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| Volume 82 Issue 44 | Wed June 13, 2023 |
Rota-Scribe: Gerardo Chagolla |
Craft Talk with Nadia Kohlwey>
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Dick shows off the Original American Flag
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Meeting was called to order by club president Joe Lins, “We are going to shake it up a little bit.” President Lins invited Dick Ackerman up to do our flag salute on Flag Day. Dick Ackerman gave us a brief history of the American flag. “The second Continental Congress decided we have to have a flag. So, they developed a flag, it’s very nice. Everybody thought that Betsy Ross designed the flag. She only sewed it. The flag was designed by Francis Hopkinson, a New Jersey delegate and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In 1916, President Wilson said we need to have a flag day.” Dick Ackerman led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Sueling Chen led us in a prayer, “Dear heavenly father, thank you for gathering us today. May we ask you for your blessings on this special day. It’s a very special group of people that truly want to contribute their talents and resources to the community. Please bless every one of them and their life goal of selfishness. May I ask that maybe the flag of Taiwan will continue to wave as we are going through turmoil at the time of war? Amen.”
Our Songmaster for today was Carol Morris who led us in the song, “You’re a Grand Old Flag.” Great job Carol.
Today’s Opening Thoughts, The Deaf Italian Bookkeeper, recommended by Bob Muschek. “A Mafia Godfather finds out his bookkeeper of 20 years, Guido, has cheated him out of $10 million. Guido is deaf which is why he got the job in the first place. The Godfather assumed that since Guido could not hear anything, he could never testify in court. When the Godfather goes to confront Guido about his missing $10 million, he brings along his personal lawyer because he knows sign language. The Godfather tells the lawyer, ‘Ask him where the money is!’ The lawyer, using sign language, asks Guido, ‘Where is the money?’ Guido signs back, ‘I don’t know what you are talking about.’ The lawyer tells the Godfather, ‘He says he doesn’t know what you are talking about.’ The Godfather pulls out a pistol, put’s it to Guido’s head and says, ‘Ask him again or I’ll kill him!’ The lawyer signs to Guido, “He’ll kill you if you don’t tell him.” Guido trembles and signs back, ‘Ok! You win! The Money is in a brown briefcase, buried behind the shed at my cousin Bruno’s house.’ The Godfather asks the lawyer, ‘What did he say?’ The lawyer replies, ‘He says you don’t have the balls to pull the trigger.’” This joke received a tremendous roar from the members in attendance.
Today’s Important Facts, Nick Taylor won the RBC Canadian Open after dropping a 72 ft Eagle Putt on the fourth playoff hole, making him the first Canadian to win a Canadian Open tournament in 69 years. On This Day, Donald Trump turns 77 today. In 1974, Nolan Ryan struck out 19 batters in 12 innings to give the Angels a 4-3 win over the Red Sox in 15 innings. Meanwhile, Boston’s Cecil Cooper struck out in that game. A huge congratulations to the Las Vegas Golden Knights by winning the Stanley Cup, Hockey’s Superbowl, “Job well done. Also, shout out to the Denver Nuggets and their NBA championship victory over the Miami Heat.” Today’s announcements, Francis Hunter made a sports announcement in Women’s Softball. The Oklahoma University Sooners wins the World Series Titles, its 3rd in a row.
Judy Atwell announced for Jim Williams, “Two weeks is all we have left until demotion. Thank You Lord! So, it is important for all of you to attend this grand event. What a thing to celebrate.” She asked for people to please RSVP to attend the 100th Annual Demotion Night of President Joe Lins on Wednesday, June 28th at 5:30 pm at Coyote Hills Golf Club.
District Governor Dan Ouweleen announced Demotion Night on the District level on Friday, June 30th. If you would like to attend, please contact District Governor Dan Ouweleen as soon as possible.
Today’s guest in attendance are Wilma Peloquin, wife and guest of Bill Peloquin. Leilani Beck of St, Jude, and Joon Park, guest of Dr. Bob Simon. Welcome guests!
Today’s Finemaster/Recognition Master was Nicki Rogers, “Hopefully, I remember all these details, but I am really excited to announce that we have Nadia who is our very own speaker today.” Nadia was recognized and fined $5 for her birthday which was on June 15th. Bill Edman, who was not present, was recognized and fined for his 48th wedding anniversary. Monica Fernandez was recognized for her Rotary Anniversary. “It says 4 years on the paper, but we were wondering if maybe you were here longer?” She was fined $5 for 4 years of service. Dr. Bob Simon was asked to stand and be recognized, “I was very excited to announce, Bob was featured on channel 7. He was interviewed for the US Open at the LA Country Club this weekend. One of our very own was featured on the news. Bob, I would say $5 fine please.” Nicki asked for any humble brags to which no one had any. Great Job Nicki Rogers!
| Proposed Member: Lisa Wozab, Sales of Window Coverings, by Leland Wilson Amy (Spyoung) Choi-Wan, North OC Regional Occupational Program. by Zoot Velasco Leilani Beck, Providence St. Jude Medical Center, by Joe Lins |
Today’s Program at Hand was introduced by Taz Stachelski. “I met Nadia several years ago. We were both involved with a friends transaction. I’ve come to know her as one of the finest human beings I’ve ever met in my life. She’s the kind of person, if you have those friends who, if somebody doesn’t like them or somebody has a problem with them, we know that the person who has a problem with them is really the one who has the problem of. I know she’s very nervous about doing this presentation, so we need to be extra enthusiastic for her. Please welcome Nadia Kohlwey.” Nadia thanked everyone for giving her the opportunity to talk about her life and expressed her nervousness, “I ‘m so glad to be here today. I am very nervous. I don’t feel very comfortable about public speaking. I am happy to share a little bit about myself with you today.” Nadia has been a realtor since the early 2000’s, “I’ve done everything from loan processing, loan underwriting, loan origination, and now I am a residential realtor.” Nadia was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, where she lived until she was 11 years ago. During that time, her and her family moved to America to join other family members who have been there since the 70’s. Nadia shared photos to accompany her presentation. “Indonesia is very hot and humid, and I love it like that.” According to her, Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, now is very modern with sprinkles of people that still use public transportation. “Our most famous island in Indonesia is Bali where people come for the natural beauty and to take family vacations.” Nadia comes from a big family. She shared a photo of her grandparents who had 8 children, 17 grandkids and 27 great grandchildren, with her mom being the oldest. Nadia’s father is a talented drawer, “He loves to draw pictures, pencil pictures and he drew a picture of my mom.” Nadia says her grandfather passed away a long time ago, but her grandmother is still alive at 95 years old. She credits her strong family values due to their open-door type of family, “Everyone always comes to our events or parties to celebrate with us. They always bring friends and friends bring friends and family.” Her and her family love to celebrate, “all my aunts and aunties, they’re wild and crazy. We love to celebrate Chinese New Year. My aunt always hires the dragon, and the kids always love to come because they like the little red envelopes.” She loves family! Not just her immediate family, “it’s always a herd of us. We are never alone. We have really good family dynamics.” Nadia grew up in the city of Garden Grove where she had a great upbringing. She remembers never experiencing any bullying or being treated differently because of her Asian heritage, “We had a great childhood.” She remembers a time when a girl became her best friend through a misunderstanding, “I accidentally walked into this girl playing handball. She got so mad at me that she told me that she was going to wait for me after school and kick my butt. I was really worried, I am like, ‘oh man, I am going to get my butt kicked.’ She was acting all tough but actually she turned out to be my very best friend.” That very same girl would walk home with Nadia every day after that altercation. Nadia played tennis in high school, was part of choir, and did a lot of volunteering. She was also voted the friendliest alongside her friend. “I attended Cal State Fullerton and that’s when I started to become fond of this city.” She bought her first home in Fullerton, “the original owner of that house was a well-known author and a historian of early Orange County. And our house was even on one of her books.” Her and her husband Jeff raised their children at that house. Nadia has 3 children, her oldest Taylor, daughter Melanie and youngest son, Jack. Taylor played D1 high school football and was scouted and received a scholarship to go to the Air Force Academy, “one of my best memories that we have as a family was going to Friday Night Lights. We love Friday Night Lights and going to all the football games on a Friday afternoon from Fullerton, going to Norco on the busy 91 freeway.” Melanie, Nadia’s daughter, went to Troy High School and graduated from CSUF with a bachelor’s in business with an emphasis in human resources. “It brought me so much joy to watch my first kid get married.” Jack, her youngest son, graduated from Troy high school and just finished his first year at Fullerton College. Alongside her realtor business, Nadia owns a restaurant called Juan Pollo, founded by her late uncle Albert Okura, “he and my aunt Sella Oei had their first restaurant in Ontario, California back in the eighties. It became a franchise in 2014 and now there’s like 26 stores. We own one in the city of La Puente. We do a lot of food donations to the fire department, LA county sheriffs department. We also do big catering to companies such as Macy’s, Michael Kors, Amazon, were sometimes we feed like over 700 people.” Fun Fact, she says her uncle Albert Okura owns the original site of the first McDonalds in San Bernardino which he turned into a museum with McDonald’s memorabilia. He also owns the town of Amboy, California, located on Route 66. “They have a lot of people that go through Amboy when they do the river run.” Two of Nadia’s children work at the family business’ and Nadia and her husband hope that they take over so Nadia and her husband can take lots of road trips. Nadia ended her craft talk with another fun fact, Nadia’s son Taylor will be proposing to his girlfriend within the upcoming week. President Lins thanked Nadia for her presentation,
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Nadia receives her Speakers Gift
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“Nadia, you made my day. I think everybody in here really enjoys craft talks.” He presented her with the highly coveted speakers gift.
Last thing on the agenda was the 50/50 Opportunity Drawing. Lucky ticket number 6370380 wins the money. Ken Kaisch is the winner but donated the money to the Rotary Foundation. “I want to thank everybody for being here today and next week is another great program that only happens once a year. Thank you for being here today. Have a great day. Meeting adjourned. Charge on!”