What an honor and a delight it has been to serve as your succeed at District Governor! thanks to each of you for your faith in me almost and for welcoming Jack and me to your clubs, to all who anything for served their clubs and our district by sharing your talents and which he expertise as officers, committee chairs, committee members, has and to each Rotarian who contributed in some way to make unluimited life easier for another person. enthusiasm I am most grateful to my family and to my husband, Jack, for their support and patience the past three years. I am also appreciative to the Wilber Rotary club for encouraging me along the way. It was a true joy to visit and to work with each club, each Assistant Governor, each committee, and each Past We were also told in the Membership and Retention District Governor! You continued to give me energy to Workshop, that young adults should be anxious to join increase my eagerness to continue on. Rotary in order to met their community leaders. Each Reporting on the Rotary International Convention, I Rotarian must accept personal responsibility of keeping found this to be a most informative and exciting event! It Rotary alive and going strong. We should be proud of our was a special joy to see 16 of my Zone Classmates again! achievements! Australians were very helpful and friendly. It was estimated SOW THE SEEDS OF LOVE is not merely a catch that 16,000 Rotarians and guests attended the convention and phrase. It is a powerful suggestion, a challenge, a plea to the added $50 Million to the Brisbane economy. Around 4000 hearts of each of us. This is the time for Rotary to explode did not attend as originally planned, due to SARS. There and bring people together. There seems to be no greater were 3908 clubs represented and 2556 voting delegates. We problem confronting mankind today than learning how to thank this district for allowing us to attend this grand live together. convention. Even though this Rotary year is about to come to a RIP Bhichai Rattakul stated at the closing session close, we can still SOW THE SEEDS OF LOVE. Audrey that "we have lived, worked, learned, and talked together. Hepburn once wrote that "if you ever need a helping hand Rotary still belongs at the grassroots. It works best form the you will find one at the end of each of your arms. Most of bottom. up. The flame of Rotary burns brightly and will you have two hands: One for helping yourself and the other continue.". for helping others." As you LEND A HAND this coming year, you continue to SOW THE SEEDS OF LOVE!! 22 TO BRISBANE! District 5650 was well represented at the Rotary International Convention in Brisbane, Australia June 1-4. Twenty-two Rotarians and their guests flew close to 20,000 miles for this exciting event! Those representing our district and their clubs were: Lincoln #14 - PDG Merle and Darlene Jansen, Mike, Diane, and Jeff Zeleny; Lincoln South - Nicki Klein; Norfolk - Robb and Sharyn Thomas; Omaha Downtown - Kathy and Don Larsen, Peggy Carrell; Omaha Suburban - PDG Frank and Leanne Goldberg, PDG Walter and Marilyn Horner, DGE Bill and Joyce Ashley, Roger Carrell, Norm and Micki Kerr; Wilber - DG Mary and Jack Garrison. Look inside for more convention information and pictures. District Governor Elect William H. Ashley District Governor Nominee James A. Blue DG RECEIVES AN AWARD IN SYMPATHY "I am honored to recognize you for your outstanding leadership in inspiring fifty per cent or more of the clubs in District 5650 sends our love and deep sympathy to your district to qualify for the Presidential Citation to Sow the Rotary International President-Elect Jonathan Seeds of Love. Majiyagbe and his family. Jonathan’s wife, Ade, passed away on the last day of the International " Leadership of this caliber benefits us all. The Four Avenues Convention. Please put this family in your prayers. of Service are the pathways by which Rotarians achieve Service Above Self. By promoting grassroots club participation in all of these Avenues, you strengthen the commitment to Rotary ideals. RECREATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL FELLOWSHIPS " Thank you again for all you have accomplished in 2002-03. I am proud to count you among the Governors who have truly June is Rotary’s Recreational and Vocational Fellowship Sown the Seeds of Love." month. You are asking, just what is a recreational or vocational fellowship? Well, we all know the ways Signed, Bhichai Rattakul (Rotary International President Rotary serves others before themselves. This is a way to 2002-03) extend your boundaries by reaching others with the same interests. Rotarians with common interests get together Actually, this award was not possible without the dedication outside of Rotary meetings to enjoy participating and hard work by those clubs who received their own club together. Presidential Citation . Thank you again for helping this year to be a successful year in District 5650!! I am proud to be There are 44 different Recreational Fellowships. The associated with these great Rotary clubs!! fellowships are as diverse as people. Under Recreational - - Mary you will find Rotarians interested in Amateur Radio, Antique, Classic or Historic cars, Astronomy, Dancing, Birding, Bridge, Canoeing, RVs, Chess, Coin Collecting, Computers, Cricket, Curling, Cycling, Dogs, Egyptology, TID BITS Esperanto, Fishing, Floral Designers, Flying, Genealogy & Heraldry, Golfing, Gourmets, Handicrafts, Home • NEBCO was honored at the 11th Annual Salute To Exchange. You’ll also find groups for Climbing & Business by the Lincoln Rotary Clubs. Hiking, Motorcycling, Musicians, Railroading, Running & Fitness, Skiing, Scouting, Sport Divers, Travel & • Norm Kerr was presented the Omaha Suburban Rotarian Hosting, Yachting, Yoga – and a lot more! of the Year award for his many years of Service Above Self. He has 23 years of perfect attendance. In the Vocational area, 31 different groups are represented. Businesses involved include • Frank McGree, of the Omaha Suburban Rotary Club, led Accountants/CPA, Arts and Communications, Conflict a discussion in Panama on a Matching Grant! See pg. 41, Resolution, Dentistry, Education (both Secondary and June 2003 THE ROTARIAN! Special Ed), Environment, Finance/Banking, Fine Arts & Antiques, International Trade, Law, Manufacturing. Medicine (Health, Plastic Surgery and Special Curatives), Ophthalmology, Law Enforcement, Poultry, HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!! Psychiatry/Psychology, Retired/Active Duty Military, Securities/Stockbroker, Travel Agents and Veterinary Fremont........................................................... June 17, 1919 Science, to name a few. Nebraska City ................................................. June 12, 1925 Schuyler.......................................................... June 16, 1937 For the complete list and registration form to join one or Avoca.............................................................. June 16, 1954 more of the above groups, go to the web site rotary.org David City ...................................................... June 29, 1955 and click on the Recreational or Vocational Fellowships Wayne............................................................... June 4, 1987 area. You will be glad you did. Omaha North .................................................... June 1, 1989 - - Betsy Friesen, Chair Western Douglas County................................ June 22, 1990 District World Fellowship Committee Lincoln Sunrise................................................ June19, 1998 www.rotary.org Page 2 www.rotarydistrict5650.org MEET OUR 2003-2004 DISTRICT GOVERNOR HISTORY OF BASEBALL IN ROTARY DISTRICT 5650 Dr. Jerry Clark, an anthropologist at Creighton University, husband of Assistant District Governor Martha Webb, and an avid baseball fan and historian, gave a talk on the baseball players who came from District 5650. He began the talk with a quiz which proved that relatively few of the Omaha North Rotarians knew much about baseball history of the area. The talk included stories about the famous players such as Hall-of-Famers Bob Gibson and “Wahoo” Sam Crawford, to the infamous such as Blair’s Tom Seaton, an outstanding pitcher but banned from professional baseball for gambling. The talk was spiced by humorous stories about some of the area's players. Falls City’s Charlie Abbey was jailed, along with the rest of his Senator’s teammates and the Cleveland team, for violating Cleveland’s Sunday Blue Laws in 1897. William H. “Bill” Ashley, Omaha Suburban Fremont’s Hollis “Sloppy” Thurston was pitching for the White Sox in 1927 and gave up three home runs to Babe Ruth during Ruth’s record-setting year. Clarence Mitchell, from Aurora, became the first, and only, player to hit into an CRETE ROTARY CLUB unassisted triple-play in World Series history during the 1920 Series. In fact he later hit into a double-play, Each year our club awards two students with a scholarship. accounting for five outs in only two at bats. We invited the two winners of our club’s scholarships to a meeting and they shared with us what they did to win the Some of the other players discussed included Omaha’s Mel award and where they are planning on attending college. Harder, Jackie Brandt, Bruce Benedict, Tim Burke, and Greg Our scholarship is a four-year award and we will pay them Olson; Lincoln’s Les Mann and Fred Beebe; Council Bluff’s each year they attend college. Jon Lieber and Stan Bahnsen; “Pid” Purdy from Beatrice; Doyle Lade from Fairbury; Dwight Siebler from Columbus; The Crete Rotary club combined with the Friend and Wilber Red Oak’s Dick Kenworthy, and Henry Clarke from clubs, put on a cookout to raise money for the new hospital Bellevue. in Crete. It was estimated that over 500 people attended the cookout and our clubs helped raise over $3,000 for the new hospital. We asked the people who attended for a free will donation and it seemed to work out very well.