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Sunday,
January 30, 2005 2:10 PM
Subject: A tragic plane crash
Dear IFFR friends,
The only other IFFR member in my Rotary Club was killed in
an airplane crash last Saturday morning, January 22nd. Friday night we
went to a wake with a short service by a priest with the Indian Orthodox
Church, and Saturday morning most of our club skipped our District
Assembly to attend his funeral at a local Roman Catholic church.
Dr. Paulos Mathai, a native of India, specialized in
pulmonary disease. He bought his straight 36 Bonanza from a friend of Past
World President Vactor Stanford and me, "Dub" Carter, several
years ago. Vactor helped with the paperwork on the transfer, and became
fast friends with Paul. This brought Paul into our Rotary Club and into
IFFR. I could never get Paul to be a little more active in IFFR, but he
did a lot of work with The Rotary Foundation's matching grant program, and
was an enthusiastic, active Rotarian. He was one of those people with many
interests, and always a super positive and pleasant person to be around.
He had taken up bird hunting, and the morning he was
killed, had a well respected (kidney) transplant surgeon with him on the
way to do some hunting. Shortly after a cold front passage and some 30
minutes or more before sunup, he was maneuvering to land at Brownwood,
Texas when he "clipped" some power lines, probably between 1/2
and 1 mile from the runway threshold. The plane went pretty much straight
into the ground at that point, and there was an explosion and post crash
fire. Both doctors were killed instantly.
I attach a copy of our club bulletin, Rotanews,
which has an article on the back page about this tragedy. Just thought I
ought to share with you. If you have any desire to see more on this, let
me know.
Yours in Rotary fellowship and safe flying,
Tony Watson |
| News in an email
received from Past IFFR Americas President, Brian Andersen:
" The really great news!!!! I am at the Council on Legislation here in
Chicago; yesterday, I made an impassioned plea to the entire council on the
importance of fellowships to Rotary and urged them to include fellowship
activities as an “Official Makeup”, the enactment passed and we are now on
the list of official make-ups" |
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Congratulations to IFFR Member Dan Nalven |
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NY
Rotary District 7230 GIFT OF LIFE gets special award from Republic of
Philippines
GIFT OF LIFE Chairman, Daniel Nalven (Tarrytown, NY Rotary) and his wife,
Barbara (Hartsdale, NY Rotary) from District 7230 where invited by the
Philippine Embassy to a reception at the JW Marriott hotel in Washington,
DC, on 7 June 2004 to receive a humanitarian award at a celebration of the
106th anniversary of Philippine independence.
In presenting the plaque to Chairman Nalven, the Philippine Republic
ambassador to the United States, His Excelency Albert DelRosario, stated
that the award is being conferred for the....
"........unique and compassionate crusade that seeks to save the lives of
children with failing hearts from around the world, including the
Philippines. This humanitarian endeavor reaches out to Filipino children
with heart deficiencies and flies them to the United States for
sophisticated surgery. Through technical training, this international
program also partners with local physicians in evaluating children for U.S.
treatment.
GIFT OF LIFE hospitals of medically-advanced countries are also encouraged
to open their doors to imperiled youngsters from developing nations.
Through GIFT OF LIFE, families are given hope a child's future is restored -
a fitting tribute to humanity and love, building bridges of friendship and
peace around the world."
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November 24,
2003
To: IFFR
Board members and former Board members
From: Tony Watson, World President, IFFR
Subjects: Appointment of new Americas Vice President
Two deaths to report
Howdy, IFFR friends,
PDG Phil Livingston is now officially Vice President of Americas Region of
IFFR. PDG Brian Andersen did well for his stint as V-P, and has many
responsibilities with the 2005 RI Convention in Chicago, so needed to step
aside. Phil and Diana have attended several of our meetings and fly abouts,
and bring a desire to get things better organized and functional in the
seven sections that constitute this region. As promised, I appointed Phil to
take office at the conclusion of Americas AGM in Philadelphia. However, I
was not personally there, for reasons I'll note below.
You should also know that yesterday, November 23rd, Phyllis McClure, wife of
IFFR V-P Malcolm McClure, and mother of IFFR members Bruce and Gary McClure,
passed away after a battle with cancer. Those of us in Australia for the RI
Convention and fly about remember that Malcolm had intended to be with us
for the fly about, but that Phyllis' illness had just gotten worse, so he
went home to her after travelling to the Convention. Services at the Uniting
Church in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia this Wednesday the 26th, at 1
p.m. I'm sure that in the weeks and months to come after the funeral,
Malcolm, Bruce and Gary would appreciate your notes of sympathy and
encouragement.
Finally, just a few of you know that my father, PDG Austin Watson, passed
away unexpectedly on October 26th of a aortic dissection (aneursym) at the
age of 89. My mother was in the hospital recovering from a colon resection
at the time, but was doing remarkably well. My dad had visited her in the
hospital just the day before he died, so we had little concern for his
health at the time. He was a great Rotarian, respected highly in his
vocation (electrical supplies wholesale), a great churchman, and a great
Mason. In addition to being a Past District Governor, he had edited his
club's Rotary bulletin for 50 years, and before his illness 4 years ago, had
49 years perfect attendance. He had been an instructor at the International
Institute, and had represented Rotary's President at least 3 times at
District Conferences. He had also made well over 20 people Paul Harris
Fellows. He was one of the most encouraging people you could ever meet. Many
people will miss him, but my family surely the most.
Yours in Rotary fellowship and safe flying,
Tony Watson
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