The MacRedy's from Australia.

Click on the button to listen to the interview.

If you were to drill a tunnel into the earth from Dubuque, Iowa, through to the other side, you would likely emerge in these folks' living room. They are from Australia! The MaRedy's. Jim and Gayle, were guests of Jon Luckstead. They truly were enjoying themselves, and we managed to get an interview with them for our website. Click the button above. Incidentally, the photos on this page are all linked to larger more printable versions. Just click on them.

AGuests this week included Linda Olsen, wife of Gary Olsen here sitting with Jim O'Brien.

Our newest Paul Harris Fellow is Corey Roeder who was accompanied by his parents (both lifelong Rotarians), left, and is wife, Penny who watched on proudly. Corey, never at a loss for words, began his acceptance speech with a joke, naturally. Sorry, but you are not going to read the joke here. There has to be something left at the meeting. If you didn't attend this one, or your attendance is generally spotty, well, see what you miss?

Guests this week at Rotary included Joe Carew's granddaughter, Lindsey Carew. Isn't she a chip off the old block? An acorn from the mighty oak? A ... well I'll be... we ran out of metaphors. If you know a new one, send it to us via e-mail.

Also a guest this week was Janelle Koepke, a guest of Mike Loveless and Kathy Schmitt.

Incidentally, the photos on this page are linked to enlargements suitable for printing and framing. Furthermore, when you bring a guest to Rotary, we buy their lunch! So why aren't you bringing more guests to Rotary Club meetings? That's how we get more members. It's the food, of course.

Dr. Jim O'Brien was presented his pin by Mike Pratt on the anniversary of Jim's 50th anniversary as a Rotarian. The pin contains a diamond in the center. Last week Jim received a special plaque to commerate the event.

Katie Frys was a guest of Chuck Andracchio this week.

Gary Kremer was a guest of Keith Cook

Kevin Lynch brought his son to lunch (that's a poetic photo caption in a way). This is Brandon Lynch.

Above is the ceremonial exchange of pennants with the West Seattle club and the son of Al Carew, Shane Carew, who was visiting us from the Seattle Washington Rotary Club.

Presidential hopeful John Kerry was stopping in Dubuque this evening, and not only did dyed in the wool Democrat Thom Reilly sport his Kerry T-shirt, but he sat down next to Paul Hemmer. Do we need to say more about this photo?

Mary Rae Bragg signs up Barry Bromberg for duty at Swingin' The Vines, our next big Rotary Fundraiser at StoneCliff Winery. Below is event chair Stan Schwartz.

Stan says he needs volunteers to help in various capacities during this event. Parking, bar, ticket taking, setup and cleanup. It's great event, and it's perfect for those new members who have not had the opportunity to help out with something or serve on a project committee. You will not regret it. The date for Swingin' The Vines is August 21st. That's a Saturday.

Guests this week included Jane McCall of the Dubuque Humane Society (right). Her host was Vicki Bechen.

Also visiting us was Phil Schaefer, a guest of Jim Curoe (left).

Kim Tully's table mates include Suzy Koelker (middle) and Deby Buol. Isn't this color scheme festive (no wonder... at least two of these people are designers).

Below left are Kerin Moldenhauer (middle) and her guests, Trish Jewett and Kathy Reed.

One of the funniest Fun & Frolics in a long time was delivered by Kevin Lynch. You can hear it if you click on the audio button above.

Photos from Grand Excursion by Paul Hemmer

Look, it's Greg Norman selling beer at the Grand Excursion. I thought he was in a golf tourney or something.

June: Above, Mary Poodle Skirt fires up the crowd for the upcoming Rock 'N Soul Reunion on the River, Rotary's biggest money making event of the year.

One of the event's co-chairs, Spencer Smith, is back in action looking for a team of volunteers for this important event. See Spence, and he'll put you on a project you'll actually enjoy. The event is July 10th, and Paul Hemmer announced to the club that Verizon is a major sponsor for this year along with Alliant energy, Hy-Vee and Radio Dubuque.

Left is Sue Wheaton, one of our favorite Fun & Frolic Hostmeisters. She did a quiz on Father's Day, and only one question was guessed correctly. Speaking of fathers, new president, Mike Loveless, brought his daughter Morgan, to the meeting.

The house is always ready to roll to present fire safety procedures to students at schools throughout the tri-state area.

Frank Zahn, far left, spearheaded this project. Here he stands proudly with firefighters. Frank introduced speakers Scott Neyens, Fire Marshall and Jeff Zasada, Asst. Fire Marshall.

Tim Duggan (behind) brought a guest this week to Rotary Club. Tim introduced Tim Loeffelholz.

May 25, 2004 Carol Steckel, a Master Gardener as designated by the Iowa State University Extension Office, was on hand to share her expertise and advice on gardening, and she was like a spring tonic. Members enthusiastically asked questions, and it was all good. If you missed it, just click on the button to hear the highlights of this particularly entertaining meeting. Included as a bonus on this recording are songs sung by principal cast members of the Grand Opera House Production of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Thanks to Rich Hall for bringing them to our meeting and making this a part of Fun & Frolic. Click on the photos to reveal the printable enlargements.

Guy Gard brought guest, Paul Pfohl to the meeting again, and we discovered that Paul was so impressed with our meeting he attended last time, he download the application from the website, and he's going to be a member! And who said the website wasn't worth every dime? As John Kerrigan put it best, "We bring people to our meetings as our guests and prospective members. They enjoy the fellowship and food, but it's the website that closes the deal." Special recognition has to go to the most successful membership chairman we've ever had, Guy Gard. We are going to hit 150 members, our goal, thanks largely to him. He is truly one of the most productive members in the club. Thanks Guy.

Ken Werth is still signing up volunteers for the Grand Excursion Beverage Booth we are hosting during the June 27, 28, and 29th event. This is going to make the club a bushelbasket of money, but we need your help to man the booth. Be part of an historic Dubuque event, and please sign up. See Ken at the meetings. He's also selling the wonderfully comfortable embroidered golf shirts emblazoned with the Rotary logo. Get one in time for the event so you can wear it proudly as you spill beer on it.

Gary Gansemer holds in his hand the materials that will be sent off to secure our next Rotary Club Foreign Exchange student from France. If you would like to get involved in hosting a student (it's a wonderful experience), talk to Gary about it.

Rotary Club guests included John and Thelma Grimley, both members of the Walker, Minnesota Rotary Club.

John Donovan, our perennial guest from Tacoma, WA #8, is now officially a member of our organization, at least he's got a badge, and that's obviously a source of great pride as John hoists it for the crowd to see.

Left, sun on the Ganges River. Above, a small boy is immunized. Everywhere you look there are beautiful people and children.

Singing a rousing chorus to kick off the meeting was Maryann and Karin, in fine voice as always.

Paul Hemmer, Dubuque's version of George Gershwin, played for our Rotary singers this week. Dan Kruse apparently was closing on a BMW X3.

Left, Mike Loveless was wonderful this week for the Fun & Frolic segments. You can listen to it on the recording we did above. Check it out. Left, Bart Kintziner brought another guest this week to Rotary Club.

Al cordes was at our meeting, and we now refer to him as "new member in training." And below, with Doug Stillings, is David Cushman, another soon-to-be new member. We are seeing more new members bringing even newer members into our fold. Isn't that great? We are even seeing old members who have dropped out in the past coming back! That's always a good sign.

An example of what we are talking about is below. Former member Mike Van Milligan, came to Rotary, not as a guest, but as a prospective member. Paul Hemmer was his host (below right).

And look who brought a guest! Bart Kintzinger (just inducted a week ago) brought Mark Phazen to a meeting. Quick, order more Rotary pins!

Finally, we couldn't pass up this opportunity to decorate our page with a little more Irish. Mary Ann and Tom look like a son and daughter of the sod, don't they? At the very least they accessorize well.

We had several excellent guests this week, among them Judy Reilly, wife of Tom, who joined us for lunch.

Also in attendance was a guest of John Kerrigan's, Brad Richardson.

Visiting Rotarians included Nancy Oehler of the Washington, Iowa Rotary Club

Guests this week included Dave Fluetsch (pronounced "Fletch") from the Severna Park, MD Rotary Club. He even kicked in a Happy Dollar for visiting such a great club as ours.

Kim Tully brought a guest this week to Rotary, Chad Chandley. He's a honcho at Kendall Hunt. Also with us was new member, Bart Kintzinger.

Guests this week included (far left) Ray Quint, hosted by Mike Loveless. Left is a visiting Rotarian from the Galena Rotary Club, Carter Newton.

From the Storm Lake Rotary Club is Denny Hartogh.

Left is Chad Hagge, a guest of Bob Rudzianski who is doing the introduction. Is Bob a crack-up or what?

Above is Ruth Zschoche, wife of Dale Zschoche, Rotarian of long standing. She was on hand to hear the presentation by Deborah, our exchange student.

Doug Stillings brought along Dave Cushman as his guest this week.

February 3, 2004 Billy Riley (right of John Darrah), new Rotary Club member and the Executive Director of the Northeast Iowa Council Boy Scouts of America, was our speaker this week, and he was not only informative but entertaining with some incredible, you guessed it, rope tricks. Well after all, he is a Boy Scout. His talk is here for your enjoyment. The performance Mr. Riley provided was so professional, at least one other Vaudevillian in our club was taking notes. After a couple of rope tricks got more than polite applause, a voice from the corner of the room bellowed, "Hey, Billy, we've got to talk!" It was, of course, professional magician and club treasurer, Mike Pratt. How appropriate that he's a magician and our treasurer.

Jim Schilling was our master of mirth and Fun & Frolic. He is a crackup to be sure. He not only launched a few well placed zingers, but Jim conducted a quiz with some pretty hard questions on Iowa historic trivia. The guy prepares and is always entertaining

Sue Wheaton, a Girl Scout, herself, brought prizes for the weekly raffle and, you guessed it, they were Girl Scout Cookies. Sue told us that the Girl Scouts anticipated that the Atkins low carb diet fad would effect sales this year, so they came up with this cookie variety entirely made of pork byproducts. MMMMMMMmmm! Delicious. But don't dip them in milk. They apparently produce an oil slick.

Our foreign exchange student, Debora Marconato was with us this week. She'll be giving a presentation to the club about her homeland and studies, soon.

Above, New Years Resolutions are rewarded by proxy as Jim Schilling produces a "happy dollar" on behalf of Bob Rudzianski who has quit smoking. At left is Stu Hoover, who also announced his progress in his no-smoking goal. He said he also gave up beer for vodka. That should take the edge off the no-smokes. Click on any of these photos to view the enlargements.

Guess who was back from overseas travels? Suzanne Saleem brought back some Rotary banners from clubs she visited while in Egypt and the Mideast.

Kim Tully holds up the pin box for the Gateway Project. Little replicas of the Gateway Sign sell for $5 with proceeds going to pay for bricks and mortar. Meanwhile, we want to thank Kirchhoff Distributors for helping us with this important aspect of the Gateway Project.

Bob Rudzianski did another splended job with Fun & Frolic. He really personalizes it. But the, he does his homework and he probably spends a lot of time making notes on every observation he makes that may contain a fellow Rotarian.

Among our guests this week is John B. Donovan, from the Tacoma Rotary Club #8

And it was great seeing Mike Loveless as our MC for the always favorite Fun & Frolic segment (below). He noticed in last week's website photo in which he is featured, he is wearing the same jacket he wore for this meeting. He promptly fined himself for a strange habit that is noticeable even if only to him. All fines go to our scholarship fund.

Also notice that Mike has successfully submitted the Fun & Frolic list of presenters for our website in the left column. Please someone fine him for being late with this.

Mike Armstrong reported on the wonderful generosity of members for the Salvation Army Annual Kettle Drive. Here's an interesting point to ponder. As you know, Rotarians go out on Christmas Eve and ring the bells at all the shopping venues, and each bucket raises several hundred dollars in the course of the day. But guess which location earns the most money for the Salvation Army? The little red bucket in our own Rotary Club meeting room. This year it earned over $2,000! Thanks to all who contributed and volunteered.

We love putting a photo of our Rotary Club Singers on this page every chance we get, but where is Bob Casper in this photo? No, we didn't crop him out. He confided to us later in the day at the C.J. Buelow Telegraph Herald Citizen of the Year reception at Rafters that for the first time in 25 years (or so), he actually forgot to go to the meeting! Can you believe it? He apparently lost track of what day it was. But the show must go on, and for this meeting, the name of this duo was the Dubuque Rotary Club Divas, Karin and Mary Ann. God Bless America!

Corey Roeder was also the master of mirth for the Fun & Frolic session this week. We had a quiz based on facts from the recently delivered Rotarian Magazine. That will teach you to get it read before the meeting! Some of those questions were hard! But surprisingly some of the more difficult ones were guessed correctly. When he asked one table how many members were in Rotary worldwide, Ken Townsend's table guessed within 25,000 of the correct number. What is that number? It's in the magazine!

Mike Pratt makes a fairly large to-do over the fact that Steve Cremer, our perennial guest from Galesburg, delivered a Galesburg Rotary Club pennant to add to our collection. A close-up of it is below.

Another guest this week was Ken Gibson, hosted by David Solberg.

April Finnin was inducted as a new member to the club. She's a graduate of the University of Colorado with a degree in Marketing. Moved to Houston, TX, and worked for UBS Pain Webber for five years, moved back to Dubuque in April to be closer to her family, and was destined to "sell cars" she says, so she joined here family's firm, Mike Finnin Jeep Chrysler. April enjoys skiing, tennis her dogs, and she wants to start playing golf. She says she is "glad to be back in Dubuque."

Penny Roeder (far right) brought her neighbors, Bill Rucci and Laurie Moe to the meeting this week (click on the photo to enlarge a more printable image). We had several guests this week who we are sure were impressed with the diversity of members and the usual excitement that is part of nearly every meeting.

Frank Zahn has a long and illustrious career in Dubuque, especially in terms of public service. He is actually rejoining Rotary Club. He was once our club's president and very active in such fundraising programs as the "Learn not to Burn" House project, and many others. He first came to Dubuque in 1976 when he opened the first Steamatic franchise. That business grew, of course, and he became involved in other diverse enterprises. Welcome this past president and 18-year member of Rotary Club, a great member, and a great community leader. Also on hand for the meeting was Frank's son, Dan, who we are certain was proud of his dad on this day.

Kathy Schmitt (The Bike Shack) was on hand, a guest of Kevin Lynch. And below, back for another visit, is prospective member, Vickie Bechen. Notice she's laughing at one of sponsor, Thom Reilly's jokes. That's a good sign she'll make a great new member. When you hear laughs at a Rotary meeting, that's sure to attract more members.

Yes, we know we've run our share of photos of Mr. Casper, but he keeps wearing these interesting sweaters, and we just can't resist. This fashion plate must have dozens of them, each one more interesting than the next.

Guests this week included foreign exchange student from Brazil, Deboara Marconato, with Dale Zschoche (left), and with Jan Powers, is Gary Campbell at above.

Guests also included Sean loberg from Galena (right, and below, John Donoban from the Tacoma Rotary Club. Incidentally, John contacted the organizers of the Rotary Club's Gateway Project and provided us with all the makings of a great idea we are already implementing.

Wendy Weelock (left) was a guest of Kim Tully's this week. Incidentally, you can click on any of these photos above to download the large, printable ones.

It's no secret that Jim Darling is in favor of bringing baseball back to the area. We had a large number of guests at this meeting as well as a great turnout of members. Sean Loberg was also here from Galena, Steve Cramer (Galesburg), and John Donovan also was here from Tacoma's club.

Mike Andrachio brought Terry Kune as a guest to our meeting. Other guests included Katie Krieg and Teri Goodman this week.

The photographer apologizes if I get this man's name wrong, but I think it's Mike Moes who was a guest of Tom Oglesby.

Jim Townsend brought his wife, Carol, to the meeting as a guest. Carol is heavily involved in business and the Chamber of Commerce in Dubuque, herself. She would make a great Rotarian.

Left, Don Thompson, guest Rotary guest from Cambria, California, gets out his wallet for a "fine time" as Steve Dohlmeyer (pictured below left in excellent form as he raises funds for scholarships) calls on him during Fun & Frolic. Right, guest and new member prospect Charlie Miller with host, Guy Gard. Other guests this week included Rich Bringelson from Grand Island, Nebraska Rotary Club, Sean Loberg (Galena), Steve Cramer (Galesburg), and Jim Darling (Galena)

At left is Rich Bringelson who looks like a young version of C. Everett Koop, former Surgeon General, doesn't he? Or, picture our own John Kerrigan with a cool beard. What do you think? Separated at birth? Welcome Rich to Dubuque Rotary!

Click on any of these photos to enlarge and print on your own computer s.ystem.

Walter Curfman brought along Marlene Waller as his guest. Marlene has been involved in banking in Dubuque for many years.

Visiting Rotarians this week included Nick Topf from Caroll, Ia, Leon Thompson, California, Jim Darling, Galena, Illinois, John Donovan, Tacoma Washington, and Neil Webster, Guttenberg, Iowa.

Suzanne Seleem introduced as her guest a student and recently discharged military veteran now attending Loras College, Alex Gassman. Suzanne's introduction was so eloquent and touching, you had to be at the meeting to appreciate it.

Guests (and prospective members) this week included April Finnin (left) and Chad Casey. New membership chairman Guy Gard introduced three guests this week. The third was another returning guest, Doug Stillings (left).

Guest Hiram Milendez is introduced by Mike Loveless at this week's meeting. We simply must get this guy to join. Whatever you do, don't mention the initiation trial by fire until after he pays his dues. And by the way... who stole our last tube of Unguentine? Don't worry. No questions asked. Just return it, please.

August 26th: Gary Dolphin (left), the Voice of the Iowa Hawkeyes, with Brent Johns at the head table, returns to Rotary Club to give us the straight scoop on Iowa's chances for a winning season. The jokes are the best, by the way. Gary has a long history in Dubuque, having gotten his start at KDTH Radio thirty years ago. Listen to his talk by clicking on the button (about 30 minutes in length, but worth every second).

Foreign exchange student from Brazil, Debora Marconato, is a guest of Dale Zschocke.

Barry Bromberg went through the club member's wallets like a dose of salts. He showed no mercy as host of Fun & Frolic this week. I had to kick in a buck just to write this caption. Well, it's for scholarships, and that's a good thing.

One of our newest members (to be), Jan Powers, with Jim Curoe.

Suzanne Saleem was back from teaching in China. When she gets here photos together in a PowerPoint presentation, she'll do a program at an upcoming meeting. Great to have her back. No SARS apparently, and that's a good thing.

Among our guests this week was Steve Wombacher with his host, Kent Renier (far left).

Guests included Tim Duggan with member Rob Apel (left), Wendy White (above left ), an intern with member Amy Link at the Economic Development office.

Steve Dohmeyer did a splendid job with Fun & Frolic. It's always nice to zing individual members from time to time. And Steve is a Zingmeister if there ever was one.

Also with us at this meeting was Bill Eckermann with member Ron Shardt

This is Jeana Martin, prospective member (now a member).

Bob Rudzianski poses with our two newest members. During this lovely photo, however, some gentleman had to mug up the shot. Upon close inspection we discovered it was Saddam Hussein! Who knew he was a Rotarian? He apparently visited the National Mississippi River Aquarium after the meeting, and had a Cold Stone ice cream cup before leaving with his family, apparently vacationing in the Midwest while the heat is still on in his native land.

Bob Vohl, a native of the Chicago suburbs, came to Dubuque in 1989 as a flight operations and business major at the UD. After graduation, he began an insurance career at Wallis, Kunnert, Price & Smith, Inc. He specializes in Commercial Insurance Sales. He is recently married and his wife, Corinna are expecting a new baby to join their family. They currently have a 6-year old son, Billy, that Bob adopted as part of the wedding ceremony and their year old black lab, Java. Bob is also president of Gateways to Home, a nonprofit organization providing housing to low income families. He's also a board member for both Pheasants Forever and Ducks Unlimited.

Mike Belmont moved to Dubuque from the Quad Cities. While in the Quad Cities, he joined Larrison and Associates a structural steel detailing company of which he is a principal. He is in charge of technology and CAD development. Mike and his family are members of St. Joseph the Worker Church. Mike is a member of Dubuque Jaycees. His wife Mary is a chiropractor at Pregler Chiropractic, located at 14th and Locust. His daughter CC is 7, and his son, Cameron is 4. He enjoys woodworking and golf.

June 23, 2003 Manager of the Dubuque Regional Airport, Andrew Perry, paid us a visit for an update on air service to our city. Even though we are down to one service, fuel sales have increased during this last measuring period. Being down to one carrier, however, is just too risky for a city our size, and we could lose all commercial air service if we don't try to aggressively compete. This is such a difficult call. So the airport management is on a mission to apply for a regional air transportation grant from the feds who are focusing on small regional airports like ours, and we certainly could use the financial help. But to enhance our chances with the grant application, we've got to show local business commitment to the cause. Consequently the Airport Commission has authorized a local fund raising campaign that includes a "pay ahead" program for local firms that fly a lot of employees. Also, the Airport is looking for straight donations which Andrew adds, "This is an investment in the future of air service in the City of Dubuque.". How successful the local campaign is will have an impact on our chances to get the grant that's worth $610,000. If you're a business person, don't worry, you'll get campaign information in the mail, and you'll most likely receive a solicitation call if you haven't gotten one already. The Chamber of Commerce is in their pitching. Learn a little more about the state of air service by clicking on the button above. It's about 5 minutes because he showed a newly minted campaign video for a good portion of his presentation.

Penny Roeder at the podium with Cheryl Kramer and guest speaker Andy Perry.

Bob Rudzianski is all smiles after the success of the first ever Rotary District Golf Outing at Thunder Hills. Everyone sang the praises of organizers of which Bob was point man. Special thanks to everyone who helped out, and this event could become an annual affair.