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| Roswell Rotary Club members helped the Salvation Army with its Christmas bell-ringing campaign to raise funds for the needy. This year the Rotary bell-ringers raised $3,178. Working outside Farmers Country Market on North Main Street are Rotarians Frank Sturges, Steve Smith, and Niki Woolin, who also is with the Salvation Army in Roswell. |
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| Rotarian Melinda Branin, with husband Wataru Niimorti, at the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, where Niimori — affectionally known as "Dr. Wat" — played a free Christmas concert on Dec. 6. |
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| Members of the Roswell High School Cayettes and Roadrunners Show Choir sang Christmas and holiday songs at the Rotary Club's Dec. 9 meeting. |
Members of the Roswell Rotary Club elected and affirmed Board members at the Dec. 9 meeting.
Affirmed as Board members were:
• Marcos Nava, Membership chair
• Chris Lauderman, Public Image chair
• Matthew Chappell, Service Projects chair
New Board members elected were:
• John Dilmore
• Paul T. Moore
• Nicole Weiser
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| Roswell Rotarians J.P. and Bianca Cheney (top left) meet with potential outbound District 5520 Exchange students in Albuquerque over the weekend. Bianca is president-elect of the Roswell Rotary Club. |
Salvation Army Capt. Niki Woollin is asking for help from fellow Roswell Rotarians during the coming holiday season.
“If anyone would like to help drive Thanksgiving meals to shut-in seniors, we would love the help,” Niki said. “Volunteers would need to show up at The Salvation Army, 612 W. College Blvd., between 10 and 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 25 to pick up meals and choose their delivery addresses.”
She said Rotarians and others “are welcome to come once and leave after their delivery or return to The Salvation Army and take another load until they are done. People interested can call, text, or email me at my contact information below.
Bellringing
“On Dec. 11, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Rotary will be bellringing at Farmer’s Market on Main Street. I will be coming with a clipboard to sign up at the next Rotary meeting. Shifts will be in 1-hour increments and 2 people can ring together or bring their family,” Niki said.
She said Rotarians can contact her on her cell phone at (406) 551-0866 or contact The Salvation Army at (575) 208-2371. Her email address is: niki.Woollin@usw.salvationarmy.org
Roswell Rotary Club members Howard Perry and Marc Reischman have been elected to the Board of Directors of the International UFO Museum and Research Center.
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| Howard Perry (left) and Marc Reischman |
The UFO Museum draws more visitors annually than any other museum in New Mexico
and is the major tourism draw for Roswell.
Though the museum was forced to close and then limit attendance during part of 2019 and 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has made a major rebound in attendance and revenue this year.
The research center’s library has the largest collection of books, research papers, and articles about UFO sightings outside of the Vatican Library.
Military veterans in the Roswell Rotary Club attended the Annual Veterans Day Breakfast sponsored by New Mexico Military Institute on Nov.11.
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| Grizzle |
After breakfast, Grizzle introduced the guest speaker, Brig. Gen. Miguel Aguilar, deputy adjutant general of the New Mexico Army National Guard, who described how he began his military career when he accepted a scholarship at NMMI.
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| Jane Harvard sits with her father, retired Army Brig. Gen. Gerald Childress, former president and superintendent of New Mexico Military Institute. Childress is a longtime member of the Roswell Rotary Club. |
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| Rotarians Dennis Kintigh (left) and Shawn Powell enjoy coffee and a visit at the Veterans Day Breakfast. Kintigh and Powell are both military veterans. |
Swickard keynote speaker
Roswell Rotarian Jack Swickard was the keynote speaker at the community’s annual Veterans Day Ceremony on Saturday (Nov. 6) in front of the Chaves County Courthouse.
The ceremony was followed by a parade north on Main Street to College Boulevard. This year’s ceremony and parade, organized by the city’s two American Legion posts, was dedicated to Vietnam War veterans.
Swickard was a helicopter pilot stationed at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam, during the war. He accumulated 1,000 hours of combat flight time between February 1967 and February 1968. His awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Air Medal with 22 Oak Leaf Clusters.
Bianca, J.P. Cheney
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| John Cheney (left), son of Rotarians Bianca and J.P. Cheney, was elected to the Roswell School Board on Nov. 2. Bianca is president-elect of the Roswell Rotary Club. |
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| Rotarian Steve Smith holds bottle caps collected by Roswell Rotary Club members to convert into benches throughout the city. |
The Roswell Rotary Club will meet at the Roswell Country Club, 2601 Urton Road, on Nov. 4, 11, and 18.
There will be no club meeting on Nov. 25, which is Thanksgiving Day.
On Dec. 2, 9, and 16, the club will meet at The Liberty, 312 N. Virginia Ave. The club will not meet on Dec. 23 and 30 because of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
Meetings begin at 12:15 p.m.
Nov. 4
Local and state updates on COVID-19 by Warren Yehl, CEO of Eastern New Mexico Medical Center, and Buddy Daniels, CEO of Lovelace Regional Hospital.
The program will be followed by a survey of Rotary members on the impact of COVID-19 on themselves, family and friends.
Nov. 11
Carrie-Leigh Cloutier, CEO of Chaves County CASA, will give an update on the program.
Nov. 18
Leland Gould, president and CEO of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association will speak about the energy industry in the state and nation.
Nov. 25
Thanksgiving Day (No Rotary Club meeting)
Rotarian Marcos Nava was honored at Thursday’s club meeting as a Paul Harris Fellow.
Nava, executive director of the Roswell Hispano Chamber of Commerce, was joined at the ceremony by two Hispano Chamber Board members, Veronica Arias and Alice Palma.
In addition to directing the Hispano Chamber, Nava headed the Roswell-Chaves County effort to assist with the recent U.S. Census.
Before being named executive director of the Hispano Chamber, Nava retired as a longtime regional and national officer of Boy Scouts of America. At one point in his career, Nava commuted regularly between his office at Boy Scout Headquarters in Dallas and his home in Roswell.
A special guest attending Thursday’s Rotary meeting was Larry Connolly of Roswell who worked closely with Nava on the Census.
