Tom Simon, an Assistant Governor for Rotary District 5520, (with microphone) installs the new 2021-2022 Board of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos: from left, Skip King, Avenues of Service; Linda Hull, Vice-President; Laura Gonzales, Immediate Past President and Acting Secretary; Oliver Morris, President; Kurt Steinhaus, President-Elect; Tim Bullock, Membership and Tracie Binion, The Rotary Foundation. Photo by Kateri Morris
Rotary Interact mentors Rob Metcalf, Sandy Tobin, and Alison Pannell with Interactors Pippa Fung and Yun Kim. Photo by Kateri Morris
Rotary Club President Laura Gonzales welcomes Rotarians and their guests to the Year-End Party and Awards Ceremony on June 25 at Cottonwood on the Greens. Photo by Bob Hull
Jim O’Donnell receives a Paul Harris Fellow pin from Linda and Skip King. Photo by Bob Hull
BY LINDA HULL
Vice President
Rotary Club of Los Alamos
It was a celebration a long time in the making! On June 25, the Rotary Club of Los Alamos met in person for the first time since March 2020. The occasion was the annual Year-End Party and Awards Ceremony at Cottonwood on the Greens marking the end of Rotary’s operating year, July 1-June 30, and the installation of the new Board of Directors for 2021-2022.
After a warm welcome from President Laura Gonzales and a buffet dinner, Deborah Simon of the Rotary Club of Santa Fe read a memorial tribute to Rotarian Linda Anderson who passed away in October 2020. Anderson, who supported Rotary wholeheartedly, had volunteered with Simon on a multi-year Rotary water project in the highlands of Guatemala. Chuck Anderson, her husband of 60 years, then spoke tenderly about Linda, his college sweetheart.
Thurman Talley, who, with wife Gaye, had volunteered with Simon on the same water project in Guatemala, was also remembered fondly for his contributions to Rotary in a memorial read by Linda Hull, Club Vice-President. He passed away in November 2020.
Interact, the Rotary service organization for students, was represented at the celebration Tuesday evening by Los Alamos High School juniors Yun Kim and Pippa Fung. Interact was recognized for its members’ dynamic year, which drew upon the community’s support for a food and warm clothing drive for homeless residents of northern New Mexico and for a second food drive benefitting LA Cares. For meeting the challenges of the pandemic year and for providing needed assistance to the homeless and hungry, the Interact Club received the Spirit of the West 2020 Award earlier in the year, an honor bestowedby the Los Alamos-based Champions of Youth Ambitions through its Community Asset Awards program.
Tom Simon, an assistant governor for Rotary District 5520 and member of the Rotary Club of Santa Fe, installed the new Board of Directors. They are: Oliver Morris, President; Laura Gonzales, Immediate Past President and Acting Secretary; Kurt Steinhaus, President-Elect; Linda Hull, Vice-President; Lesley Harelson, Treasurer; Skip King, Avenues of Service; Tim Bullock, Membership; and Tracie Binion, The Rotary Foundation.
Alison Pannell, Laura Gonzales, and Rob Metcalf receive Paul Harris Fellow pins. Photo by Kateri Morris
New Rotary Club President Oliver Morris expresses his gratitude for Laura Gonzales’s leadership as Club President 2020-21. Photo by Kateri Morris
A special thanks was given to Laura Gonzales, who led the Club as President during the last 12 months of the pandemic. Her year encompassed accommodations for Zoom meetings, oversight of the Meals of Hope food project, which provided 40,000 servings of beans and rice to northern New Mexico food banks, and the annual CrabFest, the Club’s first drive-through fundraiser. She received a standing ovation, a gift certificate to a favorite restaurant, and her eighth Paul Harris Fellow pin, an award given to her by the Club for her outstanding service. The Paul Harris Fellow is named after Rotary’s founder and recognizes individuals who contribute $1000 to The Rotary Foundation or who have been honored by contributions in their name. Donations support Rotary’s Annual Fund, PolioPlus, and approved grants worldwide.
Chuck Anderson tells about meeting Linda Anderson, his college sweetheart and then wife of 60 years. Photo by Kateri Morris
Santa Fe Rotarian Deborah Simon reads a memorial tribute about Linda Anderson who passed away in October. Photo by Linda Hull
Lining up for the buffet at the Rotary Year-End Party and Awards Ceremony on June 25th at Cottonwood on the Greens. Photo by Kateri Morris
The Rotary Club of Los Alamos, through its Club 1312 Foundation, is a 501(c)3 non-profit and one of over 34,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary International, which now has 1.5 million members, was founded in 1905; the local Club was chartered in 1966. Rotary areas of focus include promoting peace; fighting disease, particularly polio; providing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene; supporting education; saving and enhancing the lives of mothers and children; growing economies; and protecting the environment.
Beginning July 6, the Rotary Club of Los Alamos will offer a “Room or Zoom” option. In-person meetings will be held on Tuesdays, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Community Room, Cottonwood on the Greens, at the Los Alamos County Golf Course, with Zoom also available. Guests are always welcome. For the Zoom link or to learn more about the Rotary Club of Los Alamos and its humanitarian service, please contact: Linda Hull, Vice-President, 505-662-7950.