Gavel Passed to Rich Spingarn
The Ithaca Rotary club "passed the gavel" from President Dale Flinn to incoming President Richard Spingarn. President Dale reflected on his year in Rotary, specifically all the things he accumulated during his year as President. The motorcycle, the Tigger, the business cards, the notes, and of course, the pins. Dale also reflected on his year as the President as comparable to tubing on a river. It is smooth at first and seems easy; like at last years pass the gavel ceremony; then you hit the rapids! He fought hard and held on to many ropes until near the end. The waters became calm again and then it was time to hand someone else the tube!
Janet Steiner and Penny Spingarn showed a slide show of Rich's life and how he came to be our new Rotary President. Bill Cowdery talked about Rich's accomplishments and endeavors since they met in College and gave the Rotary memalso bers a good idea of what makes Rich who he is. Larry Baum told the club a lot about Rich Spingarn. Larry talked about his and Rich's shared love of flying. Larry did tell us that while frugal people usually don't learn to fly, much less buy a plane; Rich is an excellent pilot and he would fly with him anytime.
While Omar and Bill Cowdry serenaded us on the piano and trumpet; the Past Presidents lined up while Rich took his first walk to the podium. President Dale presented Rich with his Presidents pin and badge and President Rich then presented Dale with his Past President pin and badge.For a summary of Rich's inaugural speech, click here.