November 25, 2014 - Rotary Club of Charlotte

REPORTER
November 25, 2014
Sharing Grateful Thoughts
Our annual Charlotte Rotary Thanksgiving Program
featuring three of our members sharing thoughts of
gratitude from their own lives was introduced by Program
Chairman Mike Hawley but not before Mac McCarley
started off his Health, Happiness and History report by
reminding us all how grateful we are this Thanksgiving for Sandy Osborne’s amazing
recuperation from surgery on both knees. That welcome announcement was met with
resounding applause and cheers!
With a quick bio on each of our three speakers, Mike set the stage for their remarks by
reminding us of the importance of the Thanksgiving holiday and how beautifully it fits with
our Rotary motto and traditions.
LISA MASK, a highly accredited personal and family counseling expert with twenty-seven
years’ experience specializing in grief and bereavement counseling, brought her own
“show-and-tell” Thanksgiving Tree. Perched in front of her on our head table, it had its
own personality and we were immediately intrigued. Its creativity caught our attention as
she related stories of its decades-long tradition in her family. In describing the way it
works, Lisa said, “Each person writes people, places and/or things for whom/which they
are grateful on a paper leaf and attaches them onto the branches of the tree. During
Thanksgiving Day we read them aloud and often laugh, go “AHHHH,” or seek
explanations.” She then listed many of her favorites --- some going back as far as 15
years. The sometimes poignant/sometimes funny notes-on-paper-leaves had several of
us connecting with many of its messages. We could identify with “Braces - because I
won’t be called ‘snaggletooth’ anymore” or her grandmother’s “indoor plumbing” (she was
raised on a farm in Charlotte before indoor plumbing was in vogue). We loved the
message, “Dog - because it’s ‘God’ spelled backwards.” ~ Each message Lisa quoted
struck a chord with us. From “Love - when the power of love overcomes the love of power
there will be peace on earth” (quoted from Jimi Hendrix) to Lisa’s son, Dylan’s pre-school
Mother’s Day proclamation, “My Mommy loves SALUD” (sic) … we ‘got it’; we
understood. Lisa concluded with a George Bernard Shaw quote from her family’s
Thanksgiving Tree to leave us all laughing, “Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty
and the pig likes it.” All-in-all, Lisa’s sparkling personality and refreshing wit combined
with her family’s traditional give-and-take sharing made for a spectacular Thanksgiving
message. Bets are on that there will be many, many new “Thanksgiving Tree” traditions
begun in Charlotte Rotary Club members’ homes this holiday.
ROGER SAROW, the much-heralded President and General Manager of WFAE, gave
thanks for an interesting and impressive variety of people who have been major
influences in his life. He began with a tribute to his 90-year-old mother ~ who continues to
live independently in Wisconsin and everyday is found performing some sort of creative
task (from knitting to quilting to cooking to sewing) and has proudly outlived four doctors
~ and to his father whom he described as supremely patient with a keen ability to build
and renovate, hunt, fish and participate in all things related to the outdoors, and who
ultimately taught Roger the importance of using a hammer and hand saw and the taste of
fresh trout. In Roger’s words, “I finally ‘get’ the out-of-doors thing.” Roger is grateful to
Samuel Morse, the inventor of the telegraph which allowed people all over the world to
share ideas and breaking news and he’s grateful for the First Amendment which gives us
freedom of speech and freedom of the press. He’s proud to claim his German heritage
and his hometown of Evansville, Wisconsin where he worked with Mrs. Blanche Devine,
the weekly columnist for the Evansville Review. Her knowledge of history and her
adventurous spirit were especially influential on the young Roger Sarow. He paid tribute
to the urban renovation of Charlotte, noting the lively atmosphere uptown we now enjoy
versus the emptiness of that same area two decades ago. He shared a story about his
friend, Ernest Warburton, from the BBC in London, who was visiting Roger in the early
1990s. While attending an event at an uptown hotel, Warburton made the accurate
assessment of our inner-city (at the time), “What a lovely, clean city … with no one on the
street … it rather reminds me of a regional capital in one of the Communist Bloc
Countries.” (That comment prompted loud appreciative laughter from our members.) He
thanked the Green Bay Wisconsin Rotary club which provided him a Fellowship to study
in Germany and then to travel throughout Europe as a young lad, and he thanked our
own club. Perhaps, he said, most importantly he appreciates, is proud of, and loves
deeply his wife, Marilyn. Their 34-year marriage allows him to stand side-by-side with her
throughout painful and joyous times and her support means so much to him that he finds
it hard to talk of it.
JULIE HAACK, teasingly referred to in our meeting yesterday as “Diamond Julie,”
actually comes by that new nickname legitimately. Proving the adage that the apple
doesn’t fall far from the tree, the President and CEO of Donald Haack Diamonds truly
inherited the best of what Donald and Jan Haack represent(ed). When she stepped to the
microphone to speak of what she is most grateful for at this Thanksgiving time, she told
us the story of growing up in Granada in the Caribbean, with its heavy humidity and arid
days followed by hard rains which she described as “pummeling.” We learned that her
family bathed in the ocean, experienced long periods without electricity, found all sorts of
living species in foods (her quote, “I know how to get rid of weevils in a bowl of cereal.”)
and since water was scarce, they stored - then boiled - buckets of rain water (which was
often contaminated with frogs and small insects, etc.) Severe droughts would leave them
without drinking water for long periods of time. She finds herself thankful, however, for
what came out of those challenging days --- the Haacks would spend hours and hours
talking … in candlelight … about everything under the sun. From those experiences she
developed a love for music and reading and the uncanny ability to make positive things
out of demanding situations. She learned how to remake something valuable out of
broken or worn items; she was taught how to jerry-rig a car and to look at machines or
electronics of any sort as “always fixable.” She grew up cherishing visitors and hearing
their stories, and constantly learning to adapt. When she spoke of living on an island in
the Caribbean she painted the picture of both incredible beauty and unbelievable
experiences --- living through two revolutions in two different countries; escaping under
great turmoil, seeing innovations born under duress and - finally - gratefully experiencing
the family’s return to the United States in 1969. She is so proud to be living in our country
where we enjoy so many freedoms and rich bounties. She appreciates being able to
practice Christianity without persecution and the right to express political views without
repercussion. To Julie, clean water, foods without living “things” in them, all of the
comforts of the homes we live in, and the great opportunity that is our American way, are
points for which to be grateful. She told us she’s especially grateful for the lessons she
learned from her parents, for the love of her husband, David, and their children, parents,
families and friends, and for God who has always looked after her. For those of us who
knew, respected and loved Donald Haack, we found Julie’s message especially
meaningful because she truly IS her father’s daughter.
Written by: Marilynn Bowler
Head Table: Don Millen, Doug LaBrosse, Tony Zeiss, Mike Hawley, Lisa Mask, Roger Sarow,
Julie Haack; Invocation: Hank Donaghy; Visitors & Guests: Colleen Brannan; Health, Happiness &
History: Mac McCarley; Song: Angela Broome; AV: Jessica Dupree & Nikki Keith; Photos: Bert
Voswinkel
ATTENDANCE
Visitors & Guests
Club Members
Total Attendance
Percentage
9
141
160
48.6%
MEMBERSHIP
11/04/2014
323
07/01/2014
317
Net Increase:
+6
New Members: Greg Hatcher, Frank Horan
Resignations: Ryan Menzel, Eric Levinson
VISITORS ON 11/25/14
Martin Welton, Joy Widener, Bruce Rinehart, Colin Clark, Phoebe Brannan, Gayle Sims,
Glenn Paton, Jana Heinrichs, Attila Akat
UPCOMING LUNCHEONS (www.charlotterotary.org and click on the events tab)
12/2/14 – District Governor Ken Dresser
12/9/14 – Winston Kelley, NASCAR Hall of Fame
12/16/14 – Holiday Program
Photos from the Luncheon
Photos from our luncheons and other events can be found on Flickr Click here
charlotterotary.org 704.375.6816
841 Baxter Street | Suite 118 | Charlotte, NC 28202-2720 USA
© The Rotary Club of Charlotte 2014