News Items:

Starting the first of May, we have changed our meeting schedule to twice a month.  We will be meeting on the 2nd & 4th Thursdays of every month now.  There is a link to our meeting schedule and program assignments at the top of the calendar page of this website.
 

The Sapulpa Kiwanis Club hosted a prayer luncheon on May 1st, the national day of prayer.  It was well attended by members of all the clubs in our division, with 6 members of our club attending.  The guest speaker was Coach Bill Blankenship of Tulsa University, who gave a very humorous and inspiring speech.  Also during the meeting the "Layperson of the Year" award was given to Bob Branson of the Kiwanis Club of Tulsa for his outstanding work in both his club projects and his church projects. 
 

William J. Federer, nationally known author, publisher and speaker  brought us an excellent program about the history of Islam and it's effects on civilization throughout the centuries.  He has written 15 books relating to our American Heritage.  These books can be found on Amazon.com and also Bill's website, www.AmericanMinute.com. You can also find interesting daily history facts on his website and sign up for a daily email with these fascinating and enlightening facts.

Shari Alexander

We had an excellent program at today's meeting presented by Shari Alexander who is a professional speaking coach.  She gave us some tips on how to be a more effective public speaker.  For more information on this subject, visit her website by clicking here.  You can also sign up for her free monthly email newsletter if you have in interest in that. Thanks to Ron Carter for bringing Shari to us.
 

Kiwanis Club of Tulsa Southeast Loses a Dear Friend

J. "Lowell" Phillips from the Kiwanis Club of Tulsa Southeast in Division 15 passed away Saturday, August 25, 2007 in Tulsa at the age of 82. Lowell was born January 22, 1925 to Marion Carl Phillips, II and Ruth Pexton Phillips in Tulsa. He was a proud Tulsa native and married June (Perry) on November 19, 1944 in Augusta, GA, while serving in the Army Air Corps. He graduated from the University of Tulsa and worked for the Public Service Company of Oklahoma. Lowell was a faithful member of First Christian Church and the Home-builders Sunday School Class. He was a 49-year member of the Kiwanis Club of Tulsa Southeast and served as a Texas-Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor twice, in addition to many offices at the local level.  He had perfect attendance his entire tenure of Kiwanis. Lowell was well-known in the Tulsa area for collecting quarters from each person in attendance at the weekly meeting of the Southeast Club.  These quarters helped support scholarships for graduating Key Club seniors.  He not only collected quarters from members, but guests as well, making sure to educate them as to the good cause they are supporting. Lowell loved life and he loved Kiwanis. He took great pride in being Southeast’s official inductor of new members, educating them about the organizational structure and most importantly the ideals of Kiwanis.   

In addition to being greatly missed as a fellow Kiwanian, he was a loving husband, father and granddad.  Lowell is survived by: his wife, June of the home; daughter, Elaine Fox, her husband, Greg of Stillwater; daughter-in-law, Betsi Phillips, Tulsa; grandchildren, Sarah Francisco and husband, Cody, Fayetteville, NC, Karalea Fox, Stillwater, Lorrelyn Fox, Tulsa, Mark Phillips, Tulsa, Nathan Fox, Stillwater, Layne Fox, Stillwater; also survived by sister, Florine Widdows, husband, Dick of Texas; and numerous other family members. Lowell was preceded in death by: his parents; his son, Perry Phillips; brother, Marion Carl Phillips, III. In lieu of flowers friends may contribute to the Homebuilder's Scholarship Fund or Camp Christian, c/o First Christian Church, 913 S. Boulder, Tulsa, OK. A memorial service was held on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 11am at First Christian Church in Tulsa.

We have awarded $1,000 scholarships to two very deserving Union High School Key Club members, Michelle Moon and Esther Shin.  Michelle is planning to attend Emory University in Atlanta, GA and Esther will be attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Pictured Left to right are:  Bryan, Judy and Rachel Lapo and Gary, Doug and Marcia Wright

 Kiwanis Club Awards Scholarships 

The Kiwanis Club of Tulsa Southeast recently awarded two $1,000 scholarships to two very deserving Key Club Members – Doug Wright of Union High School and Rachel Lapo of Metro Christian Academy.

 Each year the Kiwanis Club awards one scholarship to a deserving graduating Key Club member.  This year a special memorial scholarship was also given, due to generous contributions in memory of a long-time Kiwanis member who had passed away within the year, Lloyd Austin. 

 Doug Wright (parents are Gary and Marcia of Broken Arrow), a senior at Union High School, is planning to attend Florida State University and major in either pre-med or pre-pharmacy.  Doug received a $1,000 scholarship from the Kiwanis Club of Tulsa Southeast.

 Doug has been a member of the Union High School Key Club for two years and most recently served as club editor and publicist.  Doug is also involved in Drug Free Youth Tulsa, Union Medical Society, National Honor Society, Scottish Skins, Student Council, Center of Redskin Energy and Young Life.  Doug’s favorite Key Club event was Relay 4 Life, an all night walk at the Riverwalk in Jenks to raise money and awareness of cancer.  Doug says, “Key Club has been a wonderful way for me to meet new friends while giving back to my community through charitable events.”  Other notable achievements of Doug’s include:  Student Council Representative of the Year, Oklahoma Academic Scholar and Oklahoma State Student Council Convention member of 3 committees.

 Rachel Lapo (parents are Bryan and Judy Lapo of Bixby), a senior at Metro Christian Academy, received the $1,000 Lloyd Austin Memorial Scholarship.  She plans to attend John Brown University in Siloam Springs, AR to pursue a degree in Education, with a minor in Spanish.

 Rachel has been a Metro Christian Academy Key Club member for four years and recently served as Club President.  She has also been involved in National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society, Spanish Club and Student Council.  In addition, she has served as Class Secretary and been an active member at Fellowship Bible Church.  In 2005, she served as a page for Senator Mike Mazzei. 

 Rachel said her favorite Key Club project involved coordinating a school-based competition canned food drive for Christ for Humanity, a local charitable organization that provides services and outreach to the homeless.  Rachel says, “Key Club has meant a lot to me. It allowed me the opportunity to take on my first major leadership role and to work with people from diverse backgrounds.”

We were honored to have as our guest speaker today our County Court Clerk, Sally Howe Smith.  She has been a faithful servant of our county for many years.  Miss Sally, as she is affectionately known around the courthouse, gave us an overview of her responsibilities as court clerk and also some insights into the inner workings of county government.  She also spoke about some emotional trials with which she has been involved.  Most of us were surprised at how diverse and complicated the court clerk job actually is. Sally is also a devoted Kiwanian and is a member of the Downtown Club.

We were also blessed to have as our guests several Key Club members from Union High School.

 
 These are great kids!  (Future Kiwanians)

New-Old Key Club

                               John Maxwell is the T/O District Region 3 Advisor for Key Clubs. He                                is a member of the East Tulsa-Broken Arrow Kiwanis Club and came                                to talk to us last Thursday. He shared his experiences – both good and                              not so good – with us. His Region 3 is all of northeast Oklahoma                               combining our Kiwanis Divisions 15. 27, and 31. We appreciate the                                 time and effort that John gives to this worthwhile cause.

Jerry Powell introduced John, but first: Jerry had just come from a meeting with the Metro Christian Academy Key Club and told us about them! We were their sponsors back several years ago and watched them dissolve. Now, out of the blue, that club has come alive again and we are to continue as their sponsor. What great news for us. Their meetings are scheduled for only once a month; 11:40 am to noon on the first Thursday. Jerry invited their faculty advisor to come and meet with us so we can all get acquainted and asked him to send over a couple of their members each week like they used to do. We will also enlist the advisor as a member of our Kiwanis Club, as we have done for the advisors of the two Key Clubs at Union.

Isn't this a great opportunity for us to enlarge our influence in this very important aspect of service ro our community? We will all benefit from the contacts we will make with our next generation.

Ron Sigler has volunteered to be the liaison with our new-old Key Club at Metro Christian Academy. Jerry Powell is already involved with Union Senior and Marsha Schmidt is working with Union Intermediate.

                            Also this week, we were honored to have as our guest Rene Chapuis, a                                patient at the Cancer Treatment Center of America at 81^st and Lewis.                                He is a founding member of a 14-year-old Kiwanis Club in Switzerland                                and has been their president and also a lt. Governor. He stood proudly                                beside our American flag because he is officially an American citizen.                                His treatment while here in Tulsa is to combat prostate cancer. We                                wish him well and hope to have him visit us during his stay here.                                 He plans to join us for our Christmas party at Dick & Lil Green's.

RSVP

                              It’s not a word for you to pronounce; it’s a mnemonic that stands                                     for Retired Senior Volunteer Program. The Assistant Director of the                                     local office, Pamela Dose, was our speaker last Thursday and told                                     us about the many old folks (they say over 55) who are involved in                                     a wide variety of services to the community as volunteers. They help                                    strangers at the airport find their way to wherever they are going.                                   They teach other seniors how to use a computer. They sit in                                     courtrooms to help find ways to reduce stress on those being                                    judged. They become surrogate grandparents for young children who need help in school. They prepare bulk mailings for other United Way Agencies. These are only a few examples of the ways this organization helps match senior citizens with opportunities that enrich their own lives as well as those who they serve.

The Tulsa RSVP was one of the pilot programs that started about 33 years ago by the Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry. RSVP is now active in more than 760 communities in the United States. We are grateful to Mike Bagby for inviting Pam to bring us up to date on the organization. We have heard about RSVP from Claudia Meiling and Sherry Clark in the past, but their work continues to grow and now we are reminded of their importance.

Hey, guys; we are volunteers too!

Football at TU

                        We heard about the football program at Tulsa University from the                               coach’s father, Dave Kragthorpe. We hear about his son, Steve,                                 frequently during football season and follow the feats and defeats of                                 their team. But now we have met the dad, who was also a football                                  coach during his career. He now “works” as a dollar-a-year assistant                                  to his son, although he said that he has not yet been paid for last year.

Dave is a member of Rotary in his hometown, Logan, Utah. But he has been in Kiwanis and Lions over the years when he was an active coach. Now, he and his wife come to Tulsa for the spring training period and the full football season and then return home to Utah during the snow and cold -- and he says beautiful – winter.

Dave pointed out that the facilities at TU for most of its athletic programs are excellent, but the football program suffers with an ancient and inadequate stadium, locker rooms, and coaches’ offices. We can only wonder whether his voice will be heard by the administration and whether they will act on the information.

Thanks to our new president Brent for asking Dave Kragthorpe to come and talk to us.

We had an installation party

Our new Lt. Governor Bob Mackechney installs Brent Carroll as the new president.

. Kenny G. congratulates Brent as he turns over the reins, then he gives Lowell Phillips a plaque to honor his service to the club.  Among the other honorees were Dick Green, Kiwanian-of-the-Year, Jerry Powell for his work with our Key Clubs and Lloyd Austin for his fine work as Secretary. 

Then we had some fun!

Mike Lang introduced us to the Hippopenduck and, with help from Mark Wackenhuth and Brent Carroll, awarded it to Kenny G. in honor of his jokes that he shared during the year

Good luck to all the new officers and directors.  We look forward to another great year serving the children of our community.

Therapetics
 

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We had a chance to learn about the Therapetics organization last Thursday. Here we have Director Kael Marsh being greeted by her Service Dog. Looking on is wheelchair-bound David Skaggs and his Service Dog, Martin. David explained the ways his life has been enriched by his companion dog and together they demonstrated a basic practical service – the dog picked up an object from the floor and gave it to David. This allows David to retrieve an article that he has dropped without dangerously leaning out of his wheelchair to get it.

Kael gave us a wish list of items that they need for their newly-occupied quarters. She also gave us a recent newsletter that included the announcement of a DogFest coming up on Saturday, October 9 and requesting volunteers to help at that event. Do we have any takers? I am sure that Mark Wackenhuth, who brought the program to us, will be happy to put us in touch. We are volunteers, aren’t we?

The American Red Cross

                                  What does our American Red Cross do? Our speaker last Thursday                                   was Bob Roberts, who was representing our local chapter at 11^th                                   St. and Route 169. He showed us a list, taken from the Yellow                                   Pages of our phone book, to show us the wide variety of services                                   they provide. Some are local, such as sustaining families who are                                   displaced by fire. Some are national; for example, the current efforts                                  to bring aid to the hurricane victims in Florida. And others are international, working through Red Cross and/or Red Crest organizations in 182 countries in our world. Still others are associated with our armed forces, conveying messages to service personnel concerning life and death in the families they left behind.

They provide all of these services, plus collection of blood, without any government funds. They accept donations from individuals  and from the United Way. Thank you, Mike Bagby, for bringing Bob to speak to us.

A little sidelight: I remember that I was president of the Junior Red Cross in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1927.  They have been around for a long time.

OSU TULSA

                             The Oklahoma State University at Tulsa was the subject of                                     discussion on Thursday, led by “Nekki” Reagan. At least that is                                      what her friends call her. And we are her friends, so it’s OK. She                                       is a recruiter for the school.

                              She explained to us that OSU-Tulsa is basically a finishing school,                                     providing the last two years for a Batchelor’s degree in many fields                                    and the most common source for students is Tulsa Community                                     College or similar two-year institutions. They also offer specialized courses in a variety of fields and advanced degree work. Shuttle buses make round trips several times each day so local students can reach the Stillwater campus and students from Stillwater can commute to the Tulsa campus to reach special classes and/or teachers, etc.

We can thank Paul Musselman, our Kiwanian of the Day, for finding and inviting Nekki to came and talk with us.

We also had a visit from Bob Smith of the downtown Kiwanis Club. And speaking of downtown, we have several of our members signed up to visit that club this Monday to hear a debate between U.S. Senate candidates Coburn and Carson. It will be a full house.

Historic Places

                           We heard about the U.S. National Register of Historic Places from                                  Kathy Ambler at our meeting last Thursday. She told us that the                                  Register includes homes, neighborhoods, buildings, statues, almost                                   anything that helps us all to remember our collective history. She said                                  that the National Register does not include the restrictions on changes                                   to the exterior of a building, but that local and state registries do.

                          Thank you, Fern Farris, for being our Kiwanian of the Day and bringing this young lady and her message to us.
 

The  Lady in Red

Whoever thought we could laugh and have a good time while talking about blood! But that’s just what we had last Thursday when Toni Hereford came to discuss it with us. She is the blood program coordinator for the Tulsa branch of Oklahoma Blood Institute (OBI). Their office is at 4601 E. 81^st Street, where we are all welcome to come and donate blood (if we qualify). They even put your name in for a drawing for a cruise when you donate blood.

It was surprising to learn that OBI is the sole source for 60% of the blood used by hospitals and clinics in Oklahoma. They do not compete with the American Red Cross, but instead provide 100% of the blood service to a long list of designated locations and the Red Cross serves the other locations.

We learned from Toni that there are three major components in our blood that can be separated and used for different situations. The red and white blood cells are delivered throughout the body in a stream of plasma and there is a supply of platelets that travel along. The blood cells carry oxygen and CO2 to and from our body cells. The platelets gang up to seal an opening into an artery or vein; she said that platelets resemble thick applesauce. Any or all of these components can be used for a transfusion, depending on the circumstance.

So we say “thank you” to Toni for this enlightening and entertaining program. And we thank Dick Green for acting as Kiwanian of the Day in place of Ron Sigler, who was ill.

Tulsa Air and Space Museum

Lee Rainey came to tell us about this exciting educational facility that is out at the north edge of the Tulsa Airport. At this time, it is housed in an old hanger but, as a part of the 2025 Vision program, it will soon be in two brand new air-conditioned buildings. The first will tell a lot of the history of the aircraft industry as it relates to Tulsa. The second building will be a domed planetarium that will feature glimpses of outer space. Although it will be a place to observe the many facets of air and space travel, it will also be a place that encourages young people to study math, science, and technology in order to prepare for a better and more exciting future in their lives. We were invited to come and visit, both now and in the future.

Thank you, Mike Lang, for finding this man and having him bring the story to us together with a piece of the News that was on Channel 6 in which he was interviewed.

Court Appointed Special Advocate

CASA is our Kiwanis Governor’s special project for this year. Jerry Powell found Marilyn Loukes, the CASA program director for Tulsa, and brought her to tell us about it. Marilyn happens to be the daughter of Jerry’s band director who helped Jerry get started playing the saxophone in Junior High School lo these many years ago. But that is not part of the story this week.

Marilyn explained to us the many facets of CASA. The one most important is the volunteers, because they are assigned by the court for a one-to-one relationship with a family that has one or more youths who are abused or neglected and who need help to grow up right. The individuals normally get in trouble of some kind and are brought into juvenile court as a result. When a CASA volunteer is assigned to that juvenile, he or she meets with the kid and tries to help him or her get their life back on track. Each case is unique, and the volunteer gets training by CASA before getting an assignment.

There are two specific things we can do to help CASA. One is to become a volunteer – Lori Mathis has been one and tells us that it is a wonderful personal experience. The other is to support their efforts with financial help. Let’s get behind this special Governor’s Project.

Thank you, Jerry, for bringing Marilyn Loukes to talk to us.

An Award

This was a happy group. Jerry Powell with Key Club Lt. Governor Matthew Summers, Union High School Key Club President Chee Yang, and Richard Lowry (he spoke on Reverse Mortgages two weeks ago). Mr. Lowry had a drawing at the end of the meeting, after he spoke to us, and drew Jerry’s name. So Jerry chose Key Club as his favorite non-profit organization. Chee Yang is holding the $50 contribution from Mr. Lowry in this picture.

Richard Lowry will be out of town for a few weeks, but has promised us that he will be one of our new members when he returns.

Tulsa Historical Society

Clayton Vaughn returned last Thursday to bring us some more background and an update on the Tulsa Historical Society. Although it has not yet officially opened to the public, we were invited to come and see what has been accomplished to date.

There are so many things about Tulsa’s history that have accumulated that it will be of interest to young and old. He mentioned that art-deco has to be one of the important features because Tulsa is the third most important city (after New York and Miami) in art-deco history. There will be many other items that help spell out our 100+ years. We’ve gotta see it.

Thanks, Jerry Powell, for getting Clayton to come and talk to us again.

We regret that we have had to say goodbye to this faithful long-time friend and member. She passed away on Saturday, October 23 and her memorial service was last Tuesday. Her obituary included the fact that she was a proud member of the Kiwanis Club of Tulsa Southeast.

During the service, her pastor called our attention to the dash between her birth year and her death year. This dash is the time that she had with us and all of her other friends here on earth. We are grateful that we were among them.

We will  miss her but know she is in good hands forever. We collected a generous donation for the Texas/Oklahoma Kiwanis Foundation to be given in her memory.

The Governor Was Here!

Our OK/TX (!) Kiwanis Governor, Darell Booth, and his wife, Delores, were our guests last Thursday and the Governor was our speaker for the day. He promised that we will have a better year this year and encouraged us to enrich our lives with Kiwanis projects. We need to continue IDD. We should become active in CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) and other projects that serve the children in our community and throughout the world.

The Governor’s wife, Delores, is also an active Kiwanian. She inducted Phyllis Dupois as our newest member. Welcome aboard, Phyllis. We are glad that you are out of the hospital and hope you stay out.

Connie Harl was the fourth member to shake hands with Brent Carroll (the secret shaker) so she took away the reward.

State of the City

Our Tulsa City Councilman for District 8, Bill Christiansen, discussed a variety of local issues of interest with us at our meeting last Thursday. He was the guest speaker invited by Dick Green, who was our Kiwanian of the Day. Both Bill and Dick are involved in The Tulsa Run – in fact, Bill has been in it for 18 years!

Among other things, Bill predicted that Boeing will not choose to come to Tulsa, so our sales tax will not increase by the full penny that we voted on at the last election. As an interesting side-note, the Tulsa World reported on Friday that Governor Henry is about to call a special legislative session to consider the state’s role when Boeing does come to Tulsa. They can’t both be right, can they? We’ll see.