September 21, 2006

UPCOMING PROGRAMS...
STRATFORD: - Meets Thursdays at 12:30 p.m. at Forsyth Country Club
Sept 28: Bill Schatzman, Winston-Salem Sheriff
Oct. 5: Bill Dean, “Building A Technology Based Economy”
Oct. 12: Dr. W. Bryan Jennings
Oct. 19: TBA
Oct. 26: Penny Spry and Amy Kauhlm, Children’s Law Center of Central North Carolina

WINSTON-SALEM ROTARY: - Meets Tuesdays at 12:30 p.m. at the Benton Convention Center
Sept 26: TBA

REYNOLDA: Meets Fridays at 12:30 p.m. in the Assembly Room of the LJV Coliseum
Sept 29: Rev. Peter Parish, “Camp Elk Shoals on the New River”
Oct. 6: Mayor Allen Joines
Oct. 13: Mike Drum, a WFU walk-on basketball player
Oct. 20: Juan Esteban Ugarriza, Rotary Peace Fellow
Oct. 27: George Bryan, CEO of the Methodist Children’s Home

CLEMMONS: - Meets Wednesdays at 7:00 a.m. at the Village Inn - Clemmons
Sept 27: Site Visit to Golding Farms
Oct. 4: No Meeting
Oct. 11: Robert Moody, the Winston-Salem Symphony
Oct. 18: Classification Talk
Oct. 25: Dr. Gary Green, President of Forsyth Technical Community College

ANNOUNCEMENTS, NEWS & INFORMATION................

DATES TO REMEMBER:
October 7 – District Football Game, WFU vs Clemson at Groves Stadium
October 19 – Board Meeting
November 2 – Foundation Dinner, High Point Country Club

CONGRATULATIONS:

Happy Birthday:
Steve Brendle 9-06
Joe Carroll 9-10
Jim Lambie 9-13
Tom Rice 9-17
Lu Anne Wood 9-22
Mickey Boles 9-26
George Newstedt 9-27
Sharon Reid 9-30
John Babcock 10-01
Loy McGill 10-03
Mosby Vogler 10-05
Bill Avera 10-07
Bill Sexton 10-11
Gordon Spaugh 10-11
Greg Cox 10-19
Veronica Black 10-30
Lee Strange 10-31

PROGRAM FEATURES............

September 7 – The speaker today was Dr. Ian Taplan, Chairman of Department of Sociology WFU. Dr. Taplan talked today about the local Wine Industry. He has done extensive research on the subject. North Carolina was one of the first states to cultivate grapes for wine. This has been going on since 1837. In 10 years the industry has gone from 5-7 wineries to 26 in 2003 and to 52-53 in 2006.
Some important facts researched about the wine industry are that: 1) tobacco settlements yielded money to farmers to convert from tobacco to grapes, 2) people in 50’s-60’s retiring early and going into wine business, 3) people with sizable amounts of money felt a winery a good post-industrial growth sector, these people invested a lot of capital to create wineries, 4) State has played a significant role in teaching and funding the wine industry and it is a beneficiary of state aid. Some of the results from the research are that only 3% of tobacco farmers really switched to grapes, the State still provides aid and support, wineries are growing and creating a total industry – hotels, lobbying efforts, etc. It has been a struggle. The owners have glamour vs the agricultural reality – it is farming and is very hard work. The returns are slow. Even after 3 years, it is not a sure thing. Waiting for an income stream is hard. There have not been any actual failures but several wineries are up for sale. Thanks to Ellen Stockton for her notes today.

September 14 – Robbie Perkins, NAI Maxwell was the speaker today. Oops! No one took notes for me today!

September 21 - Dr. David L. Carroll, Director of the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials WFU was our speaker today. The Center holds several key pieces of intellectual property in the field of alternative energy technologists. NANOTECH researchers, together with colleagues from the WFU School of Medicine, have filed new patent disclosures on a novel nanotech approach to cancer therapeutics, antibiotic resistant micro-organism mitigation, and tissue replacement scaffolds. Researchers at the Center have been chosen for funding in the 2006 MURI competition. Teaming with Kent State, the new program will build upon their earlier work in negative index materials. NANOTECH research teams also received funding for two new Biomedical nanotechnology programs. This funding helps to further cement the Center’s commitment to transitioning nanotechnology research into clinical practice. Researchers have filed paten disclosures for a ground breaking new type of organic solar cell. All this means doctors will be able to send tiny robots into a diseased body to find, attack, and kill cancer cells and other diseases.

ABOUT OUR MEMBERS:
At the meeting today, Betty Wade informed us about the following honor given to Earline King. Betty, herself, was in attendance for this recognition bestowed upon Earline by Rep. Virginia Foxx to the N.C. Congress. This was in no way a political move, just the honoring of a Winston-Salem native who has given so much to her community and the world.
What a tribute to our own Earline “Heath” King!

FLOOR SPEECH ON EARLINE "HEATH" KING
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mrs. Earline "Heath” King of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for her exemplary artistic career. Mrs. King is an internationally recognized sculptor whose work decorates private residences and public places across the United States as well as overseas. I am honored to recognize a woman who at all stages of her life has boldly sought to inspire young minds, adorn public spaces, and share her talents so beautifully with Others, At a time when many of us worry about regrets regarding a life foregone, Mrs. King discovered a means to express her creativity that continues to inspire both young and old today.

Born in 1913 .in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Mrs. King did not begin her sculpting career until she was fifty years old. However, while growing up, Mrs. King discovered an early interest in the arts. She recalls drawing advertisements for her father, a local barber, by drawing ladies with the latest hairstyles. In addition, she found artistic inspiration in her mother's own handiwork of embroidery, knitting, and tatting. However, Mrs. King's first serious interest in the arts began during her studies at R.J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem. After her initial evaluation, she was advised to major in Art and Music along with her academic curriculum. During this time, Mrs. King learned the basics of art by working in pen, ink, pastels, watercolor, and oils. While in these classes, Mrs. King met her high school sweetheart, Joe King. She recalls that he always came in first in the annual art contest, and she usually came in second. Before the conclusion of their senior year, the two were married. Mrs. King was awarded a scholarship in music to Greensboro College the following year, while Joe finished school and worked at the Carolina Theater. The following year, she and her husband traveled to Washington, D.C. to visit family and tour art museums. Mrs. King was so enthralled with the art opportunities that she applied at a top photography studio for a job as a co1orist while she was there. That same day Mrs. King was offered a job, and the couple quickly packed their belongings and headed for their new home in Washington. While Mr. King worked as a commercial artist, Mrs. King sewed and used needlepoint to create hats for friends and family in her little free time. Her hats were noticed by a local milliner and he suggested that she travel to New York and study briefly with a top milliner. Mrs. King was accepted at the Dache millinery and worked as a copier from nine to six. Each day she was given a hat and a bag filled with materials and required to copy the origina1. She later became a fitter, fitting hats on celebrities such as Greta Garbo, Mary Pickford, and Loretta Young.

During the summer of 1946, Mr. and Mrs. King returned to Winston -Salem, North Carolina. There, Mr. King set up his first professional studio in the old blacksmith’s shop of Reynolda Plantation with the help of John Whitaker, the president of Reynolds Tobacco Company. Within a month, Mr. and Mrs. King opened a studio that would remain open for the next fifty years. It was in the latter stages of these years that Mrs. King first grew interested in sculpture. In the mid 1960’s, Mrs. King began her studies with Gardner Gidley of Winston-Salem. When first approached by a girlfriend \ who asked her to attend the sculpture course, Heath hesitantly replied "thanks, but no thanks,” believing that she had neither the time nor the talent to take the course. According to Heath, when the opportunity presented itself, she went 'kicking and screaming," but the fact remains she went. Her studies continued with Bruno Luchesi of New York, followed by Livia Papini of Florence, Italy, and finally George Lundeen of Scottsdale, Arizona.

In 1979, she unveiled her first public work.--a bronze equestrian monument of Richard Joshua Reynolds, founder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. She has since completed more than 300 portrait commissions including portraitures of Governor James B. Hunt, Jr.; Sir Winston Churchill at the Worrell House in London, England; Dr. Armand Hammer of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California; and Dr. Camillo Artom of Casa Artom in Venice Italy. Her public commissions include: the AirCare memorial for Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem; pieces for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in Denver, Colorado, Winthrop College in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and the works for “The Gallery for the Blind" at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh.

Heath’s contributions to the art world expand beyond her own commissioned work. Heath, along with five other painters and sculptors opened a gallery over thirty years ago in Winston-Salem called" Art Gallery Originals." At their gallery in Reyno1da Village, Heath still provides aworkshop once a year where emerging artists and novice artists can exhibit their creations. In 1993, Heath was honored with a show in the Luigi Bellini Gallery in Florence, Italy highlighting the extensive works of her career. She was the very first woman sculptor to be exhibited by the gallery. The show was a tremendous success and was attended by both fellow Americans living in Italy and by the diplomatic community.

Her passion for the arts is evident as much today as ever. Mrs. King is now in her 42nd year of sculpture creation and her artistic fervor and creativity amazes me. The fact that at 50 years of age, Mrs. King discovered sculpture and made it her life is truly an inspiration. Most recently, Mrs. King sculpted the late President Ronal Reagan for the opening of a new Winston-Salem high school names after the United States President. She continues to work in a variety of media such as terra cotta, polycast, cold cast bronze and lost wax bronze casting. Each year Mrs. King introduces hundreds of young minds to the inspiring world of creativity through the tutelage of yearly workshops in different communities of North Carolina. Heath’s artworks continue to find homes in galleries, public buildings, and private residences of prominent collectors throughout the United States and Europe. Her artwork can be viewed in Midtown, Trotman and ERL galleries in Winston-Salem; the Tyler White Art Gallery in Greensboro; and Curzon Gallery in Boca Raton, Florida.
Mrs. King’s artistic career is one of tremendous inspiration and talent. Her career is marked by a true love for the arts and for creation. I believe that there are few people in life who truly find a passion that keeps them inspired and creating. I believe that Mrs. Earline Heath King has truly discovered that in her life through her art and I applaud her for the beauty that she has given us all.

PLEASE REMEMBER BETTY WADE IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS. I talked to Betty to get the above speech to share with the Club and learned that her sister, Helen Hill, passed away very unexpectedly yesterday. Helen has a home on Country Club Road and a home in the mountains of Virginia. She was at her home in Virginia where she ate some poison mushrooms. She was taken to the hospital in Galax, VA and then transferred to UVA for a liver transplant where, sadly, she died on the operating table.
Our prayers are with Betty and all her family.