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Celebrating Rosh Hashanah once again President Benjamin was missing in action. He needs to repeat next year as President to make-up for all his absents from meeting this year!! What do you all say????
The meeting started close to 12:30 with PP Tom Barron taking on the duties of ringing the Salvation Army bell (we were at Westwood Transitional Village this week) and getting right into finishing the NFL Football Pool picks for 2025. Terry M. White, Gordon Fell, Steve Scherer, John O’Keefe and Ron Lyster all got their picks in the pool picks to win the Super Bowl were done. President for the Day PP Tom then thanked PP Gordon Fell for greeting, Jim Crane for leading the pledge, PP Ed Gauld for leading the singing of “Clementine” and me, for writing today’s Windmill. PP Tom then gave the Thought of the Day about “Getting into Heaven.” Be Kind, respect others and do good in the World and you should go to Heaven!!
Guests for the Day included Toby Levi, a recent transplant to LA from Puerto Rico and guest of Samuel Botbol and Lupe Placencia, Director of the Bessie Pregerson Child Development Center at the Westwood Village Site. Lupe stopped by at the request of PP Diane to thank the Club for their financial support over the past years.
First up on today’s program and after recovering from a recent bout with Covid was PP Ron Lyster. A person who loves to travel, Ron, took us on an adventure covering many state parks and then countries as he talked about his attendance at Rotary International Conventions around the world. His first convention was in Nice, France which was the largest convention ever held in this location. The theme that year was “Be A Friend.” Due to being so close, Ron took advantage to stay in Monaco (at PP Chris Gaynor’s recommendation) where he stayed in a hotel next to the famous Monte Carlo casino and with the luck of the Irish on his side, he even saw Prince Ranier when he went to a performance of the Royal Ballet.
The following year and after being one of the Founders of the International Fellowship of Motorcycling Rotarians (IFMR) he got on his motorcycle and rode to Calgary, Canada. Just as an FYI, NO, Guin (Ron’s wife) did not ride with Ron or on a motorcycle ever. The year 2000 found Ron in Buenos Aires where he heard real gunshots and, learned how to tango (the dance) which at the time only allowed men to learn it! In 2001 he road with PP Bill Pierce (not the White Sox pitcher) to San Antonio, Texas. This is where we learned about the “Iron Butt Association.” This is a name given to motorcycle riders how like to ride 1000 miles (about the distance from Florida to New York City) or more in one day. PP Bill Pierce was a member! While in San Antonio the men enjoyed a ride and barbeque in Welfare, Texas where they made new friends including the Chairman of the Board of Suzuki.
In 2005, Ron rode his motorcycle to the Chicago, Illinois convention which was celebrating its 100-year Anniversary of Rotary. He had a wonderful time there with PP Don Nelson and others including a memorable Westwood Village Rotary dinner at Lawry’s. He rode to Chicago on the fame Route 66 where he even stopped for a picture with the famous “Gemini Giant.” In 2006 Ron and Guin went to Malmo, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark for the convention. While in Europe they took advantage to visit Stockholm and other famous sites including the famous Petero Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In 2007 Ron took his final motorcycle ride to a Rotary Convention to Salt Lake City (PP Chris Bradford’s year). It was while here Ron developed an interest in genealogy. While looking into this he learned he was part Dutch. This amused Ron’s father who associated the Lyster name with “horse thieves” and not windmills and tulips! In 2010 Ron & Guin were off to Montreal, Canada for the convention with PP Gordon Fell, PP Chris Gaynor and PP Steve Day & spouses. Memorable about that trip was seeing a Cirque de Solei show for free! After his 2019 trip to the Hamburg, Germany convention, Ron decided to investigate genealogy more and did DNA testing. He knew he had a family connection with Germany was happily surprised when he was contacted by Heinrich Sievers and learned they were connected through Ron’s grandfather on his mother’s side.
It was a wonderful presentation with a power point filled with pictures from his travels. He also mentioned all the wonderful people he met as he travelled the world, especially through Rotary. Thank you, PP Ron, for a wonderful adventure.
With time left on the clock PP Steve Day got up to talk about his own interaction with genealogy and telling us he was named after Captain Stephen Day with the Day family going back to 1726 and the revolutionary war!! The Day family is from New Jersey where there is a bridge with a Historical Marker naming it the John Day Bridge. John Day was an early settler around the Passaic River’s crossing in New Jersey which is why the bridge is named after him. This bridge is historical because it was used by Washington throughout the American Revolutionary War.
Steve told us a story about a woman named Hannah Caldwell who was killed during the war when British soldiers blindly fired into her home. After the British were defeated, General Washington went to the Day’s home on the river to give his condolences to the Caldwell and Day family. There is now a city in New Jersey called Caldwell named after Hannah’s husband who was a Pastor.
It was another wonderful presentation filled with history and delightful story telling even with the sad story of Hannah. Thank you, PP Steve!
President for the day, Tom wrapped up the meeting by telling us that his Great, Great, Great Grandfather deserted the British Army and settled in Maryland and then rang the Salvation Army bell once again!
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