President Mike Norcia called his last meeting to order at 12:30.
The pledge was led by Skip Brewster.
Mike asked if he could do the inspiration today. Mike talked about his dad joining the club in 2001. Dom always told him this was the best Rotary club in the world. Mike joined in 2003 so he could have lunch with his dad, and found out his dad was right. Mike told us it was his honor to serve as president. He then told us a joke from Dom’s book of jokes (thank you Gae for saving and sharing the book).
Visitors:
Samantha Cush from Leigh High School
New members:
Tsovo Massena received her Red Badge from Ane Troger. Tsovo mentioned she and Ane are daughters of Rotarians and she looks forward to being involved in the community. Welcome Tsovo!
Announcements:
- Suzanne Boxer-Gassman announced the West Valley Community Services Back to School shopping with a student is August 5 at Old Navy Westgate. Sign up on the WVCS website. This is a great event; you help students shop for back to school clothes. Spots fill up fast so don’t delay.
- Nicholas Welzenbach announced the last opportunity to sign up for Roast and Toast of Mike is after the meeting today. It looks like this will be our best attended R&T. Cocktails start at 5:30, the event runs until 9:00 at Villa Ragusa in downtown Campbell.
- Samantha Cush 3D art teacher from Leigh HS thanked us for our long-time support of the 3D program. This is an expensive program to run but one the students really enjoy.
Red Badge Bio:
Tom Picraux gave his bio presentation. Tom was raised on a small farm in Missouri. He played tenor sax, he enjoyed sports and was given (half) a cow to raise to help pay for college. (His father changed which half belonged to Tom based on the work needed). Tom got his undergraduate degree in engineering from the University of Missouri. He later went to Cambridge for his Masters degree where he rowed crew. Since he enjoyed sports, he decided to try his hand at something different during his year in England. How hard could rowing be? Well, you need to be strong as an ox and have the grace of a ballerina. He later earned his PhD at CalTech. Tom first worked at Sandia Labs, he then taught at ASU then on to Los Alamos Labs.
Tom has three daughters and three (very soon to be four) grandchildren. His wife Danice served in the state house of New Mexico for 22 years. Since Tom and Danice moved to Los Gatos in 2013, he has gotten very involved in senior issues volunteering with Sourcwise as well as various senior commissions in town.
Welcome Tom, we enjoyed getting to know you a little better.
Doug Brent talked about our scholarship fund. The fund was started in 1947 with a donation of $1200 from Rotarian George McMurtry. It was formalized in 1956 as the LGR Scholarship Fund. In 1968 Rotarian Rudy Hirsch bequeathed $5000. In 1973 the committee, with Chair John Cowell, it was proposed that the fund be structured as an endowment fund. As of May 2023, the fund is at $1.8MM. Our Rotary club is the largest donor of scholarships at LGHS and LHS (outside of the ROTC)
This year’s winners are:
| From LGHS | Leigh HS | Service Winners |
| Sarah Aceves | Natalie Bachman | Brady Loe |
| Victoria Anderson | Gabriella Frank | Angela Sheu |
| Josh Dujmovic | Suzy Kim | Bella Parton |
| Daniel Medellin | Aki Lam | Ella Frank |
| Amane Mockridge | Jadyn Mason | |
| Lucia Mockridge | Victoria Neyman | |
| Khuyen Nguyen | ||
| Samuel Peak | ||
| Katie Wright |
Congratulations to all the recipients!
30 for 30
- Lisa Cheskin gave $100 to honor her father’s term as president and $100 to honor her brother’s term.
- Patti van der Burg donated to the Charities Foundation in honor of Mike’s term.
Program:
Today’s speaker was Ron Lykins. Ron is a past-president and former member of our club. During the time he was our president he was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. Multiple Myeloma is a cancer that forms in the white blood cells and causes about 16,000 deaths per year in the U.S. Ron was told by his doctor that new treatments come out all the time and the best thing you can do is “kick the can down the road”. Ron shared his story of “kicking the can down the road”. It has been a harrowing journey with years and months of remission in between. Thank you for sharing your story, Ron. We wish you many more years of good health.
Thank you, Mike for all your hard work. We had an outstanding year.
No lunch meeting next week. Roast and Toast next Tuesday evening.