Jan gives us a two day presentation of trip to Egypt

On February 28th and March 7th, Jan gave the club a presentation on her trip to Egypt. For those of us who attended, it was one interesting presentation. Jan is a wonderful speaker and this was no different. She came prepared with an overhead projector to show pictures and brochure books to go along with the slides. I felt like I was in school in a history class. Job well done Jan. This was by far the best presentation we have had. As she had done this at other places (one of the local churches) some had heard it before but came to listen again. The amount of information this woman retained and shared with us was unbelievable. Congratulations on your trip to Egypt and glad you came back with this wealth of knowledge. If you missed this, you may want to ask Jan when she may be doing this presentation again. Good job done. Sorry it took me so long to get this done.

John Davis Optimist Club Pillar of the Community..

John Davis, Optimist Club honored for Pillar of the Community on February 28th.

John was our honored member this year for the Pillar Award for 2009. Below is the BIO that was read and a couple of weeks ago I read it at the meeting. For those who did not attend on Saturday, you will have an opportunity to read it. John would like to thank all of those who attended and gave him the support he needed. Please look at all of the pictures I have posted and thank you all for your attendance whether it was for the Optimist Club or one of the other clubs in Grain Valley. The Pillar was a success and wonderful. We all enjoyed it.

John Addison Davis was born in Edinberg, Virginia. He is the 5th of 10 children born to Pauline and Raymond Davis. At the age of 15, John was a Kennel Master and went into the service at the age of 17. While in the Air Force, he was in Tech School in Amarillo, TX, continued his schooling and received his GED in the military. John was stationed at March Air Force Base in California. There he married and had three children. In 1984 John married Chris and together they have 4 children, 11 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. They moved from California to Grain Valley in 2000.
John retired from his job as a roofer after 42 years, and now does the things he loves and enjoys – volunteering. John has been an active member in the Optimist Club of Grain Valley for 8 years. He has done a great deal of volunteering in the school district, helping with health screenings, distributing dictionaries to the 5th graders each year, helping at the annual D.A.R.E. picnic and doing minor roofing repairs when asked.
John wears three special hats for the Optimist Club, and it is all about kids. John is a Santa at the Optimist Santa House each December, he is the Easter Bunny at the annual Easter Egg Hunt, and he is the frog-jumping judge at the Club’s frog jumping contest during Valley Fair Daze.
John has a special way to put a smile on everyone’s face. He is always full of enthusiasm in whatever he does, and his joy is infectious. John loves music, and he and his fellow Optimist buddy, Bob Morse, has played at several nursing homes and local events. They also have a comedy act of Kuntry Korn and Kussin Kobb and have appeared in several local parades. He loves old cars, and has a 1952 truck that came with him from California. In his spare time he loves to play golf and is an avid bowler with a 200 plus average. His best game was a 289 with a 792 series – now that’s serious bowling!
The Optimist Club has honored John with the Rookie of the Year award for his dedicated service, The Governor’s Award, and the coveted Bob Doty Award. John has served on the Club’s Board of Directors for five years.

This picture of John is one used in the brochure.

John was 17 years old and in the Air Force.

John and Chris when they got married on May 11, 1984.

Our kids, back row left to right. Jimmy, John, front row: Darlene and Pam along with John and Chris.

John and his brothers and sisters along with mom Pauline, center bottom row.

John on stage received his award and listens to BIO.

John and awards.

Group picture

John and Chris before we sat down and visiting with friends.

The Arnold's.

John and Chris with the Morse', John will miss playing music with his buddy.

Carl Condra and Barbara

Mary Strack and the Davis'

Center pieces provided by Mera Vic.

Our waiter was Jason, second on the left but High School kids took time for a quick picture.

Aaron and Kathy Ambrose

Mr & Mrs Chris Small

John, Chris, Arron and Kathy Ambrose

Carol Barnes and John.

Chris, John and Carol.

Chris Ann Ronchetto and John

Members at the table, Ann and Carl.

John Bob, Sharon and Carol enjoying meal.

Kathy and Erma Doty

Sarah Vaughan and John

Erma and Kathy with John.

One of our Jr Optimist, says she came at the last minute when they said they need more help and she volunteered.

Dave Hackett receives Cornerstone Award..

Dave Hackett is awarded the Cornerstone Award at Banquet.

Saturday night Dave and his wife were attendees to not only get but support all of the awards that night. Dave gave the invocation for the night and such a beautiful one at that. Dave was honored with the prestige award of the night, The Cornerstone of the Community. What an honor. Dave came to the stage and received his award from Jan Reding who was the recipient of this award last year. What an honor for both of these individual, not only in receiving but giving as well. I do not have Dave's Bio but I should get it, will include at another time. Please see the pictures below and congratulations Dave, we are proud of you.

Jan Reding speaks at Optimist Meeting 2-28-09

Jan, took a trip this last year to Egypt and today she gave part 1 of her 2 part presentation. Those of us who were in the meeting can hardly wait until next week when she will conclude the rest of her journey of Egypt. Jan to me has always been a fantastic speaker and this first presentation was great. Please come to the next meeting to capture the excitement Jan shows with her presentation.

Familiar face at Optimist meeting, please read...

Linda Lemen came to today's meeting. We are sure glad to see you back and around.


Today's meeting was interesting as President Ann covered some items and then opened the meeting with some topics and also indicated that they needed a nomination team put together. Jan Reding is on the team and needed members and Carol Barnes, Kathy Doty and Jennifer Bailey volunteered to help Jan. Thank you ladies. The next thing discussed was the back filling of the tasks that the Davis's do for the club. Christy will continue to work on the Easter Egg Hunt but Jennifer Bailey and Kathy Doty volunteered to help Christy and I believe will take this as a project for next year. The Talk to Santa is still being discussed. The Vice president position Christy holds will need to be filled and there is no one as of yet. This person will also be the President come October. The Board of Directors spot John holds, he will continue to due until he is gone, so he will be on the board for March, April and May and then Dave Eames will take the remainder of the year and also the 2009-2010 and finish the term for John. Thanks Dave. The club Blog: Jennifer Bailey indicated she would like to give it a try and will just need to have people send her the pictures. I will work with her and see if we can hand this off before May. We will still need the Witch for the Haunted Hayride, we will see who takes this on. Big shoes to fill as per John, he says he has the perfect witch, he just knows he does. Ha ha.

As per request, Christy read John's Bio that will be read at the Pillar banquet for the club. I will post it with some pictures I take at the Pillar.

Winter Social at Zio's 2-15-09...

Winter Social at Zio's

2-15-09




Again Sarah Vaughan did a fabulous job with our Winter Social for the club. About 27 of us met at Zio's for a night of Italian food and good conversational company. During the evening, we share interesting stories, Ann shared her trip with us and we all missed Jan Reding who had a previous engagement. Sarah sets up our Winter Social and this year was just as good as our last one. Great job Sarah.. Look at some of the pictures below where I managed to get pictures of almost everyone and even the waitress in one. Enjoy.

Carol Barnes telling her story

John with Barbara and Carl who were listening to his stories, good because I let them go in one ear and out the other.

Danni who is always smiling

Left to right: Ann, Carol and Sheila...

Picture of the group from one end

Another group picture

And then another with Erma, Kim, Debbie with Nick and mom Kathy.

Chris and Dale sharing a moment of laughter

Waitress serving food

more attendees, Dave and wife on right side, Mary S. was on other side of Dave but hidden.

Davis' are moving... announced at 2-14 meeting

As many of you know, my job will end here on April 14th and after listening to all that will be happening and reviewing the options given to me, we (John & Chris) have decided to go back to California. Even with the economy in the state that it is in, we need to get back to our family as we have been away from them for 9 years. I have to say that a time like the one presented to me would not come again to us and we need to take advantage of it. We will be working to get things ready to move and right now our plans are to leave by mid-May. We will keep you updated, we are sorry to go but we must do what we can to help our families too. We will cherish our work here with the club and will definitely miss our friends and of course the area.

In the meantime, there are some things that I mentioned in the meeting that we need to transition to others, please read below and let me know who would like to work with me to pass on all of my files, notes and other information on projects we have been chairing.
1) Easter Egg Hunt is approaching fast and I can finish this one but would really like to have someone who would be willing to take over work with me this year. Please let me know who that will be .
2) Frog Jump for the Fair, we have all of the past information and shirts left from last year. I need to pass these on to someone. Jim, maybe your Jr Optimist may want to take over as you helped John with this last year. Let us know.
3) Talk To Santa project: This is one where I know will take a dedicated person as it is one of our hardest events due to the time and weather. Please let me know who will be chairing this as we need to really get together and let you know what we have done in the past. Also the club will be transitioning to the new photo program.
4) Brochures, I can make brochures that will take care of Ann Ronchetto out to the end of September and then in the future someone can take this over. The brochure has proven to be a good communication item.
5) Book markers, I will turn back to Ann and let her determine how they will be stored for future use.
6) Grain Valley will need a new Witch. This is if they have the Haunted Hayride in the future. I will even throw in my hat if need be.
7) I am the 1st Vice-president and John is Board member for a 2 year term, we will need replacements for this for Ann. Please give it some thought and determine who can fill these spots.
FINALLY: the BLOG: currently I do it and if anyone would like to continue it, I can have this moved to them and back up the ones from the past on a disk as it is good information. Or someone can start it new on their computer. This is something that can be done anywhere you have the Internet. I currently do three of these.

Please let me or Ann Ronchetto know who will be doing what. John and I will be moving all of the items for the Santa House, Halloween, Easter and Frog Jump to the school within the month to come.