Pledge/Prayer: President Gerri
Song: Bill McLaughlin
Brent's Flim/Flam: High hand won by new member Peter Corbett
Sergeants Report:
Raffle Winners: Ran King, Bob Hestor, Bill O'Shaughnessy
Many Happy Bucks for President Gerri's year and good luck on Peter's year.
Announcements:
Letter received from Chelsea Newman, scholarship winner going to Hawaii inviting us to visit
her.
Thanks you letters received from students of the month James Logan & Scott Frederickson.
Resignation received from John Reed. Dick Purdy and Ed Moska requested the "Rule of 85".
Charlie Norz reviewed the upcming Foundation budget, $56K, up from $48K last year. More
good works though.
Peter Manley reviewed the coming years club budget, Up a little but no no big items. Both
budgets passed.
Peter also reminded members of the upcoming installation dinner next Wednesday evening
at Dock & Dine, about 50 people signed up but Peter needs to see the cash.
New Member:
Peter Corbett was inducted into the club by Bill McLaughlin. Peter grew up in Stamford,
attended Stamford schools and Trinity College. Also served a stint in the navy. He is a
retired executive from Rings Lumber in Niantic and lives in Old Saybrook. He has 6
children and 14 grandchildren.
Member Talk:
Bill McLaughlin gave us an entertaining talk on his background and travel experiences.
Bill grew up in Auclair, Wisconsin (where?), attended Catholic High School and then the
University of Wisconsin, Madison, majoring in mining engineering. He worked in the
mines for a while but found his lunches all looked like licorice. When the mining industry
took a slump, Bill did a stint in the navy until a back operation got him an early discharge.
He then worked for Ingersol Rand out of Detroit, where he met his wife Rosemary. He
then moved over to a competitor or IR, Joy Mfg. He left Joy to work, (in the same field)
for Solair. He moved to OS in 1970 and into real estate in the 1980's. He then worked
for the OS Chamber of Commerce in th 1990's. In 2001 he and Rosemary started their
RV touring. In the first year they hit all of the lower 48 states if only a corner of each.
Bill and Rosemary are gone for about 6 months of each year and for the last several
years have worked with Habitat for Humanity's RV group builing homes all over the
country. Recently they attended Rosemary's Grinnell College reunion where they
honored a 1937 graduate, the first black women to go through Grinnell. Bill claims she
was very appreciative and very sharp, at an age when many folks are "starting to slip
their moorings".
