UPCOMING SOCIALS & PROJECTS & EVENTS  

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Opening The Meeting

The Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Bulletin for Wednesday December 11, 2024

Past President Ann Gospe led the meeting today while President Casey and Pam gallivant around London.  Ann looked at your bulletin editor and asked, “Should I say it?” OF COURSE!  “I love the power of the bell!” said our immediate past president.

Your bulletin editor was also responsible for the Pledge of Allegiance, the Four-Way Test and the Reflection.  Because today’s Reflection was about the Four-Way Test, she read the story behind it before we recited the Four-Way Test.  Here it is:

One of the most widely printed and quoted statements of ethics in the world was created by Rotarian Herbert J Taylor in 1932 when he was asked to take charge of a Chicago based company facing bankruptcy. Taylor looked for a way to save the struggling company mired in financial difficulties. He drew up a code of ethics for all employees to follow in their business and professional lives. The 4-Way Test became the guide for sales, production, advertising and all relations with dealers and customers, and the survival of the company was credited to this simple philosophy.

Visitors:

Gary Nichols (approved for membership), Natalie Gospe (Jeff and Ann’s daughter) and Joe Hernandez (recently retired from real estate, he met Dan Balfe and Dan invited him to come to our meeting) and Bill Montgomery, our guest speaker.

Sunshine Report:

Ginny Cannon, fortunately, had nothing new to report. She has contacted Nona Lucas on the death of her daughter but has not heard back.  It is suggested that we all send her a card or email to show our support during this difficult time for her and her family.

50/50 Drawing:

Steve Marburger announced that we were back to 10 marbles and $30.00 in the pot. Matthew Henry had the ticket, but he pulled a yellow marble.  The pot rolls over!

Recognitions:

1. Matthew Henry is ecstatic that his eldest daughter wants to transfer to Occidental College where her twin brother is attending. Now he can drop both off at one place as the go between home and college! $20 to the club.
2. Dan Balfe says that the Global Grant for the Haiti water project is now being evaluated at the corporate offices of Rotary International. It should be approved in about 90 days.  Dan has worked long and hard on this project.  Congratulations Dan and our international committee. He donated $500 to our local Foundation.
3. Craig Meltzner went to a Bar Mitzvah in Los Angeles this past weekend. It turns out that in this area of West Los Angeles they put on some amazing and expensive Bar Mitzvahs! It is common to spend $20,000 to $50,000!  Jeff Kolin agreed that this was true.  During his time as City Manager for the City of Beverly Hills, he went to one that was way over the top! Jeff asked the father what it cost to put on such an event.  The father said that the flowers alone cost just under one million dollars! Craig donated $100 to the Norm and Bev Owen Foundation.
4. December 17 will be Steve and Elaine Olson’s 57^th anniversary! He is donating $100 to the Jameson Fund.

Announcements:

1. Peter Holewinski announced the successful launch of the new Interact Club at Cardinal Newman High School
2. Julia Parranto announced that we have six schools with 18 kids each who will be going to the Nutcracker on December 21. If you have signed up to back cookies for the event, please deliver them to her office/home on or before December 19.  You can bring them to next week’s meeting. A group of members have been writing cards from Santa Claus to go with a $50.00 Target gift card (Most of the kids give the gift card to their parents so that they can buy presents for their siblings). Santa Claus will be at the event to pass out the notes and gift cards.
3. Natalie Gospe, who works for Face 2 Face, is collecting sleeping bags, tents, coats socks and anything else to help the homeless stay warm this winter. Please bring any of the above items to our December 18 meeting and Ann will take them home for Natalie.
4. Do not forget the Christmas party at the Gospe’s home on Sunday, December 22 from 3:00 – 7:00pm. Vegetarian and beef lasagna will be the main course. We are to bring food and drink to share. It is suggested that you bring according to our last name: A-F, bring an appetizer. G-L, bring a side dish or salad. M-P, bring bread. Q-Z bring a dessert.
5. Still need Salvation Army bell ringers for this weekend, December 14 – 15. Our people collected $588 last weekend.
6. Next week’s meeting is our annual Trivia contest. For this who have not participated in the past, we all bring $5.00 to put into the pot.  We are divided into teams (each table is a team).  This is a good meeting to bring family and friends to play as we are on our best/worst behavior. The winning table gets 2/3s of the pot and the second-place table gets 1/3.

Guest Speaker: Bill Montgomery, founder of the Rural Cemetery Preservation Committee

Bill has diligently served the City of Santa Rosa for over 20 years, focusing on volunteer work enhancing our parks, trails, open spaces and well as the Rural Cemetery as well as preserving our local history.  Today he spoke about the history of the Carillo family, the first family in Santa Rosa.

Maria Carillo met and married Thomas Carillo in San Diego in the early part of the 19^th century. Thomas served in the Mexican army and was a violinist. He often played at night, which got him arrested for being a nuisance. He died in 1836 leaving Maria with a family of nine children. One of her daughters was married to General Mariano Vallejo.  General Vallejo was concerned with the Russians that had come to California. So, he wanted to bring more people to Santa Rosa to discourage the Russians. He told Maria that he would give her 8000 acres of land if she would move to Santa Rosa.  So, Maria and her children moved to Santa Rosa and built the first home in Santa Rosa.  She kept about 1000 cattle and started one of the first vineyards. Because there was no refrigeration the cattle were prized for their tallow and hides.  They even allowed the poor to poach as long as they left the valuable hides.

Her son Jose Ramon Carillo was a bit of a character himself.  He came upon a grizzly bear in a box canyon.  The bear was trying to escape but could not climb the wall of the canyon.  Supposedly he pushed the bear up from his behind to escape.

Bill Montgomery had a lot more stories to tell, and you can find them in Gaye La Barron’s first book…if you can find it.  Please note that the Rural Cemetery has Lamplight Tours of the Cemetery.   Someone asked who his favorite character to play.  That would be Otho Hinton, a first-class scoundrel. He stole $80,000 and was hunted all over the United States. Somehow, he faked his death in Hawaii. He came to Santa Rosa and made a new life for himself…as a lawyer!

CREDITS