Rotary Club of North Scarborough
Rota-Teller
17 February 2016

Anthem: Alan Meredith
Thanksgiving grace &
Toast to the Queen and Canada: President Gerd

 

Attendance: 26 including Guests
PDG Ralph Jones
ADG Raffi Chouljian
Dorothy Evans
Kim Sony Kyeu and Andrew? (Rotaractors from the Korean club at York University)  

 

President Gerd Wengler invited all attending to join him in a minute of silence in honour of our member, treasurer, and past president Jack Holman who died at his Kinmount cottage this past weekend.

 

Memories of Jack Holman were shared around the tables.  Some from members who have known Jack since he joined the club in 1986. 
    
Basil started off the tribute by recalling his service in the club since he became a member. That included being President in 1995/96 and treasurer almost continuously since. Basil closed with his summary “we have lost a great Rotarian, a wonderful person and a great friend”. 

 

Herewith a summary of comments made as members shared their thoughts of Jack.

- Jack’s treasury report would be moved by Gerd to the top of the agenda at the Board meetings because he could always put his finger on an issue that was a problem that should not be allowed to slide away without attention. His memory was prodigious.
- Jack was always outspoken; there were projects that he liked and there were others that he was uncomfortable with.  Usually his assessment carried the day.
- The TV auction we started involved a lot of record keeping on the computer and Jack was at the centre of that process until one weekend he received a call that Marg had suffered a stroke. That changed his life and service until her passing in 2011.
-But when Jack was persuaded to be Barry Smith’s Vice President he reluctantly agreed and then moved on to widen his Rotary horizons as President and then became the TV Auction chairman while holding down the treasurer’s job.  Jack was a one hundred percenter!  He didn’t blow hot and cold in cycles as many of us do as stages in our lives change.
-Repeated several times “Jack appeared ‘crusty’ on the outside but was a ‘softy’ inside.  He had a heart of gold and visited Kevin Moore’s church “once” but was one of the first to give at his political fundraiser.
-Any club-wide call for funding Jack would always respond generously.
-Newcomers noticed how welcoming Jack was when they came to the club and how he recalled their names when they returned.
-There is still a collection of stuffed animals and other purchases that Marg would always buy to support the TV auction when we ran ours. Jack was considering donating them back to the more recent auctions but held off because they reminded him of their happiness together.
-Younger members would be surprised but it was the opinion of oldsters that Jack had “mellowed” over the years. He was really crusty!
-A suggestion was made to set up a Legacy Holman Memorial fund for our Foundation to honour Jack’s memory.  Many present signed up and more are welcome.
-Jack made it clear that our club welcomes informality and ties are not normally part of the dress code!  But some of us have hearing problems when it comes to the English language spoken in a “foreign” tongue.
-After you got to know him he could be gentle, kind and always generous.  When the news came of his death it struck many of us like the loss of a close member of our family.

 

President Gerd ended the meeting calling it a wonderful tribute to our friend Jack Holman.  We should each raise our glass of Scotch or equivalent tonight to toast the memory of Rotarian, friend, and wonderful person.

 

A link to the recorded comments can be found at: