JULY 2009 www.sirinc.org Branch 175 Vol. 15, Issue 7 I can t believe that I passed through one year of Little Sir and 1/2 year of Big Sir! A Big Thank You to all Officers and Board Members and especially to all committee chairs. A.J. Yates came at the right time to explain all the power struggles that contribute to the lack of anything getting accomplished at any level of government and we pay for it. FELLOW ROOSTERS, your Little Sir, together with help from other Roosters, is always working to make your meetings informative and enjoyable. All you have to do is attend and enjoy. Please take your membership seriously and help us with your attendance. Other clubs have a membership chair who keeps track of those who miss meetings. You won t want to miss our July meeting our very own Daryle Lamonica. How many remember the Heidi game? Come and be part of the game plan. It promises to be an exciting time. See ya there! LUNCH CHOICES: Beef or Chef s Salad Lunch: 11:45 Board Meeting: 10:30 Ex-AFL & NFL Professional Football Great: BIG SIR Equipment Close Out Sale Half Off or More (see page 5) As your Little Sir, I greet our monthly speakers upon their arrival. While talking with A.J. Yates, our June speaker, he told me of his early life growing up in Texas. His father moved to California and settled in the Kerman area. Two years later, A.J. and his mother came and joined his father. After finishing High School in Kerman, he graduated from Fresno State. One of A.J. s fellow classmates and good friends was Ken Maddy. A.J. and Ken were strong advocates of our Central California. I was amazed that several of our fellow SIR came forward to talk with A.J. before sitting down to lunch. They talked about the Kerman area, their mutual friends, and neighbors from years ago. Even though he has retired three different times, he still likes to get out and work in the family almond orchards. I m looking forward to meeting and introducing you to our July speaker, who will be Daryle Lamonica.
Sierra SIR Echo Pg 2 MEMBERSHIP Sir Dean Clark Did you correctly identify who our July Lunch Speaker was going to be from last month s Sierra SIR Echo quiz? Our July Guest Speaker, Mr. Daryle Lamonica has had a stellar AFL and NFL career and has put up Hall of Fames numbers. He wore jersey numbers 12 and 3. He had two nicknames The Fireman and The Mad Bomber. All your whimpering has paid off because this month will be another PROUD TO BE A SIR MONTH. So, wear all you ve got that says SIR on it and receive a ticket for each item. Some of my fellow SIR have accumulated anywhere from one to six such items (very smart on their part). Have fun and take part by wearing everything SIR you own and get in on the free lunch drawing. Sir John Hardebeck introduced Mike Lebda as his guest in June. Mike was a teacher from Fresno Unified School District. His interests are: golf, travel, and Corvettes. I must find out how many vettes he has. I love football...so our next speaker is a must hear. Don t miss it. -- Daryle Lamonica, Quarterback 1963 to 1974 Buffalo Bills and Oakland Raiders. Daryle was born in Fresno. He grew up on a farm raising peaches and grapes. His first big sports thrill was playing in the Little League World Series in Hershey Park, PA. He lettered in four sports at Clovis High School, He was an All-State quarterback, and he turned down a professional baseball contract with the Chicago Cubs. Clovis H.S. renamed it s football stadium Daryle Lamonica Stadium in 1974. He accepted a football scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated with a Business Management degree. He was an All- American and the starting quarterback for three years, and still holds (tied) the school record of four TD passes in one game. He was drafted by the NFL Green Bay Packers in the 1963 draft and by the AFL Buffalo Bills. He played with the Bills for four seasons. In 1967, he was traded and came home to the Oakland Raiders. You don t want to miss this one; come join us. (right picture)$35 winner Sir Tom Schab (left) with Sir Bob Bakman (left picture) $45 winner, Sir Tony Ducas (on right) being congratulated by Big Sir Bill Almeida (picture above) $25 winner Sir Gene Parker (picture left) $15 winner Sir Bud Pope (on left) with Sir Bob Bakman (middle) and Sir Bill Almeida Other drawing winners not pictured were: Sir Omer Durham ($12 winner) Sir Fred Uriate (free lunch winner)
Sierra SIR Echo Pg 3 BOOK CLUB The Bookworms Sir Tim Finley Sir George Weber The Bookworms met, Thursday, June 25, 2009. We enjoyed conversation, coffee, and shared our exploits over the past month. We reviewed six books that five members enjoyed reading. You can imagine the related discussions on each of the following titles: Jackson by Max Byrd A novel about General Jackson who becomes President Andrew Jackson. Rated 4.5 stars by Amazon.com. American Lion Andrew Jackson by Jon Meacham. Rated 3.5 stars by Amazon.com The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris. Rated 4 Stars by Amazon.com The Devil s Delusion: Atheism and It s Scientific Pretensions by David Berlinski. Rated 4 stars by Amazon.com The Bold Frontier by John Jakes, Rated 5 stars by Amazon.com Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Rated 4.5 stars by Amazon.com If you re interested in any of these titles and wish to learn more about each book and content, go online and search for reviews and/or read excerpts. Consider dropping in at the Café Java on SIR Meeting mornings at 9:30 AM and see and hear for yourself first hand, member reviews of some great books or be prepared to review a book you ve enjoyed. Also, don t forget; you ll get that great parking spot for the SIR meeting to follow! JOB DESCRIPTION: Willingness to take a few hours a month keeping records. Format and procedures are clearly set up and established and training is included. This is an officer position on the Branch Executive Committee. Good background for this position may be a former business person, government or school administrator. Accounting experience, not required. Andy will be along side you to show the way during 2010, then he would like to become Assistant Treasurer. Sir George Weber says, I first fell in love with cars when as a young man growing up on the family ranch west of Fresno, my dad would let me drive the 1925 Model T 3/4 Ton Flat Bed Truck through the vineyard rows. Sir George now has three Model T s. It took four years to restore his 1927 Model T pick up. He did 99% of the restoration...he brought it home in pieces, all rusted and broken. He also owns a 1913 Model T which was originally restored by the late Andy Divine...George bought it later. He also owns a 1923 Model T. (see pictures below) Since 1974, George has been a member of the Central California Horseless Carriage Club. (Sir Bud Pope and Sir Ed Gaab are also members). The club takes about 3 or 4 tours around the valley each year. George was born in Fresno s Old Germantown. Except for a brief 6 months and 2 days, when he was drafted and sworn into the U.S. Air Force two days before WWII ended, he has not lived anywhere else but the good ole Fresno area. How rare is that!!!! He worked for the Bank of America 23 1/2 years, Federal Steel and Supply Co. 10 years, then retired as Credit Manager in 1990 from Western Farm Services after 11 years. Married 61 years, George and his wife, Marian, have been sweethearts since High School at Central Union H.S. They have 2 children, both living in Fresno, and one granddaughter. George s Model T s (right: 1923) (left: 1913) (below: 1927)
Sierra SIR Echo Pg 4 BOWLING Sir Merle Knapp BRIDGE Sir Bob Cleveland July 8 Party Bridge winners at Sir Frank and Jean Hunting s house were: 1st Place women: Jean Hunting (3390 points) 2nd Place women: Doris Rayburn (2710 points) 1st Place men: Sir Bud Rayburn 2nd Place men: Sir Bud Pope (3930 points) (3020 points) SIR League Bowling ended as of June 26th and will resume September 11th at the Sierra Lanes, Sierra and Blackstone Avenue. Practice bowling, however, will continue all summer same time/same place (no bowling results will be reported for Summer Practice). Following were the June Winners from Branch 175: June 5 Hi Series Sir Bill Ripley (688) June 16 Hi Game Sir Tom Harlan (222) Hosts for August are yet to be determined. Players will be notified. Marathon Bridge will resume in September. Immediate Past Bridge Chairman, Sir Frank Hunting offers this thought regarding a very important anniversary: Sunday July 19, 1969 will be the 40th anniversary of the APOLLO 11 LANDING ON THE MOON. The astronauts were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the two astronauts to step onto the moon. As Neil took the plunge, he stated, That s one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind. We should remember all the technical advances that have been made as the result of that effort. A good book on the chronology of this effort is Dr. Space by Bob Ward. About the life of Wernher von Braun, forward by John Glenn. Sir Don Luft, Sunshine Reports Your additional financial help is needed. We need a little more each month from you. The Voluntary Contribution Bucket (aka the Buck Bucket) and the 50/50 ticket sales don t seem to be covering our expenses. In the last 6 months, we have gone in the hole to the tune of just about $1.00 per member, per month. So..my request is that we all: 1) buy more 50/50 tickets which are sold before the start of each meeting, and/or 2) put 2 bucks in the Buck Bucket rather than the usual $1. Thank you. Your Treasurer, Andy Mr. Pat Smith Harris Ranch Beef Company Guess Who This Is? He will be Our next Spotlight On A Sir in August. Just one hint: He s been a Shriner s Clown 21 years. Sir Terry Cooney suffered affects of a bad fall during the month.
Sierra SIR Echo Pg 5 GOLF Sir Ron McClain Summer is finally here along with the heat, so we play at 8:00 AM to finish before it really gets hot. We played the first part of the Branch 175/179 challenge matches on June 23rd. We played well but Branch 179 played just a little bit better.we lost one point to total score. The following 175 golfers won in the money in that tournament: Sirs Rich Grigsby and Richard Thompson (in Flight 1) Sirs Ron McClain, Bob Dickson, and George Trippel (in Flight 2) Sirs Jerry Long, Bud Pope, and Pat Patterson (in Flight 3) Sir Stan Nappe (in Flight 4) Sirs George Weber and Gene Parker (in Flight 5) Sir George Weber won closest to the hole on pin #7. Our next outing was also match play and 1 point for each match, played at Airways July 14, an 8 AM shotgun start (results not available at press time). July 28 we play at Fig Garden with the tee times to be emailed to those signed up. SIR Shirts regularly $25.50 out the door for $12.00 SIR Hats regularly $15.00 out the door for $6.00 SIR Bolo Ties regularly $3.50 out the door for $2.00 See Sir Howard Buckenberger early before lunch to get your bargains before they re all gone We re grateful to Mr. A.J. Yates for being our June Speaker. We were impressed with his presentation and also with the number of our members that knew him at the luncheon. We hope he will consider joining our SIR Branch one of these days. Sir Ray Born (right) reminds us of the SIR Day at the Oakland Athletics vs the Texas Rangers, August 6...see him at the lunch regarding any questions. JULY BIRTHDAYS Sir Richard Scheidt John Broske Howard Buchenberger Marion Cubre Omer Durham Andy Lawson Dick Morgan Ed Nicholson John Snyder Richard Thompson Mike Tozlian Wag Wagner Wes Weslowski Sir Richard Beers (left) is working hard to put together a travel package for us that will be fun and exciting. In the meantime, he will have travel brochures from other branches at the lunch. (left) Sir Les Saywell, winner of the June free lunch Birthday drawing.
SIR Branch #175 Jerry Long, Editor 9260 N. Green Meadows Lane Fresno, CA 93720 SIR BRANCH # 175 2009 OFFICERS Big SIR William Almeida 226-4485 Little SIR Wayne Locher 434-1991 Treasurer Andre Provost 439-3295 Asst. Teas Harry Karle 439-4235 Secretary Merle Knapp 439-3658 Asst. Scty Don Livingstone 713-1655 2008 DIRECTORS Grant Radford 2009 436-1947 Les Saywell 2009 434-4580 Robert Cleveland 2010 435-5773 Jerry Long 2010 287-4023 Tim Finley 2011 299-5210 Richard Grigsby 2011 439-8540 ACTIVITIES Book Club Tim Finley 299-5210 Bowling Merle Knapp 439-3658 Bridge Bob Cleveland 435-5773 Golf Ron McClain 292-1919 Travel Richard Beers 431-3728 BARN-YARD ACTIVITIES Attendance Dean Clark 439-8455 Bulletin Editor Jerry Long 287-4023 Chaplain Database Ed Richard Scheidt 435-2536 Hardware Historian Merle Knapp 439-3658 Librarian J.L. Morrison 226-4673 Membership Dean Clark 439-8455 Photographer Tim Finley 299-5210 Program Wayne Locher 434-1991 Ray Born 438-5804 Howard Jones 299-5410 Gerry Young 447-1136 Special Events Ray Born 438-5804 Sunshine Don Luft 323-7989 Telephone Ray Born 438-5804 SONS IN RETIREMENT STATE OFFICERS President David Reiser (408) 268-2148 Vice President Floyd Kendrick (650) 948-7470 Secretary Gary Gruber (530) 541-858) Treasurer Robert Mannell (408) 264-7121 Director, Region 8 David Reynolds (559) 323-5868 Governor, Area 29 John Levis (559) 433-1740 Non-Responsibility Declaration All travel events and other activities sponsored by Sons in Retirement, Incorporated, or its Branches are for the convenience and pleasure of the members and their guests who desire to participate. Sons in Retirement, Incorporated, and its Branches, do not assume any responsibility for the well being or safety of the participants or passengers, or their property or any damages whatsoever, in any manner pertaining to said travel activities. Where the travel literature is prepared by a travel agency, the following words shall be added to the above wording: Any other disclosures or non-responsibility provisions contained herein shall not in any way incur any liability attaching to Sons in Retirement, Incorporated, or any Branch thereof. Sir Happenings is the State Bulletin: www.sirinc.org