As per is customary, the Board voted to cancel the meetings the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Accordingly, if you plan to attend on November 24, December 22, or December 29, you may find yourself very lonely, unless someone else also made the same mistake.
We have kicked off the 2020 Food & Giving Drive to benefit Family Sharing of Ozaukee County. As we are currently virtual, there are some changes to donating this year.
CASH DONATIONS: If you would like to give a cash donation, you have a few options. A check can be made directly to Family Sharing of Ozaukee County. Please include Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Club in the check memo. You can either drop the check at Fantasy Flowers (address below), or mail to Jenne Hohn, re: Family Sharing, 11607 N. Grace Ct., Mequon, 53092. If you feel more comfortable donating directly to Family Sharing, you can click the "Contribute Now" button on their website home page at https://www.familysharingozaukee.org. You will be directed to the donation page where you will select "I would like to dedicate this donation." Clicking on this box will allow us to track our donations. Please type Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Club if you choose this option.
FOOD DONATIONS: While all donations are wonderful, there is an increased need for the following items: breakfast cereal, beef based soup, tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, and vegetable based soup.
CLOTHING DONATIONS: There is a need for new children's winter hats, new children's winter gloves (snowball fight worthy!), and new children's winter coats.
Also needed - KLEENEX!
As we are not currently meeting in person, members Nancy and Russ at Fantasy Flowers in Thiensville are graciously accepting our donations. The address for Fantasy Flowers is 106 E. Freistadt Rd., Thiensville, 262-242-3732. Hours are M-F, 9-5 and Sat, 9-12. Nancy and Russ are featuring Sharing Bouquets which also include donations to Family Sharing, Http://WWW.FantasyFlowers.info.
A little friendly competition is, of course, included in this year's Drive. There will be two teams: Team Sandy and Team Jenne. If your last name is Apfelbach - Lysaught, you are with Team Sandy. If your last name is MacFarlane - Witte-Dycus, you are Team Jenne.
Many Thanks to all of you for supporting this Drive.
During the past 14 years, Kapco Kids2Kids Christmas Toy Drive has collected more than 225,000 new toys that have been contributed to dozens of local charities serving low income and disadvantaged youth.
Excerpt from an email from: Zach Eisendrath,Vice President of Business Development, Kacmarcik Enterprises
This year, Jim Kacmarcik and our team have big plans for the largest toy drive in Wisconsin, as we will be launching Kapco’s Kids2Kids Christmas Wonderland, a high-profile, destination event taking place in November and December 2020 that will bring joy and wonderment to tens of thousands of people in southeastern Wisconsin. This will be one of the few, social-distanced ways to for children to meet Santa this year -- and will help us raise funds to support our toy drive at the same time.
event details:
With stunning displays constructed by Hollywood set designers, over one million lights, an incredible entry tunnel, a live nativity scene, and even Santa’s Workshop, Kapco’s Kids2Kids Christmas Wonderland will be an unparalleled celebration of the season and joy of giving. From the safety and comfort of their own vehicle, people of all ages will enjoy a drive-thru experience like no other.
Now in our 15th year, with social distancing in mind, Kapco’s Kids2Kids Christmas Wonderland is a bold vision to bring joy to tens of thousands of people. One of Kapco’s large parking lots on the corner of Highway 60 and Cheyenne Avenue in Grafton will be transformed into something never before experienced in our region. Proceeds from Kapco’s Kids2Kids Christmas Wonderland will be utilized to purchase new toys for children in need in our community and provide healing and hope to children who have experienced trauma and other adversity.
If sponsorship does not interest you, but you would like to support our cause, you may also purchase tickets to the Wonderland or make a tax-deductible donation to provide toys to children in need this holiday season. Tickets and donations are accepted directly online at www.Kids2KidsToyDrive.com.
As mentioned in the November 17th meeting. Here is the email sent by Doc's son, Tom, to Sandy.
Dear Sandy,
First of all I want to thank you for all you did to accommodate Dad and to enable him to continue his involvement in Rotary. It meant a lot to him and to us. He was very proud of being a Rotarian, particularly because of the excellent community service Rotary provides. I don’t know how membership is handled now, but my recollection from way back in my youth was that the club only had one representative per profession, and you had to be sponsored for membership. Now, please understand that he had many friends who were Lions, and he very much respected how that organization served the community as well, but I recall him telling me in a conspiratorial tone and with a twinkle in his eye, “You know, anybody can be a Lion.”
I believe you provided the most service to Dad, but others were involved as well. Please forward our appreciation to those individuals and to the entire organization. He was recently interviewed for the News Graphic, and one of his comments regarding what he was grateful for was, “The year I turned 100 there were lots of commemorations, and I appreciate that people cared to do that.”
I heard from my brother, Al, that club members had been telling George stories after hearing he had died, and the club had decided to set some time aside each meeting until Thanksgiving to tell some more. Dad would have loved that. As he aged his memory deteriorated, and that meant it was difficult to have conversations with him when I visited, but when I started telling family stories from the past, and his mood noticeably brightened and he would chime in, “Oh yeah!”. At one point recently he told me that he didn’t remember the stories I was telling anymore, but he really enjoyed hearing me tell them anyway.
One of the pleasures of going through Dad’s (and Mom’s) stuff is finding papers and handwritten notes. He wasn’t systematic about filing these, so I’m finding papers in files that I didn’t know existed. I came across an obituary he had written, which would have been nice for me to know had existed. (Mine was better anyway. J) I found some notes he apparently wrote when you all celebrated his 85th birthday. He believed the club “today” accomplishes more. In the past there was more interaction with neighboring clubs, which he also enjoyed. Tri-city golf with a joint meeting afterwards. Bowling and softball competitions with Port, Cedarburg, Germantown and MF, with the host providing brats. Loser provided the beer.
These Rotary notes included a reference to a film he and Rudy Peters worked on. I have very vague memories of Dad mentioning this. I would have been about five at the time of the production, so I’d remember nothing about that. I’m just going to quote his notes. “…but the one nearest my heart was our film. In 1955 Rotary International asked all clubs to have a special project to commemorate our fiftieth. We only had two 8 mm cameras in the club, so Rudy Peters had his brother bring a 16 mm Bolex from Switzerland. (I googled Bolex, and it appears “vintage” is now a necessary adjective.) First we spun a globe, and I stopped a pencil on Chicago. This being an international project, we thought it most likely that viewers would know Chicago. From there a drew a line to Milwaukee, and Rudy added a caption “Milwaukee, a suburb of Thiensville.” Anyway, we sent the film to South America, Africa, Japan, Australia, Singapore; one place it didn’t get to was India.”
Dad was proud of Rotary’s service to Homestead, in the form of banquets for National Honor Society and sports, and hosting the post-prom party. (By the time my children were in high school, many communities, including ours, had all night post-prom and post-graduation affairs, and we much appreciated what the events accomplished in keeping kids sober and off the roads.) He said that as a loyal club member, his meeting attendance was 99%, but for Homestead service events, it was 100%. Also 100% for The Corn and Brat Fry. We went “up north” for summer vacations, but those had to be scheduled around The Corn and Brat Fry.
Another activity I recall from my youth was the Father & Sons Banquet. In later years the club went egalitarian, so it became Father, Sons & Daughters. At least several times there was a magician for entertainment, and I recall once a trick with large stainless steel rings he could connect and then separate. I can picture older boys, I believe Bobby Riemer and Chip Elbe, wrestling with those rings, unsuccessfully trying to pull them apart. When Al and I were older, Dad invited our pastor’s boys to be his “sons”. Once Al went along to ride herd, and he recalls one of the younger boys stuffing prime rib into his pockets. He wanted a treat for his dog. Al was impressed how nonchalantly Mrs. Pastor went with the flow when she found out. Comes with having three young boys, I guess.
Another memory from the past is that summer meetings were held at the Thiensville Village Park and in Coonie Plautz’s back yard, which was right next door to the park boat landing. My recollection was that back in those days Dad was a team leader for one of the cookout lunch teams, and he kept a list of what needed to be brought and remembered each time. I think he also tried to be a bit creative for the menu, but I’m not sure about that.
Somebody reminded me of another story. This one isn’t Rotary related. More about two of his other passions, church attendance and walking. Particularly after he retired, he and Mom were diligent walkers. He also believed church attendance was important. Over the last several years he had regular rides to church, much as you provided rides to Rotary meetings. One Sunday morning, this was about 3 ½ years ago, there was a mix up on the church rides. He figured he would just drive himself, but by that time he was getting rides everywhere, so the car battery was dead. He figured he and Mom had walked as far as church daily when Mom was alive, so off he took. Turns out he wasn’t used to walking quite that far anymore, so… he stuck out his thumb. Hitchhiking is frowned upon now days, but somebody, not from our church, decided this 98 year-old was probably harmless and picked him up. After the service he had to get a ride home, so he had to tell the story of how he got there.
The next day our pastor came by to see how he was doing. His caregiver, Jayne, arrived at Dad’s about the same time. She attends our church, but had gone to an earlier service. So when Pastor brought up Dad’s adventure, that was the first Jayne had heard of it. Being very conscientious, she about had a heart attack. Dad didn’t see the whole episode as any big deal.
Dad gave up smoking when Al and I were preteens. He figured he couldn’t be convincing in advising us not to smoke with a cigarette in his hand, so he quit. Just like that. I always gave him a lot of credit for that. As with many reformed smokers, he was quite zealous on the subject, and he could be quite convincing when a smoker was in the chair and Dad had the drill in his hand. And it’s unlikely that you can fool your dentist as to whether you smoke or not when he’s peering into your mouth at close range.
He was asked about his longevity. He acknowledged that most of it was God’s grace, good luck and good genes. Then, in addition to giving up smoking and lots of walking, he said a sense of humor helped, and he credited his fellow Rotarians sharing good stories and a jovial atmosphere. He noted that both Bob Hope and George Burns lived to be 100, so there must be something to it. (For the record, neither lived to 101, so there.)
Well there’s a few tidbits to share with fellow Rotarians if you choose to do so. But either way, please be sure to pass on our gratitude for the many years of fellowship and service to Dad, and again our thanks especially to you.
An excerpt from my Christmas letter to the Royal Arch Masons of Wisconsin.
We stand at the end of, what was for many of us, a horrible year. We have lost so much to a pandemic, for some it is simply our freedom, for others it is as severe as the loss of a loved one.
We too have decisions to make; we can quit, or we can, as good York Rite Masons (OR Rotarians), step up and do something for the good of mankind.
But, what in this time of ‘stay-home’, social distancing, masks, and hand washing? We can and should create blessings, for shut-ins, seniors, first responders, and/or each other. Make a phone call, write a letter with pen and paper, send holiday cards, attend what meetings you can whether virtually or face to face (safely), do a ‘window visit’, donate to charities. Become a blessing, do what you can, think outside the box, be creative, and have some fun. Hug your family that you can.
