October 2012 http://175.sirinc2.org/ Branch 175 Vol. 18 Issue 10

Sierra SIR Echo

Our fiscal year is coming to a close. You have elected a new slate of officers. The directors are in place and the committee chairmen are being appointed. All have volunteered freely and that makes for a very good out-look for Sierra Branch # 175. I would like to tip my hat and say “thanks” to two hard working members; (The Librarian) Sir Dennis Mu-rane and Sir Paul Dehn (The Book Club) Thank you. Last month attendance was not very good. When the callers call, we normally have 88+ members saying they will attend the luncheon. This past month, the callers reported that 80 would attend, but only 69 showed up. These “no shows” hurt us because we have to pay for that lunch just the same. These “no shows” are very costly. So please come don't stay home- -we like to see you!

Marin Vallejo

Charlie Pepper Howard Zinn

When we asked the folks at NAS Lemoore to send us a guest speaker to tell our branch what they do to keep our country safe, they responded big time. They are sending us four of their very best. We need to equal their response by coming out and show our sup-port. If you would like to bring your wife or a friend you think would enjoy the presentation, Marin and I encourage you to do so. Vets, wear your hats. The November speaker will be Bob Benson from the Department of Homeland Security. This will be a great presentation that you won’t want to miss. Bring a guest. At our branch golf tournament last month, I found that several of our members were unaware of the Fresno County Taxi Script program. It’s a great deal for seniors (70+). You can buy $20 worth of script for only $5- -a 75% discount. That means, if you have a $40 taxi ride to the airport, you only have to pay $10 for you and all companions in the taxi. Check it out at www.fresnocog.org/measure-c-taxi-script-0. There’s one thing that Republicans and Democrats share in common: our money.

Lunch: Pork or Chicken

Lunch: 11:45 Board Meeting: 11:00

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Motivational and Inspirational Speaker Sir Howard Zinn, Little Sir

Branch 159, was our guest lunch speaker in September. Howard told

us that four of the most important pieces of advice he’s ever received

were: get involved with everything you can, you’ll be a better man;

know whose in charge, be in the right place at the right time, and

never drink in public (there’s a time to drink and a time not to). Num-

ber 1 was taught to him by his father and numbers 2,3,&4 by Jim Tun-

ney, NFL Official.

Lt. Lou Findlay

Lt. Derek “Shwreck” Cameron

Lt. Ryan “iLean” Anderson

Melinda Larson

F-18

We have three naval aviators from the Flying Eagles of Strike Fighter Squadron 122 (VFA-122) and the Public Affairs Officer of NAS Lemoore coming to pay us a visit for our October luncheon. The aviators launch F-18 hornets off navy aircraft carriers and have participated in multiple combat deployments over the skies of Iraq and Afghanistan. Melinda Larson has served the U.S. Navy for over 30 years and is a retired Senor Chief Communications Specialist. She served in Italy, Bosnia and aboard navy ships throughout the Pacific. These are America’s finest and we need to turn out in force to show our appreciation to these true American heroes.

Charlie Pepper (left) Little Sir presenting Sir Howard Zinn (Little Sir Branch 159 and Sep-tember Guest Speaker) the “Certificate of Appreciation”.

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Make your calendar right now, for the dates of the November and December SIR Luncheon. November 15 (Thanksgiving luncheon; speaker from Homeland Security)

December 20 (Ladies Day with the Gold Note Chorus providing entertainment)

HELP!!! I’m lost. Have you found me? Our banner (seen here draping the speaker’s podium) went missing after the September Lunch. Call Merle (439-3658) if you know where I am.

MODEL RAILROADING and

WOODWORKING Sir George Pisching

C o n t a c t S i r G e o r g e P i s c h i n g gmpisching@netzero.com or 275-0199 to find out about the SIR model railroading interest group (SMRIG) startup. For a peek at my model railroad under construction, go to www.bklrr.org. Let me know what you think about the project.

Or To find out about the SIR woodworking interest group (SWIG) call or email me.

Sir Gene Parker has donated an exquisitely handmade SIR themed quilt to our branch for a fund raiser. The Board of Directors voted to sell tickets at $5 each. Sir Fred Ketcham will be available starting with the October Lunch to sell tickets. Tickets will also be sold at the November and Christmas lunch. The winning ticket will be drawn at the Ladies Day Christ-mas Lunch. Please be generous; we need the money. (Quilt will be on display at the Octo-ber meeting)

Gene Parker shown making SIR Logo Quilt. (Picture, upper left, shows individ-ual square and picture upper right shows completed quilt). This is Gene’s fifth quilt (he has additionally completed four others since the SIR Quilt). It took about 12 hours a day for five days to complete at an approximate cost of materials of $200. A professional quilter in Fresno has valued Gene’s SIR Quilt at $700 to 900.

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TRAVEL by Sir Richard Beers GOLF by Sir Stan Nappe

MEMBERSHIP by Sir Ron McClain

DEADLINE for the November Echo is Thursday, Nov. 1

(notice date due to earlier lunch date in Nov.)

Our SIR 175 trip to Portugal, the Azores, and Madeira was a good and memorable adventure into new locations. Sao Miguel has to be one of the world’s best kept secrets. Our next excursion will take us to Budapest, Hungary where we will board a river boat and begin our journey through Eastern Europe with stops at Kalocsa and Mo-hacs, Hungary; Vukovar, Croatia; Belgrade, Ser-bia; “the Iron Gates”; Ruse, Bulgaria; and Con-stanta, Romania. A land tour will then continue to Bucharest, Romania. This Eastern Europe cruise promises to be an enlightening and com-fortable vacation. If you are interested contact me.

Oct. 23 Madera Muni , T. Boosalis 297-1762 Nov. 13 Riverbend, G. Smith 341-5954 Nov. 27 Riverside, G. Smith 341-5954 Dec. 11 Airways B. Preheim 638-4647

September 20th we played at Belmont CC. The format was a 2 Man Best Ball (blind draw). Mike Castle won 1st and a skin on hole # 9. Paul Dehn won 3rd. On September 25th we played a 2 Man Scramble at Airways. Wayne Schwartz and his partner won 1st. Ron McClain and his partner won 3rd. September 26th we played our 2012 Branch 175 Champion-ship at Riverside. The format was individual golf with 2 Flights. Flight 1 Mike Castle won 1st plus CTP on #5. 2nd& 3rd was split by Bob Dickson & Tom Lean. Jerry Long won 4th& Andy Provost won 5th. Flight 2 was won by Wayne Schwartz. Fred Fowler won 2nd with Ron Pistacchio winning 3rd. Stan Nappe won 4th plus CTP on #5. Ron McClain won 5th. Oct. 9th we played at Pheasant Run. The play was a 2 Man Shamble, One best ball scores by the Stableford point system. Flight #1: Gary Beacom& Jim Scroggin won 2nd. Bob Dick-son won 3rd& a Skin on #7. Tom Lean & Stan Nappe won 4th. Flight #2: Wayne Schwartz & Gene Parker win 1st plus a Skin on #6. Fred Ketcham Tied for 3rd & won a Skin on #8. Jerry Long & Ron McClain won 4th& a Skin on #12 plus Ron won CTP on #4 & #11. Ron McClain was the top money winner at the Tournament. TOP 3 REASONS WHY GOLF IS BETTER THAN SEX… #3…If you live in Ca., you can do it almost every day. #2… You don’t have to cuddle with your partner when you finish. And the #1 reason why golf is better than sex…#1… When your equipment gets old you can replace it!

Picture right, Mike Castle wins Branch 175 Cham-pionship in Flight !1 and receives trophy from Golf Chairman, Stan Nappe. Picture left, Wayne Schwarz wins 1st Place in Flight #2 (he also re-ceived a trophy)

Finally! The heat is gone, a few weeks of cool weather and then we get rain. I’ll take the rain over the heat. We have had a few visitors and another past Sir that is interested in joining 175. At the September meet-ing John Brand was the guest of Sir Tom Lean. We’re making progress...keep up the good work. The Big Fresno Fair is over, so we should be getting larger participation at our lunches, now. Come on out for a great meal and informative speakers. I want to announce that I am going to have to step down as Attendance & Membership Chairman. I have been put in situations that don’t allow me to continue the job and do it well. Please, if you are in-terested, contact Little Sir Charlie Pepper. I am sure he will be glad to hear from you. See you at lunch!

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OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS from Sir Richard Scheidt

BRIDGE by Sir Bob Cleveland HARDWARE

Sir Jerry “hard-ware” Stoltenberg

by Sir Paul Dehn

Marshall Goodwin Ernie Johnson Herb Schwartz Gene Harvey

George Weber

Fall is coming, so it’s time to order your windbreaker, Sport-Tek Jacket $36 Poplin Jacket (new) $60 Caps $15 Polos $26 (all the above with SIR 175 Logo) See me at the luncheon or call @ 289-9287 or email stoltsgs@yahoo.com

Dan Brown Bob Dickson Fred Fitchhorn Stogie Jensen Ron McClain Willis Meyer Russ Mott Claude Parker James Scroggin Art Vallejo George Weber

Free Lunch Winner from Sept. tickets: Jack Palsgaad

September Birthday Free Lunch winner: Brad Ferguson

“Proud to be a SIR” Free Lunch winner: Richard Scheidt

The September book club meeting was lightly attended. Tim Finley chaired the session and he was joined by George Zerlang, Hal Debban and Merle Knapp. Tim shared “Hell’s Corner” by David Baldacci. This book fea-tures Oliver Stone, (aka John Carr) returning to secret government service to thwart Russian drug cartels only to find himself in the middle of an attempted assignation of the British Prime Minister. Merle was only partially through “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” by Thomas L. Friedman so stay tuned next month for this. George reported on “Halsey’s Typhoon” by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin. This book chronicled the loss of three navy destroyers and many of their crewmen when the US Pa-cific fleet is struck by a savage typhoon in the autumn of 1944. The authors examine the decision of admiral “Bull” Halsey to stay on station in support of General MacAr-thur’s Philippine invasion and therefore exposing his fleet to the wrath of an epic typhoon. Come on and join us at 10 am at Pardini’s Café before the main meeting.

IN MEMORIAM

Sir Angelo J. Sasso

The next Couple’s Bridge will be played on Wednesday, October 24 at the home of Sir Russ and Tess Mott.

SIR Branch #175 Editor 9260 N. Green Meadows Lane Fresno, CA 93720

SIR BRANCH # 175 2012 OFFICERS Big SIR Marin Vallejo 275-4622 Little SIR Charlie Pepper 433-0646 Treasurer Robert Bakman 434-1975 Asst. Treas. Andy Provost 439-3295 Secretary Gene Parker 246-4589 Asst. Sectry Merle Knapp 439-3658 DIRECTORS Open Rich Grigsby 2012 439-8540 Gary Beacom 2012 434-4007 Fred Ketcham 2013 225-4041 Russ Mott 2013 441-1115 George Pisching 2014 275-0199 DC Contreras 2014 222-9540 ACTIVITIES Book Club Paul Dehn 292-2225 Bowling Merle Knapp 439-3658 Bridge Bob Cleveland 435-5773 Golf Stan Nappe 435-6703 Golf Co-chair Tom Lean 9407084 Golf Co-chair Mike Castle 323-6832 Travel Richard Beers 431-3728 BARN-YARD ACTIVITIES Attendance Ron McClain 292-1919 Bulletin-ECHO Jerry Long 287-4023 Chaplain Russ Mott 441-1115 Database Ed Richard Scheidt 435-2536 Hardware Jerry Stoltenberg 289-9287 Historian Merle Knapp 439-3658 Librarian Dennis Murane 840-1517 Membership Ron McClain 292-1919 Photographer (Open) Special Events Fred Ketcham 225-4041 Sunshine Keith Herzog 439-0896 Telephone Ray Born 438-5804

SONS IN RETIREMENT 2012 STATE OFFICERS

President James Stedman (925) 932-1636 Vice President Richard Dettmer (530) 755-4118 Secretary Eckart Sellinger (415) 602-7176 Treasurer Michael Berry (707) 837-1792 Director, Region 8 Ed Dorn (559) 433-0670 Governor, Area 29 Douglas Hansen (559) 222-0497

Non-Responsibility Declaration All travel events and other activities sponsored by Sons in Retirement, Incorporated, or its Branches are for the convenience and pleasure of the members and their guests who desire to participate. Sons in Retirement, Incorporated, and its Branches, do not assume any re-sponsibility for the well being or safety of the participants or passengers, or their property or any damages whatso-ever, in any manner pertaining to said travel activities. Where the travel literature is prepared by a travel agency, the following words shall be added to the above wording: “Any other ‘disclosures’ or non-responsibility provisions contained herein shall not in any way incur any liability attaching to Sons in Retirement, Incorporated, or any Branch thereof.”

“Sir Happenings” is the State Bulletin: www.sirinc.org

Visit our SIR Branch 175 website at:

http://175.sirinc2.org/