Saturday, June 16, Mesa West Rotarians, with their spouses and friends enjoyed a rare, cool and comfortable June evening on the patio of Don and Chris LaBarge's home in Mesa. Chef Mike Krueger, prepared delicious brisket and ribs for all to enjoy along with the appetizers and desserts provided by those who attended.
Following dinner, Chuck Flint started to MC the honoring of outgoing President Allan Cady and installation of 2018-19 President Chris Krueger, but was interrupted by Ima Snitch (aka Pam Cohen) of the Rotary Rumor Recorder, who wanted to litigate impeachment proceedings against President Allan. After booing from the crowd, Judge Jones allowed her to present her case, which she did with an extensive slide show showing what she believed to be irrefutable evidence that Allan had operated under the name of his alias, Allan Cady, along with his accomplice, also operating under an alias, Pollyanne Cady, but were actually Alonso Cadini and Polly Panache, who were using the alias names after being relocated with new names by the witness protection program. Ima Snitch's slide show attempted to prove that Alonso and Polly had reverted to their old ways, gathering money from illegal sources, storing it in peanut butter jars and shipping it out of the country where they partied with other accomplices.
Attorney, Bert Millet, used the same photos with his defense of President Cady demonstrating what he felt was irrefutable evidence that President Allan and Pollyanne had acted in completely selfless ways throughout the year doing good in the community and internationally. After the defense rested its case, Judge Jones asked those present to serve as the jury and vote "guilty," which would result in President Allan's impeachment or "not guilty." which would allow him to retire and continue to serve the club with the honor of being our Immediate Past President Allan. The not guilty vote was nearly unanimous with only Ima Snitch voting to impeach.
Following the trial, President Allan honored those who had served on his team during his Presidential year, giving each a Rotary 4-Way-Test Coin. He also named those who had perfect attendance during his tenure: John Benedict, Don Boucher, Allan Cady, Polly Cady, Pam Cohen, Dan Coons, Chuck Flint, Lucinda General, Chris Krueger, Don LaBarge, Jeanie Morgan, John Pennypacker, Jack Rosenberg, Jim Schmidt, Ray Smith, and Warren Williamson. He handed out perfect attendance certificates those named who were present. He surprised Jeanie Morgan, naming her Rotarian of the Year for her work in developing the Messenger electronic newsletter and promotion of the club through social media. He also had help surprising Jeanie with a flag to hang in our meeting room honoring her service as District 5490 District Governor in 2009-10. He also remarked that he had not realized until this event how well connected Don LaBarge was with our creator, but was impressed that Don apparently called in some favor to end the Arizona drought and lower the typical June temperatures so his guests could be comfortable for the changing of the guard.
President Allan and President-Elect Chris Krueger exchanged pins, with Chris pinning Allan with his Past President's pin and Polly assisting by pinning Chris with the President's pin.
Chris accepted her new responsibilities, saying she would be scared to death if Mesa West wasn't such an outstanding club of great leaders who are always willing to work to accomplish goals set by the club. Significant changes in her team will be Jim Schmidt serving as President-Elect while continuing his Treasurer duties. Donna Goetzenberger will serve as Club Secretary. Allan and Polly Cady will serve as co-chairs of Community Service. Don LaBarge and Don Boucher will serve as co-chairs of Membership. Pam Cohen will continue in her role as Club Service chair (social chair extraordinaire). Chuck Flint will continue as Foundation Chair. Ray Smith will continue as International Chair. Ed Koeneman will continue as Youth Services Chair supported by Dan Coons as Youth Exchange Chair. Jeanie Morgan will continue as Public Image Chair. Brian Goetzenberger will lead our fundraising effort supported by Pam Cohen and Allan Cady. Greg Okonowsky and Ron Thompson will share the Sgt at Arms Duties. Steve Ross will continue to coordinate our guest speakers.
After Chris' presentation, Allan Cady was called back to the podium where he was informed that to honor his service, a $500 scholarship honoring his year of service will be given in the spring of 2019 to a deserving Westwood High School student. He was also given a card which brought some sentimental tears to his eyes. The card was from Polly telling him he was a star and that she was very proud of the way he had led the club and all the many accomplishment achieved by the club this past year.
CLICK HERE or click on the collage of photos to bring up the entire Album of photos taken by Wayne General at the event. Higher resolution photos of each of the images are available upon request.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do... go visit Rotary Club Roma Est. Mesa West Past President Ed Koeneman enjoyed a presentation about astronomy and meteors as well as a presentation about a recent club service project addressing violence in schools.
Click on the photo to see the rest of the album Ed posted on the Rotary Club of Mesa West Facebook page on June 4.
President, Allan Cady opened the meeting by asking members to observe a moment of silence honoring those who lost their lives in the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion before Jack Rosenberg led the Pledge of Allegiance. Ray Smith led those present in singing the minstrel song, "Camptown Races" to get members in the mood to enjoy the Belmont Stakes coming up on June 9.
Guests present at the meeting were Takuma, our inbound Youth Exchange Student from Japan, Carolyn Jones, Alex Hopkins (a soon-to-be Past District Governor from District 5030 in Washington, Andrew Martinez, and Dana, President-Elect from the Tempe Downtown Rotary Club.
Don LaBarge was almost a "triple-crown" winner at the meeting. His badge number was drawn in the attendance drawing. Next, the raffle ticket drawn was held by him, making him the winner of the record breaking $71 weekly pot. He very meticulously shuffled the few cards remaining in the deck and carefully chose a card. He apparently did not understand which card he needed to draw. He drew the 8 of clubs rather than the Ace of Clubs, so the accumulating pot (now up to $1,651) will roll over to the June 21 meeting, when the odds of winning will be even greater.
Donna Goetzenberger paid happy dollars for the opportunity to enjoy the District Conference June 1-3. Ted Williams paid happy dollars for a new grandbaby in their family - number 47. Counting great grandchildren, there are now 57.
Jim Crutcher paid $100 happy dollars. Berge ford won the Triple Crown with Ford. In 2015, the dealership won the President's Award placing in the top 335 in Customer Satisfaction and won 1st place in their group. In 2016, they won again. In 2017, the rules changed. The Berge employees were all committed to win it. They had to be a Presidents Award Winner, be a Premier Parts and Service Winner and place in the top 100 in the nation in sales. In July, they were falling short and only had three months remaining. They had a good October. In December, they sold 42 cars to employees or their family members. On December 7, Craig Berge died. Nancy and her daughters came to the rescue asking his loyal employees to "Do it for Craig!" On December 20, they knew they qualified for the President's Award. December 21, the dealership was closed so all could attend Craig's celebration of life where there was standing room only. December 22 everyone went back to work with lots of dedication from family and employees. They moved from 132 to 80th place in five months. They won the triple crown. In March, they had a big celebration with employees, spouses, kids, and vendors at Rawhide. Nancy Berge went to Florida in May to celebrate the Triple Crown win. Jim had sent a story about the inspiration and dedication of their staff. The story was used to highlight the celebration at the Florida event.
John Pennypacker paid happy dollars as a proud son of Capt. Jack Pennypacker, a World War II Pilot who was in the lead echelon of bombers during D-Day. In 2016, John visited the base in England where his dad was based. Pam Cohen paid happy dollars for some extraordinarily good customer service at Berge Ford. Polly Cady paid happy dollars for the outstanding group of Inbound, Outbound and prior Youth Exchange Students that were present at the District Conference. Allan Cady paid $5 happy bucks because we met our donation goal for Interact DGE, Colton Cagle's upcoming Crutches for Africa trip, because the District Conference was great, because Mesa West had twelve members in attendance at the conference. and for the District Achievement Award he received for our club while there.
Soon the second year of our sponsorship program will kick off.
President Allan called for a vote in the President-Elect and Secretary positions. voting on the ByLaws has been tabled for the time being because of something that came to light that may need to be corrected before the new governing documents are ready for club approval.
Announcements:
The club will be dark (no regular meetings) on June 14 and July 5.
The Changing of the Guard (installation social) will be held June 16 at the home of Don and Chris LaBarge. The main course will be ribs. Members planning to attend were asked to bring an appetizer or dessert and their own adult beverages.
Don LaBarge had an award to present. At International Conventions, typically a unique convention pin is sold to help support the costs of the convention. In Houston, the pin looked like a Sheriff's pin. At the 2007 Salt Lake City Convention, the International President asked a small team (of which Don LaBarge was a member) to seize some pins about which there was a dispute about registration and trademark. Somehow, Don ended up with a few that were not destroyed. He presented one of those pins to Takuma.
The June 7 meeting was another in the series of business networking meetings featured this year. President Allan first introduced Wendell Jones, who loves to joke and tries to be funny.
Wendell was the oldest of 8 children in his family and was raised on a farm two miles inside New Mexico. As a teen, he was up at 5:00 a.m., milked cows, fed stock, fed chickens, gathered eggs, practiced the piano and arrived at church seminary at 6:30 a.m. and then, after all that, attended school. At 3:00 p.m. he went home to Verden and went to work on the farm doing assigned work for the day , such as chopping cotton, picking cotton, bucking hay, trapping gophers, etc. When he got older, he learned that not everyone works that hard. His family strongly instilled the value of "to serve, you have to work." Church was #1 followed by family in their priorities.
Living in the country, accidents and broken bones are commonplace. At age 7, he was crushed in a tractor accident. He was in a body cast for months. He recovered and basketball was his life in Junior High, High School, and College. Wendell learned to love music. He plays saxophone, piano, and loves to sing. His claim to fame is that he graduated from the 8th grade with honors two years in a row from two different schools in two separate states. He begged to take the 8th grade over because had been moved ahead when in the small Verden, N.M. elementary school, and he did not want to try to make the basketball team in the larger Arizona high school when he was a year younger than most of the other freshmen.
Wendell attended Junior College in Eastern Arizona. He enjoyed time spent serving on a mission for his church in Guatemala - El Salvador where he perfected his spanish and to this day loves speaking it. After returning to the states, he finished college at Brigham Young University. He married, passed the CPA exam and went to work for Arthur Andersen in their Los Angeles office. He worked there for 3 years before transferring with the firm to their Phoenix office. Sadly, his marriage ended in divorce after his relocation. A year after the move, his Uncle Maury Jones persuaded him to leave Arthur Andersen and join Henry and Horne.
Wendell has been with Henry and Horne for 44 years, 40 years as a partner and four of those years as their managing partner. One of the bonuses that he discovered at his new firm was his "better 90%, Carolyn." He technically retired 10 years ago so he and Carolyn could serve a mission for their Church, but he remained connected to the firm and continues to serve some 50-60 clients. His title is Partner Emeritus. He has an office, sets his own schedule and works a couple of days a week during tax season and maybe one day every two weeks outside of tax season.
At the time Wendell became a Henry and Horne partner, they had 20 offices spread throughout the state. With that structure, each partner in each office had to be knowledgeable about everything, making specialization difficult. When Wendell and his successor became managing partners, they consolidated down to three larger offices located in Tempe, Scottsdale, and Casa Grande. This change enabled them to emerge as experts in areas of accounting specialization. In addition to being experts in delivering regular accounting services, they became known as specialists in the following areas:
Audits, compilations and reviews
Business valuations
Money management
Business taxation and planning
Individual taxation and planning
Estate, gift and trust taxation and planning
International taxation
Wendell personally worked with auto dealers, real estate investors, agricultural owners and professional business owners. The move to specialize was very beneficial to the firm. Today Henry and Horne is known as the largest locally owned accounting firm in Arizona.
The firm has been recognized for the following achievements:
Named as one of Accounting Today's 100 Best Accounting Firms to Work For in the United States in 2017
Named among Arizona's Most Admired Companies by the Arizona Business Magazine for three years running
Ranked in the Top 10 Best of Arizona's Business Accounting Firms with 30 or more CPA's every year for the last ten years.
When Wendell joined Henry and Horne, they encouraged him to be involved in the community. He has loved being involved in Rotary for the last thirty years and has served many other community organizations, including service on their boards. As stated earlier, he met Carolyn after joining the firm. They were both single with children at the time at the time they met. He had six and she had three, so they started their marriage with quite a large family. Today they have 42 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren, and they love every one!
They have enjoyed vacationing with their family. A highlight was time spent travelling to and from a reunion in Nauvoo, Illinois, seeing all the Church sites along the way and spending several nights at the Tievoli Hills Resort in Missouri.
The next presenter, Dan Coons, was introduced by President Allan.
Dan was born in Springfield, Illinois. He was the middle of three children, the only boy, with one older and one younger sister. Growing up, he learned home maintenance from his dad. They lived on the edge of town and could see farmland from their home. He has a sister who is married to a Sheriff in Illinois, a fact that would not grant any favors for him or his friends who might visit there.
At the time Dan relocated to Mesa, it was his first time west of Missouri. His first job was with Fry's Food Stores at 35th Avenue and Van Buren. He left that job quickly. He started college at age 25. After college, he worked in an Accounting job in Midland, Texas. He returned to Mesa, joining a local accounting firm. He consulted with banks in Texas. When Dan first joined Rotary, his classification was "unemployed."
Through Dan's involvement with Rotary, he learned how to give. He loves the international experiences available through Rotary. He led a GSE team to Australia, and both of his sons have been Youth Exchange students.
Dan's Rotary sponsor introduced him to the printing business about 23 years ago. During that time, he has seen a lot of technological changes, and in the industry, the demand for paper printing has significantly declined.
Five years ago, Dan married Collen and gained 13 and 14-year-old sons. Becoming a "family man," has greatly improved his life.
Following Dan's presentation, President Allan asked for five more minutes. Because the club will be dark on June 14, and he and Polly will be travelling to the International Convention and will both miss the June 21 and June 28 meetings, the June 7 meeting was the last meeting of his presidential year. He was very emotional as he thanked the club for honoring him by electing him to be their 2017-18 Club President. "Mesa West is a wonderful club. It has been a very rewarding year." He will no longer be President, but he and Polly will continue to serve the club during Chris Krueger's year, attempting to fill the big shoes of Don LaBarge, as co-chairs of Community Service. He was confident under Chris Krueger's leadership, next year will be even better.
Kristen Klein was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has a younger brother, and he is her only other sibling.
Kristen has been an Arizona resident for a year. She has traveled to eight foreign countries - Canada, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Germany, Austria, the Philipines, and People's Republic of China (Hong Kong).
Kristen says she is no longer fluent in any other language than English, but was formerly "mostly" fluent in American Sign Language and German. She has lived in three states: Minnesota, Nevada and Arizona.
Kristen is an audiologist at Good Sound Audiology, PLLC. She has been an audiologist for two 2 years. She is single and does not have any children. Her favorite vacation memory is time spent in Belize in late March to early April.
Kristen's most rewarding volunteer experience was working with Loaves & Fishes--a program in Minnesota that provided food to those in need. She is eagerly looking forward to combining her professional skills with her passion for service by participating in Mesa West's signature project - the Gift of Hearing Mission in Guaymas, Mexico.
Erica Williams was born in Flint, Michigan. With one younger brother, Erica is the oldest of two children in her family.
Erica has been an Arizona resident for thirty-two years. She has travelled to three foreign countries. Although she studied Spanish for five and a half years while in school, she wishes she had kept it up better as today she says she is only fluent in English. She has her children in a language immersion program and will strongly encourage them to continue to use those skills beyond their schooling.
Erica has resided in Michigan, Florida, Illinois and Arizona. She has been in Arizona since she was six and now lives only two miles from where she grew up.
As a teen, Erica dreamed only of growing up. She liked school and learning and working with people. She says where she landed for her career is a perfect fit. She says her original college path in engineering would not have been a good fit.
Erica has been in the Audiology/Hearing Science field for fourteen years in a variety of capacities. First as a clinical audiologist, then concurrently as a PhD student engaged in research, and now as a Clinical Associate Professor at Arizona State University.
Erica has been married to Scott for fifteen years. They have two daughters - Rachel, age 10, and Meredith, age 8. She has two favorite vacation memories. She enjoyed Alaska during the summer, and Main, also during the summer. She remembers lots of tasty lobster in Maine. She says the scenery and climate of somewhere further north are always welcome summer changes. They enjoy picking a new and random place where they've never gone before to enjoy each summer.
Erica has participated in the Guaymas Gift of Hearing mission for the past four years. She says the "trip has been a mind-opening and rewarding experience into other cultures, perspectives, and gratitude." She enjoys volunteering in her children's classrooms or field trips, which she finds rewarding in a different way. Her children feel special because she is there, and she has fun observing "the group dynamic of all the young minds learning to work together."
I don't know anyone who ever met Jerry Traylor who were not inspired and enriched in some way from that encounter. I had the privilege of hearing his presentations at RYLA for many years. I know he had a positive impact on countless young lives. Most teens see themselves as seriously flawed in one way or another. Seeing and hearing Jerry took away all their excuses for letting those flaws get in the way of dreaming large and achieving much!
Jerry was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago and fought that last battle valiently, but was peaceful and ready to move on to his final reward when he passed from this life in hospice care on June 10, 2018. I pulled my copy of his book, LIVE CAREFULLY off the shelf after hearing of his death. Back in my RYLA days, every participant took a copy of this book home with them. I plan to slowly re-read mine and remember my friend.
A memorial service for Jerry will be held Saturday, July 14, 2018 (his 64th birthday) at Shepherd of the Hills Church, 16150 E. El Lago Blvd., Fountain Hills, Arizona. The best way to honor Jerry will be to remember "the importance of caring in a life of significance."
Rotary Fellowships are international groups that share a common passion. Being part of a fellowship is a fun way to make friends around the world, explore a hobby or profession, and enhance your Rotary experience.
Click on the image to find more information on the Rotary International website about existing fellowships, how to start a new fellowship, etc. The photo was taken at an event enjoyed by members of the Antique Automobile Rotary Fellowship.
Our 2018-19 District 5495 inbound exchange students will arrive at Sky Harbor on July 28. The time of arrival is not yet known. Mesa West Rotarians are encouraged to hold this date on their calendar and plan to be at the airport to give a warm Mesa West welcome to Caio and his fellow inbound students.
We have in inbound young man from Ecuador who will be arriving in August.
He will be attending Campo Verde High School in Gilbert on Germann Road near Lindsay Road. We currently have two home hosts, Frank Rosenberg and Dan Coons, for the student but three is the magic number for the best experience. So here is your opportunity:
You’re accepting a teenage boy into your home and treating him as your own child for 3 months.
You’re making sure he gets to and from school everyday as well as any after or before school activities.
You will have to complete some paperwork and be approved by the District Youth Committee and the U.S. State Department.
Yes, this takes some energy and effort...BUT the rewards are enormous!
You get to build a lifelong relationship with a student and maybe his family from a different part of the world.
You get to see first hand the activities all of the exchange students are doing and participate if you like.
You get the great feeling of being an ambassador for our club, our state and our country.
If you have a trip or event planned that wouldn’t be conducive to having an exchange student you have Frank and Dan to back you up.
If interested please call Dan Coons at 480-216-7836. You won’t want to miss out on the fun!
Many members have commented on how much they have enjoyed this series. We have now finished publishing profiles of all the leadership team. It is time to move on to the general membership. To keep the profiles somewhat consistent, we have had everyone respond to the same questions. If you would be willing to let your fellow members know a little more about you, please CLICK HERE to download the list of questions.
You can send your answers to JEANIE MORGAN along with a head and shoulders photo of yourself. Selfies from smart phones work and can be texted to 928 486 4328. Please provide your name when texting so she can add you to her contact list.
If she receives multiple profiles, she will publish them in the order received. If she receives these at the same meeting, she will publish them in the order of time in Rotary - longest to shortest.
This article will reappear in the Messenger anytime there is not a waiting list of profiles to be published.
Business networking is something President Allan Cady is passionate about. He has asked Jeanie Morgan to work on putting together a business directory of our members. We will be able to have the directory available as a download on our website, but since we will be adding new members regularly, it will be maintained electronically so it will be current at all times. The photo shown is a reduced size sample of what each person's listing might look like. To do this so it is a quality product, Jeanie will need digital images of your business card as well as a close-up, current photo. CLICK HERE to send yours to her.
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President, Allan Cady opened the meeting by asking members to observe a moment of silence honoring those who lost their lives in the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion before Jack Rosenberg led the Pledge of Allegiance. Ray Smith led those present in singing the minstrel song, "Camptown Races" to get members in the mood to enjoy the Belmont Stakes coming up on June 9..jpg)
Kristen Klein was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has a younger brother, and he is her only other sibling.
I don't know anyone who ever met Jerry Traylor who were not inspired and enriched in some way from that encounter. I had the privilege of hearing his presentations at RYLA for many years. I know he had a positive impact on countless young lives. Most teens see themselves as seriously flawed in one way or another. Seeing and hearing Jerry took away all their excuses for letting those flaws get in the way of dreaming large and achieving much! 
Our 2018-19 District 5495 inbound exchange students will arrive at Sky Harbor on July 28. The time of arrival is not yet known. Mesa West Rotarians are encouraged to hold this date on their calendar and plan to be at the airport to give a warm Mesa West welcome to Caio and his fellow inbound students..png)
Many members have commented on how much they have enjoyed this series. We have now finished publishing profiles of all the leadership team. It is time to move on to the general membership. To keep the profiles somewhat consistent, we have had everyone respond to the same questions. If you would be willing to let your fellow members know a little more about you, please 
Business networking is something President Allan Cady is passionate about. He has asked Jeanie Morgan to work on putting together a business directory of our members. We will be able to have the directory available as a download on our website, but since we will be adding new members regularly, it will be maintained electronically so it will be current at all times. The photo shown is a reduced size sample of what each person's listing might look like. To do this so it is a quality product, Jeanie will need digital images of your business card as well as a close-up, current photo. 
