There was new whiteness everywhere when Duluthians awoke today–several inches of the new stuff, actually–but that did not keep a good number of Club 25 Rotarians from attending our meeting at the Holiday Inn. Members and our guests were glad they made it because the meeting had a special ambience of good cheer, happy conversations and an especially good program presented by former Duluth mayor, Don Ness.

 

President Steve Yorde presided in his usual effervescent style as he welcomed everyone to the meeting. Past President John Baumgarten was again at the piano as we all gave forth with a lusty rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.” Past President Dick Carlson provided a short invocation followed by some reflective comments that included a reading of portions of The Desiderata, an inspirational message from years gone by.

 

Past President Bob Bennett was scheduled to give the Fellowship report but was unable to fulfill his mission due to an unexpected (but necessary) visit to his dentist. Pres. Steve filled in nicely as he began this part of the program by introducing six visitors who were in attendance. Owen Fifield, guest of Jeff Fifield; Zach Walters, guest of Dean Casperson; Christian Lawien, guest of John Lawien; David Gunderson and Grant Huddle, guests of Past President Dave McLean; and Christine Empanger attending the meeting with Robin Pestalozzi. President Steve then invited Rotarians to self-report if they had news to share. This, for a Golden Can contribution, of course. Earl Rogers was the first to contribute as he gave members “chapter two” about the totally interesting story of the attempted scam a caller tried to use to get Earl to believe he was a winner in the Publisher’s Clearing House give-away program. Earl’s advice: “Beware–those scammers are out there!” Other self-reporting contributions to the Golden Can came from Ryan Johnson (birthdays for his two children), Dick Pelinka (in appreciation of Sandy Hoff’s snow clearance of Dick’s driveway), Eric Dott (his wife, Deb Deluca, Port Authority Director, was in the news again), Allen Anway (his daughter will soon receive the high and rare honor of having become a member of the American Physical Society), Paul Helstrom (in recognition of the first woman to become president of the Allete Corporation), Dave McLean (Dave made a contribution so he could express his appreciation of the volunteer work his two guests do in Duluth’s Youth Hockey program) and Skeeter Moore (reminded Club 25 members of the date for Duluth Rotary’s gala Dinner and Auction that is now scheduled for May 9, 2019.

 

Past President Tom Bell was called upon to recognize the passing of Past Club President Dick Palmer. It was a splendid summary of one of Duluth’s iconic personalities from years gone by. The highlights in Tom’s eulogy: Dick was Club 25’s President 1987-88. He was elected to the state legislature as an independent candidate, 1970-72. Dick was publisher/owner of the Duluth Budgeteer for decades. Dick was among the originators of Club 25’s Barbecue Dinner and Auction. He started the Denfeld High School Foundation, organized the Duluth Day Dinners in Florida and Arizona and he initiated Denfeld High School’s All-Class Reunion. Tom shared stories of Dick’s love for this community and his loving partnership with his father. The Club observed a moment of silence in honor of this outstanding Duluth Rotarian.

 

It was time to recognize the incoming and out-going Junior Rotarians. Junior Rotarian committee representative Eric Dott hosted this part of the program. Because Duluth schools were not in session due to the snow storm, not all new Junior Rotarians were introduced at today’s meeting. Joining us as new Junior Rotarians were Chloe Benson (East), Zach Gunderson (Proctor) and Chloe Lange (Hermantown). Junior Rotarians from the other schools will be introduced at next week’s meeting.

 

President Steve was delighted to announce two new Club 25 members. Zach Walters, recruited by Dean Casperson, was the first to introduce himself to Club members. Zach works for the Great Lakes Insurance Agency. He and Dean are both members of The Hills Board of Directors. Zach is a UMD graduate and is quite well-known in Duluth as a boxing expert. He remains active in the sport as a coach and volunteer. Both Tricia Bunten and Rob Hofmann were instrumental in inviting Elizabeth Simonson to re-join Club 25 after a short absence after having been employed at a Cloquet hospital. Elizabeth is now back in Duluth where she is associated with the medical school in Duluth. Club members will remember that Elizabeth was among our most active members during her previous membership in Club 25.

 

Chairperson of the Day Geiger Yount then gave her introduction of our speaker, Don Ness. As Geiger explained, the introduction was brief because Don is so well- known in town as our city’s former mayor. Now the Executive Director of the Ordean Foundation, Don’s mission at today’s meeting was to tell the story behind two locally written books with (almost) the same names: The Will and The Way, Books I and II. These two books contain stories of how a significant number of projects and programs in Duluth came to exist. Book I contains 42 stories told by the actual persons who had an idea about how Duluth would benefit from a given project. Don told about how these creators took risks to make these ideas come into existence. Some examples of these stories include the formation of Duluth’s Port Authority, Cirrus Aircraft, The Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation, The Blatnik Bridge, The Amsoil Arena, The Heritage Sports Center and many others. Book I was so well received that Don Ness and Don Larson worked  together to make Book II (32 additional stories) available. Don made sure we Rotarians understood how the existence of these businesses and community institutions have served to attract patrons and spectators from all over the upper Midwest. Don is such a good presenter and he, himself, is a marvelous story teller. It was clear that he had the total attention of Club 25 members–verified by an enthusiastic round of applause at the conclusion of his remarks.

 

President Steve closed the meeting with a warm thank-you to Don Ness. He gave a short prelude to next week’s meeting featuring Karl Everett speaking on the topic: “The Great Bolivian Adventure.” The 50/50 drawing was won by Scott Frankovich, and the meeting was adjourned.