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CIGAR BOX BULLETIN

Volume No. 52, No. 11    July 14, 2004

President BOB CHURCH opened the meeting. LOU CHIAPPETTA led the pledge. JOE GORDON conducted resounding choruses of God Bless America, In the Good Old Summertime and Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet with ERNEST BANKER at the piano. Rec.Sec. BILL DYNAN recapped last week's meeting. Acting Corr. Sec. PETER SCHIEFERDECKER read a post card from BEN BACON now celebrating autumn in Canada and explained there are more Chinese than you think. BOB CHURCH announced the death of JOE CUNNINGHAM in Fl. who will be honored next week. JOHN PHILLIPS introduced John Eikrem, Pres. of the YMCA who spoke of the progress of the new building, a 22.7 million dollar budget requiring 12.5 financing, his hope of raising 2 ½ million this year and the need for support from the RMA for its new room and the Y. MIKE RYAN reported the Greenwich Hospital had been approved by the State to perform angioplasty and RMA members had been most helpful in that process.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: ROGER PIERCE reported on the third quarter volunteer hours totaling 11,027 outside by 213 men and 1235 RMA by 109 men. A total of 33,434 outside and 4,204 RMA hours had been reached in the first three quarters toward the goal of 50,000 hours for the year. GRAHAM WHITEHEAD reported the cancellation of the raft-up when radar showed a major storm approaching but said it could be rescheduled on Labor Day if desired, weather permitting. CARL VAN AKEN told of two noon meetings of the Investment Club, today's meeting on interest rates by UBS and next week's quarterly market update by Fidelity.

RETURNEES: DICK RADCLIFFE (Phil.,New Hope PA), GEORGE PATTERSON (Alaska), BOB MCKAY (Western Canada).

COMMITTEE REPORTS: DICK HERMANCE presented a memorial for JOHN MURPHY, 85, an active member of RMA and the Greenwich community who died July 2, 2004. He rose from private to major during his military service (1940-1946). He was a renowned artist illustrating the cartoon strip "Prince Valiant" and painted hundreds of portraits and landscapes many of which were exhibited in Greenwich. He is survived by his wife, Joan, five daughters, three sons and eighteen grandchildren. Memorial donations may be made to Cos Cob Library or Kids in Crisis. R.I.P. Visiting: CHUCK STANDARD reported on DOM DIMAIO (better, still no visitors and thanks for cards), GENE GORMLEY, BOB WYLIE, KARL DAVIES, JOE KOLOK, PETE JACKSON and JERRY SHERWOOD (Nathaniel Witherall). Program: SAM MARASSO announced today JOHN CARON will present Fay Vincent (former baseball Commissioner) on Baseball Reminiscences. Next week JOHN CARON will present Army Captain Sean O'Donnell who will speak on Experiences of Iraq War. Membership: DOUG TAYLOR reported 179 members, 8 candidates and 3 guests present for a total of 190. Candidates were ZVI PREMINGER, BOB WARD, RICH COHN, PAUL DISARIO, JACK MINOR, LARRY REBAK, LEE DAVENPORT and ERF PORTER. Guests were Jim Dean (CARL RICHTER), Rich Richter (CARL RICHTER) and Bob Duffy (BOB NEGELE). Happy Birthday! to GENE CAREY (84), AL FENN (77), MIKE BALINT (76), JACK RILEY (83), DICK GRIEB (70), HOOKER O'MALLEY (68), BOB PREIS (81), MIKE GUIDEMAN (84), BOB BISHOP (70), JIM EBZERY (74) and BILL ADAM (84). DOUG TAYLOR then gave out the RMA Certificates of Service to those selected: For Ten Years - FRANCIS D. AUGER, DAVID DONALD, RICHMOND B. HOPKINS and ROBERT F. NEGELE. For Fifteen Years - WILLIAM L. BRIA, JOSEPH MALARA, PAUL J. MULLER and WILLIAM D. ROSS. For Twenty Years- JOSEPH A.GUARISCO and WALTER NEWTON
For Twenty Years - W. LEW KERSHAW. Volunteers: DOUG FRANCEFORT reported the week's volunteer hours at 908 to outside agencies by 82 men, (which also means 0 hours by 105 men) and 204 RMA hours by 37 men. TOM HEALY reported on Special Events scheduled so far, with more to come.

SPORTS: Bridge: LORING WEBBER reported 11 players with HAP HEYMAN at 3230, AL HARTIG at 3160 and KURT SCHAFFIR at 1880. Golf:Rained out. Note August starting time, 8 AM.

TODAY'S PROGRAM: JOHN CARON introduced Fay Vincent, former Commissioner of Baseball who spoke on Reminiscences of Baseball. His has many of those, thanks to his position and his interest as well as the many interviews he conducted of Baseball's heroes as part of an oral history for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. "Baseball is a collection of stories" he says and he illustrated that with a wonderful collection of anecdotes from his interviews with the great baseball names we remember from years ago, including; Tommy Henrich, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra, Ted Williams, Warren Spahn, Satchel Paige, Charles Keller, Joe DiMaggio, the Yankee's tradition and more. You had to be there. While he has written books on the subject, hearing him talk about it was a treat. The attendance was high and the group was taken into the world of baseball for a terrific hour of what the greats of this sport were like, what they did the bleachers never knew about, their intense focus on the game, their smarts, their courage, their fast ball, their con of a pitcher, their great talent and love of the sport and even why the umpire calls strikes with his right hand and balls with his left. Thank you Commissioner.

CORY DUNHAM, Editor

SPECIAL EVENTS

Aug. 26 -Goodspeed Opera - bus from OG Civic Center 9:30 AM waitlisted
Sept. 9 -Foxwood Casino - bus from St. C. 8:30 AM $22pp
Oct. 2 -West Point Football Game and Officer Club Dinner- wait listed

NEXT WEEK

Army Captain Sean O'Donnell, returning from Iraq - "Experiences of Iraq War"