We had 32 members and three guests attend the April 17 meeting.  Our guests included Bill Kirk from Palo Alto CA who is relocating to our area, Mike Malloy, a guest for the second time of Luvie Owens, and Kathleen Easton, the wife of our speaker.
 
The Club was again reminded that the Chamber of Commerce’s “After Hours” event for April is being co-sponsored by our club.  It will be held on Thursday, April 24th at the Happ Inn in Northfield from 5 to 7 p.m.  Please make a concerted effort to attend.  There will be a regular noon meeting on that day.
 
Eric and David Birkenstein gave a brief report on the District Conference.  It was reported that our club is one of very few clubs where the membership has increased, while almost all clubs are seeing a decline.  A round of applause was deservedly given to David who is the membership chairman.
 
Rich Lalley was wearing a $2 bill attached to his shirt with a Rotary pin reminding members that it only takes two dollars a week to participate in Rotary International’s “Every Member, Every Year.”  It might be easier to write a check for $100 to Rotary
 
Bob Baker passed out ballots so that members could vote for next year’s officers.  He also reminded the Club that the Annual Benefit would be held on Friday, May 16th at Michigan Shores.  He is still looking additional items for the silent auction.
 
Mark your calendars for May 15th as there will be no lunch meeting that afternoon as we will be having a joint dinner meeting with the two Rotary clubs from Wilmette
 
Bob Baker, our incoming president, also announced that our club would be holding an anniversary benefit on Friday, May 16th at the Michigan Shores Club.  We will be celebrating our 90th anniversary at the event.  Tickets will be $90 per person and the dinner event will run from 6 to 10 p.m. with professional musical entertainment.  Bob is in need of auction items.
 
New member Marie Kuipers was given the “Moment to Shine.”  In a unique way she presented a list of 25 things to know about her.  The Club really appreciated her novel way of introducing herself as she stated she moved from the Northbrook to our club and has felt very comfortable and welcomed.
 
The speaker for the day was Richard Easton, the author of “GPS Declassified.”  Mr. Easton gave a history of how GPS was developed, beginning in science fiction in 1869 to the 1950’s were real work began with tracking rockets that were attempting to put satellites in orbit.  His father, Roger, was a leading scientist in this work and conceived, patented, and led the development of essential enabling technologies for the United States Global Positioning System (GPS).