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December 27, 2005 |
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HOW I GOT WHERE I'M AT Dee Dee Murphy, Pat Rodgers, Floyd Davis, Takeshi Tohkawa By Jill Santuccio The last meeting of the Charlotte Rotary Club for 2005 featured three members and a special guest offering their thoughts on the grammatically incorrect "How I Got Where I'm At." Edwin Peacock introduced Dee Dee Murphy of Leadership Charlotte, Pat Rodgers of Rodgers Builders, Floyd Davis of Community Link and Takeshi "Tak" Tohkawa of Japan, who is in Charlotte on a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship. Dee Dee opted out of her rhyming version of HIGWIA, stating that it sounded too much like rap and would "prefer to do it over drinks sometime." A third-generation native Charlottean, she attributed much of her success to a family-instilled passion for learning that started with her two college-educated grandparents. Rubbing elbows with international and local celebrities including Harvey Gantt, Jimmy Carter and yes, Santa Claus, allowed her to achieve great things with the Mint Museum of Art, Afro-American Cultural Center, Habitat for Humanity, Kids Voting and now, Leadership Charlotte. In closing, she defined wisdom as "doing the next right thing." After wondering out loud if doing her HIGWIA could be traded in for four or five meeting makeups, Pat began with the tale of a Christmas trip at age five that took her from St. Louis to New York to Germany (via ship and the sight of a memorable iceberg) to France. In her first 12 years of her childhood education, she was in 13 different schools, so she found it ironic years later when an employee she asked to relocate to Raleigh said he would have to check with his wife and children first. She certainly was never asked about moving, and often didn't know it was happening until the Mayflower moving van appeared at her house. She attributed much of her success to her mother leading by example with a high degree of adaptability. A move to Charlotte brought a two-day "temp" job at Rodgers Builders, where she went from receptionist to bookkeeper and up the ladder after valuable education from CPCC and Queens University. Floyd Davis' family may have felt that his biggest accomplishment was being the first in the family to get a college degree. Some others would be wowed by a 20-plus year career leading United Way organizations in Minneapolis, New York, Miami, Flint (Mich.) and Winston-Salem. But the collective gasp of the Rotary group came when Floyd described a passion for bicycling that included many 100+ mile sojourns, including one that started in Tallahassee and ended, circuitously, in Miami some 526 miles later. The Minneapolis years were marked by a threatened boycott by the AFL-CIO of the local American Red Cross and United Way, but he helped derail the boycott and led the United Way to goal that year. He was also fortunate to be united with his second wife, Ann, to whom he has been married for more than 30 years. After leaving Winston-Salem for a brief stint in Fort Worth, the Davises returned to the Carolinas, where Floyd is now with Community Link and his wife runs Meals on Wheels in Cabarrus County. They say they are children of the Sixties…still trying to save the world. Takeshi "Tak" Tohkawa told us of his assignment in Charlotte working with the 30-year old TEACCH program based out of UNC-Chapel Hill. Operating out of the Charlotte office, he is a speech-language therapist who works mostly with autistic patients. He explained that autism can neither be treated nor cured, and finished his presentation with New Year's greetings from his masked friend. Head Table: Pat Rodgers, Floyd Davis, Herb Harriss, Edwin Peacock, Dee Dee Murphy, Takeshi Tohkawa, Mirsad Hadzikadic Visitors & Guests: Invocation: Bob Brietz, Visitors & Guests: Martin Waters; Song: Thomas Moore
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Copyright © 1998-2005. The Rotary Club of Charlotte. All rights reserved.
Revised: January 24, 2008.