The April 5 meeting got under way at 12:30pm. This is the first meeting for our new Club Administrator, Shari Faulhaber.

Everyone is glad to have Tom Strode back as the Rotary Orchestra. He started us off with The Star Spangled Banner. District Governor Elect Collyer Smith shared his demanding DG Training schedule with us. He is still smiling so we know how he enjoyed meeting more Rotarians and sharing plans for the upcoming year.

Ingrid invoked both the forecast disagreeable weather for the afternoon and the opening of the Major League Baseball season with her choice of songs – Singin’ in the Rain and Take Me Out To the Ballgame.

Incoming President Mark Foster welcomed the attendees and thanked the dedicated team who support the meeting. He also announced birthdays and anniversaries.

Barbara Eichmuller invited the last group of new members to remove the yellow ribbons that identify them.

Two very active now-not-so new members were there to acknowledge the applause. Two new members were introduced and received tee shirts and their first Rotary pins.

Ed Johnson shared some statistics about our Adopt-A-Highway project. We have joined with 1990 other local groups to pick up 2 million tons of trash along 6000 miles of highway. This Spring’s cleanup on April 22 will be the seventh time we have picked up along I-94. Accompanied by a big round of applause for a job well done, Trash Talkin’ Tom Millard turned the chairmanship over to Leo Shedden and Ed Johnson. Contact them to join on April 22 at 9:00am for a little picking up, a nice box lunch, and a lot of trash talk: Leo at lksjcs@att.net, and Ed at ed@edandsandy.com.

Marlena Studer reminded us of the fundraiser for reinvigorating the Rotary Youth Exchange that is this coming Friday. In a speakeasy setting demonstrations of the original Charleston, singing of the old songs, and jammin’ by four local musicians will brighten the Spring evening.

President Elect Mark drew our attention to the Climate Change Hero Log, which listed climate change activities for each week in March. Rotarians showing three activities completed will receive Climate Change Hero designation and some as-yet unannounced prize.

Notes from the Program

Nishta Bhatia introduced Jason Perry Eyster as our speaker. Jason has been a member of our club. His busy career took him away from us, but he has spent enjoyable time learning the history of Frank Glazier, the turn of the century Chelsea businessman, philanthropist and politician. Glazier and Harmon Holmes, best known as owner and operator of Jiffy Mix, sparred over civic life in Chelsea and the surrounding communities. Whatever one wanted, the other did NOT.

Jason has written a musical, The Only Man in Town” about Glazier that focuses on his feud with Harmon Holmes. Jason played and sang a couple of songs for us, pointing out that songs in musical theater tell important parts of the story, they are not stand alone performances. Casting and rehearsals are going on right now and based on the tiny taste we had, a June evening will be happily spent watching this show. Performances will be June 9, 10, and 11 at the Chelsea High School Performing Arts Center.

Glazier followed his father as a druggist and retailer of patent medicines and household supplies. He was a poet and humorist who wrote entertaining and occasionally provocative advertisements for his store and the other products of his businesses. He founded the Glazier Stove Works  selling oil stoves that became known world wide as the best and most reliable stoves. He became heavily involved in making civic improvements in Chelsea, improvements relying on companies he owned or had major investments in, beginning with electrifying the city and building waterworks. Some entertaining if nefarious machinations were required to seal the deals. The distinctive clock tower in Chelsea was part of the waterworks. He expanded his many business interests into Ann Arbor and Chelsea.

Glazier entered public service as a state senator in 1902 where he blocked every piece of progressive legislation that was presented. He won election as state treasurer in 1904 and again in 1906. He was in a position to control where state funds were banked and of course chose the banks in which he had an interest. The Financial Panic of 1907 brought his career to an end when it was discovered that he had “borrowed” from the state to cover a call on loans from New York banks. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 – 15 years in Jackson but was released early thanks to great efforts of his wife Henrietta.  He was a fascinating, multi-talented man, an important contributor to Washtenaw County although his story ends poorly.

Watch for more announcements and information about Jason’s musical.

President Elect Mark retook the podium to announce that Carol Hutchins will be the speaker next week.

He closed the meeting with a quote from Barak Obama,

“If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.”