Minutes of the November 30, 2017 Meeting
The Rotary Club of Mobile
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by John Dukes at 12:15 PM. Garrett Williamson offered the invocation. John Smith led the club in song and the Pledge of Allegiance. Bill Oppenheimer accompanied on the piano. Jeff Zoghby welcomed members’ guests and visiting Rotarians.
The Student Guest was Hugh Mitchell of Mary G. Montgomery High School. She was introduced by school faculty as a bright star in the community and on campus. Mr. Mitchell talked about service above self and was warmly congratulated.
Announcements:
• John Dukes announced that there would be a Board meeting immediately following today’s regular meeting.
• John Dukes reminded everyone of the upcoming Children’s Christmas Party on December 12. Will be held at the Junior League headquarters and will begin at noon. The UMS-Wright Rotaract Club organizes the party each year.
• John Dukes announced that the December 14 meeting would be the last of December and of the calendar year. The Prichard Prep choir will be signing for the club that day.
Program: John Sledge, Architectural Historian and Author
Tom McGee introduced the speaker.
John S. Sledge is senior architectural historian for the Mobile
Historic Development Commission and a member of the
National Book Critics Circle. He is the author of Cities of Silence:
A Guide to Mobile’s Historic Cemeteries (University of Alabama
Press), The Mobile River and These Rugged Days: Alabama in the Civil War. He and his wife, Lynn, live in Fairhope.
John Sledge knows books and he knows history. His latest book is about the
Civil War and its many effects on the State of Alabama. He told numerous stories, many of which he attributed to his Aunt and his Grandmother. Both of them were clearly good storytellers………albeit stories that just may have been embellished a bit along the way.
Sledge said he felt like there was an opportunity to tell some stories, though some of them had been told before, that he felt, had been somewhat under-appreciated,” He hopes the book educates Alabamians about a momentous and traumatic event in its history. These Rugged Days, published by the University of Alabama Press and partially funded by the Alabama Bicentennial Commission, details the turning points of the Civil War that happened in Alabama and their lasting effects on the state. Emmy-award winning filmmaker Ken Burns calls the book, “personal and intimate (and unusually moving).”
John Dukes thanked Mr. Sledge for sharing his historical knowledge and humor with the club and noted that in his honor a donation has been made to the Rotary Children’s Foundation
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 12:54 PM.
Rob Diehl