New District Governor Tom Markos and his wife, Nancy, paid our club a visit last Wednesday. Our District has something like 74 clubs, and Tom plans to get around to all of them in the coming year.

New DG Tom Markos and his wife Nancy accept a “thank you” orchid and bottle of wine from President Leah Griffith
Tom’s passion is the Rotary Foundation, which will mark its 100th anniversary in 2017. He gave a number of moving examples and stories of all the good our donations do. For example, a $5 donation, when matched by the Foundation, will buy 3 dictionaries to give to children who may never have owned a book before. Or, it could buy a vial of vaccine and help ensure that 10 kids will not get polio.
Tom stressed that we should all be proud to wear the Rotary pin. Rotary has helped so many around the world through its projects and Foundation grants, and it promotes worldwide friendships and business connections.
2017 will also mark the anniversary of 30 years of women having membership opportunities in Rotary. Currently, 15% of members worldwide are women; 22% in North America and 32% in our District.
Some background on Tom:
- Originally from Ogden, Utah
- First joined Rotary in Wyoming in 1983
- Joined the Kruse Way club when he moved to Oregon, then was a charter member of the West Linn club
- Has 4 kids and 3 grandkids
- Likes to scuba dive
He also announced that next year’s District Conference will be Memorial Day weekend (May 26 – 28) in Seaside. The keynote speaker will be Sylvia Whitlock, a woman who was instrumental in getting the rules changed to permit women to join Rotary. Best to book right now while hotel rooms and discounts are available.
Guests

Ass’t Gov. Renee Brouse
In addition to Tom and his wife:
–Assistant Governor Renee Brouse, who introduced Tom as our speaker
–Newberg City Manager Joe Hannon –Leah’s boss and a Kiwanian, but we let him in anyway
–Mike Pollock, the Yamhill County Director for Helping Hands, with LeRoy Benham
–Stuart Wilkins, a friend of Fred Gregory’s
–Judy Robinson, who will be inducted into our club next week
Coming up
TUESDAY: Rotary is sponsoring Tunes on Tuesday tomorrow. Come on out and show your support. Chehalem Cultural Center from 6:30 to 8:30pm. Gates open at 5:30pm.
WEDNESDAY: We will learn about the history of our Club, presented by our summer intern, Britta Stewart.
NEXT WEEKEND: Annual pancake breakfast time! Please sign up to help if you haven’t already. Some people, who will go unnamed, like Jim McMaster and Auggie Gonzales, can’t join us this year because they will either be on a water polo cruise in Croatia or at a family reunion. They’ll be missed.