On Aug. 31st, Tom Hutchins settled the matter of which branch of the service is superior when he read a memo to  Charlotte Rotary members "signed" by "GOD.  U.S. NAVY/Retired" as part of his humorous Health & Happiness Report.

Seated at the head table - shown behind Tom Hutchins - were Jim Alexander (Mecklenburg Medical Group,) Bob Young (UNC Charlotte Athletic Foundation,) George Thompson (Providence United Methodist Church) who offered our Invocation, and our savvy, witty President Worth Williamson (Edmiston Ivesting Consulting Group).

Our most impressive speaker was the Governor of South Carolina and fellow Rotarian Jim Hodges.

We were happy to welcome back Bill Kinney after his absence due to surgery.  Bill is a 33-year Rotarian and a past president of Charlotte Rotary.

Tom Hunter (Charter Properties) introduced our speaker. Seated at the head table to Tom's left were Brian Schick (Anchor Financial Group and a spearheader of Charlotte Trolley) and Chase Saunders (Dozier, Miller, Plllard, Murphy) (and former Judge).

Marilynn Bowler (Charlotte Hornets) presented the first annual Membership Star Award to Charlotte Rotary member Donn Toney (Eastover Capital Management) for his impressive recruitment of new members.

President Worth and Gov. Hodges are no doubt smiling about the improvement both SC and NC have shown on SAT scores this year.  Literacy is important to the Governor and to Charlotte Rotary, so education ranks at the top of our mutual list of goals.

Ed Kizer (UNCC) and Tom Hunter may be discussing Jan Thompson's challenged issued to our Rotary Club to make a contribution to the recent earthquake victims in Turkey.  Checks may be mailed to Charlotte Rotary or turned in at the September 7th meeting.  Checks should be made out to Charlotte Rotary but designate "for earthquake victims" on the face of the check.  All donations will be most welcome.

Ed Kizer and Governor Jim Hodges may be chuckling over the Governor's reference to NC Governor Jim Hunt as "Governor for  Life" which provoked smiles and scattered applause.

Ed Kizer and President Worth are probably grinning about three new members being proposed for Charlotte Rotary this week.

Dr. Jim Alexander (Mecklenburg Medical Group) offers some health tips to the SC Governor to keep him in tip-top shape.)

Ed Ellis may be offering the Governor some campaign tips.

City Council Member David W. Erdman welcomes SC Governor Jim Hodges.

Governor Hodges and Bert Voswinkel, Jr. pose at the insistence of our Rotary photographer, Bert Voswinkel, Sr.   Parents never tire of shooting pictures of their children, do they Bert???

Jerry Helms (Chairman, Board of Directors, Charlotte Sister Cities and guest of Peggy Wesp) and Ray Killian (who reported on our sister city of Arequipa, Peru) were front-and-center to promote Charlotte's Sister Cities Program.

Charlotte Rotary Immediate Past President Ronnie Pruett and his guests Peter van den Bosch (left) and Jan van den Bosch (right) listen intently as Governor Hodges comments on the severe damages along the shores of SC caused by Hurricane Dennis. Jan van den Bosch is a retired former employee of BASF in Charlotte.  Peter's company handles certain matters for Coca-Cola and McDonald's Corporation in Europe.

Harley Dickson who introduced twenty guests and visitiing Rotarians (without once slipping over a name!) and Charlene Kammerer (United Methodist Church).

Who can do anything but smile when looking at a photo of Fred Lowrance (Parker, Poe, Adams & Bernstein)(and a past president of Charlotte Rotary) and Tony Zeiss (CPCC prez.)!  Two of our Club's best personalities together in one picture!

Randall Groves (Odom & Groves, P.C.) looks like he may be running for office, himself.  Check the tinted glasses and wide grin.

Julius Melton (Davidson College) was, no doubt, listening carefully to Gov. Hodges report and comments on education in South Carolina.

Dr. Bob Story, Frank Larson and Ralston Pound are three of Charlotte Rotary Club's most popular and most respected members.  Between them they represent 107 years of Rotary service above self!

Jan van den Bosch and Dr. Eugene Kozhevnikov (KOVEX Corporation) listen as Governor Hodges challenged us to emphasize education by continuing our tremendous efforts toward improving literacy.

Ashley Calhoun (new Communication Director for Sister Cities) and Peggy Wesp (Sister Cities head honcho) smile for Charlotte Rotary photographer Bert Voswinkel.  Peggy and Ray Killian spoke to our membership about their recent trip to our Sister City of Arequipa, Peru.

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