President Kevin introduced the speaker, Joanne Lorraine Gunderson, a quintessential English mother originally from a quaint Yorkshire village who relied on a coin toss to settle on the East or West coast of the U.S., in search of the American dream. “’From Yorkshire with love:’ Joanne (she goes by Jo) thanked Kevin for that introduction and said she was going to try to use her best Queen’s English to start off with but warned us that she might be ‘going into dialect at some point.’ She also thanked Irwin for bringing her today, though they had met under ‘excruciating circumstance’ of his removing two ingrown toenails.
She grew up in Yorkshire, a ‘big county in the north of England,’ and people sometimes mistakenly think that she is Scottish by her accent. She is not; she emphasized that that is a completely different country. She said that Yorkshire is named ‘God’s country,’ and called it ‘absolutely gorgeous; similar to the coast here.’ “The first time she came to America she was 15; her mother had emigrated to San Mateo, and the first thing she saw here was Crystal Springs; she’d never seen anything so blue, and wondered if, being American, it might have food coloring in it. There weren’t many clouds around here, so the reflection gave it that blue hue. Upon her arrival, her mother’s friends picked her up at the airport and got her a sandwich she called ‘bigger than my entire body,’ and took her to Crystal Springs for a picnic. Her mother at that time was a bartender at the Harbor Bar, where she met Jo’s stepfather; they’ve been happily married for 30 years now. She has strong connections with the Coastside; she mentioned five stepsiblings and a brother who also immigrated and owns Firewood Farms with his wife. Her stepfather had been a commercial fisherman for crab and squid in the harbor after having built his first boat. He now works in medical supplies and owns the business which he started in his garage in La Honda.
She came to America and started hanging out here for a few weeks in the summer, and realized she could never be served alcohol; in England, she said, you can be served if you are 15 or 16; she was never a heavy drinker but found it ‘weird’ to never be served a drink at a bar – especially since her mother worked in a bar, where she could not even hang out. At first, she did not want to stay here, so she “trotted back to jolly old England” and finished high school – which, in England, you do at 16. Then you go to junior college till you’re 18, and then university, which she did. “To my grandmother’s angst,” her family put her through a private girls’ school, where she studied physical education. But she set her sights on being a writer or on TV or an entertainer, while using skills she’d honed on the soccer field in other sports you don’t find here, like field hockey or neckball; various things she did for years. But having “always had an affiliation for literature,” she figured she’d do something literary because she is English. There’s a lot of people from Yorkshire, she said, who became quite famous, such as the Bronte sisters, of whom we all have heard. There’s a film out now called “Wuthering Heights,” which she called “loosely based” on the novel of the same name. Like her, she said, the Bronte sisters grew up in a very tiny village, where there are literally more pubs in the village than churches; where she went to university in York, there were 365 pubs and she “probably frequented” about 200.
But the Bronte sisters – I don’t really want to go on about the Brontes -- One of her favorite writers, Jo said, is poet Ted Hughes and who coincidentally married American writer and poet Sylvia Plath, creator of “The Bell Jar,” a famous book of poems. Ted Hughes, being a stout Yorkshire man – any British man has the attitudes of the time -- is very similar to Heathcliff, a leading figure in “Wuthering Heights.” He wasn’t a very nice man, she said, and that was another reason she immigrated: she said she didn’t really like Yorkshire men or their attitudes, but found California men “refreshing” by contrast. She said Yorkshire men can be stubborn, cool but also misogynistic, similarly to Ted Hughes.
I’m going to read you a poem that Ted wrote when his wife Sylvia Plath, and him came to visit Yorkshire, a little village five miles from where I’m from. She was pregnant and it was snowing, and you can’t really get around in Yorkshire when it snows; it’s very similar to Scotland. Anyway, it was afternoon and they were deciding where they were going to live. So I’m going to read you this poem by Ted. It’s called “Stooping Wall,” and this is his local book where he grew up. So now I’m just going to read it in my actual dialect, how I normally speak, which is exactly how Ted would have written it when he was at Cambridge:
After reading the long poem, she indicated she'd go back to last week, and continued: “So we sat in the pub, drinking Guinness, which is my favorite drink. I am working in Cameron’s right now, which is why I’m plugging it.”
Charise noted that Jo makes the best Charise-something beverages in town. “So when I was researching for this talk today, I actually looked up (Ted Hughes’ late wife Sylvia) and surveyed the area … There was an actual bar, but it sold ... Sad to say, they took the sale. The pubs, you would think that’s the last place where working-class people would go, but they’re not there any more. She noted that she finds this area “literally untouched, absolutely gorgeous.” Indeed, after visiting a friend in La Honda where she had lived for five years, she remarked, “When you drive down Highway 1, take a left on Stage Road and see that amazing valley, that’s very reminiscent of Yorkshire to me … Just moved into El Granada, so now I’ve got an ocean front, so I feel absolutely privileged.”
The American dream she said, “is alive and well … We should have faith and hope in it. (In England) You wouldn’t be able to work in a pub three nights a week and live how I’ve just lived, in an ocean view apartment. … It’s to do with (this) anything’s possible in this country, and I’m very glad I made the decision to move here.”
She added that the aforementioned poet actually did a poem called “Wuthering Heights” with which he introduced his wife to Bronte country, and that the movie had been filmed in that rich-in-history country. The Brontes lived at the top of Main Street there. Jo urged Rotarians to see the “Wuthering Heights” movie, filmed in the village where she grew up.
Joe had a personal question about her sweater, which showed a flock of white sheep and one black one. Which of the sheep did she identify with? Immediately she answered: the black one! It’s a particularly British one, she said, being a copy of a sweater Princess Diana wore before she married Charles, making her already something of a black sheep. Kevin asked about a famous tall cathedral there, Jo laughingly said that was the only place where you can legally shoot a Scotsman with an arrow. Warren asked if Yorkshire pudding originated in her town, and she said yes, but it’s really literally a popover. Instead of sugar, you should put gravy on it, to start give you a little start before the main course.
Asked if she had ever done any theater work, she said yes, and that her college major was physical ed and her minor was drama, film and television, though not technically. She admitted that she had been a distracting class clown, always getting into trouble. How many dialects could she do, she was asked? Yorkshire was enough, she said, adding that she can do various accents, including idioms of different cultures, of which she had broad knowledge. But if you say “bed” to an Aussie, you should pronounce it like “beet.” Asked by Warren if she could do a California accent, she recalled the customer who came into Cameron’s Inn to ask for ice in his drink. Ice? Horrors! She repeated the question, abashed when Doug asked about the best temperature to properly chill Guinness. She waved him off, and everyone laughed.
The conversation moved to business and how Rotarians discuss and promote their businesses. She mentioned a new one in El Granada, “Your Mom’s House,” an eatery, by the post office – but don’t tell Cameron about this, she murmured, drawing more laughs.
Kidney stew (for a meal) was mentioned, and an English Rotarian sadly noted that Cameron’s doesn’t have it. But food here is similar to Mexican, culture-wise – we have beans on toast, but not beans on rice. Jo mentioned how her mother cooked, adding that her mother was there, sitting across the room. That drew applause and warm, welcoming laughter. Jo went on to discuss her mother’s suet and kidney pie. Kevin suggested a group dinner as an auction item.
Jo mentioned La Honda again, now green like Yorkshire.
Kevin told her that 15 children will be inoculated against polio in her name.
Rotary Club of Half Moon Bay Meeting - March 5, 2026
President Kevin O’Brien led the meeting shortly after noon on Thursday, March 5, welcoming all to “the best Rotary club in the world!” Ginger Minoletti led the Pledge of Allegiance, and then offered a thought for the day: In light of the recent passing of legendary coach Lou Holtz, she thought she would give some of his motivational and inspirational thoughts today: “Never tell your problems to anyone. Twenty percent don’t care, and the other eighty percent are glad you have them.” And she gave her own motivational three rules: “Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care. You’ve got to make a sincere attempt to have the right goals to begin with, then go after them with appropriate effort, and remember that you can’t really achieve anything great without the help of others.” Applause and murmurs of appreciation followed her motivational thought.Kevin led the club then in singing “All we are saying, is give peace a chance.” “A great message today,” he added. Guests of Rotarians included: New member Mike introduced his good friend and good neighbor Greg Van Adam (I hope I heard that right) who has come to our December Rotary program; John Evans’ wife Larkin; Susan Kealey’s partner Dennis; Stacy’s husband Doug; Ginger’s son Chris Minoletti; and Jake (?) a guest of the speaker. Kevin mentioned that anyone who has been to Barterra has seen Chris working there. Kevin said that the forms box has been reorganized; there’s one form in there that has space for six meetings on it; if you do the desk, just take a form that has already been started and continue it by adding today’s meeting. So who’s responsible for the sign-in next week? There was some confusion as some members were absent; Nancy Wolfberg’s name was mentioned but she will not be here next week.
District 5150 Rotarian of the Month - Mary Rogren
Kevin said he had something special today - to recognize one member. First he reckoned how many Rotarians there were in the 41 clubs in District 5150, with an average membership of 40 or so per club, totalling about 1,600 or “a lot of people,” and every month we’re asked to nominate a member as Rotarian of the Month for the district – “quite an honor,” he said. This month, District 5150 is proud to recognize Mary Rogren. For nine years she has exemplified Service Above Self, in dedicated leadership and hands-on service; she is a past president and current treasurer (“probably for life,” he added.) She expertly stewards both club and foundation finances while actively leading service projects. Mary spearheads grant projects with Coastside Hope, providing essential household supplies each month for families in need; from identifying families to organizing packing and deliveries of items to be sent. She ensures that dignity and care are part of this effort. Her leadership included youth exchange, with which she has served at both club and district levels; she has hosted multiple exchange students. Her passion for youth engagement continues to inspire future leaders around the world, he said. Her “commitment, generosity and steady leadership strengthen her club and community every day,” he concluded. The entire club applauded with a standing ovation for Mary.
St. Patrick's Day Meeting
Kevin said that on Thursday, March 19, two days after St. Patrick’s Day, we will have our St. Patrick’s Day meeting at Cameron’s Inn, where we’ll have corned beef and cabbage and a good time. The Polio Plus jar went around, and our donations for this will be matched up to a certain amount by Bill Gates. The District Assembly will be on March 21; Kevin asked who has signed up so far; we’d like to have “a bunch of people there” for two reasons: It’s Mitone (Griffiths) district event and we want to support her, and Nancy Wolfberg will be announced as our incoming president and “we’ll need to make a lot of noise!” and, he added, the District Assembly has a lot of opportunities for newer members to learn a lot about Rotary.
Club International Service Trip to Mexico
Next week Joe Brennan and Ed Daniels and Kevin are excited to be going to Baja, Laredo (spelling?) and La Paz, Mexico to support the clinic in La Paz. He invited Joe, who has been down there several times, to speak. Joe said that this will be the third time he has been there with Rotarians. He invited Ed up to speak with him, to introduce the team (Joe, Kevin and Ed), whom he incited into the “dressing room” to prepare; they did, and after re-emerging comically dressed, and Joe introduced “El Presidente,” “El Abligado” and “El Canto” (I am sure I did not get those names accurately in Espanol!!!) Kevin said that they would work in the clinic, helping to give a dental fluoride treatment to kids there. They were also going to pass out some children’s vitamins which they were buying themselves. Any help that any other Rotarians would like to give would be welcome.
Annoucements
Kevin called for announcements. Charise announced the upcoming Life Skills, when Rotarians go to the local high schools and “teach seniors what they didn’t learn in high school” like finance, resume writing, getting signed up on Linked In, how to budget, learn about HR, how to get a job and keep the job, what their rights are, and how to recognize sexual harassment. On the last day, the students come dressed for an interview, with resumes in hand, and they get an interview with a Rotarian who is a real business person. This is the first time this has been done at Pescadero High! This year, like last year, she has asked how many students are in each class, in order to gauge how many interviewers will be needed. She asked the Rotarians who are doing this to note their time constraints on the interview days, so as to give enough time for the students to have this experience. This year we have five classes as opposed to seven. Charise will send lists of potential interview questions and discuss with the students how to answer certain questions. The students are getting better at this, she noted. She hopes Rotarians will sign up for this. Kevin invited Rotarians who think of a great project to let him know.
Warren spoke of the dictionary project – providing Coastside third-graders in Hatch, El Granada and Farallone View schools with large, hardbound, illustrated dictionaries (as part of the literacy focus of Rotary.) “We’ve done this dictionary project for over 30 years,” Warren said. He needed someone with a truck to pick up the 30-plus, heavy boxes of dictionaries, and asked Rotarians to help by contacting the schools to get how many third-graders there are there and coordinate with the schools to present the dictionaries. Rotarians present the dictionaries by first giving a presentation of who Rotarians are and what we do in the community. Then we pass out the dictionaries, in which we have included stickers where they can put their names and which list the Four-Way Test. Then we acquaint the students with the dictionaries by asking them to look up words in the test like “fair” or “beneficial,” or fun words like “dinosaur.” He also encouraged Rotarians who have done this to urge newer Rotarians to join in to experience the fun of it! He said he needs one person to contact each school to set up the tie and date, and then three or four volunteers to actually go to the schools. Rotarians volunteered to go to the schools, and Stacy’s husband Doug volunteered to pick up the boxes of dictionaries in his truck.
Bella brought up Dream Machines, which is coming up on April 26. She needs volunteers for all of the chores – parking cars, pouring wine, checking in spectators; Kevin will send club members a list of jobs where volunteers are needed. Charise also said she’s like help in getting the word out about the event, as sales are slow, due perhaps to bad weather. We should have better weather for Dream Machines; Rotarians will set up fliers out around town.
Dianne Bobko said that due to priorities in her life she must get to, she needs to step back from being Chair of the Club Foundation; Liz Schuck will take that over, and she must also step back from being the Web master. April first will be the day this happens. Kevin asked if she is writing a book; she said, a couple of things like that. Kevin said that we will then need someone to keep the Web site up to date. He asked club members to give some thought to doing that.
Charise said that Farm Day is coming up on March 27 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the IDES hall. She asked if there were any Rotarians there who had never been to this event – if you’ve never been to Farm Day, you’re not a Coastsider – and anyone who has been to Farm Day would probably back her up on that; it is the “funnest, most amazing, event on the coast.” On that day, a farm worker, the Farmer of the Year, the Glenn Ashcraft Community Service award winner, and the Like a Rock awardee are all recognized. There is no speaker this year, she said, but the food is phenomenal – it’s tri-tip this year. Get tickets online – just Google Mel Mello Farm Day.
Pres. Kevin's Quiz
“It’s time for the quiz,” Kevin said, and this week it’s about California – “you’re all Californians, right?” First of all, the easiest one – who were the original residents of California? The Ohlone Native Americans, a lot of Rotarians exclaimed. How many tribes were there in California? No one knew, so Kevin answered, 109. How many Native Americans currently live in California? Again Kevin answered, 760,000. Does anyone know the origin of the word California? Doug thought it came from a goddess Califa? But the surprising answer, again from Kevin, that missionaries, when they came to California, were reminded of a novel written in 1510 in which there was a mythical island called California, and that stuck. He went on: California was discovered in 1542 by a Spanish explorer named Cabrillo (the way we are used to pronouncing it, like Ca-BREE-oh) and he added that he’d been told that “our highway out here” is actually pronounced “ca-BRILL-oh,” because it is Portuguese. (Good grief, I hope I got all this right.) The first mission in California is where? In San Diego. In 1846, California decided to be called “the California republic” -- it was an independent country. In 1847 the United States called it “the California territory” and ever since then it has been part of the United States. Gold was discovered when and where? On March 9, 1842, at Rancho San Francisco in the mountains north of present-day Los Angeles according to Wikipedia; on Jan. 24, 1848 at Sutter’s Mill according to www.americanhistorycentral.com and that brought some 300,000 new settlers to California, according to Kevin. California became a state when? 1850, again according to Kevin. At the time, it was the 31ststate, and there were “a whole bunch of territories in between California and the East that weren’t states yet” (Kevin again) When was the Golden Gate Bridge built? Started in 1932 and opened in 1937. California is distinguished for having the highest and lowest elevation points in the lower 48 states – highest is Mt. Whitney and lowest is Death Valley. On that note, Kevin continued, can you guess which state has the lowest average elevation for the whole state? Delaware, with an average elevation of 60 feet. Kevin thanks us for enjoying the quiz, and Kevin said the prize was some Girl Scout cookies his wife had gotten.
Marble Game Patricia won the marble game but unfortunately picked a green marble. Argh!!!
Next week’s meeting, will be led by Irwin, at noon in the library. The speaker will discuss California’s education system.