edited by
JOHN GRELCK
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The month of December has been a very memorable month and I would like the Rotarians that made it possible. First there was the bell ringing for the Salvation Army that was chaired by Don Oaks and Paul Matthies. Then there was Santa's Sled with Ed Andrisek, Bob France, John Rasmussen, and Greg Pensa. The next thing was our Christmas party at the Alisal, which was arranged by Ken Mills and the singing by Suzanne Hollrah and Elle Seymour. And finally the Children's Christmas Party was arranged and put on by Suzanne Hollrah and Elle Seymour, with some help from Bob Moir. We are really lucky to have two Rotarians as talented as Suzanne and Elle. I would also like to update you on our Rotary Centennial Project. First our club, the Solvang Rotary, and the Los Olivos Rotary, have received the money or commitments for over $160,000. Most of the items on the Dream Castle List have been committed or received. We are now in the process of selling pavers for the Walk of Honor. The pavers are a donation of $100 and you can have a logo for $15 extra. The big project is going to be the arrangement of the labor to assemble the project. The assemble will take place between April 27 and May 1 and we will be taking sign up for your time soon. Your Rotary Board and I as your President would like to make a special request that all of you take part of the assemble of our project. We have had a couple of new members join our club in the past year. One of them was Bob Hinnrichs, who gave his "Get Acquainted Talk" the first week of December. For those of you who were not able to make the meeting, here is a brief snapshot of Bob: Bob grew up in North Hollywood, in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles and moved to the Santa Ynez Valley in 1988. Bob attended UCLA where he graduated with a degree in Applied Physics. After graduating from college, he worked for the Bendix Corporation and later, Litton Data Systems, as an electronics design engineer. He was involved in the design and development of electronics systems for the military programs such as the Navy automatic homing torpedo, aircraft command and control systems for the Marine Corps and position fixing/navigation systems for the Army. At the Rocketdyne division of Rockwell International, he was the Director of Electronics Engineering, and was involved in the development of rocket engines for NASA space programs. A key assignment was the development of the Space Shuttle rocket engines, with the responsibility for the development of the onboard computers, instruments and control valves that control the rocket engines. Later at Rockwell, he was assigned the position of the Chief Program Engineer for the NASA Space Station, and worked on the development of that spacecraft system. In 1995, he left Rockwell and joined his then wife Michele at Pacific Advanced Technology, a small aerospace company that they started in Santa Ynez, involved in the development of electro-optical systems for the military and industry. Bob recently retired in January 2004, and is now involved in growing wine grapes, and other numerous hobbies. "One Christmas morning, I found in the chimney corner a brightly painted sled with a picture of a reindeer painted on the seat. It was the gift of my father then working in a toy factory in Springfield. That was the most joyous of all the many Christmas Days of my boyhood". Paul P. Harris from "My Road to Rotary" [p74] We are always looking for articles or updates about our members and all the Rotary activity that occurs in the Valley. Please contact myself or Len Dalberg if you want something in future Cogwheels. Coming Programs Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2005 @ 12:10PM "1969 Moon Walk" by Mike Cavalier Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005 @ 12:10PM "History of Navajo Textiles and Rugs" by Merlin Carlson Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2005 @ 12:10PM "World War II War Experiences" by Richard Brown |
