Vol. 31, No.  35                    April 14, 2006                       Editor: Jean Patterson    

Future programs    
04/21/06:    No meeting at Chickasaw Country Club.  Instead, meet at 12 noon at the    
                    Memphis Hilton for the kick-off lunch with other Rotarians attending    
                    the District 6800 Conference:  Memphis & the Delta – Celebrating Our  
                    Musical Heritage.
 04/28/06:    11:45 a.m. at Chickasaw Country Club.   Rotary Group Study Exchange
                    Team from Germany.  Dick Wieland is the program coordinator.                                                                

Important dates to keep in mind
04/21-04/22:        District Conference.   Memphis Hilton.  The sponsoring organization is the Germantown Rotary Club.  Our club’s Jean Patterson has been asked by District Governor Vijay to serve again as chair of the silent auction. Jean is arranging for auction items from our club to be donated to the District auction.  If you or your business would like to take part by making a donation, please contact Jean at her office—332-5586, ext. 1295.
04/21:  No meeting at Chickasaw.  Instead, we will join other members of Rotary District 6800 for the luncheon at the Memphis Hilton.  President John plans to turn in our club’s sign-up sheet for the luncheon after this week’s meeting.   Our club will use the funds normally earmarked to pay for our lunch at Chickasaw to instead pay for lunch at the District Conference.
04/27-28-29:        GSE team from southern Germany will visit Memphis.  Our club has been asked to host the team.   GSE team members represent several professions:  pharmacist, banker, lawyer, software developer and general manager for a city construction company.  Contact Dick Wieland if you would like to serve as a host or help coordinate the GSE team visit.  

Last week’s meeting
President John May presided at meeting #1461.    Chris McDermott offered the invocation and led us in the pledge of allegiance. Bob Neal introduced visitors and guests including Bob’s wife, Charlotte, and their friends, former Memphis City Council member Florence Leffler, Dr. Ben Crosby, Steve Earhart and Ron Baldridge, recent winner of the Commercial Appeal’s prestigious Jefferson Award.  
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        Bill Eddings collected $79.00 for the Floyd’s Fund (Scholarship program).  That’s $40.00 for the club and $39.00 for the winner.  The lucky ticket holder was Carlton Smith who continued his tradition of donating his winnings back to the club.

April 7 was the date for the Character Achievement Awards recognition luncheon.   Club members look forward all year to this special event as it is always heart-warming to meet the awards recipients, their families, guidance counselors and teachers.  This year was especially poignant because it seemed that the winners had faced---and overcome---especially difficult challenges.   LeRoy Dahler, committee chairman and meeting coordinator presided at the luncheon.  Lee Whipple introduced the four students who were selected to receive this year’s Character Achievement Awards and LeRoy presented each winner with a certificate, award plaque and gift check for $1,000.  

Jerry Daws, another long-term Character Achievement Awards committee member, introduced our speaker, Kyle Rote, Jr.   Kyle comes from a line of sports achievers.  His father, Kyle Rote, Sr., played football for the New York Giants as wide receiver and was on the 1956 team that included players Frank Gifford and Pat Summeral.  Kyle, Jr. played at quarterback on the Oklahoma State team in the 1960’s and early 1970’s.  He later played professional soccer and was one of American soccer's most heralded players of his time. He was the winner of the first Superstars made-for-television sports competition.  Later, he became a highly successful motivational speaker (he was selected to speak before three United States Presidents and Britain’s Prince Philip).  Kyle was also privileged to perform charity work with Mother Theresa.  He headed the CBS television program “Knowledge Bowl” for eighteen years and is proud that the show was able to give out over $3 million in scholarships during its run.  For more than 20 years, Kyle has served as the chief executive officer of a sports management company in Memphis.

                If you were unable to attend the meeting you definitely missed one of the highlights of our Rotary year.  The Character Achievement Awards presentation was stirring and Kyle’s presentation was the “icing on the cake”.  He described the three kinds of truth:  trivial (i.e. how many teeth does a mosquito have?); important (educational subjects) and essential (God’s love for each one of us is sufficient).  Kyle told the Character Achievement Award winners that they have already shown that they are true champions.  He encouraged them, and us, to understand God’s call to champions which is to remain faithful to Him and to keep Him in our lives, always.

Club meetings in the surrounding area    
For the convenience of our members we’re providing an updated list of nearby club meetings where we can make up our misses. Please save this list for future reference.  

MONDAY  
No meetings close to the Memphis area.    
TUESDAY    
Collierville – Noon, Ridgeway Country Club **note:  this is a new location    
Memphis– Noon, Cook Convention Center  
Olive Branch – Noon, Olive Branch Country Club, Germantown Road    
Oxford– Noon, Oxford University Club, 300 North Lamar
WEDNESDAY    
Germantown-- Noon, Germantown Country Club, 1780 Kimbrough    
Hernando – Noon,  the Magnolia Restaurant, 131 Commerce  
Holly Springs – Noon, Christopher’s  Personal Care Home, 885 Highway 178E    
Memphis East – Noon, Racquet Club,  5111 Sanderlin Dr.  
Robinsonville -- 8 am, Hollywood Diner, Old Highway 61      
THURSDAY    
Bartlett/Cordova – Noon, Colonial  Country Club, 2736 Countrywood Pky, Cordova      
Southaven – Noon, Boiling Point Restaurant, 55 Church Rd. (near Civic Center)    
Tunica – Noon, Women's Club Building, corner of River and School Streets  
FRIDAY  
 Senatobia –  12:15 p.m., Northwest Junior College campus, Haraway Center      

Club roster    
Rod Ashley 363-6000                Jay Hudson  529-3632                          Mike Robbins  363-5880
L.D. Beard  369-9642                Rick James  362-3492 X27                     Randolph Reeves  681-0507  
John Bennett 853-3460              Jeff Jones  853-8109                                  Jack Robinson  213-3993          
Yves Calvert 767-8776              Doyle Lemons 756-6536                            Gary Rutherford  753-7957  
Bert Canfield 634-2730             R.E. Linkous 754-0700                           Mabel Rutherford  755-3815  
Larry  Conn 682-1800                  David Luiken  382-3823                        *Tidwell Semmes  767-5752    
Jim Crone 754-0777                  Harvey Marcom 761-2016                      John Shepherd  850-1061  
Leroy Dahler 362-9700                Bill Matthews  345-5650                        Carlton Smith  690-1203    
Ray Darby  366-7800
Fred Davis  761-9486                  John May 259-3631                              *Henry Springer  757-9005    
Jerry Daws 757-8578                   Floyd McDaniel  327-2013                         Jack Springer  681-0025        
Bill Eddings 386-3182                 Chris McDermott   377-1000                     *Jim Vandenburg  735-7003  
Pedro Fernandez  568-1575        Tom Michael  759-2143                         Lee Whipple  755-8350  
DeeDee Fowler  485-1678
*Henry Francis 754-3405            Bob Neal  685-7772                              Dick Wieland  322-8630            
**Doc Harris 662-429-4551       **Don Palmer 662-429-1542                  Gordon Wilson  678-4101  
 Al Hollingsworth 767-3600        Jean  Patterson 332-5586, Ext. 1295      
 Laura House 323-6216             *Chester Perry 685-0972  
                                                      Andy Peters 821-4145                           * Honorary member      
                                            Marty Petrusek 755-5945                          ** On leave of absence