Highlights of March 17 Meeting

 

President Dan opened the meeting by reminding members and guests of the Rotary International 2021-22 theme - Serve to Change Lives - after which he recited the Rotary Vision Statement:

 

 

Pam Cohen introduced Lucinda as a friend and mentor she met through Rotary.  She has never forgotten some of the first advice Lucinda gave her following a meeting where Pam had been announcing an upcoming event.  Lucinda explained that not even all men are sports fans, and it might be a good idea to include the descriptive word "basketball" when inviting people to participate in a shootout.  

 

Lucinda was the first - and for four years - the only child of Tony and Lucille Rose.  The family income came from a family-owned restaurant, which meant that Lucinda was around adults the majority of her time and learned to be productive and exhibit good manners at a very early age.

 

Grades 1-8, Lu attended a Catholic elementary school.  She remembered riding a school bus driven by a divorced woman.  Lu was aware that the bus driver could not receive the sacraments at church because she was divorced.  The bus driver's children attended the same school.  There was no cafeteria at the school.  The children were supposed to bring lunches from home.  When children forgot their lunch, they were allowed to knock on the door of the building behind the school, and wee given a lunch.  That happened enough with the bus driver's children that they were forbidden from knocking on the door to get the free lunch.  Lu was sharp enough to understand it was an economic problem rather than a behavior problem and she voiced her objection to those in authority about how the situation was being handled.  That prompted her father to be summoned to the school.  That was the first time Lucinda remembered being in big trouble, but she knew in her heart she was right.

 

When Lucinda was in 7th grade, she learned about a Youth Recreation Council and was able to obtain permission to represent the school on the council.

 

Lu's grandfather was a charter member and her dad was a member of a Rotary Club that met at the Rosewood Restaurant.  Her first Rotary Club speech was in a talent show hosted by the club.

 

At a very early age, Lucinda decided she was ready to "adult."  She hated the cliques in high school.  She went to Texas and didn't want to go home.  She remembered an extremely emotional phone conversation with her father in which some scarring words were spoken.  Following the conversation, she did go home to Connecticut, but immediately started spending time at the law library, trying to learn how to become an emancipated minor.  What she learned was that she could just leave and if she didn't get arrested, she could be responsible for herself, which at sixteen years and ten months, she did.

 

Back in Texas, Lucinda and her then boyfriend went over the border and were married in Mexico.  After she turned 18, they were married in a Catholic church in Texas, the same year her daughter, Leslie was born.  That was a big year.  She voted for the first time, but the wrong man won.  She was not a Carter fan.

 

During that period of time, the Iran hostage situation was in the news.  Lucinda was working in a mall at the time.  She remembered that the mall was very strict about what could and could not be displayed in or near the stores in the mall.  She felt their rules against displaying flags were overly strict and went to work to get them relaxed enough to allow the US Flag to be displayed by any store who wished to do so.  She was successful and was happy to report that it seemed to her fifty or more stores elected to display the flag.

 

Over the next few years, she had left the mall job and was working in a Denny's, she had a son, and there was enough strain on the young marriage that it ended.  Lucinda knew at the time that she was not in a position to be the best custodial parent.  Her children were raised by their father who she says did a good job.

 

After moving back to Hartford, Lu moved on to a new career selling cars.  She was the only female sales person on the dealership's staff, and gave away a free teapot with each car she sold.   Some speculated that she was just there to look for a husband.  She took in the information necessary to become a finance and leasing manager at the dealership and stayed there for close to a decade.

 

In 1990, Lucinda joined the Rotary Club of Hartford, and she became certified as a scuba diver.

 

In 1993, she moved with her new husband, Jim, to Costa Rica.  Lu joined a Rotary Club there, and was the first female member of that club.  She said the gentleman who sponsored her into the club in Costa Rica became like a second father to her.

 

May 7, 1996, Lucinda and Jim started on the most memorable trip of her lifetime.  They left Costa Rica in a 1972 Range Rover to begin a drive back to the United States.  There sere several border crossings, but had no problems at any of them.  At one point on the Yucatan Peninsula, their brakes went out.  They found themselves buried in sand in the middle of nowhere.  They were very relieved when they finally arrived in Texas.  They had travelled 6,072 miles from Costa Rica to Connecticut, and spent 43 nights on the road as they travelled through Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico before arriving in Texas, then travelling the rest of the way to Connecticut, stopping in Florida, and North Carolina on the way. 

 

Lucinda and Jim travelled from Connecticut, stopping in Kansas and Denver Colorado before arriving in Phoenix, where they would make their next home on September 5, 1996.

 

When Lucinda was installed as District Governor, she needed an escort, and requested her friend Pam to perform that duty, but only if she would wear her "mermaid" dress.  Like most District Governor years, there were high highs and low lows.  In those years, one of the first duties of a District 5510 governor was to pick up manure and the Springerville parade.  She was named the "Queen of Veal."  She went through a divorce.  She led the District admirably and has mentored many Rotary leaders since that time

 

If one wanted to have an edge playing a trivia game about Lu, you might need to remember that one of her favorite forms of entertainment is fife and drum corps performances.

 

Since 2009, Lu has been married to Wayne General, who became a Mesa West Rotary member in 2016.  He probably thought if he wanted to spend more time with Lu, that would be an action he would have to take. 

 

At one point, Lucinda recognized that every surname she has ever had has also been a noun.   She admitted that early mornings, when first awake, she is not the easiest person to get along with.  One morning, when Wayne had crossed the line into "irritating" territory (which is not hard to do at that time of day) Lu admitted she said to him, "Maybe it's time for another noun."  

 

One of the accomplishments that Lu is most proud of - where Rotary is concerned - is the time she spent working with PDG George Wheeler to smooth the bumps in the road as two Rotary Districts were merged into one.  She finds it very rewarding to see how smoothly the combined district - District 5495 - is now running. 

 

Lu will finish her Rotary Zone Coordinator duties June 30, and plans to focus her Rotary energy closer to home. She and Wayne enjoy travel, opera, and entertaining.  They also both enjoy photography.  There are lots of opportunities to follow one's passions in Rotary.  She encouraged each Rotarian to follow their passion in Rotary and see where it takes them.

 

It will be interesting to watch where Lu goes from here.