Janesville Blackhawk Golden Kiwanis

Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
July 2^nd, 2025

Roger Willeford presiding, called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.
A Programs Committee meeting occurred today.

The meeting was led with the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of America, the National Anthem.

Invocation: Richard Johnson, mentioning freedoms, and the children.

Raffle: John Janes oversaw the ticket sales and drawing this week.
The weekly pot was $12 and the big (Joker) pot was $284.
Mel Lemirande drew a ticket from the bucket, ticket number 6040.  Congratulations to the winner, Bob Wilcox.
The deck of cards has 30/53 cards remaining.  Bob drew the 5♥.

Roger Willeford thanks greeters Ray Szczepaniak and Ron Shuler, invocator Richard Johnson, rafflemaster John Janes, and server Bob Knudson.

A collection was passed for the Salvation Army.

Happy Box: Luci Cramer announced she is happy because the Programs Committee is back on track.

Jokes: Steve Skelly had a good joke about the smell of a baby mole’s breakfast.

John Sarnow has a birthday this month on the 10^th, and a song was sung.

Other Announcements: Richard Johnson spoke upon the Lion’s club selling blueberries.  More info is available at www.janesvillelions.org.

John Janes spoke upon the Milton parade, organizing at 11am and in line by noon, for a 1pm start.  We are position 46, and organize on Crescent Drive.
Steve Skelly spoke upon the Aldo Leopold ‘Buddy’ Benches’ completion, beginning delivery Thursday.

Jim Farrell introduced the day’s speaker, David McKay.  David has a PhD is American History.  He taught on eight UW campuses, and has five years’ experience as the Executive Director of the Milton Historical Society.

The presentation included a plethora of insight into the founding fathers and their lives in and around the 1790s.  Politics were contentious!  One such example was detractors of Thomas Jefferson, labeling his actions those of an ‘ethusiast,’ which, at the time, was used as a type of insult similar to labeling someone a fanatic.
Several member questions were raised and their answers expounded upon.

Jim Farrell thanked David McKay for speaking and presented him with a Kiwanis Parker pen.

Roger Willeford adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 11:00AM.

Minutes by Ryan Lewis.
Credit: Dave Figi, photographs.

Note: Kiwanis and its members are not responsible for errors or omissions.  We are open to discussion if you would like to request an alteration.