Join Rotary President Mark Maloney at the 111th Rotary International Convention in Honolulu, Hawaii, 6-10 June 2020. You’ll experience the heart of Hawaii in Honolulu – the state’s largest and most diverse city which has something for everyone. Attending the convention in Honolulu will be much more than a vacation; it’s an opportunity to make a lifetime of memories with people of action from across the globe.
Come attend the convention, make new friends, and experience the fun!!
UPCOMING MEETINGS
Tomorrow, August 8th:
SERVICE PROJECT MEETING-
We will be putting school supplies into backpacks for kids in need.
Mr. Mike Carr will also be providing us with an update and receiving the backpacks.
Next Week, August 15th:
Guest Speakers Hildale Mayor Donia Jessop and Shirlee Draper
August 22nd:
-- EVENING SOCIAL --
Member Spotlight
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Dave Nelson
(aka GOOD Dave)
Dave doesn’t recall wanting to be anything specific growing up but he was always interested in flying. During his (failed) first year of college at the U of CO he took flying lessons. To pay for the lessons Dave worked at the Boulder Airport fueling airplanes and helping with whatever needed to be done. He finished ground school and solo’d. He then joined the Navy to keep from being drafted.
After many missteps and lack of any direction he found himself as an ordnance man and an aircrew man in the P-3 Orion, a patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. If nothing else, it satisfied his wanderlust desire to travel anywhere and everywhere. He chased Russian Submarines, located arms carrying boats and helped with downed pilots in Viet Nam. He gathered intelligence near the coast of China, Russia, and North Korea and chased pirates and turtle poachers while searched for Viet Nam refugee boats in the South Pacific. They even flew over the North Pole and through the bearing strait recording the ice pack, dropping mail and supplies to remote Air Force stations on the ice, and performed search and rescue missions. Not a bad life for a guy in his late teens and into his twenties.
During this time Dave got married- he doesn’t recall why, but has a great daughter and son as a result. After 11 years Dave’s wife decided she had had her fill of him running around the world chasing rainbows while she stayed home. It was the Navy or her. He did the proper thing, he left the Navy and chose her. He finished his bachelor’s degree and took a job at Lockheed behind a desk as a business analyst. Buuut he sure did miss the excitement so, he decided to join the naval reserve. He was back as an aircrew man one weekend a month and two weeks a year. After a while the kids were grown and he and his wife divorced. Then the Navy began downsizing. His P-3 squadron was on the chopping block. The Navy was not a place for him without his P-3s, so he retired. For him that was a real low. His life had taken a real hit without a close family and now his crutch- the Navy- was gone. Looking back he thinks, that could have been the end. But, sometimes in the darkest hour a light appears.
For Dave that light was Joanne. Joanne was what he was looking for all his life- of course he did not know that until he found her. She is now everything to Dave. We all know these terms are over used now days, but to Dave, Joanne is the love of his life, his soul mate and his best friend. Dave can answer most of our ‘get to know you’ questions with one name, JOANNE. She is what he collected, she is the center of what makes up his perfect vacation, she is on his bucket list this year, she is who he wanted to meet when he was a kid, and is his proudest accomplishment.
Dave’s favorite quote is: “It is just another great day in paradise!”
Ladies, what do you think?
I think we should clone him!! We need more men in this world like Dave. :)
Thank you, Dave for sharing part of your story.
And thank you for serving as our 2019-2020 Service Chair!!
Rotarians NEEDED
Service trips to Guatemala:
· Nov 14-17, 2019
· Feb 1-9, 2020
· Feb 18-23, 2020
· July 12-18, 2020
· July 21-26, 2020
These trips offer a variety of experiences: Some are longer or shorter; some more “hands on”—and all of them give you the opportunity to be a meaningful part of Rotary’s work fighting poverty in Guatemala. Please visit https://www.guatemalaliteracy.org/ for more details.
If you have any questions, you can email me at info@guatemalaliteracy.org.
