Yes, we met at the Luxe – and only one person admitted to me that they had first gone to the Bel Air. So NOTE – next week, the 17th, we will ALSO be at the Luxe. Before I report on the 10th, here are some notes on Bill Simon, our Speaker for the 17th.
Mr. Simon has several facts that are similar to facts in the Wolfe family. He was born on June 20th – and so was my wife, Clare, and my grandson, Will Phelps. He graduated from Williams College in 1973, and my son, Ernie III, was in that same class at Williams.
But going on from there, he got his JD from Boston College in 1982, and worked as a Deputy District Attorney for Rudy Guiliani in the Southern District of New York. He moved to California, and entered the Primary race for Governor, opposing Grey Davis, in 2002. The other Primary contender on the Republican side was Dick Riordan, and Davis decided to concentrate his campaign on jumping all over Riordan, since he figured, correctly, that Simon would be easier to beat in the General Election. So Simon won the Republican nomination, and, as predicted, lost to Davis for the Governorship. Simon is a lifelong Catholic, and is pro-life. He is 54 years old. He will be interesting, and you should make an extra effort to listen to this relatively young veteran politician.
Back to the 10th of March, we began with the Pledge, led by Stew Gilman. PP JIM DOWNIE with his harmonica, and JACK HARRIS led us in America. Next up was ED GAULD, and he almost qualifies as a Minister. His Invocation subject was Courage, as noted earlier by Samuel Johnson. Without courage, almost noting that is important can happen – love, or faith, or honesty, for instance, all depend on your having the courage to back them up. ED, another good message – keep them coming, OK?
DON PARK has invited all of us to his home this Saturday from 2 to 5 pm, as a farewell to Mary Ann, who passed away recently. Don’s address is 3520 Inglewood Blvd, LA 90066.KACY ROZELLE came forward to briefly describe the Corazon Project, which a number of members and Rotaract Students participated in this past weekend. They arrived at the construction site in a village near Tijuana, with a pre-poured concrete floor.
The stack of lumber and supplies were then put up, and by 5 pm they had completed the four walls, with four windows, a roof and a lockable door. This house will be occupied by a family of six, and it is the first house they have ever had! The Rotaract students also provided a BBQ lunch for all the workers, and they are suggesting we do the whole project by ourselves next year (we partnered these last few years with Manhattan Beach).
The total cost for the materials is $6,000, and we split that with Manhattan Beach. This is truly a wonderful activity, and KACY received long applause for his efforts in putting it all together. This year’s attendees – KACY ROSELLE, KEVIN KOMATSU, MIKE GINTZ, Whitney GINTZ (Mike’s daughter), SHANE WAARBROEK, Reia Davidson (Shane’s girlfriend), RON LYSTER, HANK HEUER, STEVE LORE, STEW GILMAN, LILLIAN KLIEWER, Christine KLIEWER, (Lillian’s daughter), LEE DUNAYER, plus Rotaracters Tori Hettinger, Candice Daneshvar, Seema Patel, William Frymann, Becky Ho and Rachel Robertson, and special guests Tony Birkley, John Correa, Reza Bundy, and David Reneker. That totals TWENTY THREE Builders!
We had four members with us from Rotaract – President Tori Hettinger, VP Candice Daneshvar, Michele Lee (publicity) and Webmaster William Frymann. Tori and Candice spoke about their plans to work more closely with WVRC, and CATHY REZOS got a well-deserved round of applause for all her help with these fine young people. NICK KAHRILAS had two guests, Tracy Rasmussen and Doug Pruitt – who reminded me that he and my son, Ernie III, had graduated from Harvard School in the same class. in 1968.
We had two visitors today from the new Westwood Branch Library, located just south of Wilshire on Glendon. It is a 14,000 square foot new building, with 55 parking spaces underneath. First introduced was Terry Tadnasian, who is a Founder of the Friends of Westwood Library – they help to provide additional funding, and the present committee from WVRC is Janice DEA, SUSAN ALLEN, Cathy and ED GAULD, and Sharon and CHRIS BRADFORD. They welcome all who would like to join their group. Next up was Cheryl Collins, who I first met several years ago during one of the Library’s Literacy campaigns. Cheryl will be the Head Librarian for Westwood, and she has had 25 years of experience, so we are very lucky to have her with us. Both these ladies will be back to tell us more about this exciting new venture – ours is the 71st Branch Library in LA, and it should open this May.
Senor RUDY brought up the subject of Ramona Wristin, the Executive Director of the ACLU, who will be speaking to us soon. He felt it was important for us to know that PP MIKE NEWMAN invited her, and PP MIKE then pointed out that she last spoke to us when a relative, someone named HOMER NEWMAN, was our President. We can certainly afford some different points of view from our speakers. SEAN McMILLAN reminded us of the Japanese Student Exchange, which is coming up from June 27th to July 30th, and is open to relatives who are between 15 and 21 years of age. ELLIOTT TURNER and STEW GILMAN each have a candidate, and the deadline to apply is April 1st. I must speak personally on this – my daughter and step-daughter both participated, and couldn’t have been more impressed – so think about sending someone, please. On another subject, we are co-sponsoring with the Hawthorne Club a medical clinic in San Salvador, and there will be a group going down to visit from May 27th to the lst of June. SEAN has the details.
PP MIKE NEWMAN introduced Gregg Patterson, General Manager of The Beach Club. He reminded us that Gregg had spoken to us before – and is much in demand as an engaging and knowledgeable Speaker. Since I know each of you read every word of my biography of Gregg in last week’s Windmill – and I should note that PP RALPH WOODWORTH, who writes the front page, also had some bio information, it probably isn’t necessary to repeat what PP MIKE had to say. I had asked STEW GILMAN to add some remarks, since he has known Gregg for so long. He began by intoning lethargic, dour, retiring, reticent – and then added that none of these words applied to Gregg.
Gregg began his many-faceted talk by naming the five characteristics that a Club Manager should have – He should be a family man, with a good education, who values the athletic experience, enjoys good health and has a social personality. He summarizes these traits as defining Soul. He feels strongly that his job as GM of a Private Club should always be to encourage development among his employees – and he certainly does this.
He noted that Tori Hettinger was sitting up front with him, and apparently she is planning a medical career. He feels there are two sides to that occupation – does she have the ‘hands’ to reach out, empathize with, and comfort people? That is her soft side. She must also have a hard side – that being the need to be strict with her own employees, to be a small version of the successful CEO. It makes you realize that most of us have more than one role to play in life.
Gregg then pointed out our MADAME WU, using her as an example of someone with a social personality. This is of prime importance to anyone who is meeting people – and in some situations, that is mostly what you do. He spoke of the thickness of your skin – it must be thin enough for you to be caring, and strong enough to withstand the give and take of our busy lives. It’s a balancing act. He notes that curiosity is a valuable asset – people want to be recognized, and asking questions is a good way to draw them out.
A Club Manager should be out front, not hiding in his office – and unless he is surrounded by people who have just come in, he isn’t doing his job. You need a strong EQ – that’s Emotional Intelligence, and it means you ask questions, engage people, and remember they need empathy. The four social skills are EIIP – Empathize, Inspire, Inform, and Provide – that is, carry out what you say you believe in. Learning about things – stuff, he call it – is easy, and anybody can do it. The tough part is the Soul, as noted above. Give people dignity – catch their eye at 25 feet, and speak to them at 5 feet. Eye contact always helps.
If you get a question which you don’t know the answer for, your reply should always be, “I don’t know but I’ll find out”. The other part of this response is that you DO find out, and pass along the answer to whoever asked. Remember that your job comes in two parts – where you can be alone and able to concentrate of ‘stuff’, and when you are with people – that’s when your soul should show. The name of his book, (I think) is Boardroom, and it is composed of reflections on his personal experiences. Gadzooks, this guy talks fast – but he does have a lot to say.
SALLY BRANT gave the Toast – “to the Candidates, who put themselves out there.”
