Hi Guys and Gals,

Its Joanne Tweedy Smith here…I can’t tell you how much I miss you all.  I am in my 4th year of marriage to Bob Smith and am 99% Denver-ite but really miss Arcadia and most particularly Arcadia Rotary Club.  I am always happy to “brag” about being a Rotarian with Phil and especially love to brag about the great work that Rotarians do.  I have a gal friend whose daughter lives in Zambia, Africa and needs to find a resource for funding the drilling of water wells…Hmmm.  I will have to follow up after referring her to the greatest association in the world.

I am almost in tears reading the High Gear and reading familiar names…I think that my Bob forgot the Rotary name and my connection and erased several editions while editing out the junk mail and I have been working 60-72 hrs per week until recently, so I didn’t follow up and missed you!  The long hours reminds me of being a property manager…long, hard work never hurt anyone…or thinking about how long and hard you all work at this Rotarian avocation of yours.  Denver has 4 active Rotary Clubs, most of which meet for breakfast.

So far, I have not landed a job which would re-connect me with the likes of you all.  I have been working on my franchise owner to join but with no luck (with any such service group) so far.  We are whole-heartedly dedicated to the fund raisers for Alzheimer’s Association.

I am personally working with and learning first-hand about palliative care and hospice care with my client load…its not just end-of-life assistance now.  Caring for the elderly has lead me to a 98 and 99 year-old couple who are retired longer than they worked as professors at University of Denver…both fully aware and cognitive, just having bodies which are slowing down.  This is not a dull business!

Jen has fallen madly in love with the food service industry and has worked for the finest and best in town and in the mountain resorts.  She has had health challenges but is recovering nicely.  She certainly misses CA also but enjoys what Denver has to offer.

Denver at-large is growing in job opportunities and retired persons and health service industries.  I am joining a health study group at UC Hospital, nearby.  They are testing a pill (on market 20 years and FDA approved) and exercise and their separate affects on insulin production and memory loss.  They need people over 50, over weight, non-diabetic, non-smoking, non-exercising and having a certain reduction of brain function – I’m their girl!  It is a 6-month study funded by NIH and includes extensive physical exams and, if I am “drawn” into the exercise group (as opposed to pill or placebo groups) will (or could) change my body and life!!  I am looking forward to it, starting next week.  Oh!  It pays a whopping $275.00…can’t beat that.  Seriously, with Phil’s diabetes challenges and the recent loss of my childhood friend and sister-in-law (Bob’s only sibling) in June of Lewy’s Body Dementia, I am wholly invested in trying to help somewhere.

CA news: I met a client’s barber today whose 4 children all graduated in the fields of sociology and criminal justice from Univ. of Denver (aka D.U. a private college).  One daughter is now studying at UC Irvine, trying to revise the CA incarceration industry and recidivism (I’m looking that one up!). UCI is paying for her full tuition, room and board and other expenses…some group there is desperately devoted to saving lives and money! Good deal. And, at least one, rare, Coloradan going to California for a change AND making a living!

Bob is loving his retirement and hobbies. On Saturday, his ADF (Aerospace Data Facility…very hush, hush top-secret stuff) group here in Aurora (Buckley Air Force Base, where every branch of the armed services is stationed)celebrated 40 years of developing a dusty, flat landscape into a multiple government buildings arena covering 1 million square feet, personnel growth from 378 people (Bob being one)to 3,600+ and housing the obvious and famous Buckley Balls (more professionally referred to as Golf Balls) which can be seen for miles and which house antenna saucers protected by the elements by 620 panels in 22 different shapes on a welded aluminum frame, which is Tedlar Coated, Resin Impregnated and Fibrous Reinforced, nearly identical to the Concourse at DIA, can withstand 100+ mile per hour winds and has the major diameter of 110′ and weight of 98,000 lbs (49 tons) housing a Reflector Surface of Solid Aluminum, with a 85 foot diameter Parabolic Dish weighing a total of 265,000 lbs (132 tons). I copied the Program quite well, didn’t I (remember, I AM MEMORY-IMPAIRED.

The 760 attendees were lavishly attired (black tie affair) and the reunion was delightful. The military and civilian tributes, including the MIA/POW ceremony, was wonderful. The key speaker, the Honorable James R. Clapper, Jr. is the fourth Director of National Intelligence and advisor to the President. He had just flown in from Moscow (Russia, not Idaho). He congratulated the successful development of this facility and its work and went on to describe how the workings in Washington sometimes seem to be as challenging and progressive and other times seem like kicking a dead horse…but in Washington various committees are formed to determine the state of the animal, various papers are written, various meetings are held as to the ways to handle a dead horse, etc. etc. and finally the rules governing a dead horse are re-written and there is eventual doubt that the horse is actually dead! Now you know everything that goes on in Washington.

Bob loved the job but loves retirement too (more?). He brought home 3 State Match trophies for long-range pistol shooting in August, went bow hunting for elk last week (only saw small game as the weather is too warm now) and will finish the rifle elk hunting season in a few weeks. The rest of the time he plays golf, fishes, works his hobbies and shares fun game time with his kids. We are Packer fans first, Broncos and Steelers fans second and finally, painfully, Rockies fans. We do keep informed about various CA teams – I do, not Bob as he was only in Sunnyvale one year.

We attended mountain resort weddings this Summer, buried his sister in June in Wisconsin and attended to Jennifer’s health (she and her dog have run 40 lbs off Jennifer – she looks great), so we are blessed and busy.

I hope to return to Laguna next Summer (missed this one)and catch a glimpse at my favorite people. You can be so proud of yourselves and superior individuals and as a highly successful entity.

In the meantime, I will being reading the High Gear – Thank you.

Love and hugs, Joanne