Morrisville Rotary Club

Guests

• Michael Travis (James Thompson’s Employee)
• Shirley St. John

Happy Dollars

• Tim is happy for lunch meetings.
• Sharon is scared that her #4 got his license.
• James is happy Tim covered for him last week.
• Ted is happy for all of the guests that have arrived.
• Caroll Lawrence is happy summer is over.

Fines

Pete Jones suggested a fine against Gary Nolan for being late.  Gary paid the fine without contest.

Calendar of Events

December 12th – Holiday Silent Auction; details to follow.
January 24th – Polar Plunge
May 14, 15, and 16 – District Conference at Basin Harbor

Business

Marcia presented the mail.  We had quite a few requests for donation.

Gary Nolan gave an update on the Holiday Party this weekend, December 12th at 6:00PM.  We’re still looking for donations for the auction items.  We are still looking for someone to manage the door as well as people to help set up.  We have access to the room after 3:00PM on Friday.

Presenter: Davis Koier

Davis was born in 1946 in Hannover New Hampshire.  He went to elementary school in Putnamville on Rt. 12.  He finished high school in Bennington in 1964.  He pursued many jobs in Bennington, but ultimately enlisted in the Army in 1966.  From there he went to German, where he was stationed.  After his stint in the service, he migrated to Burlington where he started a company doing carpentry, crushed stone, and tutoring French.  From there, he started Waterville Oar and Paddle company.

He went to Johnson College via the G.I. bill later in life.  Davis has always been interested in carpentry and has fallen back on that skill many times throughout his life.  He ended up teaching carpentry at what is now the Lamoille Tech Center.  He taught there for ten years.  That is also where he met his wife Ellen.  Somewhere along he began to lose his sight.

After teaching, he started a business selling various types of produce via farmers markets.  One of the products of the company was smoked almonds.  The business grew to be quite large, and they were selling products on a national scale. In 1998 Ellen and Davis decided to shut down the business, and he moved on to where he currently works, Manufacturing Solutions, Inc (MSI).

MSI is based here in Morrisville and is run by Garret Hirchak.  Davis is the Human Resources Manager and has seen the company grow from 12 people to 85.

Davis has two children, Davis Jr., 19 and Abbey, 15.  Davis Jr. was a part of the Rotary Exchange program a few years ago and had a great time in the Ukraine.