Rotary
Club of Santa Monica
"COLOR YOUR LIFE WITH
ROTARY"
Rota-Monica
ISSUE
NO. 41
MAY 18, 2001
OUR 80th YEAR
http://RotaryClubofSantaMonica.org
SPECIAL PARTY FOR A SPECIAL LADY
This
Friday we’ll do something we’ve hardly ever done: switch our luncheon
meeting to an evening party in honor of a member. We’ll gather, dine, and
socialize at the Oylers’ home (14974 Corona del Mar, Pacific Palisades) to
celebrate Esther Johnson’s half-century with us.
You
may have known Esther for decades, yet you probably don’t know some of the
following facts about her:
She
was one of six children in the family of a Scottish immigrant who ran a
furniture business in Brookline, Massachusetts. When an older sister married
the mayor of Denver, the family moved there. Esther was still a teenager when
her father fell dead of a heart attack, and she went to work as a secretary in
the Denver schools.
She
sang in a church choir. So did a young man named Oliver Johnson. When they got
acquainted it was love at first sight. They married in 1936 as part of the
Presbyterian service one Sunday morning. Later they moved to Santa Monica,
again following one of Esther’s sisters.
Esther
answered an ad for a bookkeeper placed by Vern Reager, the pharmacist whose
shop was across from the Miramar Hotel on Second Street, and began forty
years’ part-time work for him.
She
became known for reliability, and in a few years was part-time secretary or
bookkeeper for seven other Santa Monica firms as well. One day in 1951 she was
invited to attend the all-male Rotary meeting just long enough to play the
piano for the singing, in place of Howard Baker, the Rotarian who usually
provided accompaniment. Esther had learned to play by ear as a child. As soon
as Sam Carlisle, the song leader that year, heard her he announced, “We’ve
got a new pianist.” Baker enthusiastically agreed. Esther has been playing
for our meetings ever since.
Walt
Cheney, longtime Union Pacific manager and our club president in 1949-50, had
been running the club’s office since retiring from the railroad. But this
became too burdensome for him in 1977, and Esther stepped in as full-time
executive secretary, while still providing piano music at each meeting.
In
1986 Rotary International overthrew an old taboo and opened membership to women.
Immediately Dr. Bob Fredricks, our president then, proposed that we elect Esther
to membership.
We
did, whereupon Rotary International honored her as its “First Lady.” She
attended the organization’s convention in Germany that year, where she was
accorded an ovation. Since then she has attended ten RI conventions – always
playing the piano for singing, as she likewise does at District 5280 meetings.
Esther
sometimes remarks, “I love all our members.” It’s mutual.
MAY
4 – AN $850 “FINE” DAY
Maybe
President John felt carried away as he noticed that his presidential year
was nearing its end. Naturally he had to be concerned about collecting enough
fines to meet our budget for community service. So he made the meeting our
“finest” of the year so far, calling nine different members to account for
creditable events as follows:
 |
1)
Gee-Shin Lee: $50 for splendid service as executive of YMCA
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2)
Allan Young: $100 for splendid service directing Boys’ & Girls’ Club
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3)
Nat Trives: $25 for informing on Allan Young
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4)
Bill Hunt: $150 for notable self-service cruising the Caribbean
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5)
John McIntire: $150 for extraordinary service arranging silent auction
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6)
Jim Dyer: $100 for son’s wedding (scheduled for June)
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7)
Dr. Don Dickerson: $100 for impersonating a Ram football player
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8)
Paul Leoni: $150 for winning (one or two cars at one or two lotteries?) then
converting the proceeds to cash and sharing with his family and employees
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9)
Lionel Ruhman: $50 for assisting Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson with his recent fine.
This was noted for fine ecumenicity. |
Additionally,
Shirley Dowling proposed $50 fines apiece, (which the club approved by
acclamation) for President John and John McIntire because they
made it necessary for her to ship and handle special awards for them, bestowed
at the district conference. Nice work, Shirley.
--
Lionel Ruhman
WARNING!!
Don’t try to come to Rotary lunch the next two
Fridays, May 18 and May 25. This means you!
Why? This
Friday, instead of lunch, we’ll gather for dinner at the Oylers’ home to
celebrate Esther Johnson’s fifty years with us. See page 1 of this
publication.
And the following Friday, May 25, there’ll be no
meeting in celebration of, sort of, Memorial Day which is Monday, May 28. May 25
isn’t a legal holiday. But our club manual says specifically: “Regular
meetings that fall the business day before a legal holiday may be cancelled.”
PEERING
AHEAD
CLASSIFICATION?
DON’T PANIC
When
Rotary was founded, each of its members represented a different business or
profession or institution. In other words, one banker, one lawyer, one physician
et cetera. Somewhere along the way this was found too restrictive. The various
classifications got subdivided, so that in practice anyone considered a
noteworthy leader in his or her field could be deemed representing a slightly
different classification than anyone else from that field who was in the club.
A
while ago someone in our club noticed that thirteen of our members were
physicians, nineteen were attorneys, seven were dentists. Aside from a few of
these, who were Senior Actives, members in the same profession were each
classified slightly differently, and no one gave it another thought. So if
you’re considering nominating someone for Rotary membership, think first
whether he or she is (a) on a management level with authority to hire or fire;
(b) is recognized by the community as outstanding; (c) is known personally to
the proposer. Anyone meeting these standards will customarily be found to belong
to some unfilled classification, no matter how many other Rotarians in the club
are in more or less the same line of work. In all the world of Rotary there is
no complete list of classifications.
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