It Happened Last Meeting
by Carey F. Walker
The weekly meeting was called to order at 12:00 pm by President Vera McKissic. Kellie Manderfield offered the invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone sang a beautiful rendition of “God Bless America”. Mr. & Mrs. Claus acting as greeters, introduced visiting guests and visiting Rotarians.
President Vera reminded us to sign up to offer the prayer, pledge and to be greeters. She also reminded us of the upcoming dedication of the Rotary Dream Park on December 30, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. The location is 151 North Center Street.
Sally Hopper announced Rotarians with anniversaries and birthdays. Celebrating birthdays were Eunice Currie, Charles Brady, Sheila Haddad Nagy, Kay King, Melody Fowler, Stephanie Melchert, Molly Kulpa, Victoria Farrar-Myers, Terri McGuill and Marc Prda. Rotarians with anniversaries are Kay King and Ben Doskocil.
Randy Hendricks announced the program for today. The program was “A Christmas Carol” performance by our club members. Cast members were Dan Blumberg, Bonnie Harris, Vera McKissic, Leslie Eades, Kurt Bartley, Benjamin Harris, Don Mebus and Mac Martin. The program was directed by Don Mebus.
Every member of the cast was amazing. It was evident from the performance that a lot of time and energy was expended to make the presentation a huge success. As a club, we are grateful for these fellow Rotarians as they “knocked this performance out of the ballpark”.
I thought a little history of “A Christmas Carol” was needed to give more meaning to the program. The author of “A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas” was Charles Dickens. He wrote this story in just six weeks. It has been reported that Dickens wrote the story while taking long nighttime walks around London.
“A Christmas Carol” was first published on December 19, 1843, with the first edition sold out by Christmas Eve. By 1844, the novella had gone through 13 printings and continues to be a robust seller to this day.
“A Christmas Carol” was written as a work of social commentary. Dickens had a lifelong devotion to helping the underserved due to his own family’s experiences with debtors prison, which forced him to drop out of school as a boy and work at a factory.
Vera informed us that next program will be on January 09, 2025. The program is the City of Arlington Teen Court.
The quote for this week: “I wear the chain I forged in life”. – The Ghost of Jacob Marley in Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol”.
Vera thanked the special guests and everyone else for coming. She then led us in the Four Way Test, and we were adjourned.
