Happy New Year to you.  Can you believe it is January 1, 2024? Here’s to the New Year, may it be a good one, full of laughter, friends, family, all that and the joy of Rotary too. Here’s to 2024!

After two weeks with family, friends and  holiday revelry we’re starting off the New Year with a classification  talk by one of our members, Tom Marston. Most of us know Tom as the smiling, calm person at the desk taking our money for dinner. Or, you might know him as the person holding up one side of that huge bureau that you are carrying down three flights of winding stairs. Tom is all these and so much more.  

Before his time on a club pick up crew, Tom was and still is a Methodist minister. This is what he wrote, when I asked him for a short paragraph about his talk. It should be a fun night. Hope to see you at the clubhouse.

“As far as the presentation next week, I hope this helps,” Tom said. Well, yes it sure did and I am looking forward to hearing more about Tom's life as an active Methodist minister.

“A pastor and family often feel that they live in a goldfish bowl.  However, the community members do not realize that the pastor and family are looking out from the bowl, and they may be seeing a good deal more than you expect.”

In the first year Tom was ordained, a good friend sent him a cartoon which pictured a young clergyman standing before a bishop. The bishop is saying, “This is your first assignment and I know the salary and benefits are not terribly exciting. However, you will find that there should be enough good material in this community for at least three best sellers!”

Without revealing any confidences, Tom will share what he found most unpredictable and unexpected over his years of service. Could be the beginning of one of those best sellers!

Sounds like it should be an amusing night. I’m sure none of his stories will apply to Rotarians though. So, we’re safe.

After a successful, fun and tiring season the Big, Gray Rotary Barn is closed until April. The pick up crews are resting, too. They will probably come out of hibernation some time in March.  We’ll announce it here and in the Register.

Community members, visiting Rotarians, and anyone else interested in the fun and work of Rotary are welcome to join us at our weekly dinner meetings on Thursdays at 6 p.m., Boothbay Harbor Rotary Clubhouse, 66 Montgomery Road, Boothbay Harbor. See our website at   www.boothbayharborrotary.org.