Classification Talks

Warren Wilson’s classification is Marketing Executive. Warren grew up in Cheyenne, graduated from the University of Wyoming and received his commission as an Army Infantry officer. That was his first career and he said it was a good one, with super people keeping this country free, and he thanked God each day for the dedicated men and women who continue that mission today. It was also where he met Jan and JJ Bertholf; I couldn’t ask for any better friends.

When the Army wanted to send Warren to the Pentagon, he decided to pursue his second career, Golf Administration. He went from Florida to Pennsylvania and finally came back to the high country as Director of Rules and Competitions for the Colorado Golf Association. He retired from that position in 2006, but he still volunteers to officiate golf events 40 to 50 days a year.

When he retired and came to Colorado he looked around for a home business to bring in a little income. His sister introduced him to Melaleuca, The Wellness Company. He currently partners with Melaleuca as a Marketing Executive to introduce people to the company. He was thankful for being allowed to be a part of Rotary.

Audrea Kappert’s Classification is Private Banking. Audrea was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She graduated from Millard North High School in 1990, the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1994 and Creighton University School of Law in 1997. She joined First National Bank of Omaha as a Private Banker in November 2004, after 5 years of practicing law in the area of civil litigation.

When the opportunity arose to remain with First National Bank and move to their affiliate in Fort Collins, Colorado, she could not pass it up. In her role, she works with business professionals and high net-worth individuals. Audrea is single, with no children, except for her three, 4-legged friends Lulu, Tulip and Beemer. When not at home or work, she enjoys golfing, exercising, traveling and long days at the spa.

Audrea looks forward to getting more involved in the community and working on various subcommittees with the Rotary Club of Fort Collins. She would like to thank Darcy Gavaldon for being her sponsor into this club and looks forward to meeting each and every member of this club over the months and years to come.

My name is Paul Solko and my classification is Office Technology. I don't have any nicknames. I was adopted when I was 6 years old from Korea. My entire life has been in the Des Moines Metro Area of Iowa until coming to Fort Collins in April.

I met the love of my life, Lindsey, in 2005. Lindsey was very familiar with Rotary as her father was a Rotarian as far back as she could remember. Before she was my wife, Lindsey invited me to the Rotary Club she had joined, the Rotary Club of Waukee, IA. I joined Rotary in January of 2006 and Lindsey and I were married in November of that year.

My sales career started in the automotive business which I was in for 9 years. Now I am an Account Manager for All Copy Products in Fort Collins concentrating on the Healthcare Market. As exciting as document management software and copiers can be, my wife and I are very passionate about skiing, hiking and traveling.

Rotary has become a big part of our lives because we not only love the local and international community efforts but also the fellowship. Personally I most enjoy the local, hands-on projects.

My hope is to be involved with several local, hands-on projects and to make many life-long friends here at the Rotary Club of Fort Collins. Thank you to everyone for being so inviting and allowing me to be a part of your wonderful Rotary Club.

Carl Hammerdorfer’s classification is Education – Business. Carl was born in Fort Dix, New Jersey. His dad is a New Yorker who spent 30 years in the Air Force and met his wife in Munich. He spent his childhood in New Jersey, but lived in Germany, Utah, Florida, Germany again, Virginia and graduated high school in Illinois. He went to college at the University of Arizona, but met a girl in Tempe and moved to Arizona State University. Lost the girl but graduated from ASU.

He studied in Heidelberg, where he met his wife, Kathy Lynch. After marriage they honeymooned in Mali, West Africa for two years while Carl and Kathy worked for the Peace Corps, Carl doing water and sanitation projects and Kathy agriculture work. They spent the next 15 years working and/or living in Poland, the Baltic States, Ukraine, Kazakstan and other former communist countries and loved it. With this background, Carl speaks six different languages at different levels of proficiencies. Back in Fort Collins from 1996 through 2000 working for VOCA, Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance, where he also got an MBA from CSU and started a couple of small companies. Carl and Kathy have three boys, Christian, Matthew and Kyle. They have grown up internationally but really like Fort Collins.

Carl is the director of a unique program at CSU called Global Social & Sustainable Enterprise, GSSE. The program educates US and International students to develop enterprise solutions that solve chronic development challenges in developing countries. Carl said that he is glad to be in Rotary because he loves the service mission.

My name is Yung Hai Chen. I was born in China, grew up in Taiwan, and came to Fort Collins in 1968. I have lived here ever since and as a result, consider Fort Collins my hometown.

In August 1968, I flew to San Francisco from Taipei. My friend had told me how beautiful America was, so I decided to take a 30-hour train ride from San Francisco to Denver, followed by a bus ride to Fort Collins. It was quite a challenge and an adventure. During my first night in Fort Collins, I stayed at the Empire Hotel. The next morning, I carried 2 large bags and walked from downtown towards Rockwell Hall on Laurel Street. A police car soon pulled up beside me. When the officer got out of the car, I thought I was in trouble. Then he asked, “Do you need a ride?” I felt so welcomed and got to ride in a police car to my apartment on my second day in Fort Collins. That is one of reasons I stayed here – because of the friendliness and care people have for others.

A year passed by quickly. One day in August 1969, I received a phone call. On the other end came a soft, shy lady’s voice. She asked, “Are you Chinese? Could you speak Chinese?” I was the first Chinese person she met after coming to Fort Collins. Two years later, we got married and have now been married for almost 38 years. We have 3 children – 2 girls and one boy. I think most of you know her, my better half, Dr. Ada Chen.

In 1973, I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Civil Engineering at CSU, specializing in water resources. I was then invited to stay at the Department to teach and perform research. During this time, I also conducted many water resource projects as an engineering consultant for the federal government, state and city agencies, private companies and international organizations.

In 1987, I worked for the World Bank and the Canadian government as a water expert for the Three Gorges Project, the largest water project in the world. After traveling to China and seeing how poor and underdeveloped it was, I felt a calling to do more for the people there. Starting in 1993, Ada and I traveled to China 50 times, organizing medical teams and training workshops, and providing scholarships to help poor students pursue education. In 2002, we formed a non-profit organization called Soaring Hope, Inc. Our mission is to share love and give hope to the underprivileged people of China, as well as support local community projects. For the rest of my life, I will continue to do my part to help people both here and abroad to make this world a better and more peaceful place to live.

It is my great honor to join the Rotary Club of Fort Collins, and I look forward to contributing to our wonderful “service-above-self” team (“TEAM” = Together Everyone Accomplishes More!).

Cyndi Merris's Classification is Promotional Products - Sales. Cyndi said, "I am honored to have been a member of this club since March 2009. It has been a pleasure to get to know the members I’ve met so far and I look forward to getting to know you even better as we serve together on committees and projects. One thing I’ve discovered about this group is that there are quite a few of you who have served in the military and I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to you for that. As an Army brat myself, I come from a family of 3 generations, going on 4, who have served in both the Army and the Air Force .

It was the Army that brought me and my family to Colorado in the 80’s after a tour in Germany where I attended high school. I fell in love with Colorado then and never wanted to return to my Texas roots where most of my family lives now.

I have lived in Fort Collins since 1994 and am the proud mother of an 11 year old daughter whom some of you met the night of the awards banquet. Some of my hobbies include camping, skiing and hiking. I started golfing last summer, but I don’t think you can define what I do as actual “playing” yet. I also enjoy theater, travel and art.

I have had the pleasure of working the last 3 years with Randy Crider of Crider & Company. Crider & Company specializes in providing quality promotional products--including things like embroidered clothing, bags, pens and calendars—that are used to maximize a company’s marketing efforts. Be sure to let me know if I can help you leave a lasting impression with YOUR clients and prospects.

All of us at Crider & Company have a service above self mind set and we have been active volunteers in our churches, schools and business associations. I have served in the community as a Girl Scout leader, as a member of Junior League and as a volunteer at Harmony House among other things. I look forward to serving on the Matthew’s House Rotary Committee because of its mission to make a difference in the lives of at-risk youth. It has truly been humbling to learn about some of the many projects that this organization and you as individuals have been a part of in this country and around the world. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me and for this group in the years ahead. "

I'm Hugh Davis and I'm a retired Aerospace Engineer. I'm also a retired Air Force pilot with 23 years of service. I grew up in Charlottesville, VA and studied Civil Engineering at the University of Virginia for 3 years. I left and joined the Air Force to get away from home, planning to return to Virginia and finish my engineering degree. After 5 years in the Air Force, with no money saved, I convinced the Air Force to send me to the University of Pittsburgh for a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering. While I expected to be assigned to an engineering job after college, I was returned to the cockpit for another 6 years of flying, including a combat tour flying the F-105 over North Vietnam. Next, the Air Force sent me to their Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio where I earned a Masters Degree in Aerospace Engineering. At last, I was assigned to an engineering job at the Service Engineering base at Sacramento, where I managed the Test Flight Section and the Handbook Section of the depot. Follow-on assignments included duties as the Operations Officer aboard the European Airborne Command Post, stationed at Mildenhall AB, England, and later duties with the Range Group at Nellis AFB near Las Vegas. I retired at Nellis in January 1980 as a Lieutenant Colonel.

I met my wife, Helen, while stationed at Ramstein AB, Germany. I had recently returned from Thailand, and she was there teaching English and Home Economics at the Jr. High School at Ramstein. We were married in Germany, almost 39 years ago now, and we have two daughters, ages 36 and 34, both of whom are unmarried and live in Denver.

After retiring from the Air Force, Helen and I moved to Boulder where I began a new job as Lecturer in the Civil Engineering Department at CU Boulder. I was hired to help them establish a new curriculum in Solar Energy and Energy Conservation, both topics that were in vogue at the time. However, uncertainties in the future demand for these programs, plus my dislike for the politics of academia, forced me to look elsewhere. After being unemployed for 8 whole days, I was offered a job at Ball Aerospace in Boulder as a Mechanical Engineer.

My career at Ball was a very satisfying one. I helped design and build highly accurate metrology systems that are capable of observing and measuring minute motions of structures in space: accurate to a fraction of a millimeter at a range of 100 meters. We sold one ground-based system to NASA, but never got funded to build one for space.

I also helped design and build a Tactical High Energy Laser system capable of tracking and destroying incoming Russian-made Katyusha rockets and artillery shells with a single laser beam. My last assignment before retiring from Ball was as Deputy Program Manager for the Terrestrial Planet Finder project. This program was intended to look for Earth-like planets around other stars as far away as 50 light-years. So far, this program hasn't been funded for production; however, a similar system built by Ball and called Keplar recently launched and is successfully monitoring 100,000 stars for evidence of planet activity.

I retired from Ball in 2001 after 20 years of service. We moved to Fort Collins in 2006 to alleviate my breathing difficulties in the mountains. I was inducted into Rotary on March 25th of this year, barely 6 weeks ago, and I am still learning the ropes.

Darcy Gavaldon’s classification is banking. Darcy started her talk with the quote, “we do not remember days, but moments. Life moves too fast, so enjoy your precious moments.” Darcy Gavaldon grew up in Greeley, graduated from Greeley West High School in 1975, Regis University (Denver) in 1991 and Graduate School of Banking (CU-Boulder) 2007. She has worked in the financial services industry for 34 years. She is Vice President – Relationship Manager for First National Bank Investment Management & Trust. In her role she works with clients to discover what is important to the individual client and then assists clients in developing a financial strategy in order to achieve their wealth management goals and objectives. She has been married to Eddie Gavaldon for almost 18 years and they have two children, Emily (9) and Jordon (8). Darcy also has a 27 year-old-daughter, Ronda, and a 4-year-old grandson, Caleb. Darcy has been a Fort Collins resident for a total of 24 years and considers Fort Collins “home”. Her husband is a Fort Collins native. When not at work, Darcy enjoys reading and taking long walks. Family vacations are dedicated to traveling to warmer climates, namely Mexico, Las Vegas, and most recently Florida. Darcy and her family attend Harmony Presbyterian Church and she and her husband were wed there in October 1991 by our own Rotarian, Larry Kunter. Both Emily and Jordon were also baptized at Harmony. She has been a member of Rotary Club of Fort Collins since January 2009 and will always remember the program presented on January 28th when she was officially accepted into Rotary – (Bull Elephant Vasectomies.) In addition to joining the Membership Committee for Rotary, Darcy is active in the Memories in the Making Committee for the Alzheimer’s Association. She is a member of Spirit of Women and is also beginning to work with the Poudre Valley Hospital Foundation. Darcy expressed her sincere thanks to Susie Ewing for being her sponsor into Rotary Club of Fort Collins.

Bill Ward’s classification is Development – Land & Water. Bill was born in Texas, but raised on a ranch in Southern Colorado. After graduating from CSU in 1957 he and Donna lived at the ranch for 16 years. He got involved with the CSU Alumni Association during that time. When they sold the ranch, he applied for the CSU Alumni Director job and started that job in 1973. He was Director for 13 years and then worked for Coldwell Banker Everitt Company for six years.

He then had the opportunity to take the job as Director of Development and Alumni Relations at the University of Southern Colorado, now CSU Pueblo. He was there for 10 years, retiring in 2002. During that time he was a member of the Pueblo Rotary Club. Also during that time, Bill and his brother started Midway (the old ranch) Development Company, a Land Company and Comanche Resources, a water development company that are both located in Colorado Springs. Bill and Donna moved back to Fort Collins in 2008.

In June Bill and Donna will have been married for 53 years. They have four children and seven grandchildren. He met Donna on a blind date at CSU, “back when they had blind dates”. Bill thanked his sponsors, Bob Lawrence and Alan Ashbaugh. He said that it was good to be back in Fort Collins and in Rotary.

Geoff Ryder's classification is Medicine - Flight Surgeon. He said, "I came to Rotary through the offices of a kind friend, and earlier to Ft. Collins because a grandson was born here.

I was born near Boston, and graduated from the University of MA, Magna Cum Laude. On to Albany Medical College, and duly graduated. I interned at Walter Reed General Hospital, and continued there into a psychiatry residency. My first duty assignment was with Army Special Forces, and here completed 70 parachute jumps. I resigned after this tour.

I then worked for the Veterans Administration, with faculty appointments at various medical schools. I rejoined the Regular Army for the twin opportunities to fly, and to pursue the specialty of Aerospace Medicine. I earned a Master of Public Health degree at Harvard University; later, had ten student pilot flights in Air Force jets. I was then assigned command of the 43rd M*A*S*H in Korea. Two years later, I was sent to the first Gulf War covering both medical specialties, and flew 100 hours of combat time. I was designated Aviation Psychiatry Consultant to the Surgeon General. Presently, I taught at Eisenhower Army Medical Center where I enjoyed teaching again, and continued flying. My final assignment was back to Ft. Bragg and Army retirement.

Later, I resumed employment for the Veterans Administration, where I was particularly interested in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and continued same out here for a time.

My family includes my wife, Judy. Also grandson Max and his parents, and another grandson and family are back in Albany. I serve on the church vestry, and on the Boards some organizations as well as the Ethics Committee of Poudre Valley Hospital."

Jim Paul's Classification is Religion. His comments were as follows. "I am a native Coloradoan, part of the post-war baby boom, along with 2 cousins. My parents are from Nebraska so I have a drive to garden, as does my wife. I grew up mostly in Denver, my father owing a drug store. I graduated from what is Kent Denver Schools and ended up in college at Monmouth, Illinois. I met my wife there on a blind date and we were married and our daughter was born our senior year.

I taught in Iowa for 16 years and coached boys track, negotiated contracts, wrote curriculum and earned an MPA. Our son was born 10 years into teaching and six years later we moved back to Colorado. I built houses for 6 years before attending a Roman Catholic Seminary and being ordained in the Episcopal Church.

I have served congregations in Loveland and Fort Collins before we formed a new church in the Anglican Communion. We are under the authority of Uganda as St. Peter's Anglican Church. My wife, Mary Anne is a paralegal for a sole practitioner and is the Board President of Crossroads Safehouse. We built a house in Northwest Fort Collins in 20043 and are on our way to becoming a net zero home. We love being a part of Fort Collins and the Rotary Club."

John Clark Pratt grew up in New England and graduated from UC Berkeley. He then joined the Aviation Cadet Program, eventually becoming a jet instructor pilot. Not having wanted either to go to graduate school or teach, he was assigned to the faculty of the very new Air Force Academy and was sent to school for his MA and Ph.D. in English.

After flying T-33s and teaching at the Academy for a total of ten years (with a one-year "sabbatical" in Vietnam), in 1975 John came to CSU as Chairman of the English Department, then stepped down in five years to full time teaching and writing. He has published or edited 18 books and numerous essays, poems, and short stories. Much of his writing concerns the Vietnam War, such as his first novel TTie Laotian Fragments and his collage Vietnam Voices. He has also done two Viking Critical Editions, one on Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and the other on Graham Greene's The Quiet American.

John has also been awarded two Fulbright Fellowships, first to Portugal in 1974-5, then to the Soviet Union in 1980. Now in somewhat complete retirement (he has a novel, American Affairs, due to be published this December), he serves on numerous advisory boards such as the Military Officers Association, the Northern Colorado Traditional Jazz Society, the Fort Collins Veterans Plaza, the Fort Collins Arts Alliance, and the Fort Collins Jazz Experience.

Gail Neben earned her blue badge with her talk. She has roots in Nebraska. She and eight siblings grew up there. She was married and has two children. Her son is a petroleum engineer with two children. Her daughter also has two children and will get her Bachelor's degree in May.

Gail was divorced - perhaps a good thing? She was not happy in the oil and gas business and decided to change routes. She went to Houston and completed her Bachelor's degree and decided to go into the non-profit world. Gail was not especially enthralled with Houston, so she moved to Colorado. She joined Hospice and loves what that organization does. Although she does not have a medical background, she loves telling people about Hospice. She is just beginning her own LLC - she wrote a booklet about how to bring Hospice up to a loved one who is terminal. She wanted people to know how to tell loved ones that Hospice is a way to live, not a sentence to death.

The classification for Gary McFaddin is Environmental Engineering. He and his family moved from Highlands Ranch in Denver 4 ½ years ago. Gary and his wife, Susan, run Compliance Partners, which is a small environmental consulting company that primarily services upstream and midstream oil and gas companies and has been in operation since 1997. Susan also is involved with sustainable building development.

Gary grew up in Northglenn and was fascinated with refineries and thus he graduated from Colorado School of Mines in 1981 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. Later after a recession caused layoff, he returned to Mines to get a masters degree and there he met his wife in a graduate course in thermodynamics. Gary and Susan have three children; Elizabeth is at CU and Christina and Jeff attend Fossil Ridge High School.

His best memories are with his family and it occurred to him not long ago that life happens fast and that it is at its best when it is a shared experience. Rotary has shown him new ways to share his life journey with others. He said he appreciated the opportunity to be a part of this club.

Hello, I am Rob McElroy and my classification is Software Development. My wife Ellie and I have been married for almost 29 years. We have 2 children. Our son Kevin is a 3rd year medical student at UC San Diego and our daughter Casey is a dental assistant in Windsor. We live in Windsor but also have a weekend home in Estes Park. We hike, snowshoe and fish in Rocky Mountain National Park as often as possible. My wife and I also enjoy traveling, and I am an avid scuba diver and runner.

I was born in New Jersey but, as a young child, moved to Tucson, AZ where I grew up and attended school. I graduated from the University of Arizona. My wife and I have lived in Windsor since moving from Dallas, TX, a foreign country, in late - 2005. We have also lived in Houston and Beaumont, TX and numerous locations in southern, central and northern CA. Now that we are here, we will never leave Colorado!

My career began in 1978 when, after graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, I went to work in the energy industry for Union Oil Company of California which later became UNOCAL. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, I also worked for Tosco, Phillips Petroleum and ConocoPhillips. In 2007 I joined New Century Software as Vice President of Sales & Marketing. New Century is located here in Fort Collins and provides Geographic Information Systems or GIS to clients throughout North America.

Other activities I am involved with are Partners Mentoring Youth of Larimer County and Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado. Thank you for the opportunity to share with you about my family, my background and my classification. Look in the members area of our web site for more more detailed information about Rob.

Jeri Howe, director of the Matthews House, spoke with pride about her work. Matthews House caters to young people who are in and out of foster care, those who have no families. She and her husband have three children and several grandchildren. She has been a coach of volleyball and basketball in several venues. Her hobbies are drumming, tap dancing, cross-country skiing, and photography. She is a member of the Character Fort Collins committee to identify this year’s Sonny Lubick Coach of Character Award. Also, she is active in the Pathway Past Poverty program. She concluded with a quote from Mother Theresa about the interaction of caring, loving, and hoping.

Jean Lamm’s classification is Cultural Development. Professionally, Jean is Director of Development with Beet Street, an economic development engine for downtown Fort Collins incubated by the Downtown Development Authority (DDA). The goal is to collaborate with existing local arts, cultural and scientific organizations and present unique programming which will draw cultural tourists to Fort Collins.

Jean and her husband, Dennis, moved to Fort Collins for his job on the faculty in the College of Ag Sciences planning to stay 5 years more than 25 years ago. They came from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Originally from Iowa, they met at Iowa State. They reside north of town where they have horses and cattle, and Dennis markets natural beef.

Their two children, Kevan and Dana, grew up in Fort Collins and were recognized by Rotary during their high school years. Kevan recently moved to Gainesville, FL, where his wife is pursuing a PhD program and they have become Gator fans. He continues to work for Denver Accenture. Dana is at the Tech Center Hyatt in the sales office.

It’s been a pleasure to know many members of the Club through their years here. In fact, Don’s Dad, Donal Johnson, was Jean’s first boss at CSU. It’s an honor to be involved with the Fort Collins Rotary Club and the projects they do for the community – and the world! Thanks to Betty Brown for encouraging Jean to consider membership.

Andy Groeger gave his classification talk. He is Professor of Military Science at Army ROTC at CSU. He grew up in New Jersey. He spent 18 years in the same home; then moved 11 times in 15 years after joining the service. His father was a WWII aficionado and history teacher and Andy was inspired by meeting friends of an older brother who was attending West Point. He was inspired to apply and did attended West Point and met his wife while there. After 15 years, they find themselves as residents of Ft. Collins. He summarized the various posts in the service that he completed. He recounted various memories and incidents that have cemented his loyalty to military service. After early misgivings, he feels the military is the best place to raise kids. He praised current military personnel for being volunteers to serve in the military and preserve our freedom. It is these volunteers that has encouraged him to sustain.

Randy Kurtz, sponsored by John Roberts, comes from a Rotary family. Both his father and brother are Rotarians. Randy grew up in the Greeley area, graduated from Eaton High School, was a Rotary exchange student to Austria, attended CU and has a degree in Environmental Design. He returned to Fort Collins, married, and celebrated 25 years of marriage last year. They have three children: one student attends the University of Wyoming; middle daughter attends a liberal arts school in Arkansas; and a son in high school. He currently serves as national sales manager for Rosetta Stone.

Laurie Klith started her classification talk by saying that she was excited to tell us about the two items in her life that she loves to talk about. The first was her family and the second was about the organization that she started and directs.

Laurie was born and raised in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where she met and married her high school sweetheart 38 years ago. She and Dave have three sons, and two grandchildren. She said that one of the best parts of life is playing with your grandchildren and then sending them home spoiled. She said that they do a lot a family activities.

Her other joy relates to why she joined Rotary, service above self. For a very long time she has believed that advocacy for children was something that she wanted to do and has always volunteered for activities where children were at risk. She was at the Larimer County Sheriff’s office for 14 years as a Public Information Officer. She also managed the juveniles unit, the victims unit and community education unit. She got so tired of locking children up that she wanted to do education and prevention and find other alternatives for children at risk to be successful. She left the sheriffs department and went to the Probation Department to see if she had more access to children, but encountered the same situation.

Laurie then started her own non-profit, even though her husband reminded her that it did not provide a salary. In 2000 she opened the Center for Community Justice. Last year her organization served 800 children between 10 and 18. Most are from the court system; many have substance abuse issues and/or mental health issues. The Center advocates for them, educates them, provides treatment for them and helps the families of these children. She says that loves what she does.

President Jan Bertholf introduced Joanna Reeves to give her classification talk. Joanna’s classification is Advertising – Community Development. She is originally from California and has had a vast range of work experiences, mostly related to the newspaper and advertizing enterprises. She said that she started her first business at age 25 in Whitefish, Montana, a health food store, which gave her an appreciation of how hard it is to run a small business. Back in California, she worked for a newspaper then started an advertizing agency, then back in the newspaper business with Gannett followed by Swift Media in Reno. That led to a transfer to Fort Collins where she is now the Regional Director of Sales for New Ventures for Northern Colorado Communications Group, which includes the Greeley Tribune, Fort Collins Now, etc.

Her husband, Bill, is a long time Rotarian, now with a Loveland club. Joanna is a Paul Harris Fellow, which she got as part of her engagement, that engagement being made at a Rotary District Conference. She said that she and her husband think that Fort Collins is the best of all the places they have lived and they hope to stay here.

I am Jerry Kennell and my classification is Foundation - Fundraising. President Jan, members of the club and, especially, Jean Griswold, who extended the invitation, thank you for this opportunity to be part of the Rotary Club of Fort Collins. There are many paths to service. Let me tell you a little about mine.

I was raised on a farm in Illinois I am married, since 1972, to Leonor Constantin. The child of immigrants from Puerto Rico and Cuba, she grew up in the South Bronx. Leonor is a bilingual special educator at Irish Elementary. We have an adoptive family of five and three grandchildren.

I have spent the last 33 years working for nonprofit organizations. I have served on many boards, including chairing the founding board of Ten Thousand Villages Fort Collins and current service as board chair of Village Earth In January, I opened the Western Regional Office for MMA affiliated with the Mennonite Church. We help people – anyone – connect their faith and values with their financial decisions.

The connecting thread of my career has been a passion to build and improve organizations dedicated to service. Needless to say, I am pleased to sit at table with hundreds of people who demonstrate that same passion by their participation in the Rotary Club of Fort Collins. Thank you for the privilege of your company.

Carrie Baumgart’s classification is Automobile - Management. Carrie is a fourth generation member of the Markley family to be working at Markley Motors and very proud to be following her grandfather, Gene Markley, in the business. She has worked for Markley Motors for around 20 years. She started doing filing and answering the phones while in high school to make spending money. Then she worked for 5+ years in the service department followed by 10 years in marketing. Last year she completed the National Automobile Dealer Academy year long course and is not working as a General Manager Trainee.

Cary is married to Eric and has two children, Ashley 16 and Hunter 6. She loves being in Rotary and is anxious to meet all of the members and get involved in our activities.

I am Lee Jeffrey and my classification is Physician – OB/GYN. I was born and grew up in Southeastern Oklahoma. Undergraduate studies were at Oklahoma State University. In 19661 graduated from University of Oklahoma Medical School. I completed a rotating internship at Highland Alameda County Hospital in Oakland, California in 1967. I returned to Oklahoma for long enough to marry my wife, Carla before entering the Air Force as a general medical officer which led me to pursue a residency in obstetrics and gynecology.

The residency brought me to Denver from 1970 to 1973. It was there that I met Kelly Kesler who invited me to join him in practice in Fort Collins which led to the development of Women’s Clinic of Northern Colorado. The practice grew to a group of 11 doctors plus 8 midwives and nurse practioners supported by 75 additional employees and my family also grew with the addition of 2 sons, Craig and Scott. I am a great lover of nature and being outdoors.

During my years of practicing medicine, my service to others was primarily rendered to individual patients. In 2005, however, I spent 2 weeks doing gynecological surgery with a local physician in Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a medical team sponsored by the Methodist Church. I became interested in learning how to help the unfortunate citizens of developing countries that lack the infrastructure and resources that we take for granted. I am enjoying Rotary's Service Above Self approach to local needs. I am also hoping that Rotary will lead me to opportunities to use my skills to serve others in under developed parts of the world as well.

Kris Boesch was born in Boulder, CO and has also lived in Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Atlanta and Mexico. She graduated from Fairview High School in Boulder, CO and then went on to the University of Colorado in Boulder and received bachelor degrees in Anthropology and Spanish. She received the honor of summa cum laude for her work in Spanish. She then went to Washington University in St. Louis, MO where she received her Masters in Spanish.

Kris worked for Hitachi Power Tools as a PR and Web Specialist and as a Consultant for Conocer, a public leadership consulting firm, before she became CEO of Exodus Moving & Storage in 2003. Kris is very proud of Exodus which "Provides Peace of Mind, All in One Piece" to residential and commercial clients moving locally, nationally and internationally. Exodus has been locally owned and operated in Ft. Collins for over 10 years and was voted the #1 mover by the Ft. Collins Chamber of Commerce members.

She met her husband, Ilan Levy, in 2002 and moved to Ft. Collins, CO where they live together in Greyrock Cohousing. They have four children, Aidan, Brielle, Madison and Anika. Kris says that Greyrock has offered her and her family a wonderfully close community experience.

Kris Boesch is a Bahai and is very active in the Bahai community. Kris says that she is dedicated to the main tenant of the Bahai Faith, unity of humankind, and has found its guidance and teachings to be invaluable. She has been impressed with how much Rotary's values and her Bahai beliefs are similar.

In her free time, Kris enjoys reading Latin American Literature, hiking in Lory State Park, dancing, Bikram yoga and walking her dog Lola."

Jim Harper grew up in Yuma, Colorado, on a dairy in his family since 1933. The dairy was supplemented by both dryland and irrigated farming to raise livestock food. He graduated from CSU in 1960. His in-laws are the Herveys, well-known at CSU, and known to us as Art Wilcox’s second wife. Jim was a Lion until John Roberts persuaded to become a Rotarian. He and his wife have 3 daughters. The eldest contracted leukemia at age 11. The middle daughter is an ophthalmologist in Cheyenne and the youngest is involved in the film industry. They also have 5 foster kids and 2 foster grandchildren. They are enjoying their life in Fort Collins.

Doug Hutchinson was born in Billings, MT. His family moved to Ft. Collins when he was 4. He completed his public schooling in Poudre School District. He joined the military, specializing in intelligence and spent 23 years in the Air Force and retired as a Lt. Colonel in 1999. His education after Ft. Collins High School included a bachelor's from CSU, a Master's from USC , and some work at Colorado Technical University. He and his wife Cathy have three children, all living in Fort Collins, and six grandchildren plus one on the way.

Doug said, "I thought I had enough hobbies to keep me busy when I retired. I have been an amateur radio operator since 1956 and that has been a great hobby my entire life. I like woodworking, especially cabinet making and precision kinds of woodworking. I also enjoy reading and the mountains, but a funny thing happened on my way to retirement. I spent three and a half years writing a column in the Coloradoan and going to council meetings and then in 2005 I ran for Mayor. So now here I stand delighted to have the chance to give back to the city that I love. I am delighted to be a Rotarian."

Myra Monfort said she wanted to express her sincere appreciation for enthusiastically welcoming me into this Club. I am so pleased to be a part of this Rotary group.

I have to say that (1) there will be no power point presentation; I am technologically challenged. And, (2) I’ve been told that I don’t know how to be funny so I won’t. This will all be straight forward and dry.

However, when I was preparing these remarks, it struck me as interesting if not unusual, that this girl who grew up in Brooklyn, where, as you know, only one tree grows, should end up with the classification “agriculture”; it gets worse, as I tell people I was actually born in Newark, New Jersey and my family upgraded to Brooklyn. Then I reflected that I have had three careers, three husbands and this is the third Rotary Club in which I have been an active member. I’m not sure that there is any connection. Nevertheless, I am prepared to give you the short version of how I came from Brooklyn to the classification “agriculture”.

I attended Erasmus Hall High School, the oldest High School in New York City. I graduated with 1500 other students. Among those distinguished graduates were names you might recognize: Lainie Kazan (who played the mother in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and Doug Moe who served a stint as head coach of the Denver nuggets. I continued my education at Barnard College, part of Columbia University, where I majored in philosophy, with a minor in political science (all in preparation for my later immersion in “agriculture”). I commuted on the subway from my home in Brooklyn to 116th Street and Broadway because all the scholarships and monetary awards that I received still would not enable me to live on campus. All through high school and then while at Barnard I worked in my aunt and uncle’s furniture business in Long Island (career # 1). I married my first husband, the father of my two children and I continued to work in the furniture business to support him through his last two years of Law School at Columbia.

Thirteen years later, my then lawyer husband determined to move the family to Colorado, after attending a seminar in Colorado Springs. This prompted the sale of the family business and, in 1972 we arrived in Lafayette, Colorado and I started Law School at Boulder. The summer of my second year in law school I had been offered a summer internship with Monfort. That summer I became enthralled with the company. When I graduated, there was no room for me at Monfort. Finally, the company reorganized and I was asked to come back to Monfort as Staff Attorney (Career # 2). I advanced over the years from Staff Attorney to Associate General Counsel and finally, to Group Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Monfort of Colorado and held them until retirement in 1990.

In 1979 Monfort experienced many serious problems. A side effect of working extraordinary hours and being under enormous stress, my marriage fell apart and Ken Monfort’s marriage did likewise. Suffice to say we were married in 1982 after our divorces were finalized. (thus, Husband # 2). We were married for 18 ½ years until his death, February 2, 2001.

When Kenny’s health deteriorated, we started a Foundation in Florida because Kenny believed that wherever you lived you had to give back to the community. When Kenny died he left the bulk of his estate, after providing for his and my children, to the Monfort Family Foundation and the Kenneth and Myra Monfort Charitable Foundation and today, I am still a Trustee of the Monfort Family Foundation and the President of the Kenneth and Myra Monfort charitable Foundation.

I sometimes think that my real vocation is Rotary. I joined the Rotary Club of Sarasota in 1996. My classification then was “prior service”, as Rotary was then opened to retired persons. I have held many positions in Rotary, both in the clubs and district wide.

I have always tried to do something somewhat reckless on my birthdays which got me into riding horses, buying horses and building a horse ranch near Windsor reservoir. We now have six mountain horses—registered Rocky Mountain and Kentucky Saddle bred. Our horses can be seen on our website—Highland Horses.com. This new career has provided new learning experiences and challenges. It is definitely a business and not a hobby. I breed fine horses and expect to sell them.

Amelia Streigel gave us her classification talk using a Power Point presentation, a unique way. Born in Grand Junction, raised in Rangely before moving to Wyoming all the moving because her father was a pipeliner and moved to where there was work. Amelia said she had a unique background for our club because she was probably the only female who could operate a backhoe and drive a bulldozer. She then had the opportunity to spend a year in Germany as an exchange student and told us how much that experience meant to her. She graduated from CSU with a degree in Chemistry, worked for Honeywell as a software tester, moved to Munich, Germany to work for Wacher-Chemie as a translator. She moved back to the U.S. to be nearer her close nit family and to go back to CSU to get a Masters degree in Biomedical Sciences. She now works with the Molecular and Cellular Integrated Neuroscience Program at CSU. Her research involves studying fruit flies. She said she has been dating her boyfriend for four years and would appreciate any help she could get for him to take the plunge, because she is not getting any younger.

Alan Bennett gave a unique classification talk. He said that he was born some time ago on an island off the coast of France, an island colonized by the Italians in 46 ad. He was born in what the Italians called Londinium, London. The two themes that run through his life are airplanes and international connections. His grandfather, an american, flew for the RAF in the First World War. He returned to England and maried a Spaniard whose parents were German and English. Alan's father managed a small airline so Alan grew up among pilots.

He has degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics, paid for by the Dutch company Philips. After working as a true Engineer he changed course and worked in Argentina in an applied area for English Electric. He returned to England to work for RCA and then moved to the US with the same firm. Later he owned a scientific and medical instruments manufacturing company until he retired.