Rotary 13 members and invited guests gathered on the lower level of the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 1301 Wyandotte Street with select individuals participating remotely via Zoom. President Tim Tholen brought the assembly to order at 12:12pm with a tap of the bell. The group stood for the Pledge of Allegiance, and Henrik Andersen’s invocation counted our good fortunes at this time of seasonal change.
Meeting guests included Ron Hicks of Gregory Ridge Long Term Care, invited by Neil Barnett. One visiting Rotarian joined us from Honduras: Nancy Lara is in Kansas City volunteering and studying English. Sarah Beyer celebrated her 1-year anniversary with the club this week. President Tim noted that the door greeters today were the incoming directors of the board and thanked them.
Past President Marc Horner delivered spoken thanks to the group for the successful Friendship Exchange with Rotarians from overseas this past week. Ten individuals from clubs in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe visited our community, lodging with R13 members and seeing prominent sights around town. Past President Tom Davis recapped the Step Up to the Plate event at Royals Stadium on June 15th (which gave our African friends a firsthand experience with Major League Baseball). In total, 73 tickets and almost $10K in revenue came from Step Up to the Plate. The proceeds will support the operation of Rotary Youth Camp (RYC).
Tom Woolwine reminded the assembly of the Regatta kick-off party at Aixois South on July 20th. It runs between 5:00pm and 8:00pm, with income directed in support of RYC. Mandy will send out RSVP information shortly; fundraiser tickets are priced at $150 for the event. This year, the camp is presenting its first service-above-self award to local philanthropist Scott Boswell as part of the Regatta.
Upcoming Club 13 activities include:
26 June, 4th Thursday social at Granfalloon on the Plaza
10 July, Programming Committee meeting
22-23 August, RYC Regatta at Lake Jacomo
At 12:23pm, Past President Sally Bibb took the floor to announce this year’s recipients of The Tony DiPardo Music Scholarship. Four exemplary young people were introduced along with their parents.
Rachel Fry, pianist, graduated from Frontier STEM High School. She will continue her studies at Kansas State University.
Anthony Valdez, trombonist, graduated from Sumner Academy. He will attend Kansas State University.
Xavier Scott, trombonist, graduated from Blue Springs South High School. He will attend Texas Tech University this fall.
Reagan Sheedy, singer and guitarist, graduated from Raymore-Peculiar High School. She will attend Belmont University to pursue her musical career.
The scholarship committee that evaluated the applicants consists of Rosemary Salerno, Ted Dahlberg, Jon Heever, Bob Harvey, and Michael Parkinson.
Lee Brumitt introduced this week’s guest speakers, both accomplished musicians with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra. Trumpeter Bob Harvey taught in Lee’s Summit Schools for 29 years, performed with Tony DiPardo’s band for 20 years, and is one of the senior statesmen of the KC Jazz Orchestra. Trumpeter Clint Ashlock is his 12th year as artistic director of the KC Jazz Orchestra. He is an active instrumentalist in the Kansas City music scene and beyond.
In light of the Juneteenth holiday, the two gentlemen brought a blend of improvised music and words about jazz history to the meeting. The familiar tune “When the Saints Go Marching In” served as backdrop to their presentation. They noted that New Orleans, Louisiana was the point of origin for jazz; the blend of ragtime, blues, and rhythm-centric phrasing in the city laid the groundwork for decades of subsequent innovation. What Louis Armstrong, a product of New Orleans, did for popular music was as exciting then as what Lebron James does for basketball in our own time.
Messrs. Ashlock & Harvey demonstrated stylistic approaches to “When the Saints” that contrasted the flowing Swing Era, the busy Bop era, and the Cool Jazz era that used fewer notes to say more. They underscored how jazz culture existed in pockets of dance band music and after-hours music, where movement and listening were valued differently by different audiences, despite the performers often being the same individuals in both settings. They also shared that much of Taylor Swift’s songwriting lends itself to jazz arrangements.
Questions for the gentlemen began at 12:59pm and included the challenges of note production (the trumpet, while versatile, doesn’t cover as many octaves as a piano) and the upcoming KC Jazz Orchestra season (tickets are on sale now for subscribers, with single concert tickets available soon).
President Tim thanked Mr. Ashlock and Mr. Harvey for their presentation. His ending announcements recapped upcoming Club 13 events including the Changing of the Guard meeting planned for July 3rd. He then shared the following with the group:
“I’ve found that no matter what life throws at me, music softens the blow.” –Bryce W. Anderson
At 1:03pm, the 4-Way Test closed the session, followed by the bell.
John Burke Miller, 90, passed away peacefully on June 17, 2025, surrounded by the love of his family.
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