May and June 2008

Newtown Lions Club

Sat. May 3—Americares--need all hands on deck!

Mon. May 5—Air Force Band Concert

Mon. May 5—Red Cross Blood Drive

Wed. May 14—Regular Meeting—Trull/Leo Awards Night

Sat. May 17—Flag Day/Summer Flag Presentation

Wed. May 21—Board of Directors meeting

Sat. May 24—Great Pootatuck Duck Race—need all hands!

Wed. May 28—Regular meeting

Sat. May 31—Orchard Hill Nature Center annual cleanup

Sun. June 1—Event with Town and Country Garden Club at Orchard Hill

Thurs. June 12—Hospice Breakfast

Sun. June 15—Ladies Night/Awards/ Officers Installed

Wed. June 18—Board of Directors Meeting

Thoughts From Your President: :

We are at seventy-four members, with another new member about to join us! While our membership has increased, it appears that our list of participants in the club

functions has dropped off a little. One of our busiest months of the year is coming up in May, with Americares, The Air Force Band Concert, Our Trull/Leo Awards night, The Flag Presentation, the annual Duck Race, and the Orchard Hill cleanup the major events. Shortly thereafter the car raffle will begin for the general membership. Volunteers are needed for each of these events. Please remember your pledge to “participate in all functions of the club, to the best of your ability”.

Mark this date on your calendar: June 11, 2008. This is our final meeting of the year and our awards night with wives or significant others. The meeting will be at The Stony Hill Inn. We will have the pond room. Cocktails will be from 6:00 to 7:00 PM. Dinner will start at 7:00 PM. Lucinda will perform for us once again.

I would like to personally thank each of the officers/members of the Board of Directors who served this year. You have done a fantastic job!!! I also want to thank those individuals who were nominated and elected to serve on the 2008/2009 Board of Directors. Who knows, maybe we can attain a membership of eighty Lions by the end of next year!

Tom

Great Quotations

The exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor: She said, "If you were my husband I'd give you poison," and he said, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."

A Member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease." "That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "on whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." - Moses Hadas

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." - Abraham Lincoln

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend... if you have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one." - Winston Churchill, in response.

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." - Irvin S. Cobb

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure." - Jack E. Leonard

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." - Forrest Tucker

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music." - Billy Wilder

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening but this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx

Doings of the Pride

Charlie Godfrey recently enjoyed a skiing vacation with his family in Taos, New Mexico. He reports that the weather was beautiful and the slopes not crowded. On exiting one of the slopes he could ski right to the front door of the lodge. You can’t beat that for a weary traveler. . . . Jason Hsu recently took his family to Los Vegas and did many interesting things. They visited the Red Rocks canyon, did some swimming enjoyed the fountains, attended magic and Beetles imitators shows as well as the spectacular Circe de Soleil. . . . The annual migrations of our snowbirds had occurred. Lions Mounts, Arneth, James, Larin and Hostetler are all back in home territory. Lion Hostetler enjoyed taking in some spring exhibition games while in the southland. As they came back Lion Wayland Johnson left Newtown to drive a canal boat across England for two weeks. Lions Jon Christensen and Paul Arneth are also forsaking our flagpole town. They will be helping Paul’s friend bring back a fifty-six foot sailboat from the Bahamas. This will be a voyage of seven days.

The Teacher Asked the Question

Teacher: George Washington not only chopped down his father’s cherry tree but also admitted it. Now Louis, do you know why his father didn’t punish him?

Louis: Because George still had the ax in his hand.

Further Thoughts about the Bucket List from Newtown Lions

Walt Schweikert--There are two things I would like to do. A couple of years ago, Peg and I rented a motor home in London and drove through England, Scotland and Wales.  I would like to do the same thing again although this time through the rest of Western Europe.  Going off the beaten path is the best way to see other cultures close up. The other goal is to see the Great Wall in China.  I have been close a number of times (Hong Kong, Macao, Japan and much of Southeast Asia) but never got to mainland China.   

Doug Hensel--I would like to learn to scuba dive

Bill Honan—I want to stay healthy. And I’d like to visit Arizona and California.

Paul Arneth—I have three things on my Bucket List. First, run one more New York City Marathon. Second, have dinner with Robin Wright Penn. Lastly, to put two million dollars in the Newtown Congregational Church endowment fund.

Gordon Williams—I have been tutoring a Brazilian young woman for four years. I would like to live long enough to help her become a citizen. I would also like to walk on the Great Wall of China.

Roger Capobianco—I would like to help the kids in the Bridgeport schools in as many ways as possible.

Focus on our Wives!

Always ready with a smile is Sheila Cole, wife of Lion Jerry. You don’t have to talk to her long before that grin spreads over her face. Sheila is the mother of twins, Liz who is at Franklin and Marshall and Matt who is in school at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Very active in the Congregational Church, she spearheaded a group of ten teenagers and four adults traveling to Biloxi where they helped to rebuild houses wrecked by the hurricane. Rumor has it that she is trying to get another group to do a repeat trip. In her free time, Sheila loves to read and to garden. In addition, she and Jerry regularly work out at the Fitness Loft. Sheila is employed in the assessor’s office. So if you have assessment problems or just need a friendly smile and some good words drop in and ask for Sheila.

Three Boys Bragging

Three boys were in the school yard bragging about their fathers. The first boy said, “My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper which he calls a poem and they give him $50 for it. The second boy says, “That’s nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper which he calls a song and they give him $100 for it. The third boy crows, “I’ve got you both beat! My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper which he calls a sermon and it takes eight people to collect the money!”

New Lions in the Pride

August D’Allessandro is a psychiatric physician as well as the medical director of MCCA, a drug and alcohol program in Danbury. Augie, a widower, is somewhat of a Lions legacy. He is the fiancé of Donna Plosky, a widow, whose husband Frank was a Newtown Lion. Kevin Corey was the catalyst who brought him to the Lions. Augie is also the father of Jennifer who lives in Ridgefield and Geoffrey who lives in Thomaston and the proud grandfather of four. Augie says he is very busy with his two jobs but when he can he enjoys exercising, especially walking, as well as reading. Welcome aboard, Augie. We can always use another doctor in the house!

What are those words used to describe a Boy Scout? Aren’t they supposed to be honest, upright, steady and reliable? New member Bruce Landgrebe, surely must have been a Boy Scout for he embodies all those qualities. Bruce is an engineer and has worked for a number of years for Barnes Engineering, now Goodrich. Hoping to wind down this year, he would like to spend more time with his wife, charming Jane, his two sons and two daughters and his grandchildren. He would also like to spend more time with his hobbies of photography and travel. Bruce has already hit the Lions turf hard, as he has been out two days selling duck race tickets.

By the way, “The Bucket List” is showing at Edmond Town Hall

Adam Was Lonesome

Adam was hanging around the Garden of Eden feeling very lonely. So God asked him, “What’s wrong with you?’ Adam said he didn’t have anyone to talk to . So God said that He was going to make Adam a companion and that it would be a woman.

He said, “She will be beautiful and will gather and cook food for you. And she will always agree with every decision you make and she will not nag you. And she will always be the first to admit she was wrong when you’ve had a disagreement.

“She will praise you. She will bear your children and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them. She will NEVER have a headache.”

Adam was intrigued so he asked God, “What will a women like this cost me?”

God replied, ‘An arm and a leg.”

Then Adam, asked, “What can I get for a rib?”

And the rest is history.