Pledge of Allegiance
Jim Gilcreast led the pledge.
Inspiration
Bob Murphy was inspired from the Gala report at the last Rotary meeting – the members preparing for the big event and all the prizes for the live auction and raffle. He plans to attend and hopes other members will join him.
Guests
Jonathan Kaufman who will be sworn in as a new member as son as his Rotarian father can attend.
Via Zoom
Ben Hadsell reported from Savannah, GA that Ian brushed past where he lives, but his son rode out the hurricane in his downtown Fort Meyers apartment. He is okay but was without power and water for 10 days. There is significant water and mold damage to his apartment.
Announcements
President Steve announced that the Lakewood, FL Rotary Club is the central place for making donations to those affected in Southwest Florida by Ian.
Steve asked members to go online at providencerotary.org to purchase Legends Gala tickets.
Get well wishes to Richard Leone and Margaret Kane.
The annual Paul Harris Rotary Foundation dinner is November 4, please visit the District Rotary website for tickets.
Past President Holly gave a Gala update:
- Event starts at 6:00 pm with a cocktail hour and dinner at 7:00 pm, event ends at 9:00 pm
- Planning for 20 tables of 10; this more than last year thanks to Barry Fain serving as Honorary Chair
- Volunteers are needed for table decorating and raffle prize table set-up that is scheduled for Tuesday at 2:00 pm.
Steve thanked Barry and Elaine Fain for their enthusiastic Gala support by reaching out to family and friends- 116 letters were sent asking for support.
Happy Bucks
- President Steve for booking airline tickets to visit his family in Virginia for Thanksgiving
- Cap Willey $2 for the Syracuse Orangemen and PC basketball
- Jim Gilcreast $5 for the Boston College Red Bandanna event in honor of a graduate who gave his life to save others. He covered his face with a red bandanna in order to repeatedly enter the World Trade Center’s North Tower on 9/11. He saved 18 individuals.
- PP Anthony Hollingshead $2 for a successful trip to a historic garden cemetery conference in St. Louis. And, for Connie Donnelly’s daughter, who has had health challenges, receiving some good news recently.
Speaker
Grafton H. Willey IV, CPA (aka Cap Willey) grew up in Barrington and attended Barrington High School, where he was a long distance runner. Like his parents, Cap graduated from Syracuse University and his granddaughter has just been accepted there. Cap’s grandfather and father were also Rotarians.
Cap decided to study accounting because of the tight job market when he graduated in 1971. To complete his major, he had to take six accounting courses in his senior year. After nine years of practice in a large RI accounting firm, he asked to become a partner. When he was told that wouldn’t happen for a long time, he took a risk and resigned. He had the resources to do so by following his father’s advice to try to save money to live on for a year in case you need to, and that job security is a myth. In 1980 he joined Dave Rooney and Dick Plotkin, Newport accountants, and became a partner at 31 years old. The firm merged several times and became one of RI’s larger accounting firms. Cap retired in 2018 and is now self employed which means to him that he works five days a week instead of seven!
Cap is not all about business! In 1983 he and his partners purchased Dyer Island off the coast of Portsmouth for $85,000. By sending out ridiculous press releases on what they intended to do with the island Cap learned that if you give the press interesting material, they’ll printed it. They formed the Dyer Island Yacht Club that generated challenges from yacht clubs around the world, teased about opening a nudist beach, casino or seagull fertilizer plant and generally had a huge of fun using the island for events. They sold the island to the State of RI in 2001 for $800,000.
