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John F. Germ
2016-2017 
President Rotary International
Our President
 Can-Do Sandhu
Lucky Sandhu
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Speakers
Mar 29, 2018
I Can Do That Theatre Company
Apr 05, 2018
Trinity Center Lunch - Offsite meeting
Apr 12, 2018
Bishop Ranch, Sunset Development and San Ramon City Center
Apr 19, 2018
Stoles and Scholarships - Student Recognition
Apr 26, 2018
Educator of the Year
Apr 28, 2018
Assist local seniors with changing batteries in smoke alarms
View entire list
This weeks Greeter:
Ana Dominguez
 
I live in San Ramon and work at Gates +Associates, an architectural landscape firm. I have two children, both married, Rob age 37, and Cristie, age 30. I enjoy bicycling, skiing, spending my weekends in Glen Ellen and generally having fun!
My Professional bio:
Ana Dominguez is an illustrator, graphic designer and fine artist. A graduate of the Academy of Art in San Francisco, her breadth of experience includes architectural drafting and illustration, environmental graphic design, and visual communications for landscape architecture and urban design.  Ana’s artistic gifts combined with this range of expertise provide her with the exceptional versatility to envision a project’s particular design potential, while also understanding and anticipating technical constraints.
Ana specializes in project theming, storytelling and the celebration of site history through a variety of design elements, including logo design, signage and wayfinding programs, sculpture and mural. Her artistic contributions bring life to retail and mixed-use properties, master planned communities, corporate campuses and upscale hospitality projects throughout the continental United States , as well as Hawaii , China and Dubai (U.A.E.).
Schedule of Greeters
March 29
Dominguez, Ana
 
No Greeter April 5 - Offsite Meeting
 
April 12
Duarte, Ed
 
April 19
Fiedler, Julie
 
April 26
Gailey, Kathy
 
May 5
Galbo, Marie
 
Greeter Protocol
 
When you are assigned the duty of being our greeter, you should remember the following:

1. You should be at the meeting by 11:45 AM in order to greet everyone as they come to the meeting.

2. You should bring a "Greeter's Gift" for the raffle. The gift should be approximately $20.00 in value.

3. You will be leading the giving the inspiration of the day, leading the salute to the flag, and introducing the visiting Rotarians. It is a good idea to watch the visiting Rotarians sign in, so that you can ask them about any complicated names or classifications.

4. If you cannot attend, it is your responsibility to find a replacement.
 
 
Russell Hampton
National Awards Services Inc.
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Welcome to the Rotary Club of San Ramon
Service Above Self
We meet Thursdays at 12:00 PM
Crow Canyon Country Club
711 Silver Lake Dr.
Danville, CA  94526
United States
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Meeting Notes for March 22, 2018
Crows Call for March 22, 2018 By Gary Sloan
 
The meeting was called to order at 12:15 p.m. with a large turnout of Rotarians, community members and several past District Governors.  President Lucky revealed that today’s meeting program was to pay tribute to Stan Smalley, a past president, district governor and friend.   Glen Weber orchestrated the day and was introduced as our greeter for the day with two thoughts for the day:
 
 
 
“Any man who does not like dogs and want them about does not deserve to be in the White House”.  (President Calvin Coolidge)  Glenn added political commentary noting “that there is only one President noted to not have had a canine in the White House and he resides there today.  However, there is still time to correct this error of omission.”  I for one believe that this was discriminatory toward cats and as a Veterinarian, Glenn should be more sensitive.
 
The second thought for the day was “if we ever forget that we are One Nation under God, then we will be one nation gone under.  (Ronald Reagan).
 
Following the flag salute and a rousing song of God Bless American, Glen introduced the myriad of celebrity District Governors present including:
 
George Chaffey (97-98)                            Lamorinda
Earl Kilmer (09-10)                                    Fairfield
Karl Diekman (10-11)                               Woodland
Dave Dacus (11-12)                                  Walnut Creek
Steve Lack ((13-14)                                   Pleasant Hill
Gary Vilhauer (17-18)                               Danville
John Dwyer (18-19)                                  Benecia
 
Glen Weber proceeded to share that he was the Fourth President of our Rotary Club and a charter member.  He grew up in Indiana and is now semi-retired.  Glen displayed how smart he was by acknowledging his wonderful wife Ginny and announced a new grandchild in the family.  
 
Other introductions include Stan Smalley’s family members, Ashley, Bobby, Kristen and Kimberly.  Athena Aghighi, Interact representative and Kara Mitzel/Maria Amadea from Caring Hands were introduced. An old friend of Rotary Carolyn Degnan was on hand along with various Rotarian spouse including Cindy Jones and Ginny Weber.  Garth Riopelle brought his personal physician and wife/former Rotarian, Michelle.
 
Student of the Month
Mike Thelan had the honor of presenting Katie Kravitz with Student of the Month honors.  Vice Principal Catie Hawkins shared that this student was destined to be famous as a talented artist whose current medium were ink and water colors.  Katie was selected from among 2800 students to receive this honor.
 
Grants
Three grants were given out today.  The first grant went to Caring Hands whose work with John Muir Network assisted seniors to provide friendship and support ranging from companionship to errand assistance.  This organization has 300 volunteers and 4 staff members.
 
The second grant went to Interact to support the Wildlife Conservation Society.  Athena also announced success with this past month’s crab feed, book sort and Panera fund raiser.  She expressed Interact’s gratitude for the amazing support of Rotarians.
Naim Katiby received a grant to buy backpacks for needy kids in Afghanistan.  He has been working to help children in both education and health for 25 years.
 
Announcements
 
  1. Rise Against Hunger:  Don Jones announced that 285,000 meals were sent to Korea in part due to its partnership with Rotary and Interact.
  1. Tree Project:  Lucky announced the planting of trees in California as a tribute to the International Rotary president-elect who passed away last year.
 
  1. San Ramon Global Grant:  Ana Dominguez thanked the District for approving the Bolivia Water project (a three year process). The husband of Ana’s co-worker is a filmmaker who interested our club to participate in this project in conjunction with a Bolivian (Llojeta) Rotary club. We plan to raise $60,000 with assistance from the District and Rotary International. The club has committed $6,000 and is seeking support from other local clubs.  Individual members have also contributed including Don Jones and Marv Remmich.  When our goal is achieved a members night out will be arranged at a Bolivian restaurant in San Francisco.
  1. Six Club meeting is May 16th and Trinity Lunch is April 5th
 
  1. Smoke Alarm Project: Dennis Harvey announced that the Interact club would be joining 20 Rotarians for this project in the Spring.
 
  1. District Conference: Lucky announced the District conference on May 4-6th in Tahoe and local conference on April 7th in Fairfield.
 
Program
Initially this program Tribute to Stan Smalley was going to be a small gathering of club Rotarians recounting our experiences with this celebrated Rotarian.  Once word got out that we were honoring Stan, the program morphed into a much larger undertaking.  Glen Weber did a bang up job in organizing this event.  He began by sharing Stan’s history having moved to San Ramon Valley in 1986 with his three daughters Kimberly, Kristin and Ashley.  Stan was a mechanical engineer and charter member of the club who joined Maynard Crowther at MCE.  Both of these gentlemen served in the US Navy corp in Japan during the Viet Nam War.  In 1987-88, Stan received the Hammer Award, given to Rotarians who go beyond the call of duty.  He became our 8th President in 1991-92 and District Governor in 2007-08.   His many accomplishments in District activities continue to be celebrated today.
Glen recounted the many fellowship and social events that bound Stan and his wife Marsha with our club.  Houseboat trips, Golf Hack and Whack Tournaments, Lake Almanor outings where as many as 16 Rotarians and spouses descended on the lake for what is widely known as a “fellowship extravaganza”.  Sadly, Stan’s wife passed away shortly after one of these outings and Glen wanted to recognize Stan’s second wife Judy.
 
Many know Stan by his aliases:  Smurf and the New Sheriff in Town.
 
Glen opened comments from the floor following his sharing notes from Susan Wait (DG 2001-02) and Candy Pierce (DG 2006-07). Both shared that “everyone knew that Stan would be District Governor one day”.  Both indicated how supportive and collaborative Stan was in sharing the duties and responsibilities of being District Governor.
 
George Chaffey indicated that he was representing district governors from the last century.  Stan was described as “everyone’s choice for DG” but everyone had to wait for Stan to retire.
 
Earl Kilmer recalled a now famous moment at a Redding Conference involving a limo, scotch and a host of dignitaries when Stan jumped out of the limo and proclaimed that “I just love you guys” with tears in his eyes and hugs all around.
Gary Vilhauer recounted a long drive on Highway 5 with Stan who was instrumental getting Gary involved with District leadership.
Karl Diekman shared his involvement professionally with MCE and later with Rotary.  He remembers the amazing western themed conference Stan organized and indicated that he has an amazing silhouette picture of Dr. Dockerman, Stan and one other super star Rotarian through a class door. 
Dennis Harvey reminded everyone that Stan had been a Senator in Wyoming at the request of the Governor to fill a vacant slot.  Stan’s famous acknowledgment of “Yep” reminded everyone that he taught us all a lot about caring for people.
 
Brent Tucker recounted the early days of Amador with Rotary friends when his then 15 year old daughter drove Stan’s Mercedes after Brent threw her the keys.  At the Mexico International Convention in 1991, Stan invited the Tucker’s to an 8000 sf villa at the water’s edge and coined the term “I see empty” sometimes “Icy empty” referring to the lack of scotch and ice which seems to have been a food group for Stan.
 
As Stan began to lose some of his memory, Brent noticed that Stan did not appear to recognize him until Terrie, Brent’s wife, came into the room where Stan immediately responded to her presence with full recall.  That’s why we all referred to him as “Stan the Man”.
 
Guy Greco indicated that he was humbled to be guided by Stan to become District Governor and recounted Amador and MCE business interactions.
 
Geoff Disch recalled a long Reno train trip involving poker and a lot of Scotch without restroom breaks.  While his memory is hazy, Geoff did remember both falling into the snow unable to walk straight and Stan sleeping off the excess alcohol.
 
 
 
Ed Duarte said his first meeting with Stan was his first Rotary meeting when Stan was the greeter and took time with Maynard to have lunch with him and show true interest in his endeavors.  It turned out that they had a lot in common, family, military service, engineers.  Within a year they were best friends traveling together and sharing the best in life through true fellowship.  Stan encouraged Ed to become our President and maintained a bound through kids, wives and common interests.
 
Bill Harlan reminded Rotarians that he and Stan had jobs in the early years inseminating turkeys claiming that it was a lot sexier than it sounds.  At Stan’s demotion dinner a video featuring Dr. M. Riopelle, an OB/GYN, was filmed counseling turkeys on how unfulfilling artificial insemination was and how to deal with their depression.
 
Michelle Riopelle reiterated her role in the demotion piece and indicated that Stan was her sponsor whom she came to respect and saw him as a role model. Dr. Riopelle recruited Stan’s wife who ran the practice for many years.
 
Don Jones shared another houseboat event involving all night poker, his fourteen year old son and flatulent wherein Don’s son pointed to Stan and said “that guy is really sick”. 
 
Everyone remembered Stan remarking that “someone spiked his scotch” which was a good opportunity for everyone to toast Stan and his many contributions to Rotary.
 
This tribute appropriately ended with Lucky sharing that Stan had a big heart, outstanding leadership and above all a love of people.  Stan is a living legacy for our community and the world.
 
Lucky presented to Stan’s Daughters a special coin with Rotary Values imprinted on it.
 
 
The sergeant in arms awarded a bottle of wine to Michelle Riopelle winner of the greeter gift and $10 went to the blue marble selector, Brent Tucker.
 
Lucky is off to New York with his daughter next week so the club will be led by Kathy Gailey. Ana will be the greeter and the program will involve a theater company.
 
Wonderful meeting adjourned late at 1:30 pm
 
Submitted by your humble scribe,
 
 
Gary Sloan
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