SIR #54 NEWSLETTER CELEBRATING 41 YEARS
1974 2016
SIR #54 is jumping into year 42. SIR was founded in 1958 and our chapter #54 was chartered in 1974. Twenty years ago in 1996, we had 236 members including
twelve charter members. Here are some pictures from last May:
Trivia Answers gleaned from the audio tape of our 40th Anniversary: We used to have an inhouse band that played every meeting, we had 275 members, and members arrived to the meeting one day to find the building padlocked by the Sheriff (Zorba’s) so they met on the porch. Hawaiian Gardens (PERFORMING BULLFROGS!) was mentioned as a venue for Fiesta BBQ, now known at “Ladies Day.” It was also noted on “funny hat (or shirt) day,” if you arrived without proper attire, you were sent to JAIL and had to pay $5 to get bailed out. Hawaiian Gardens became Italian Gardens and then became high
density housing. While this year is not a “major milestone,” we will have cake. NEXT LUNCH MAY 12 @ 3 FLAMES MAIN MENU: CHICKEN PARMESAN ALTERNATE: PASTA PRIMAVERA ICE CREAM: $2 EXTRA (GRAB A ROOSTER) CAKE: CERTAINLY SPEAKER: Dan Haifley (see page 3)
1
SIR #54 NEWSLETTER CELEBRATING 41 YEARS
1974 2016
JOHN KNAPP APPOINTED LITTLE SIR Big Sir Report, by Hersh Brown
Our CHAPLAIN, John Knapp was appointed to serve out the current Little Sir Term.
I’m told Tom Conte even polished up the Little Sir Pin before passing it on to John. A group hug at our last meeting marked the change. And the real good news is John will stay on the job as chaplain and will train night and day with Professor Kabanek to learn the many roles and come up with some good jokes. Our nominating committee came up with a full slate of SIRS willing to serve our branch next year. Forget that I jumped the gun and tried to prematurely install them all last month, according to rule 131, that slate will officially be announced in the July Newsletter. Thanks to the nominating committee and chair Stephen Speciale.
EMERITUS MEMBERS Five SIRS with a tenure of 115 years were voted into “Emeritus status” at the last BEC Meeting. They are: Warren Upton, Clyde Allen, John Vargas, Stephen Popovich and Bill DeMatteis. Emeritus Status is for deserving members who don’t meet “active member” requirements but
they are “considered” active and can participate in all functions as they are able. For more information, see rule #55, passed in Nov. 2014. This has an immediate effect of reducing “active members” by three. I anticipate the next BEC Meeting will move some other members to “inactive status.” We have about 38% of our members not attending lunch and 20% not paying dues. And many of these members are avoiding attempts to contact them. So we will take a temporary hit in “active” members but this comes at at a time when we are also having trouble keeping track of many new faces coming in the door. I have high hopes we can get closer to the 70% goal for luncheon attendance and end up with at least one more member than the previous year (The State Goal for each branch). But it all depends on you. We have and a few guests already set for the next meeting, but there is plenty of room for more. HAPPY MAY BIRTHDAY TO SIRS: HASTINGS, SEIDL, CONTE, FUJIYAMA, GULLION, ROHRIG, MUSGRAVE, POPOVICH, KNAPP, ALLEN, THOMPSON, WAILING, and TYNER
2
SIR #54 NEWSLETTER CELEBRATING 41 YEARS
1974 2016
Dan Haifley, May 12 Speaker By Mario Vazquez, Speaker’s Chairman Dan Haifley, Executive Director of O'Neill Sea Odyssey Dan provides great learning opportunities at OSO for school kids. Some of the kids from inner cities have never been in the ocean. OSO takes them to sea on their Catamaran and gives them hands on experience in: Sailing and navigation.
1. Ecology Info. about Monterey Bay Sanctuary’s characteristics and marine life and habitats.
2. Marine Biology Info. about what's in seawater like plankton and its role in the
food web. They take a sample of water and then go ashore to examine it under a microscope in the Ed. Center.
3. Dan said that OSO is a nonprofit and the educational service is provided free. 4. Dan will have a slide show to show us their their program. Plan to attend. He has been highly recommended and we can learn a lot about our ocean water.
GOLF NEWS By Tom Bombaci, Golf Chairman
52416 Pajaro Valley tournament 09:00 am times only $55.00 format: 4man 2 best ball all events include golf, cart & prize please have your money to me no later than 5916 remember early money in, early ttime. Please make checks payable to: Sirs branch 54 golf & if you have any questions please call me 4086004152 ED. Note: Gov Taylor asked us to publicize this tournament at Atlantis:
GOLF/ATLA Click link for flyer for Atlantis Golf June 2024 3
SIR #54 NEWSLETTER CELEBRATING 41 YEARS
1974 2016
ALOHA! July Meeting Tickets on Sale $21 May 12th
By Tom Marron The July 14th meeting will be our mid year typical Ladies Day program which should be of interest to our wives or significant others. The meal will be standard fair plus desert. Price will be $21.00 per person. Tickets can be purchased at the May and June meetings and will also be sold on the day of the meeting.
We are planning to have The Aloha Nani Hula Dancers perform they will provide Hawaiian Music and dance for us. If you are away you can feel free to mail me a check “Payable to Sons in Retirement” and I will get the tickets to you. Tom Marron, 3372 Oxford Lane, San Jose, CA. 95117 4086056291. Please remember that we will also have a raffle, so plan on bringing something, which will support our Holiday meeting in December. Dues If you have not paid your dues, they are now delinquent, which means we will need to bill you direct. Please mail a check to my address or pay at the May meeting. $25.00.
4
SIR #54 NEWSLETTER CELEBRATING 41 YEARS
1974 2016
NEXT DAY TRIP MAY 19TH
By Michael Hastings Southbay Historical Railroad Society Santa Clara Cal Train Station (1863) Date: Thursday May 19 Time: 10:30 Where: 1005 Railroad Ave Santa Clara, CA. Fees: Tour is free but parking is $5.00. Dining: Quiznos, Starbucks or Hula Dogs. This is a location that might bring back memories. I have a Lionel Train set in the attic. It is 027 size. As a kid, it was set up in our garage complete with caboose, buildings, trees etc. and had friends that had much fancier setups. That was a fun time. There was an active Railroad Station in our town bringing passengers and items from New York to Massachusetts and further. So why not take our tour of the South Bay Historical Railroad Depot. Say we might ask members to bring mementos from their railroads sets to our next meeting…
NEXT HIKE MAY 13TH
By Marcel Tomassian
Quicksilver County Park Date: Friday May 13 Time: 10:00 Where: McAbee Road, San Jose Fees: None, Park on Street Dining: Oranges Our next hike will again take place on the day after our monthly meeting on May 13. We will return to the Quicksilver County Park which was too muddy to complete during our first attempt. We will meet at 10:00 A.M. at the McAbee trail head. If you are coming from Almaden, take right on McAbee and go past a school on the right side and until the street makes a sharp turn to the left. There is no parking lot so park on the street. The hike will be about 3.7 miles with 1/3 uphill, 1/3 flat and 1/3 downhill. As always, no senior will be left behind. Boots and some drinking water are recommended. I may bring some oranges. Pictured above are happy hikers from April’s Hike from Los Gatos to Lexington Reservoir. A record number of members and one spouse met on tax day for the April hike. [ED NOTE: BRANCH 39 HAS EXPRESSED AN INTEREST IN JOINING OUR HIKES]
5
SIR #54 NEWSLETTER CELEBRATING 41 YEARS
1974 2016
DAY TRIPS: The Big Bug Event
By Michael Hastings, Local Tours The County Vector Control put on their second Open House on April 20, 2016
and "WE WERE THERE." Weather was fine and there was much to see. Booths showed many of the facets of their facility. There were two tours which our group went on. One was triple troughs filled with fish that eat mosquitos (YUM). They are available to the general public and companies that have ponds
that might attract mosquitos. The second tour was of their labs with samples of all types of bugs, microscopes and the like. They look for new bugs and diseases passed by bugs. The many tent displays showed how to protect your home from termites, rats and the like. I was happy to meet a new friend! See the attached pictures. Thank you all for coming and keep your eyes open for future tours. “Stick Bug”
Mosquito Fighting Gear, Mosquito Eating Fish Tank and 8 Mosquito Targets
6
SIR #54 NEWSLETTER CELEBRATING 41 YEARS
1974 2016
Treasurer’s Report by Pierre Garbedian March Beginning Gen’l Fund……… $1268 Revenue……………………………………..…$125 Gen’ Fund Expense…………………...….$132 Custodial Fund Revenue………..………$100 Custodial Fund Expense…………..………$ 0 March Ending Balance………....……
$1362
On the Mend
Bob Vazquez is recovering from knee replacement surgery. Peter Guerin completed Chemo and is back among us.
Leo Scherschel is recovering
from a fall and really misses bowling, but he made it to last month’s lunch. Jim Wright never missed a metting, but he did spend three days in Kaiser with Pneumonia. And his wife had two stays at Kaiser and now is in rehab for a hip fracture. If you are aware of someone “on the mend,” please let your Big SIR and Newsletter Editor know. Hersh Brown [email protected]
MEMORIAL DAY ACTIVITIES
ZINGERS Last Christmas this group mentioned they would have a Patriotic Concert around Memorial Day. According to their Facebook Page, that concert is Sunday May 3, at San Jose Christian Reformed Church, 5051 Camden Avenue, San Jose. Time 3:00 PM. CIVIL WAR Last November, Richard Ferman spoke to our group about Civil War Connections to Santa Clara County. One of those connections was Quick Silver Mine facilitating GOLD Processing. Our hiking club will be exploring that area May 13. (story on Page 5). Richard also mentioned there is an annual Civil War Ceremony at Oakhill Memorial Park simultaneous but separate with the bigger United Veteran’s Council Ceremony at 11 AM on Memorial Day.
7
SIR #54 NEWSLETTER CELEBRATING 41 YEARS
1974 2016
TO:
8
Top Related