Rotations July 29, 2014
The meeting started with an unusual turn. Rick Coradi and J.D. Scott were outside the meeting room discussing their chess abilities. J.D. claimed he did not make his high school chess team because of a height requirement. It has been a long time since chess nuts have been boasting in the open foyer prior to the Club’s meeting. President Sigur moved the Queen’s pawn to D4 to start the meeting at 12:33 pm. Grandmaster Spence led the Club in several songs to warm the chess nuts. President Sigur, who dares you to call her Linda, led the Club in the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a blessing and not a curse from Dona Overstreet. The visitation report was called in from Table 7. Ken Weeks is still unable to attend the Club meetings. Yet, thankfully, Morgan Trimyer was in attendance. Our guests were numerous and carefully accounted for by Dick Lammers. Paige Powell was visiting from the Cape Henry Club, Stacy Nixon and Charlie Firestone from the Hampton Roads Club and Rod Lilly joined us from Hendersonville, Tennessee. Irv Wells was escorted by the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Office, Royce Curtin, and Dona Overstreet introduced the Club to Ellen Duckworth, a potential member. Jean Owens recognized Louise Davis, a retired and wonderful lady that helped out with our Rotary lunches for many years. President Sigur encouraged everyone to sign the condolence card for our friends in Tiel, Netherlands. The card is to express our sympathy for the loss of Dutch lives in the Malaysian airliner disaster.
Diane Richards, wife of Tom Richards, thanked the Club members for their support during his illness. President Sigur provided an overview of the Rotary Smiles project. The work to recreate smiles has already begun. Some initial success stories were highlighted in a video produced by Andrea Bear, the owner of Bear in Mind Strategies, a Norfolk video and communications company. Andrea Bear felt a connection to the Rotary Smiles’ project and produced the video in honor of her late father who taught dentistry. Andrea’s video documents the transformation that takes place as a result of the dental work. It also evidenced the need to recruit a competent sound engineer for the meetings. Sharon “Smiley” Howard expressed her appreciation for the dental work provided by Rotary Smiles and displayed her brilliant smile for the Club. President Sigur gave Andrea a Bear hug in appreciation for her production of the video and moved Queen’s bishop to black F7 to place us in the fines and Happy Bucks’ portion of the meeting. The Club’s nonagenarian, Harry McCoy, started off the fun with a substantial contribution to the Foundation and the Endowment to celebrate his anniversary and his birthday. The fire marshal sent a thank you note in appreciation of not using candles to assist in the celebration. Jim O’Brien paid a fine for the successful re-opening of Serena’s in Virginia Beach, Chip Vogan paid happy bucks to thank Ron Lilly for offering an invocation at the 50th Reunion of the Granby Class of 1964. Edna Baehre-Kolovani paid happy bucks for TCC being named the best Technical School in the 757 area code by the Coastal Virginia Magazine. Will King paid a fine for being quoted below the fold on the proposed sale of the Virginia Schooner. Eleanor Schoonover contributed some happy bucks after telling a woeful tale of traveling all the way to Indianapolis, Indiana to unload one of President Sigur’s books
The retired and reserved Norm Maas introduced the speaker, Lisa Suhay, who, I kid you not, has her own Wikipedia article. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Suhay ) Lisa has been a working journalist for 25 years and is the author of eight children books. Lisa Suhay is the mother of four boys and is currently a blogger on Modern Parenthood for the Christian Science Monitor. One of Lisa Suhay’s sons was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome (AS). Lisa discovered that chess engaged her AS son- a discovery that sparked her love of chess. As a result, Lisa Suhay created a seed chess program for at-risk and underserved children in the Norfolk area. The program is known as the Norfolk Initiative for Chess Excellence (N.I.C.E.). ( Kellie Dickerson had to caution Jack Kavanaugh not to use the phrase N.I.C.E. Chess in an inappropriate way. It can get him in trouble in a brazilian ways). Without knowing that Wayne Shank was a member of the Club, Lisa Suhay asserted that she could teach anyone to play chess. Lisa Suhay was able to distill numerous life lessons from the game of chess. For example, she attempted to bait the Club into claiming that the King was more powerful than the Queen. Yet, since most of the members are married, and in Harry McCoy’s case for 70 years, the members all knew that a King needs to take one step at a time and that the Queen can do whatever she wants. The Club also understands that chess is like marriage. Generally, you cannot have a mate without a check. Lisa carefully explained the origins of the term checkmate. It has something to do with a warning yelled in the event someone arrives at the Rotary meeting and threatens the life of Norm Maas. An alternate explanation takes us to Persia and the phrase “shah”, spoken in a manner similar to choking, meaning king and “mata” meaning in danger. N.I.C.E. is a great vehicle to build communities and relationships in Norfolk. It may also help you understand that pawn shops have nothing to do with the game of chess.
President Sigur, between a Queen, a Rook, and a hard place advised Lisa Suhay that the Club would dedicate a book written by a rival author in her honor. The book was entitled “Treasure Hunting” and will be presented to Jaycox Elementary School, the School of the Week. Jack Hornbeck won the weekly raffle in the amount of $18 but did not win the big pot of $651. President Sigur declared that Win Lewis’ last move constituted a Fianchetto and that the Church hierarchy was concerned. She, therefore, called the meeting a draw and promised to reconvene in a week to sort out the winners and losers. The speakers for the next meeting will be the students who participated in the Tiel Exchange program. The meeting was adjourned at 1:29 pm. Checkmate!