Branch History – 2014 to Present

Branch histories for 2014 to present were prepared by branch historian, Frank Crossman.

Earlier histories from 2000 to 2013 prepared by then branch historian, Bob Simon, are in the branch history archives at this link.

2021 Branch 35 History

Big SIR Stan Barkey
Little SIR Bob Booth
Secretary Jim Quillinan; Assistant – Dave Squellati
Treasurer Jim Narva ; Assistant – Gerry Feeny
Director – Membership Paul Schutz
Director – Events Ben Gikis
Director – Publicity Bruce Karney
Director – Nominations Andy Danver
Director – Activities Jerry Belden
Director – Recruiting Jean Mordo
Director – Technology Richard Blackborrow

In this our second year of the COVID pandemic the branch applied a succession of state SIR protocols for allowing SIR gatherings in outdoor and indoor settings. After vaccinations became generally available in spring, there was every hope that soon our monthly meetings could be in-person rather than virtual using Zoom.  However, in early summer a new spike of the delta variant of COVID prevented our plan to resume indoor monthly meetings, and again in late fall another spike of the omicron variant of COVID once again required a delay in the return to indoor monthly meetings.

During the spring many of the branch’s activities returned to in-person gatherings including golf, bowling, biking, hiking, bocce, Dining-in, and Trailbirds rehearsals.  Others like the book club and investment group continued to meet on Zoom. The spring also saw the establishment of 45-minute Zoom breakout sessions for special interest groups just before the start of our monthly business meeting and speaker presentation. Some of these groups were gardening, photography, movie reviews, and Wayfarers (Loral retirees).

In February, Stan Barkey announced in Trail Tips, that 2021 was the 50th anniversary of Branch 35’s founding and plans for an August celebration picnic. This was to be the social highlight of the year! The August picnic was held at Blackberry Farms in Cupertino. The picnic was attended by over 200 members and spouses including special guest, County Supervisor, Joe Simitian, who officially recognized the branch’s Golden anniversary. The Trail Birds shared some of
the history of our parodies (our established method of welcoming our monthly speakers) and entertained
us with some songs from our past. Ben Gikis organized the crew that prepared super ribs, chicken, burgers, and hot dogs for us. In addition, there was a great salad, plenty of drinks and we topped it off with an anniversary cake and cupcakes to celebrate the occasion.

Stan Barkey described for the picnickers that 50 years ago a group of men decided to form a new branch of SIR and applied for a charter for the new branch 35. One of our early members made a very special wooden case for our SIR charter and a list of the original 100 charter members. On the back panel of the Charter Box there is an engraved list of the names of every man who has served as a Big SIR for our branch.

Stan Barkey offered special thanks to Andy Danver who handled registration and name tags, Milt Wehrman whose music brought back memories, Richard Blackborrow who supported the sound system for the Trail Birds, and to the other 15 men helped with setting up, serving and cleaning up after the event.

Because of the strong participation of our membership in activities and the continued strong attendance at our monthly branch meeting and speaker program on Zoom (averaging over 110 members and a dozen visitors from other SIR branches), the branch continued to attract new members. In spring we had about 300 active members. By the end of the year the membership stood at 330.

Branch 35 plans to expand its use of electronic payments for annual dues to the collection of prepayments of the monthly luncheon fees. This streamlining of payments by electronic means has been a long time coming. If there can be a positive note associated with the COVID pandemic, it is this encouragement of payment streamlining.

Over the course of the year Bob Booth gathered an exceptional list of speakers for our monthly Zoom meeting. The highlight of the year was clearly the talk by astronaut, Thomas Marshburn on his experiences in space. The Zoom audience peppered him with questions for almost 40 minutes following his talk. Another in-depth talk on “The Economics of Climate Change” was given by Prof. Sara Jackson from Williams College. The complete list of speakers and their biographies appears in the monthly Trail Tips newsletter on our history archives.

2020 Branch 35 History

Big SIR Andy Danver
Sr. Little SIR Stan Barkey
Secretary Jim Quillinan; Assistant – Dave Squellati
Treasurer Jim Narva ; Assistant – Gerry Feeny
Director – Membership Paul Schutz
Director – Annual Survey Ben Gikis
Director – Publicity Bob Roy
Director – Nominations Peter Thurston
Director – Activities Joe Mullen/Jerry Belden
Director – Social Stan Scardino

The 2020 year started off with Big SIR, Andy Danver, thanking last year’s branch staff for their excellent contributions in communications across all media that resulted in an increase of 31 new members. The upcoming program of monthly lunch speakers looked exciting, and the first two months’ talks on “The Future of Artificial Intelligence and “Early Detection and Diagnosis of Unhealthy Brain Aging” were well attended and acclaimed. The year was off to a great start!

Then, in March the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In-person meetings were banned, and the state was in a lockdown. The branch officers voted by email to cancel the March luncheon. Behind the scenes Andy Danver and the branch officers searched for a better way to maintain communications during this pandemic. On March 18 the Executive Board held its first ever virtual meeting using the video application from a then small and little-known company called Zoom. By May the entire branch was invited to watch and listen to our May “lunch” speaker via Zoom. 195 members and guests attended that virtual meeting, including the SIR State President and 29 members from other branches who wanted to see what the Zoom experience was like. Branch 35 really led the way!

In the next few months, the branch experimented with Zoom breakout sessions before the main monthly meeting. Several informal groups of Loral and Lockheed retirees and others interested in gardening, movies, photography, etc. met in these breakout small group sessions. The branch promulgated tutorials in how to use Zoom via emails, Trail Tips, and the branch website to help increase the comfort level of members who could only “meet” virtually for the rest of the year. Andy also researched and established a link to videos of these Zoom meetings and talks that were hosted on a private YouTube channel. Members could access the links to the recorded talks via the password-controlled Membership Directory Login. Realizing the value of after-the-talk access to the presentations, the branch added links to digital copies of the in-person talks delivered in January and February.

The branch encouraged its activity groups to meet virtually on Zoom. The book club started Zoom meetings in April and several others including, bridge, investments, hiking followed suit in the ensuing months. The branch successfully met the established protocols (masks and social distancing) for allowing some of our branch activities (golf, biking, bocce) to meet in-person by the end of summer; although, a major flareup of new COVID-19 cases in November prompted state SIR organization to shut down all but virtual activities through year-end.

The state SIR organization awarded Branch 35 the first State SIR Zoom Award for Large Branches for its implementation of virtual BEC, monthly meetings, and activities.

As 2020 came to an end, the branch had a healthy membership of 332 with about two thirds actively participating in virtual meetings and activities. In this pandemic year, Branch 35 had found ways to meet the mission of SIR – “Enrich the lives of our members through fun activities and events – while making friends for life.”

2019 Branch 35 History

Big SIR Peter Thurston
Sr. Little SIR Andy Danver
Jr. Little SIR Stan Barkey
Secretary Jim Quillinan; Assistant – Dave Squellati
Treasurer Jim Narva ; Assistant – Gerry Feeny
Director – Membership Paul Schutz
Director – Annual Survey Ben Gikis
Director – Publicity Bob Roy
Director – Nominations Stan Scardino
Director – Activities Joe Mullen
Director – Social Duncan MacVicar

Big SIR, Peter Thurston, established key goals for the 2019 year in five areas:

  • RECRUITMENT: 45 new members.
  • PROGRAMS: high quality luncheon speakers.
  • ACTIVITIES: More activities based on new members’ interests.
  • EVENTS: Expansion of our social events which include spouses or significant others.
  • WEBSITE: Utilization of website email services to improve activity.

The major SIR State 2019 focus was on growth and member satisfaction. In 2019 the State SIR By-Laws changed from a focus on “Retired/Semi-Retired men” to a focus on clarifying members’ expectations to “be social, volunteer to help, participate in activities, and bring friends to lunch, activities and events and make them feel wanted.” The SIR logo was changed to replace the SONS IN RETIREMENT banner to: ACTVITIES FOR MEN or SOCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR MEN banners. SIR Mission was restated “to enhance the lives of our members through fun activities, events and luncheons while making FRIENDS FOR LIFE. These changes were promulgated to the membership via luncheon announcements, Trail Tips, and our branch website.

Best Branch Awards were announced at the 2019 Annual SIR Meeting in Lincoln, CA in August. Our Area Governor recognized Branch 35 as the best SIR branch in 2018for excellence in leadership, membership growth, member relations, activities and fostering comradery among all its members.”

The monthly luncheon speakers (see separate document in these archives) were excellent in 2019, but there were two standout speakers that will be highlighted here. Our January speaker, Bob Simon, SIR Honorary Life Member in our branch, presented Fleeting Rhyme – Poetry for the Rest of Us. As our Big SIR summarized, “The audience was totally captivated by Bob’s brilliant recitation of many of his favorite poems – that is when we were not falling out of our chairs with laughter and applause. He recalled his 20-year Branch 35 history and 50-year Los Altos history as he shared stories on why he created his humorous poems. Bravo!” In October our Headliner was Michael McFaul, Former Ambassador to the Russian Federation.  This lunch attracted eleven guests – a record number for our branch.

Many members invited friends to lunch for the first time. Sponsors of new members received special recognition on our Sponsors Honor Roll. The extra efforts turned around two years of declining membership, and we ended the year at 343 members including 31 new members.

Big SIR, Peter Thurston, had championed the use of cloud service technology by our branch for several years. This year, thanks to Richard Blackborow (membership data base) and John Ray (webmaster), the email system was enhanced to feature click-through buttons in the email to link directly to member surveys and to annual dues payment via credit card. In addition a two way click- through link was established between the member only Membership website and the public Branch Website.

Historian’s Note: I have been a member of this branch for seven years and its historian for six. For those who are reading these histories as background for their own leadership experiences to come, let me recommend to you the Big SIR Says column in this year’s Trails and Tips Newsletter (also in this archive). It is the best written column I’ve seen in my seven years as member. Big SIR, Peter Thurston, plainly displayed the goals for the coming year, acknowledged the people who would accomplish them, focused on how to achieve membership growth (the number one goal in 2019), led in that by example and encouraged others to follow, and celebrated the awards of the branch and the accomplishments of the responsible individuals so that all members might understand what it takes to attain success.

2018 Branch 35 History

2018 Officers

Big SIR Stan Scardino
Sr. Little SIR Peter Thurston
Jr. Little SIR Andy Danver
Secretary Darryl Walker; Assistant – Neville Griffin
Treasurer Larry Wray; Assistants – Jim Narva & Gerry Feeny
Director – Membership Paul Schutz
Director – Annual Survey Ben Gikis
Director – Publicity Don Cameron
Director – Nominations Duncan MacVicar
Director – Activities Joe Mullen

The Big SIR, Stan Scardino, led the BEC in developing the year’s goals for the branch. There were three main areas of focus:

  1. Maintain the quality and variety of monthly luncheon speakers
  2. Add new members from among our friends and former associates by recruiting them to attend a luncheon to join the branch
  3. Emphasize meaningful membership by encouraging greater involvement of members in branch activities and events.

During the year a fourth focus area was added. Peter Thurston was tasked with leading the phased effort to establish a cloud-based membership platform using the Wild Apricot Service requiring individual member login-passwords, and linked to the existing open access branch website. By year’s end all members could access their membership information and individually decide how much of that information they would like to share with fellow members on the Wild Apricot web site. Using the membership platform the 2019 membership dues are being paid on-line by credit card. Branch 35 is the first SIR branch to establish this state-of-the-art level of on-line membership information and financial transaction system.

The monthly luncheon speakers covered a terrific diversity of topics that included:

  • Anyone an Any Age Can Learn Anything
  • Using the Immune System to Treat Cancer
  • The History of Early Airship Pioneers in the Bay Area
  • The Veterans Treatment Court in the Santa Clara County Court System
  • A Personal Account of Gambling Addiction by Spencer Christian
  • The James Webb Telescope
  • The Hiller Helicopter Co. History and Museum
  • The Opioid Crisis As Viewed by a Physician

One of the highlights of the year was the July Picnic at Blackberry Farm. The all-volunteer army of picnic workers was ably organized by Director Ben Gikis and ably assisted by Ron Schoengold, the BBQ master of chicken and ribs, Andy Danver, picnic operations, Dave Ogle, beverage bar master, and Milt Wehrman, music maestro. As the Big SIR summarized “They provided an old-fashioned summer barbeque… good food, good music, and good company… fun for all!” Ben Gikis also organized special events such as Giants baseball night and SJ Barracuda hockey night for SIR members and spouses.

The branch started the year with 350 active members and ended the year with 344 active members. Jim Schlatter was named an Honorary Life Member of SIR. In his active 15 years of membership in our branch, he served over 10 years as Treasurer, as the Branch 35 Golf Club’s Tournament Certifier, as a member of the Handicap Committee, and 10 years as Chair of the Golf Club Banquet Committee. In the 2000s he also stepped in as Trail Tips editor and moved the newsletter from print to electronic delivery with a significant reduction in production costs. Poet and Trail Birds Parody Song lyricist, Bob Simon, was also honored with the Senior Honorary Life Membership.

2017 Branch 35 History

2017 Officers

Big SIR Duncan MacVicar
Sr. Little SIR Stan Scardino
Jr. Little SIR Peter Thurston
Secretary Darryl Walker; Assistant – Neville Griffin
Treasurer Larry Wray; Assistant – Tim O’Meara
Director – Membership Wayne Dexter
Director – Annual Survey Ben Gikis
Director – Publicity Jim Steinmetz
Director – Nominations Gary Waldeck
Director – Activities Dan Zamenek

The Big SIR, Duncan MacVicar, led the BEC in developing the year’s goals for the branch.

  1. Develop contingency options for the time when our chapter is too large to meet at Elks. It is prudent to think about our options now rather than wait until crowding becomes a crisis. 
Outcome: Stan Barkey discovered heavier-than-usual attrition as he began his project. So he reported that the study was not needed for several years. He also reported a lack of suitable facilities priced anywhere near Elk’s.
  2. Review and update branch technology use for luncheon presentations, membership, attendance, and web functions.
 Outcome: Stan Scardino reported a lack of need from committees and a lack of interested and qualified members to conduct a project. Director, Gary Waldeck provided some old technology as well – a large brass bell to help call the luncheon meeting to order.
  3. Articulate a clear policy concerning saving seats before lunch. Some members continue to complain about the lack of available seating.
Outcome: The policy was articulated as two constraints: (1) Only 6 of the 8 seats at any table may be reserved; and (2) markers should be removed at 11:50 so that everyone can find a seat prior to the call to order.
  4. The branch anticipated an attrition of 30 (8%) branch members during the year and set a goal to recruit 40 new members during 2017. See discussion below.

This year the BEC approved adding a “21st Century” online membership roster to supplement the printed version. Directors Peter Thurston and Wayne Dexter provided leadership to design and implement an on-line roster in which each member decided how much of his personal information would be included in the online roster and specifically granted the branch permission to publish it on-line. The password protected on-line roster was rolled out in Jan 2018.

The Branch’s 14 Activities include two new ones in 2017:

  • Dining In, wherein couples host other couples for dinner at their houses. Chair of this new activity is Alan Gaudie;
  • Investment Club – a place to talk investment strategy with fellow SIR members. Jim Dunaway is the chair of this activity.

In addition members were offered special event group discounts to local MLB games (Giants and As) and to the musical performance of “Singing in the Rain.”

The monthly luncheon speakers covered an amazing diversity of topics that included:

  • Drones and RPVs
  • A blow-by-blow account of the Battle for Guadalcanal
  • Experimental car design – including the Tucker Torpedo
  • High speed rail
  • The result: 46 billion synaptic operations per second;
  • 25 top college golf courses
  • The use of social media by terrorist organizations
  • A personal account of the attack on Pearl Harbor by Chuck Kohler
  • Photography by an Army forward observer in the Viet Nam war.

The highlight of the year, according to our Big SIR, was the new picnic format at Blackberry Farm on June 19. Blackberry Farm was a nice, shady place with a stream running through it. It was close by, and plenty large enough to hold all of us. The all-volunteer army of picnic workers was ably organized by Director, Ben Gikis. They provided an old-fashioned barbeque, and the beer and wine were gratis. Spouses and guests attended free, too. Good food, good music, and good company… fun for all!

The branch started the year with 371 active members. In recent years some members had delayed paying their membership dues for many months into the new year, even after contact by BEC members. In 2017 the decision was made by BEC to enforce the stated policy of dropping members who had not paid dues by May of that year. Membership dropped to a low of 333, but the recruitment of new members was very successful in the latter half of the year leading to an end of year count of 352 active members.

2016 Branch 35 History

                                                2016 Officers

Big Sir Gary Waldeck
Co-Little Sir Duncan MacVicar, Stan Scardino
Secretary Darryl Walker, Assistant – Neville Griffen
Treasurer Larry Wray, Assistant – Tim O’Meara
Director/Membership Ron Nakamoto
Director (Special Projects) Ben Gikis
Director (Media) Tom Toboada
Director (Activities) Dan Zemanek
Director (Publicity) Peter Thurston

In his first Branch Executive Committee meeting as Big SIR, Gary introduced the BEC members to his concept of delegating responsibility and establishing an organization chart that clarifies those responsibilities as posted to the branch website. He also established a PowerPoint luncheon presentation format that provided focus on new member recruitment. It worked! At the end of 2016 the number of active members stood at 376. That’s 21 more and 6% higher than the year before.

The BEC established a practice of attending the new members orientation meeting following theirs. New members were introduced to how the branch is organized and the fact that over 90+ members are volunteers in the branch staff and activities. New members are asked to think about how they can contribute.

The attendance at the monthly luncheon meetings was as high as 248 members/guests. The higher attendance can be attributed to our settling into our new venue at the Elks Club and to a truly excellent set of speakers. The branch website now has a 4 person web management team and provides archival information on branch organization and activities. Other annual highlights included the Saratoga Springs picnic and tomato growing contest and our Holiday Luncheon featuring the Madrigal Singers of Mountain View High School.

At the state level, Ron Nakamoto presented a paper on member recruiting and Gary accepted the President’s Certificate for Success for excellence in building a healthy branch. Jack W. Dyer was awarded the senior Honorary Life Member (HLM). Jack was awarded the HLM in 2006. He was editor of our monthly newsletter, Trail Tips, for 10 years and he has been a long-standing member of the Trail Birds. Robert L. Garten, who has been chair of the branch golf activities since 2002, was awarded HLM at the same meeting.

2015 Branch 35 History

                                              2015 Officers

Big Sir Dan Zemanek
Co-Little SIR Gary Waldeck, Duncan MacVicar
Secretary Darryl Walker, Assistant – Neville Griffin
Treasurer Don Cameron, Assistant – Doug Ericcson
Director – Membership Ron Nakamoto
Director Ben Gikis
Director Ken Jones
Director Creed Morgan
Director Tom Taboada

Dan’s greatest challenge in this year was leading the move of our luncheon venue from the IFES Hall in Mountain View to the Elks Club in Palo Alto. The Elks Club offered a modern facility with state-of-the-art AV system, many meeting rooms, and a significant upgrade in the lunch menu. The challenges included getting us SIRs-of-habit acquainted with the new parking arrangements, accommodating the membership in a somewhat smaller dining room by establishing more comfortable seating arrangements (rectangular rather than circular tables) and a return to an ordered release of tables to the buffet line. This required at least two kinds of leadership – organizational leadership and cheer-leadership, both of which Dan handled with aplomb.

The branch moved from a US mailing of our Trail Tips monthly newsletter to an email distribution to all but a few who requested the hard copy version. The new member staffed Red Dot committee greeted branch members as they entered the dining room and helped them find a table with a non-reserved seat. New members were mentored by their sponsor and by one member of the Branch Executive Committee (BEC). Book Club and Bridge Club activities were approved and organized, as was the Trail Bums activity – an ad hoc jam meeting of branch musicians. Allan Wilson volunteered to update and maintain the branch website. Within four months he designed it using WordPress software, moved the new site to the state SIR server, and presented it to members at the August luncheon.

The July picnic at Saratoga Springs had an attendance of 130. A branch volunteer recognition for staff chairs and activities leaders was accomplished at the Sep. luncheon. Yes, for them there was a free lunch! The Holiday lunch (145 attendees at the Elks Club) featured the Main Street Singers from Los Altos High School.

State SIR honored Richard S. Bray with a senior Honorary Life Member (HLM) award. Richard was Big Sir in 1998 and earned the HLM in 2003. Also honored with the HLM award was Delbert L Fillmore. Del had served as branch treasurer and then auditor, and he has been editor of Trail Tips since 2013.

Branch 35 ended the year with 355 active members.

2014 Banch 35 History

                                           2014 Officers

BigSir. Ben Gikis
Co-Little Sirs Dan Zemanek, Gary Waldeck
Secretary Darryl Walker, Assistant – Neville Griffin
Treasurer. Jerry Ososkie, Assistant – Don Cameron
Director/Membership Bill Monroe
Director Stan Barkey, Creed Morgan
Director Ron Nakamoto
Director Tom Taboada

Under Ben’s leadership the branch began to investigate a new venue for the monthly lunches. The Palo Alto Elks Club was identified and 80% of the membership voted to make the move. A Medical Emergency Response Team was formed to attend to emergency medical incidents at SIR meetings. Several new member activities were started during 2014: bocce ball, and a wine tasting club. The August luncheon was the scene for a new event: the Tomato Growing Contest. Special events included the Saratoga Springs Picnic (~165 attendees) and the Holiday Lunch with the featured Mountain View Madrigal Singers and ~80 attendees. A Red Dot was added to the badges of new members, so that our older members could recognize these members and introduce themselves and make them welcome. At the lunches a “Hooch is on the House” drawing was instituted to provide a bottle of wine to a lucky member who was celebrating his birthday during that month.

Branch 35 ended the year with 359 active members. A survey of membership data showed:
Age:
• 50% over 70,
• 30% over 80.
Tenure:
• 108 with 10+ years,
•   13 with 20+ years,
•    8 with 25+ years.