Rotary Club of Norwich, CT
July 30, 2025
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE
Presiding: President Steve Martin
Invocation: Rodney Green
Fellowship: Barry Shead
Birthdays: None
Anniversaries: Nancy Gentes- 20 years on July 13th!
Guests: Elanah Sherman – Avalonia Land Trust
Visiting Rotarians: Jim O’Shea from the Rotary Community Corps
Barry’s fellowship consisted of a list of things we assumed were true, but not quite what they seemed. Napoleon Bonaparte was reported to be super small in stature but was really quite of average height for that time at 5’7” tall. The British wanted to portray him a small and weak to encourage their troops to fight with confidence. The Vikings never wore horned helmets. George Washington never had wooden teeth. His false teeth were actually made of ivory, metal and horse teeth. The Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space. The largest castle in the world is not in Great Britain, France or Germany. The largest is in the country of Poland at 52 acres.
Membership Minute: Stan Lucas
Stan encouraged members to keep inviting people to our lunch meeting and identify friends and business associates to join Rotary. We need younger members and a more diverse membership.
Announcements:
Please bring spare clean egg cartons and give them to Bonnie Johnson.
Celebrate Diversity event will take place on Chelsea Parade on September 3rd from 5pm to 8pm. Sponsors are needed badly as there are no grants available this year to help pay for the event.
If you know of a speaker for one of our meetings, please contact Kevin Wickless or Alexis Kahn to get on the schedule.
If there is a Rotarian who is sick or going through a tough time let the Sunshine Committee know and contact Mary Richardson or Nancy Gentes.
Rotary Golf will be September 3rd. Get your 4-somes together as well as sponsors. Raffle items and goody bad items are also needed. Andy Grant passed out brochures and asked every member to get sponsors at all levels and golfers. Gary Young passed a couple of hats for donations to buy lottery tickets for prizes.
Happy Dollars: Andy Grant
Andy started with a funny story about Varsity football with Steve Martin.
Nancy Gentes gave $20.00 for her 20 years as a member of the Norwich Rotary!
Pat Marshall told a sad tale of looking in on a friend’s cat only to discover the feline had expired. Upon notifying her friend of the sad news her friend wanted her to put the cat in the freezer until her return. Pat said no way and called the Humane Society to help dispose of the cat.
Jim O’Shea said he and are wife are leaving for Augusta, Maine to visit his 93 year old dad and attend a wedding too!
Susy Hurlbert thanked Mike Goldblatt for the wonderful evening Rotary event at his residence last Wednesday. Lots of great stories were shared. Susy was not too happy to receive a $350.00 bill for an ambulance ride from a couple months ago.
Mike Goldblatt thanked everyone who attended the Rotary Car Show meeting last week. It was a stressful day getting prepared but everything worked out great. He thanked Stan and others for setting up the event.
Bill Champagne said things are moving forward to the Norwich 250 celebration. He said special events are being formed to involve indigenous, Native American and African Americans who fought in the War for Independence.
Jeff Brining went hiking in Arizona with his son and hiking took place in Tucson, Sadona and the Grand Canyon. The trip ended with a visit to Las Vegas.
Gary Young said he was mistaken for Stan Lucas again so he knows it’s time for a haircut!
Barry Shead visited Maine last week. He said when he was driving on the New Hampshire Turnpike he saw a Prius pulled over for speeding and thought of Bill Champagne. He also did a 5K race through the woods and vowed not to come in last. For a good deal of the race he could hear a woman behind him but she slowly fell behind and eventually dropped out of the race. You guessed it…. Barry came in 85th out of 85! Next time Barry!
Mike Cooney complimented Barry on today’s fellowship and said he was going to take is daughter Katie to camp next week.
Stan Lucas said the event at Mike Goldblatt’s was great fun. He thanked Rodney for the great meal that was served. He was sorry to report that his 93 year old sister Ester has been admitted to a Hospice in New Hampshire. He also said that he will be having surgery again on his vocal cords in Boston.
Auction: Atalya Champalath will donate $20.00.
Lottery: Paul Gaffney
Paul drew his own ticket, but did not win. Next up was Barry Shead who finally found that allusive Ace of Spades! Congratulations Barry! Rodney Green won Barry’s ARC Cookies!
Program: Today’s program was to be Elanah Sherman from the Avalonia Land Trust. Sadly Happy Dollars went way too long and there was not enough time for her to present her entire presentation. She has graciously agreed to come back at a later date. Apologies to Ms. Sherman and the club promises to give her ample time when she returns.
Mike Cooney lead the club with the 4-Way Test and the meeting was adjourned at 1:10pm.