After those present enjoyed a sandwich lunch, President Bruce called the meeting to order.
He welcomed all, on this chilly day, to the warmth of Rotary – the 15 members who braved the cold and the 6 who joined the meeting via Zoom.
With the scheduled guest speaker having had to cancel due to a work situation, members had the pleasure of hearing President Elect Mike Christie sharing his story, from birth to the present – a ‘reclassification’ talk, focusing on the different 'chapters' in his life, rather than, as Rotary International suggests, just on employment.
President elect Mike entertained the meeting with a humorous account of his life, starting from his birth in Vancouver, Canada.
He grew up in the UK, with schooling in Glasgow, Scotland and holidays with his family on the west coast of Scotland.
Mike served in the British army for 25 years. He joined the army at the age of 17 years, and got into an apprenticeship program. Mike spent 12 years as a soldier and 13 years as an officer from the age of 30 years. His last two years as an officer were spent on BATUS, Suffield, 40 minutes out of Medicine Hat.
Mike educated us about a ‘pace stick’, used to measure the required space between steps of soldiers/officers, when marching. He still has his!
Mike married his first wife, Dorothy, in 1983. They had two children. Dorothy has since passed away.
Thanks to having been born in Canada, Mike had no problem with obtaining citizenship.
The next job was as Executive Director of The Community Foundation, here in Medicine Hat, where Mike and his team increased the assets of this non-governmental organization, over a 16-year period, from $750,000 to over $12m.
Mike entertained with the story of how he met his current wife, Ann, in 2004. Their first date was not at The Monarch but attending chuckwagon races.
They married in 2010, adding two children from Ann’s first marriage, to Mike’s two: Josh, Ari, John and Nicola. They now have three grandchildren.
After the stint at The Community Foundation, Mike took on the position of Director of Advancement at Lakeland College in Lloydminster for two and a half years, regularly having to negotiate deer on Highway 41 during his trips back and forth to Medicine Hat over weekends – but he thankfully only had one run-in with a deer in that time.
Mike took on a retirement job as a high school bus driver after leaving the position in Lloydminster, and a year after that, he was invited to help out at the liquor store that he now co-owns – the Parkview Liquor Cabinet.
On the Rotary front, Mike was inducted into the membership of the Rotary Club of Medicine Hat in March 2002, invited by both Uwe Krickhahn and Dieter Brand. Mike had the members in stitches of laughter, recounting how Dieter had caught him in a disarming, vulnerable position, when encouraging him to join Rotary, and how Mike had consequently found it hard to refuse the invitation! Mike served as President of the Club in the 2007-2008 Rotary year.
Why has he remained a Rotarian? Mike values the members, the fellowship, the networking, the camaraderie, and he finds what Rotary does, service-wise, both internationally and locally, inspiring.
Thank you, Mike, for a very entertaining ‘re-classification’ talk. We value you and anticipate an interesting ride, as a club, from July 2024, with you in the drivers’ seat, behind the Rotary steering wheel!
