He also spoke about some recent health issues, when he had trouble breathing, was referred to a cardiologist's office, and after testing was told "You can't go home".
A heart bypass operation at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany was successful, and now "I can breathe again."
Asked whom he would invite, living or dead, to a dinner party, he said Kurt Vonnegut, Albert Einstein, and his father's father who "was born on a canal boat on the Black River Canal."
Also joining us this morning were new members Donna Gizzi and Melanie Delaney.
On the left of photo (and mirrored on right) you can barely make out Brian Farrell, who will be playing in a benefit concert tomorrow (Friday) evening in Rensselaer County. See Upcoming Events or here for more details.
Jim Cahill, left, was last week's speaker, seen here with our member Brian Farrell. They are friends from Power's Pub, the historic tavern and restaurant on Route 9 and Farm-to-Market Road a few miles south of Malta. Cahill is manager of operations there.
But he spoke mostly about his 36-year career in the US Army, which he joined as an enlisted man in 1985 and retired from as a National Guard colonel in 2021. His service included tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He and his wife have a 12-year-old daughter who is a student in the Shenendehowa School District.
Brian, a contractor, is also a drummer, sometime singer and songwriter in the band Enjoyous, which is putting on another concert to benefit St. Paul's Center in Rensselaer, which shelters homeless mothers and children and provides supportive housing for seniors. It will be held on Friday Oct. 10 from 7 to 9 pm at Hope Lutheran Church, 470 Winter Street Extension, North Greenbush, with light refreshments, raffles and a silent auction.
The event is connected to the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary, and tickets can be purchased for $15 at the door.
Speaking of gatherings, some Malta Rotarians were at the forefront of this regional event last week at The Parting Glass in Saratoga Springs.
Last week's speaker, Norman Miller, is a 33-year US Air Force veteran, a former Olympic bobsled coach, and a participant in end-of-the-Cold War adventures involving the Soviet Union, its soldiers and the KGB, the CIA, alloy composites, Latvian athletes and an Estonian escape route to Finland. Miller has fictionalized those experiences in two novels, IceSpy and Inside the Cold War, and is working on a third with a Mafia element.
In other business, we're sponsoring the AOET booth at the Glenville Oktoberfest on Sept. 27.
Cyclist on Iron Truss Bridge by Tammy Handley
First Rose of the Season by Kristina Guernsey
Trail Traipsing by Maggie Dinneen
Winters Past in Luther Forest by Sean Campanie
Whimsical Faces- Zee Zee by Lisa Santy
Whimsical Faces-Buzz by Lisa Shanty
Helping Hands and a Monarch by Annika Nerf
The Malta Drive-in by Kristen Hardy Allen
After the Rain, Luther Forest by Ottavia Huang
Our speaker Thursday was Beth Moeller, president of the Innovation Center at Saratoga, a seven-day-a-week nonprofit which is located in Malta at 16 Old Stonebreak Road. (Beth is also the owner of Interactive Media Consulting.)
The Innovation Center describes itself as a collaborative makerspace for all creatives and entrepreneurs. "It's a place to bring people together," said Beth, with resources including 3D printers, a computer lab, a wood shop and a sewing room.
It also has big plans, she said, including working with Tec-Smart (the Malta HVCC campus) on creating certificates for programs such as electric vehicle maintenance.
Malta Sunrise Rotary scholarships this year went to two Shenendehowa High School graduates. Haylie Doxtater, on right in white dress, won $1,000 and Grace Green, on left, won $500. Cate Miller, at center, represented our club at the awards ceremony in the Shenendehowa auditorium.
Our speaker on Thursday was Fred Bahr from the Mechanicville chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, which makes and delivers wooden beds for children in need.
Molly Dugmore, branch manager of the Adirondack Trust northeast of the roundabout in downtown Malta, talked about the rising tide of attempted fraud, giving tips on avoidance while noting there should be "no shame" for the victims.
These often online frauds include the "unexpected windfall scam", the "sweetheart scam", the "IRS scam", "overpayment fraud", and the "friend or family in need scam". The latter can be particularly effective when AI is used to imitate a loved one's voice.
In general, she advised, "Don't click on the link."
Regarding a more benign form of links, we heard about the Impactful Education Golf Tournament coming up June 14 at the Airway Meadows Golf Club. It benefits a Rotary-connected worthy cause, and if you just go to the dinner it's only $25. (See below.)
We inducted our newest member, Lisa Elam, at Thursday's meeting, seen on left with President Chris Havens. Lisa is from Westchester County and a relative newcomer to Malta. She works as a caseworker for Tri-County Care.
Chris can also be seen in the photo above, following the banner being carried by her husband Dwight Havens (on left) and Murray Eitzmann. They were at the Military, Veterans and First Responders parade last Saturday in Malta.
It was announced at Thursday's meeting that we are donating $1,000 -- mostly raised from individual member contributions -- to Gift of Life International -- an organization long associated with Rotary which performs life-saving heart surgeries on children around the world.
Dr. Harm Velvis (seated at center) was our speaker last Thursday, interviewed by Bob Bonney (standing).
Velvis, a pediatric cardiologist, has been active for 30 years in Gift of Life International, which provides life-saving heart surgery to children around the world. Since his retirement he has stepped up his involvement, serving on the board and making several service trips a year to countries such as Bolivia, Guyana and Jordan.
Gift of Life, he said, has helped more than 60,000 children since its founding, and now serves more than 5,000 a year. It will celebrate its 50th anniversary in September with a gala and golf tournament on Long Island.
In other business, Phil Kellerman from the Southern Rensselaer Rotary Club said the recent concert by the band Enjoyous, co-sponsored by our club, raised $600 for the St. Paul's Center shelter for women and children in Rensselaer.
We got a thank-you card from Qholaqhoe Mountain Connections for our $500 contribution to a food distribution program in the area served by QMC in Lesotho. QMC, which is phasing out operations, also sent a photo of a student there sponsored by our club.
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Town Historian Tom Williams spoke Thursday morning about the life and Malta connections of the writer Katherine Anne Porter (Tom also wrote the linked article). Porter, a Texas native, was staying at
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the Yaddo artists' community in Saratoga Springs in 1941 when she came upon a house on Cramer Road, Malta, south of Saratoga Lake. She bought it, called it South Hill, and worked on her novel Ship of Fools there, although that book would not be done and published until 1962, and she sold South Hill in 1946. There is now a historical marker there mentioning her and other owners of the house, which was built in about 1830.
Porter is perhaps best known for her long story or short novel Pale Horse, Pale Rider, first published in 1938 and in book form the next year. Its subject is the devastating Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19.
In other business, the passing of Joe Legnard, a former president of Malta Sunrise Rotary, was noted and he was remembered.
We wrapped up a food and hygiene products drive for the Malta Community Center Food Pantry.
And our upcoming benefit concert for a Rensselaer women and children's shelter is coming up this Saturday, April 26, from 7 to 8:30 in Fellowship Hall at First United Methodist Church in East Greenbush. Suggested donation $15. Some refreshments will be available. It's all co-sponsored by the Rotary club in that area; one of our members, Brian Farrell, is in the band (at right in photo on poster below).
Be there or be square.
There will be a party from 10 am to 1 pm this Saturday in the community room of Building 2 -- use the middle entrance of Ellsworth's northern building. Angela encouraged people to attend with donations such as personal hygiene products, cleaning and laundry supplies, gift cards, and/or those with expertise in areas such as insurance and construction who are willing to offer advice.
In other business, Jim Hale interviewed Paul Phillips, who was honored with his wife Jean in April as residents of the month by the Malta Town Board. Paul spoke about his upbringing, values, Naval service and volunteer work in Africa.
Shelter benefit concert coming April 26. Our member Brian Farrell is the tall bearded Irish guy at bottom right.
We're doing a donation drive for the food pantry at Malta Community Center. If you encounter a Rotarian, please fill up their bag.
We voted to donate $500 to ShelterBox, $200 to Impactful Education (for libraries in Ivory Coast), $115.50 to a Saratoga County Sheriff's Department child safety initiative in collaboration with the National Child Safety Council, and $50 for the Ballston Spa High School after-prom party.
Also discussed were an upcoming collection effort for the Malta Community Center food pantry; ...
... and the "Make Your Mark on Malta" project, in which we, along with the Malta League of Arts and funded by the Malta-GlobalFoundries Foundation, are planning to put up banners in town. For more information including how to participate, see poster below:
Paul and his wife Jean also were honored this week as residents of the month by the Malta Town Board, for their work with AOET Uganda.
This Thursday's speaker will be Day Dream Farmer Aliza Pickering.
On Saturday morning April 12 we'll be doing our semiannual trash pickup on Dunning Street -- meeting at 8 am near Forest Cleaners.
Katy, a Skidmore College graduate, is founder of Impactful Education, which creates libraries as educational hubs in Ivory Coast, the West African country where Katy lived before moving to the United States in 2013. She now lives in the area of Trenton, New Jersey. Ivory Coast suffered severely from civil warfare in the early 21st century.
Don, a former Wilton Rotarian, is treasurer and a board member of Impactful Education. For more information about the organization and to give a hand, check out their website.
