Minutes of the February 1, 2018, Meeting
The Rotary Club of Mobile
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by John Dukes at 12:15 PM. DKen McElhaney offered the invocation and Tommy Blankenship led the club in song accompanied by Bill Oppenjheimer. . Tommy Blankenship welcomed visiting Rotarians and members’ guests.
Youth Merit Award: Jeff Luther introduced Eugenia O’Connor, a senior at UMS-Wright who discussed her memorable experiences on mission trips to Central America. Miss O’Connor plans to attend W & L in the fall.
New Members:
• Sumpter McGowin introduced Jordan Walker who has recently moved to Mobile to open the local office of Kimberly-Horn, Planning and Design Engineering Consultants.
• Claire McCarron then introduced Janet Hayes an investment counselor with Leavell Investment Management of Mobile.
Announcements:
• Joe Mareno reminded members of the Mardi Gras parade party next Thursday at 5:30 PM at the Mobile Carnival Museum. This will take the place of the luncheon meeting and he reminded members to please RSVP to Peggy so that we can have a head count. John Dukes added that this event will seek to raise funds from donations for the Rotary Children’s Foundation.
• Brenda Litchfield presented the club with a banner from a club in Thailand. She has just completed teaching there for six months as a Fulbright Scholar she explained.
• Program: Megan McCall, PhD: Antarctic Adventures
Brenda Litchfield introduced Megan O’Neill McCall a teacher at Bayside Academy. Mrs. McCall presented a PowerPoint program describing her nearly three months spent in the Antarctic. Her travel to the Palmer Research Station required traveling to South America followed by a three day boat trip in 18’ seas.
Once at Palmer she described her studies of Antarctic ice fish as well as the tagging of whales using suction cups to hold the tags. Her program included images of these activities as well as the local wildlife which included different varieties of sea lions which she explained could be aggressive as well as types of penguins whose black and white color make them blend into the snowy, rocky landscape.
Mrs. McCall shared beautiful images of a mountainous landscape featuring crystal clear seas the color of sapphires. She noted that she joined the tradition and jumped into the icy sea in her bathing suit adding that the salt water freezes at a lower temperature than fresh. The sun never rose high in the sky and daylight lasted just four hours she said.
After answering a number of questions, John Dukes thanked Mrs. McCall and presented her with a certificate noting that in her honor a donation has been made to the Rotary Children’s Foundation.
The meeting adjourned at 1:00 PM.
Tom McGehee