THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of July 20, 2001
President Lee Hindenach opened the business meeting with 128 members present.
Current membership is 500, with 23 on the waiting list.
Announcements: President Hindenach recognized Walter and Glenora Richards and
George Valchar. Paul Strassman provided an update on missile test number 6.
Activities: Tennis and Racquetball continue as scheduled. Bridge will be at the
Waveny Senior Center beginning at 10AM next week. The next 4F's luncheon will be
at Woodway Beach Club on Aug. 17. Fee is $12.75. Golf will be at Whitney Farms in
Monroe on Aug. 23, fee is $45. Trailblazers go to Farmington Canal, a State park,
in the Chesire area of CT., August 13.
Couth: July 28 is the annual Connecticut JazzFest. Eighty members have signed up.
August 11 will be to Caramoor with dinner at the "Bistro" restaurant all for $95. Sept. 12
off to the races at Belmont for $65, and Oct. 3 is the Mystic Seaport visit and
clambake, also $65. A cruise is planned for May 4-11, 2002, to Hamilton and
St. George, Bermuda. Approximate cost per couple will be $3000.
Jester: John Berg informed us of the hazards of farm life and the importance of
having neighbors who can teach one to play the piccolo.
SPEAKER: Vice President Ron Seger, introduced speaker David Purvis, who has
been involved with
the Smithsonian Institution
(SI) for the past 20 years. He was a national board
member and is now a member of the alumni committee. Mr. Purvis spoke about the
facts and history of the SI. He told us that in 1950 when the Soviets launched
Sputnik, neither the Navy or Air Force could find it. However, the SI Mt. Hopkins
observatory tracked Sputnik. This
astrophysical observatory has been in existence since 1890. He mentioned that
each of us has an image of the SI which ranges from the Hope Diamond to the Spirit
of St. louis,
to African or Asian art. The English chemist and mineralogist James Smithson who
died in 1829, left his estate to a country he had never visited, with vague
instructions for setting up an institution for the "increase and diffusion of
knowledge among men". In 1846
President Polk signed a law creating the SI. In 1857 the SI was producing weather
reports which led to the US Weather Bureau in 1869. The SI sponsored expeditions
to explore the West, and influenced the purchase of Alaska. In 1914, the SI gave a
grant to Goddard who conceived rockets for space flight. During WWII the US came to
the SI to find out
about the topography, weather, local species, and native customs in the Pacific.
The most lasting contribution to WWII was the book titled "Survival on land
and Sea", which is still
in use today. The skeletal collection and forensic expertise of the SI has been of
valuable help to the FBI. The SI is now the world's largest museum and research
complex, with 16 museums, a zoo, 7 research centers in 8 states as well as the Rep.
Of Panama, a
telescope soon to be on top of Hawaii's Mauna Kea, libraries with 1.2 M volumes,
400K rare books, an Environmental Research Center, and the National Museum of
American History. The SI is a unique trust set up by Congress. Its National Board
is a volunteer
advisory group, governed by a Board of Regents led by the Chief Justice of the US
and the Vice President, and includes US Senators, Congressmen, and private citizens.
Stan Stanziale, Assistant Secretary