Question:

What do these three gentlemen - - -

      

 

have in common with this gentleman?

 

First, let’s identify the first three gentlemen. They are (left to right) Thomas A. Edison, Orville Wright, and Guglielmo Marconi.  And of course, the fourth gentleman is fellow Club #25 Rotarian Allen Anway.  Now, what do they have in common?   …. Did you say all are four inventors? CORRECT! But did you know all four are Rotarians!? Indeed, Thomas A. Edison – Rotary Club of Orange, NJ; Orville Wright – Rotary Club of Dayton, OH; Guglielmo Marconi – Rotary Club of Bologna.

On another Duluth Chamber of Commerce picture perfect summer day in Duluth, President Michelle Buria called to order and asked us all to recite the Rotary Four-Way Test. Tom Wheeler provided a brief yet inspiring Reflection on the values of Rotary’s as exemplified by the Four-Way Test, the Object of Rotary and other documents, policies and procedures we, as Rotarians, live by.

The Fellowship report was provided by Bob Bennett. He welcomed former Club #25 member Rachel Martin who was a guest of our speaker Allen Anway and introduced prospective member Jordan French who was the guest of Katherine LaFleur. It was another “open mic” session with self-reports for contributions to the Golden Can:  Barb Perrella reported on a Duluth newspaper piece that discussed how well things are in Duluth’s Waterfront District of which she is Chair; Natalie Zeleznikar honored her brother Ricky who is cycling the nation in support of Muscular Dystrophy (a cure is coming soon!); a few anniversaries were marked with Edie Michalski marking 54 years of marriage and Greg Hansen marking 30 years (both contracts have been extended for another year by their respective teams). There were a number of additional self-reports by members that just goes to show no good deed goes unappreciated by Rotarians!  Jeff Bradt shared correspondence from our friends at Second Harvest who thanked the Club for the hundreds of hours of volunteer time contributed each year. Duluth Rotary Duck Pluck (proudly sponsored by St. Luke’s) is at 60% of our goal of 5,000 duck adoptions – but time is running out! Last day to turn in your duck adoption forms is Tuesday, August 13^th.  Bring your adoption papers to Pier B for the Fellowship Tagging Party (Tuesday, August 13 at 5pm – and bring a laundry basket if you can), or contact Barb Perrella at 390-6797 to make arrangements for getting your forms into the system. There are still several volunteer slots open for our final adoption events.  This is a great opportunity for fellowship and fun with your fellow Rotarians, AND your work will get us to the goal of 5,000 adoptions.

Thanks to Elizabeth Simonson our Club is growing with the welcome of our newest member Chris Mueller

 

 

President Michelle introduced our speaker fellow Rotarian, photographer, Birke ski racer (retired), inventor and budding stand-up comedian, Allen Anway to the podium.  Allen shared that physics runs in the genes of his family as he ran the list of all the family members past and present who partake in this discipline of science.  Through a humorous journey as a sometimes physics assistant professor at UWS, consultant, electrical engineer, and even a few stints as Cookie Monster at Rotary events, Allen told the “riches to rags” story of becoming an inventor/entrepreneur. With business partner and brilliant salesman Don Dettmann he established A2D2. Working from A2D2 World HQ (his basement), Allen developed a revolutionary method for Cargill and others to install indicators for storage and processing of grain, taconite and other materials. An example is A2D2 Model 220 B – [insert pic of Model here] this unit is a capacitance type point level sensor that detects the presence or absence of material directly contacting a 3” sensor disk. Allen and Don started with “nothing” but an idea and talent. They worked together guided by three principles: 1) Payment of bills is immediate and in cash! 2) When there’s bad news – tell the client immediately! 3) Never yell at each other!  Allen has stepped away from the daily grind at A2D2, but stops in from time to time. He credits A2D2 for maintaining his Club #25 membership as a perk.