After the rainy Tuesday yesterday, which also was the midterm voting day, today was just the opposite, a bright sunny fall day with many trees around the Ridge still in full color. Twenty-five Rotarians along with five guests made the room look much fuller than normal. President Kevin struck the bell as gently as he could, to not to leave a constant ringing in Jack Sayer’s ears who was sitting directly in front of the bell. The Rotary Song was sung with gusto, and the Pledge-of-Allegiance recited with a strong reverence in front of our flag. Larry Hangland came to the podium to deliver the invocation. The theme, appropriately, was expressing thanks that the election was over, advising us to move on with our lives and keep the Four-Way-Test as our moral compass.
Lunch consisted of rice, baked chicken, steamed mixed vegetables, a shrimp dish which looked like soupy chowder with red tomato slices poking their heads, and if one dug deep enough into the bottom of the dish, a few dime size shrimps that some lucky ones among us were able to land on the plate. The usual dinner rolls and mixed salad were laid out at their usual places. Dessert consisted of sliced blueberry and honey cakes.
President Kevin once again used restraint in ringing the bell to restart the meeting earlier than normal because our guest speaker was supposed to leave at 1:15 PM. Our guests Phil Davis, Cassi Steenblok, John Mazzacatto, John Mitchell along with our guest speaker Dean Cornelio were enthusiastically serenaded by Art Bradbury and George Schoen with the Welcome Song. John Mitchell provided a great tribute to our long time Rotarian George Agnelli who passed way last week.
President Kevin showed us a stack of envelopes with contributions in memory of George Agnelli. According to George’s wishes, the money is to be used for a special project. Kevin will reach out to Eleanor for some ideas about the type of projects George might have had in mind. President Kevin also reminded us to step up to fill the President Elect and Treasurer Elect positions for 2019-20. He also encouraged us to sign up (early and often) for the Bell Ringing and Fireside Chats.
Our 
club is the recipient of two District Foundation awards which were presented to Dave Amberg for the leadership that made these awards possible.
Bob Buettner delivered the Sergeant-at-Arms Report. Bob Wood is glad the election is over. Bob Buettner and Nick Cecere for no pins, Lowell Waldo paid for a birthday, Jairo is expecting their first baby, George for guilty conscience! Marc paid for the usual and Jack Sayer for an anniversary, Kevin and Jack Martin for Fireside chat, Ned Lynch for Red Sox, Dave Amberg for Norte Dame 9-0 win. My apologies if I omitted someone.
Something mystifying happened at the drawing of the raffle tickets. Jack Martin, our Raffle Master and the raffle winner from last week, said that he would pull the ticket and hand it over to Marc who was sitting next to him. Jack handed the winning ticket to Marc. Marc read out # 514 in his booming voice. After several minutes of silence, Marc sheepishly admitted that he was the winner. The next twist was a long explanation by Marc that his ticket would have been bought by George, so he was giving the $17 winning to George who in turn used the money to pay for his upcoming 17th Club Anniversary. My head is spinning, and I have not finished the rest of the High Gear yet. Ceil won the beautiful Bob Buettner flower arrangement.
Jairo introduced our Guest Speaker. Dean Cornelio is a Citizen Soldier for Life Career Readiness Counselor (CRC) and is part of the Program called The Army National Guard – Citizen Soldier for Life, funded by the US Government. The main goal is to help returning soldiers adjust and transition to civilian life by empowering them with information and skills in areas of employment, education and finance. It was an interesting presentation.
Anwar Hossain filling in for Sue Klock