12/02/16 Bits & Pieces

Posted by Alan Nye
 
President Laura welcomed 48 members and 5 guests. Russ Burleigh gave a moving invocation by quoting a passage from “All the Gallant Men,” a book written by Donald Stratton in honor of those who served on December 7, 1941 – nearly 75 years ago:
 
The whistling of another bomb, and we braced for impact, but it hit the neighboring ship, Vestal, instead. It seemed to catch much of the fury that had been aimed at the Arizona. The repair ship was in flames, and its crew was furiously trying to extinguish them. As it burned, a bomb went through our aft, near the propeller, but it didn’t explode. Another stroke of fortune, but I knew our luck was running out.
Yet another bomb came whistling down, and we felt a hard smack against the aft. The weapon penetrated the deck, exploding in a meat locker. We were sitting ducks....not just the Arizona, but every ship in the harbor.
 

Not many survivors remain of that “day of infamy,” but we have one right here in Portland Rotary – our own hero and Pearl Harbor survivor, Earle Leavitt. (Photo: Earle Leavitt and Jim Willey.)
Russ pulled triple duty by doing the invocation, taking the picture of Earle, and then leading us in “God Bless America.”
 
President Laura introduced visiting guests and Rotarians and thanked all those assisting in any way with the meeting, as well as those volunteering at the St. Vincent de Paul Thanksgiving dinner event and those who signed up in record time for our annual bell ringing for the Salvation Army.
 
George Crockett announced a warm-clothing collection drive at St. Dominic’s Church at the corner of Sherman and Mellen Streets, Portland on December 17th. They will be accepting donations for warm items for all ages from 9 am-12pm on Friday the 16th. If anyone has a small/light contribution of articles, call George at 781-5299. He may need help in getting it there.
 
A card was available for signing, which expressed our good wishes and hope for a speedy recovery to Steve Stromsky who had heart surgery.
 
Rusty Atwood gave us a 'Rotary Moment,' explaining that he likes the great food, fun, and fellowship of Rotary so much that he’s joined the club 3 different times! Rusty explained that for one reason or another he’s had to end his time with Rotary, but keeps coming back – having been sponsored at various times by Don Lowry, Dave Putnam and Paul Gore. Rusty went on to explain that as a child he received a small scholarship to take music lessons with the New England Music Camp and that experience stuck with him. He reminded us that no gift is too small – a good message to hear during this holiday season.
 
 
The weekly raffle was conducted by Janet Butland, with Mike Fortunato graciously picking the wrong card – thus letting the pot of $1,010 grow for the next hopeful contestant.
 
We sang Happy Birthday to our December-Birthday Rotarians and then Bill Blount led us in music with our old standby “Rotary My Rotary,” sung to the tune of “O Tannenbaum.”