Rufus Allison provided our Health and Happiness report with a reminder to keep Joyce Robinette, wife of member George, in our thoughts following her heart cath procedure this week. Rufus went on to share an inmate-drowning joke that received more boos than grins! He earned partial redemption with a few airline pilot/mechanic one-liners that were pretty clever.

     After the pledge of allegiance to the flag, Erskine Harkey gave our invocation by quoting a 6th century Chinese philosopher. The timely theme of his prayer was "world peace," only possible when we start with peace in our own hearts — amen! Seated at the head table today were Catherine Browning, Mary-Stuart Brooks, Jim Adams, Erskine Harkey, Andy Zoutewelle and David Anderson.

     Our brief Passing of the Gavel program began with President Jim first praising incoming President David Anderson for being well prepared for his task at hand and assuring that he will do a masterful job. Jim thanked the Club for allowing him to serve as president and said how much of an honor it has been for him. He has enjoyed every minute of his reign and perhaps none more than the final two or three today! Jim shared his appreciation for the former presidents who stepped in for him when he was making those treks to Chapel Hill meetings on Rotary Tuesdays. He couldn't resist one last jab at ol' buddy past prez Don Steger, who was not in attendance, for missing a "fill in for the prez" meeting recently. I'll bet Don will get even! Jim recognized and thanked our outgoing board members for their service, including Julian Aldridge, Marilynn Bowler, Dick Klingman, Herb Harriss, Cynthia Johnston, and Frank Martin. He acknowledged the wonderful job the Avenue Chairs have done including John Tabor, Jeannie Falknor, Theresa Evans, and David Zimmerman. He commented on how separating the jobs of Treasurer (Catherine Browning) and Secretary (Erskine Harkey) from one person to two has had a positive effect by adding more focus on programs and recognized the wonderful job both people have done this year. Jim praised his two assistants from Charlotte who were in attendance, Rachel Freeman and Diane Browning, for making this a "special" year and without whom none of the great things that were done could have been accomplished. After a quick analogy that being a University Chancellor (and Rotary prez) is sort of like herding cats, Jim introduced David Anderson and presented him the President's pin.

     David thanked Jim for a terrific year of service and said he was stumped early on as his first act was to get the outgoing president a gift from the Club. He commented the Club could easily justify a trip for Jim around the world since the "kitty" is in such great shape under his leadership, but the Woodwards are already heading to Europe. He thought of a new car, but was afraid if Jim showed up in Chapel Hill with a new car the other academians may get upset with their used state-owned Lexuses so a new car wouldn't do. He considered a boat because Jim likes boats, but the last one he had sunk in his boat-house and Jim may want to just use friends' boats! At last he said the perfect gift for Jim was a certificate for a Timberlake work of art. Hats off to a great job this year, Jim, from all your fans in the Club!

     Was Paul Harris the first president of Rotary International? Yes.

     There is an easy explanation to this apparent contradiction. Although Paul Harris was the founder and organizer of the first Rotary Club in Chicago in 1905, the man selected to be the first president was one of the other founding members, Silvester Schiele.

     By the year 1910 there were 16 Rotary Clubs, which linked up as an organization called the National Association of Rotary Clubs. Two years later the name was changed to the International Association of Rotary Clubs, as Rotary was organized in Winnipeg, Canada, and then in England, Ireland, and Scotland. In 1922 the name was shortened to Rotary International.

     With the exchange of pins Tuesday, David L. Anderson succeeded James H. Woodward and became the 86th individual to serve as president of the Rotary Club of Charlotte since its founding in 1916.

     Said President David in accepting the responsibilities of office, "When I joined Charlotte Rotary 10 years ago, I had no idea I'd be president of the great organization. And when Worth Williamson came to see me almost two years ago, I didn't realize I was going to be president either.

     "What I thought Worth said that day when I said yes was, 'Would you think about becoming our next president?' What he really said was 'Would you be our next president?' and when I said 'yes,' he got up and left so quickly I didn't have time to change my answer."

     In accepting the challenge, President David called on Club members for their support, saying, "We are going to try some new things. Some are going to work and some won't. I want you to let me know what's not working because we're going to be doing some things differently."

     And then he won instant respect as the new leader by dismissing the Club early as his first official act.

     A native of Timmonsville, a small South Carolina town, President David had 21 students in his high school graduating class. After graduating from The Citadel, he joined First Union's real estate loan department here. After a few years he joined Prudential, also in Charlotte, to handle real estate mortgages before joining the NCNB mortgage department.

     Said our new chief, "I had some interesting assignments with NCNB/Nations-Bank." While he was head of real estate lending for the two Carolinas, the predecessor to Bank of America made its initial foray into Florida. "I was part of that team that went to Florida to buy those banks." For two years he was head of corporate lending and loan policy executive for Florida.

     His classification — business problemist — is a bit of a misnomer. Our president joined the Club during the time he was attempting to establish his business helping troubled companies.

     "Before 1 could get that business going," he said, "people started asking me to help them with their personal finances. I guess the tail wagged the dog. I never really got to develop the problem-solving business and found I really like what I'm doing better anyway."

     He married wife Lucy in 1968, and they have two daughters. One is in human resources with the Bank of America and the other is a first-grade teacher at Charlotte Latin School.

     Asked about the year ahead, President David replied confidently, "An awful lot of people have done an awful lot of hard work already. Given all the work that's been done, I hope we're going to be on autopilot the rest of the year."

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TENTATIVE CONVENTION SITE