November, 2022 Meeting

Derek Vaughan and his Civic Affairs Committee Raised the Bar even higher!

Derek introducing the night’s events

Setting a theme for the evening, Derek’s speakers were SANDRA CECILIA LOPEZ JIMENEZ, the Consul for Political and Tourism Affairs from the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles…

Sandra introducing the events…

And, Sandra introduced us to our special guest, direct, via Zoom, from Mexico, Tequila connoisseur, Grisel Vargas. Grisel explained the history of Tequila and walked us through sampling a flight of three different grades of Tequila (generously provided by the Mexican Consulate.

Our first in-person meeting with a guest via Zoom!

the flavors got more complex as the liquor grew darker

one of our 14(!!!) guests enjoys a sip of Blanco

Norma, the Fresh Gourmet provided a mini-Mexican feast, and the evening concluded with rousing music from Mariachi Teocuitatlan.

October(fest) Set a New Standard of Excellence

Huge Cudos to Brian Bright and his Finance Committee for a truly remarkable meeting.

From the (I think record) 11 guests, and 3 new members, to the keg of legit Oktoberfest Beer, and those authentic German Pretzels that Fred Sohl brought, the meeting got off to a great start.

October finally saw the fruition of a yearlong design effort for a new Club Logo!

President Dean Serwin debuts the new Club’s new Centennial Logo

Matthew Crow gave a heartfelt invocation.

South Pasadena Public Library local history librarian Olivia Radbill taught all of something new about our great city

And Brian’s musical guest Nathan and Jessie nearly blew the roof off of the WMB with their rousing polkas

Centennial Year Kick Off September 12, 2022

We started off the year in a big way, with Membership Chair and First Vice-President, Glenn Crawford presenting an entertaining and exciting meeting.

What better way to kick off the year than celebrating Rod Thompson’s 90th Birthday with him!

Glenn’s speaker, Martin A. Booker, regaled us with highlights of his own life and the history of the railroads.

Our entertainment each month seems better than the last, and Glenn’s musical guest was right in line. The amazingly talented Dena Kelley has a powerful voice, and captured the attention (and maybe hearts) of many members.

Happy 90th Birthday Rod!

Guest Speaker Martin A. Booker

Dena Kelley

2021.06 Dinner - 98th Annual Installation Banquet

Oneonta Club Presents

6/14 Monday Dinner and In-Person Gathering

June 14th (MON), 2021, 6pm - 9pm at the residence of Odom and Kate Stamps, South Pasadena

Chaired by Steve Hennessee

AWARDS PRESENTATION:

John Lyons/Albert Adams Music Award Recipient: Derek Vaughan

George C. Bush Meeting Award Recipient: Brian Bright

Ken Yamanaka Member of the Year Award Recipient: Larry McGrail

President’s Award Recipient: Hugh Hemington

A special thanks and recognition to Odom and Kate Stamps for graciously availing their beautiful yard and gardens as the venue for our first in-person meeting in over a year.

DINNER:

Norma the Fresh prepared a southwestern Caesar salad, marinated chicken fajitas, cilantro lime white rice, smokey black beans and tres leche cake for dessert. Box dinners were provided due to restrictions by the Health Department due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

SPEAKER:

Jerry Rishe provided a 40-minute presentation on California’s romantic history from the Spanish era to statehood in 1860.  Jerry is the president of SAGE Learning in Retirement, an organization for retired and semi-retired seniors interested in intellectual and cultural stimulation. Jerry is also a longtime docent at the Autry Museum of the American West.

ENTERTAINMENT:

Matthew Lopez played the Native American Flute with selections of classic Native American Flute songs.  Matthew has performed at the Autry Museum of the American West and at many other venues.  He is pursuing a degree in Environmental Studies at Sacramento State University.

BOARD INSTALLATION OF 2021 - 2022 OFFICERS:

President ...................................................................................... Tom Polansky

First Vice President ........................................................................ Dean Serwin  

Second Vice President .................................................................. Steve Burger  

Secretary/Sergeant-at-Arms ....................................................... Peter Giulioni  

Treasurer ...................................................................................... Chris Glaeser

Immediate Past-President ..................................................... Steve Hennessee 

BOARD INSTALLATION OF 2021-2022 DIRECTORS

Brian Bright

Glenn Crawford

Matthew Crow

Dan Evans

Scott Moe 

Devin Robinson

Odom Stamps     

Derek Vaughan

NOTE ON THE AWARDS:

John Henry Lyons/Albert J. Adams Music Award

Albert J. Adams was the pianist for the Club for many years and served on the faculty at South Pasadena High School.  Mr. Lyons was a long-time choral director for several musical groups in the Pasadena area.  Started in 1971, this award is presented to the committee chairman who presented the best music portion of a monthly meeting.

George C. Bush Award

Created in 1926, the award is presented to the committee chairman for test overall club meeting was named in honor of George C. Bush in 1940.  Mr. Bush was a former Oneonta Club member and South Pasadena Unified School District Superintendent.

Kenneth Y. Yamanaka Member of the Year Award

This award is presented to the club member (not an officer or board member) who has mad the most significant overall contribution to the club.  Started in 2014, this award named in honor of Ken Yamanaka, past president, board member and community volunteer.  Ken was a shining example of an Oneonta Club Member “Gentleman of High Standards.”

President’s Award

This award is optional and may be made at the discretion of the Club president.

2021.05 Dinner - School Scholarship Awards and Reflections on Education by Jon Primuth

Oneonta Club Presents

5/10 Monday Dinner

May 10th (MON), 2021, 6pm - 8pm via Zoom

Chaired by Dan Evans

AWARDS:

The Oneonta Club Foundations selected the following 3 South Pasadena High School Seniors to each receive a $10,000 scholarship:

FRANCES CHIU - she has been involved in assisting youth in other countries since the age of 7. Recently her family has fostered minors migrating to the US, and Frances founded a campus club on efforts to combat human trafficking. After attending college at Emory University, Frances unsurprisingly intends to pursue a career in healthcare supporting international non-profits.

GILLIAN TERHUNE - her application essay entitled “I want to be that teacher” was aptly named for this student, who has already been an elementary school teaching assistant and has 4-years of tutoring English to Cambodian teens through the TASSEL program under her belt. She will attend UCLA as an education major in the fall.

EMILY WEI - she found time to hold jobs, wrestle and run track & field, lead the school Make-A-Wish club, staff a student stress reduction program, be a teacher’s aid at Arroyo Vista, raise a record setting amount for the yearbook, volunteer as a student athletic trainer for the school teams, and log over 200 community service hours, all while maintaining a 4.1 weighted GPA on her way to studying Public Health in the fall at San Diego State University.

The Oneonta Club Foundations selected the following 2 South Pasadena School teachers to each receive a $1,000 honorarium:

Yvonne DeRaad Carlson, 2nd grade teacher from Marengo School (introduced by Marengo principal, Patty Cheadle)

Dean McCoy, South Pasadena Middle School math teacher (introduced by principal, Cheryl Busick).

SPEAKER:

Jon Primuth, member of the South Pasadena City Council and former member of the South Pasadena Board of Education, shared his reflections on education in South Pasadena - and in China.

DINNER:

We made arrangements with South Pasadena’s own iconic Mamma’s Brick Oven (1007 Fair Oaks Avenue, 91030) to allow our members to order and pick up a meal, courtesy of the Oneonta Club.

2021.04 Dinner - History of the Boy Scouts by Bruce Davis and Cowboy Lunchbox

Oneonta Club Presents

4/12 Monday Dinner

April 12th (MON), 2021, 6pm - 8pm via Zoom

Chaired by Steve Burger

SPEAKER:

Our very own Oneonta Club member, Bruce Davis, has been involved with the Boy Scouts of America for many years. Bruce provided a historical overview of the Boy Scouts and opportunities afforded to help youngsters grow into fine young men. Attendees learned a lot about the scouting program, community service projects, outdoor adventures and leadership development for the scouts and adults. Bruce's presentation was especially entertaining and informative.

ENTERTAINMENT:

Cowboy Lunchbox was formed by Scoutmaster David Zableckis and Assistant Scoutmaster Paul Baranich in a South Pasadena Boy Scout Troop.  What started out as two dads haplessly breaking scores of guitar strings while attempting to play and sing at campfires on cool evenings has morphed into an incredibly refined musical group that captivates audiences at many venues.  These guys have played a wide variety of popular classics at the campfire ring to the delight of many a happy camper.  They delighted our members with their incredible performance!

DINNER:

We arranged dinner pickup with Café X2O (818 Fair Oaks Avenue, South Pasadena) to allow our members to order and pick up a meal, courtesy of the Oneonta Club.

2021.03 Dinner - 20th Century Time Traveler and Local Art Treasures

Oneonta Club Presents

3/8 Monday Dinner

March 8th (MON), 2020, 6pm - 8pm via Zoom

Chaired by Brian Bright

SPEAKER:

A local documentary filmmaker, Jenny Bright, spoke and presented portions of her film, “20th Century Time Traveler” about her relative Bernice Madigan, who lived to be 115 ½ years old.   “Bennie” was sent to Washington DC during World War I (as were many young women) to work in the Veterans Administration.  She attended every presidential inauguration from Warren Harding in 1921 to George W. Bush!   Jenny held a series of interviews with Bennie before she died, discussing her illness with the Spanish Flu, World War 1, and her thoughts on life after death. 

ENTERTAINMENT:

George St. Pierre, an electronic musician, was scheduled to speak about analog synthesis and provide a modular synthesizer performance. This didn’t happen due to technical difficulties. On the fly, Brian Bright provided an presentation on the artwork of Jackson Pollock. Brian his the Zoom screen running and shared a treasured bar stool with a painted top that appears to be the work of Pollock, juxtaposed with a Van Halen signature on the underside. The authenticity of the work is pending verification by authoritative experts!

DINNER:

We made arrangements with South Pasadena’s own iconic Mamma’s Brick Oven (1007 Fair Oaks Avenue, 91030) to allow our members to order and pick up a meal, courtesy of the Oneonta Club.

2021.02 Dinner - The Romance of the Red Planet and Barrett Tagliarino

Oneonta Club Presents

2/8 Monday Dinner

February 8th (MON), 2021, 6pm - 8pm via Zoom

Chaired by Derek Vaughan

SPEAKERS:

Sarah Marcotte and Josh – Provided a presentation about the amazing and imminent arrival on Mars of the Mars 2020 project. This is the landing of the perseverance lander with Ingenuity - a mini helicopter and a microphone. The spacecraft is due to arrive on Mars on February 18, 2021. You'll be fascinated with the mission overview and details on the very first powered flight on another planet

Mars public engagement specialist Sarah Marcotte provided an overview of the Mars 2020 mission and its rover, Perseverance.  This mission, landing on February 18, 2021, searched for signs of ancient life in Jezero Crater on Mars.  Sarah answered questions about icy cold Mars!   

Josh Ravich, as the Mechanical Engineering Lead for the Mars Helicopter, designed the vehicle which undertook the first aerial rotorcraft flight on another planet. His presentation blew our space boots off and proved to be a cosmic adventure!

ENTERTAINMENT:

Barrett Tagliarino – a South Pasadena-based guitar virtuoso played romantic etudes. 

DINNER:

We made arrangements with Twohey's Restaurant (424 Fair Oaks Avenue, South Pasadena) to allow our members and their Valentine to enjoy a meal, courtesy of the Oneonta Club.

2021.01 Dinner - Leonard Mlodinow and Paul Draper

Oneonta Club Presents

1/12 Monday Dinner

January 12th (TUE), 2021, 6pm - 8pm via Zoom

Chaired by Pete Giulioni

SPEAKER:

Leonard Mlodinow will be discussing his new critically acclaimed book - Stephen Hawking: A Memoir.  Leonard is an American theoretical physicist, screenwriter and author.  He lives in South Pasadena and is the Program Chair's next-door neighbor.  Leonard is a former member of the faculty at Caltech.  He left full-time academia to begin a very successful writing career.  Leonard is the author of five New York Times best-sellers, including The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, The Grand Design, War of the Worldviews, and Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior.  You may have read some of these.  If not, you’ll enjoy hearing him tell you about his latest book!

ENTERTAINMENT:

Paul Draper, a very talented illusionist usually featured at the Magic Castle.  He is an anthropologist, academic, and an award winning mentalist, magician, and filmmaker. As an anthropologist and communications expert specializing in the cognitive science of religious beliefs, he has lectured at fortune 500 companies and universities. As the creator of the show Mental Mysteries, Draper blends his academic background as an anthropologist and communications expert with the arts of mentalism and magic.  Paul has been described as a pioneer in the field of live online magic shows, regularly performing live streaming shows.  Basically, you’re in for a fascinating performance!

DINNER:

We made arrangements with South Pasadena’s own iconic Mamma’s Brick Oven (1007 Fair Oaks Avenue, 91030) to allow our members to order and pick up a meal, courtesy of the Oneonta Club.

2020.12 Dinner - Dinner, Champaign and Holiday Music Videos

Oneonta Club Presents

12/14 Monday Dinner

December 14th (MON), 2020, 6pm - 8pm at home and Zoom

Chaired by Odom Stamps - Dinner, Champaign and dessert delivered to your doorstep with festive holiday videos via Zoom!

ONIL CHIBÁS EVENTS

Oneonta Club

Holiday Dinner

December 14, 2020

DINNER MENU

Arugula & Roasted Squash Salad

Toasted Pepitas * Pesto Dressing

Brioche Rolls

Included

Butter & Herb Roasted Turkey & Gravy

Thyme * Garlic * Sage

Whole Cranberry Sauce

Orange * Autumn Spices * Bourbon

Wild Rice & Sourdough Dressing with Fall Herbs

Egg Nog Cheese Cake

Ginger Cookie Crust

2020.11 Meeting - Steve Eklins and Slot Cars

Oneonta Club Presents

11/9 Monday Meeting

November 9th (MON), 2020, 6pm - 8pm via Zoom

Chaired by Sean Malatesta

SPEAKER:

Steve Elkins has worked in television for 30 years as an Emmy winning cinematographer, editor, and producer. In 1994 he became fascinated with the Honduran Mosquita and its lost city legends. After a number of frustrating ground expeditions, he learned of the possibilities that airborne LiDAR might provide. The technology worked perfectly and in 2012, Steve, with his partner, Bill Benenson discovered two lost cities from an unknown culture followed by a multi-disciplinary scientific ground expedition in 2015. The project garnered worldwide headlines including articles in New Yorker Magazine, National Geographic, CNN, CBS Sunday Morning and a New York Times bestselling book “The Lost City of the Monkey God.” The book is currently printed in more than 16 languages. He was also named one of Foreign Policy Magazine’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2013 and is a member of the Los Angeles Adventurers Club and a Fellow in the Explorers Club.
Steve’s quest has now morphed into the newly formed Kaha Kamasa Foundation that is now facilitating continuing archaeological research and rainforest conservation in Honduras.

ENTERTAINMENT:

The Entertainment will featured awesome slot cars and cool tracks.

2020.10 Meeting - Alan Feldstein and Matt Sorum

Oneonta Club Presents

10/12 Monday Meeting

October 12th (MON), 2020, 6pm - 8pm via Zoom

Chaired by Dean Serwin

SPEAKER

Alan Feldstein is a “recovering” lawyer who in 2000 made his first trip to Africa and fell in love.  He went back to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, track chimps and then in 2008 took his children to Africa and became one of the first people to kayak off the coast of Tanzania.  It was then and there he decided the legal profession was no longer for him, came home and started Infinite Safari Adventures (https://www.infinitesafariadventures.com/).  He now offers custom wildlife safaris in 12 different countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.  But Alan’s passion about Africa is not just about doing business there but giving back.  While 30 minutes is not sufficient to discuss all that he is involved in, Alan will discuss how he befriended a Patrick, a Maasai warrior, paid for his college education and then with his help built a water well in a village where the women used to walk 4 hours to get water.  He will also discuss his involvement as a trustee of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (https://cheetah.org/) and their work in saving cheetahs of which there are less than 7500 in the wild.  Alan is a member of the Explorers Club in NY, the Adventurers Club of Los Angeles and in addition to the Cheetah Conservation Fund sits on the Board of The Bird School Project, and the advisory board of Over & Above Africa.

ENTERTAINMENT:

Matt Sorum is more than just the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member drummer of Guns N’ Roses, The Cult and Velvet Revolver.  In addition to fronting his own star-studded greatest hits band, Kings of Chaos (https://kingsofchaosband.com/), Matt has released two albums of his own material, and is involved in various charitable endeavors, from bringing music programs into LAUSD schools through his charity, Adopt the Arts (https://www.adoptthearts.org/), to promoting the plight of wild dolphins alongside Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project (https://www.dolphinproject.com/).  Matt also recently released a video cover of Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down to raise awareness for front line health workers (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=351011979265131&extid=oIZ1aMz1ipBgj9OJ).