The History Behind Columbus Day

Michael Harter, the Chair of the History Department at Ascension Academy gave an informative talk on the importance of Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America. While recent historians tend to credit other explorers for the discovery of America, Mr. Harter reminds us that Columbus was an outstanding navigator, if a tireless self-promoter. His tenacity led to the opening of the new world and secured him a place in the annals of history. Columbus was inquisitive and curious from early childhood. Born in Genoa, he heard stories of the orient at a very young age and became fascinated with the journeys of Marco Polo and other traders that introduced exotic spices to Europe from the Orient. With funding from Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Columbus set off in 1492 to discover a new trade route to the Orient In the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. The Pinta had rudder problems and Columbus had the ship repaired at the Canary Islands for a month. The voyage was fraught with problems and the crew tried to convince Columbus to turn back on several occasions, even contemplating mutiny on October 9 & 10, 1492. Columbus persuaded them to journey on, and on October 12 they sighted land. Even though Columbus never really set foot on the North American continent, Mr. Harter maintains Columbus was a superb navigator and credited him as an important explorer that opened the Americas to Europe.

Member Erv Bergen, classification, Custom Printing Introduced guests Nan Haworth, Sunny Strickland, Carmen Stacy, Todd Stacy and Cullen Haworth (guests of member Mark Haworth), Jake Vernon (guest of member Barry Vernon), and visiting Rotarians Chris Jensen from the West Club, and Tom Payne from Roswell, New Mexico.

Member Wes Knapp presented a Paul Harris Fellow Award to Thomas Knapp and Mark Haworth presented a Paul Harris Fellow Award to his wife, Nan Haworth.

Members passed the jar for Kids Cafe.

Rotary Foundation raffle tickets have been distributed to all members. Tickets are $10 each and checks should be made out to the Rotary Club of Amarillo. Please be sure to turn in your funds and ticket stubs to Gina by November 1. The winner will receive a $1,000 gift card, the Rotarian that sells the most will receive $500 and the person who sells the winning ticket will receive $500. Proceeds will go to a local charity to be decided.

Sincere appreciation to the following for their contribution of time this week:
Club Past President, John Early for presiding.
David O'Dell for leading us in song.
Bill Summerhill for providing the invocation.
Dale Bippus and Gina Rodriguez for greeting us.
Erv Bergen for introducing guests and visiting Rotarians.
Bill Summerhill for serving as September program chair.
Basil Walker for manning the Foundation ticket sales and to Melvin Edes for his gift of Beef Jerky for our drawing and to Rocky Gafford for providing another wonderful pizza prize!