Rotary Log for Meeting of May 25, 2017
By Neal Ouellett
Photos by Leo Gagnon
We were greeted this week by Julia Ghigliotti, who by tradition led us later in the Four-Way Test. Our own songbird, Judy Ringer, guided us in the patriotic song, kicking off the Memorial Day weekend. Sara Treacy offered the invocation.
Several guests were in attendance, among them Willie Keteku, from Guana. Willie, a 30-year Rotarian and past District Governor has distinguished himself in a number of roles. Next year’s 7780 DG, Mr. Rotary Dave Underhill, has quite a challenge matching his attendance of 17 Rotary International Conferences.
There was a special birthday song for Peg Millar, who was given a ride to the meeting by Tiffany McKenna. James quipped, “It’s not polite to ask a woman her age. Peg was born 87 years ago. You do the math.” And she is still a young woman at heart.
Announcements
James announced that on the weekend the Troy Pappas Memorial Baseball Day will be held at Marshwood High School. Two scholarships will be awarded in Troy’s memory.
There will be a Fundraising Breakfast on Sunday June 4th at the Kittery Community Center for Casey Savage’s family. Casey, the nine-year old son of Anjelica (Jelly) Fontanez, and grandson of Susan Bowen, passed away in April. He died in a tragic car accident. Sue Bowen has worked at the Country Club for many years.
Donations by check may be made out to Anjelica Fontanez with “In memory of Casey” on the memo line. Mail to:
Lauren Lawson
PO Box 4
Berwick, ME 03904
Leo Gagnon also made two announcements. The annual Vocational Awards presentations will take place at the June 15th meeting. The Committee was slated to make selections at Leo’s office on May 30. All members were welcome to participate.
Secondly, Leo has scheduled another Club Social. This time it’s at the Discover Portsmouth Center on June 13. That will be just in time for viewing the exhibit “Four Centuries of Portsmouth Furniture.” Many thanks to Leo for his yeoman efforts to foster club camaraderie.
New members
Two new members were inducted this week. They newbies are Kim Crisp sponsored by Lynn McLaren and Brian Birner sponsored by Frank Fericano. Welcome to the Rotary Club of Portsmouth!
Musical Interlude
We were treated to a well-received guitar duet. The instrumentalists were Xavier L’italien, and his teacher, Nick Phaneuf. Xavier is this year’s recipient of the Portsmouth Music and Arts Academy Jeremy Alex Fund Scholarship.
Jeremy Alex, the Fund’s namesake and Past-President Ted’s son, was a lover of music (and a left-handed guitarist.) Each year the JAF sponsors a student for music lessons at PMAC. Russ Grazier, Executive Director of the Center, accepted a check to continue this meaningful tradition for a sixth year.
The Program
Our own Rotary member, and distinguished Portsmouth City Manager, John Bohenko, introduced today’s speakers. The presentation, not surprisingly, was the always interesting and remarkable “State of the City”.
We heard from two speakers on this topic. Nancy Colbert-Puff has been the Deputy City Manager for a year, a position for which she is eminently qualified. Juliet Walker is Planning Director, with an equally impressive background for her position.
Nancy Colbert Puff
Five motifs formed the outline of their presentations on our wonderful City. The motifs were Vibrant, Resilient, Historic/Authentic, Progressive and Diverse.
It’s impossible to list in this space all of the accomplishments, superlatives, and, yes, challenges, covered in their presentation. Here are just a few. Portsmouth is recognized on many lists as one of the Best Small Cities to live in the US. Thrillist.com lists Portsmouth as fifth best place to live in the world. Sometimes one wishes they would keep this a secret! We also have the highest bond rating-AAA.
Juliet Walker
Our city departments are frequent recipients of municipal awards and recognition. Much of the acclaim is in acknowledgment of a Master Plan that proactively addresses our future needs. Needs like Housing, transportation, parking, water quality, rising sea level, and public and private spaces. As mentioned earlier, that’s just a few of the areas covered in a succinct and professionally-presented PowerPoint.
I will end with an editorial comment. Portsmouth is fortunate to attract the best and the brightest municipal employees. Two of them, Colbert-Puff, and Walker exemplify why the state of our great city is so extraordinarily positive.
Next week’s Speaker is Mark Heydenberg, who has been in and out of North Korea 22 times!
Respectfully submitted, Neal Ouellett
