Membership Chair Kim congratulates Jennifer Cummings on receiving her permanent badge. Along side was her sponsor as a member Brianne McNally
Snow birds are slowly returning for the summer, welcome back Wendell
Phil Davidson announced there will be an auction strategy session at his house Tuesday at 5:30
Our speaker today was from the Ripple Effect Project
Her not for profit group in Waterville has helped build five schools in Korando, Kenya. Ripple Effect supports the self sustainable agricultural and educational endeavors of independent orphanages in Sub Shararn Africa.
Update from Uncle Milty
I feel g-r-e-a-t! Full of energy. Walking pretty good with a cane. Handling the stairs better. Even washed the car yesterday. I gained nearly 10 pounds this past week. Appetite like a horse. Blood counts are terrific. Doctor was delighted. Started second round of chemo today which will take three weeks. The bad news. Can’t have any scotch until June 9. Good timing though. I finished off the jug of Chivas Regal last night that Warren Winslow had brought me. Hope to get back to Kiwanis by mid-June.
Past Presidents Corner
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Rich Abramson
(1991)
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Circle K Club started at Thomas College
And a Builder’s Club at Buker School.
Worked for a more active Cony Key Club.
Club Membership at 135, largest in N.E.
KPTI work produced several red jackets.
Had an active Big Brothers/Big Sisters
Bowl-A-Thorn team. Won the SalvationArmy
bell-ringing contest against Rotary.
Best remembered when 100-year-old
Doc Peasley asked Rich: (on Docs birthday and Rich Brought a cake out for him after presiding over the meetings for almost a full year ) “Who the Hell are you?”
LIGHTER MOMENTS FROM AUGUSTA KIWANIS HISTORY
By Milt Huntington (1965)
The Augusta Kiwanis Club sprang to life in 1922, but that was before my time. I don’t get to say that very often. As I may have mentioned once or twice before, when I was born, the Dead Sea wasn’t even sick. I’ve only been a member for a little more than half a century, but in that fleeting period of years, we sure had lots of Kiwanis laughs and memories galore. Let me resurrect a few that have withstood the test of time.
Speaking of time, I looked through the Kiwanis roster the other day and realized a dozen active members of our Club have racked up a combined 600-plus years of service. Most of them can boast records of 50 years or more of perfect attendance. That means they each attended at least 50 Thursday meetings a year or 30,000 luncheons as a unit over half a century. That’s a lot of Kiwanis meetings and a fair amount of lunch.
Before I go any further, let me get one thing out of the way. Let me just mention, as briefly as possible, the non-appearance of Miss America . I had somehow managed to engage Arizona’s newly crowned Vonda Kay Van Dyke to appear at a Kiwanis luncheon meeting. I had boasted about it for weeks. The room at the old Augusta House was packed with fellow members and guests. The time came for her appearance and my introduction. She didn’t show. I adlibbed, told jokes and did everything possible to kill time in anticipation of her late arrival.
Some one of my so-called Kiwanis friends sent a note up from the audience, informing me that Miss America had just called to say she was in Hallowell with a flat tire, and would be right along. I ad-libbed some more. Time passed. She never showed. The message was a fake. It seems some mix-up in communications between Vonda and her PR person prevented her attendance. To this day, I never hear the end of it. “Need a good program? Have Milt get Miss America!”
If that weren’t bad enough, as chair of the Program Committee, I promised to deliver International track star Wilma Rudolph. We held a Ladies Day for this special occasion and the Kiwanis men invited wives, secretaries and girlfriends. You got it! She never showed. They said she had the flu. I guess the administrative year of 1965 will go down in Kiwanis history as the year of infamy.
On the subject of programs, the late Bennett Katz, our 1962 Club President, was often a speaker at Kiwanis because of his extensive community involvement and as majority leader of the Maine Senate. Bennett possessed the most spontaneous senses of humor I’ve ever experienced. He introduced me as a speaker at Kiwanis on a couple of occasions. Once, he said, with all the sincerity he could muster: “I wanted to get the best possible speaker for this occasion.” He took a long look at me, seated beside him, and added: “Unfortunately, he wasn’t available.”
He went on to describe me as one of the most humble people he had ever met—adding that he knew of no one who had more to be humble about. Another time, while introducing me, he stated again with all that syrupy sincerity: “Of all the speakers I have ever introduced, Milt, (Pause), is the most recent.” I got my revenge, however. I was a lobbyist at the State House, and while introducing Senator Katz at Kiwanis, I extolled with equal sincerity: “Bennett Katz is one of the finest legislators I’ve ever owned.”
One other beautiful moment bears repeating. Bennett, whose wife’s name was Edith, walked past my table at a Kiwanis luncheon, and playfully pretended to steal my dessert. “Bennett!” I loudly exclaimed, “You can have my cake or you can have Edith, but you can’t have my cake and Edith, too.”
One of my memorable Kiwanis moments includes the time when the late Julius Sussman, the 1957 president, walked into a live Kiwanis auction, waved his hand at someone…and bought a cuckoo clock. The late Roy Snowdon, 1956 president, infuriated with an Augusta House luncheon consisting of beans and hotdogs, stormed into the kitchen to complain. He emerged on the run chased by the cook wielding a meat cleaver. Then there was a time when the late Archie Boghosian , long after his prime, when teased about his advancing age, did a very athletic handstand on the back of his chair. Who could ever forget when the late Dr. Ed Peaslee came to Kiwanis on his 100th birthday, accepted accolades for his years of Kiwanis service, and then snapped his head around to eye the incumbent president, Rich Abramson and demanded: “Who the Hell are you?”
I’m sure there were countless other moments like those in the Augusta club’s 90 year history, but many were before my time, while others are fading away with a memory that is doing the same. All the Kiwanis auctions, pancake festivals, rose and peanut sales and other projects over the years involved a lot of meetings, a lot of phone calls, a lot of valuable time. It may sound like a lot of work and dedication of time, but, at the same time, it all translates into precious moments of fun and satisfaction.
