If there were any doubts about April’s intentions, Bobby put them to rest before the first cup of coffee had cooled. He offered the room two pieces of guidance for the day: Shakespeare’s assurance that “April hath put a spirit of youth in everything,” and Mark Twain’s more pointed observation that April 1st is “the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other 364 days.” The room appreciated both equally. Adding to the morning’s warmth was the welcome return of Sam, who came back after a stretch away and brought along a very special first-time guest: her daughter Winter, eighteen months old, making her Rotary debut. The reaction was unanimous.

A full agenda of club updates followed. The club’s most tender project right now is a gift for Amanda Vincent, who is expecting a baby shortly: members are collecting books — anything from classic picture books to well-loved childhood favorites — to fill a wicker basket as a collective welcome. A short personal inscription inside the cover is encouraged, and books can be dropped off over the next couple of weeks.

The club’s 55th anniversary is drawing near, and the celebration is shaping up well. Members are invited to a casual gathering on May 8th at Fiddlehead starting at 4:30 p.m. — no RSVP required, Rotary gear welcome. Amanda Winslow has been building the event’s social media presence, and members were encouraged to engage, share, or simply mark themselves as interested. Even a small algorithmic signal makes a real difference in visibility, and the club is grateful for her efforts in getting this off the ground.

On the volunteer front, Race Vermont returns on Sunday, May 3rd. The club’s role is genuinely minimal: directing young runners at checkpoints through the neighborhood behind SCS in a shift that runs roughly 7:45 to 8:30 a.m. Contact Chris if you’re available. And the Little League Snack Shack is again looking for help throughout the month of May — shifts include some grilling, some general concessions, and the assurance that it is, in fact, kid-friendly.

The membership committee took its formal step forward as Richard announced the posting of the bands for Matthew Lawless — town manager of Shelburne — who has applied to join the club. Per tradition, the bands will be posted for two weeks, and members with any feedback are welcome to bring it to the committee. Harriet also shared early details about a potential new project: Color Our World, a nonprofit that assembles art supply kits for children who have experienced trauma or crisis. At $6 per kit, it’s a project the board found immediately compelling, and more details will follow. The Dragon Boat Festival was confirmed for August 9th, with Louis Creek returning as partner.

But the morning’s true centerpiece was the member spotlight, which this week featured Maggie Holmes — and if the rest of the agenda had been forgotten, the room would not have minded. Maggie came of age as a programmer at Corning Glass Works, where she was among the first women the company had ever hired in a white-collar capacity. In an era when computing was largely a male domain, she was writing COBOL software, programming early IBM computers, and doing the painstaking work of data verification and measurement that formed the structural foundation of early database systems. She was one of only a tiny number of women engineers on the premises — which made her, as she told it, something of a known quantity. When her future husband decided to ask her out, he chose his medium carefully: the back of a computer punch card. It is hard to imagine a more fitting courtship note from one engineer to another.

Originally from North Carolina — and a devoted lover of horses — Maggie brought with her the particular storytelling gift that region seems to produce in unusual concentrations. John Hammer made note of it afterward: there is something about people from North Carolina and their ability to tell a story, he said, that you simply don’t find anywhere else in the country. The room had nothing to dispute. Maggie also holds one additional distinction worth celebrating: she is counted among the first women to have joined Rotary, making her a trailblazer not once but twice over. The club thanked her warmly, and the gratitude felt entirely earned.

The happy fines round brought its usual mix of the personal and the absurd. Sam, delighted to be back in the room, offered genuine thanks for the meals the club had delivered during those early weeks with a newborn sixteen months ago. One member had taken a red-eye to be back in time for the morning — a sacrifice now well vindicated. Another had dispatched a son and his family to the airport at 6:30 a.m. before making it to the meeting with energy to spare. Margo had a productive spring to report: fourteen eggs set, twelve hatched, and a nine-day family trip with two teenage boys now behind her — with, one suspects, the chickens having been the easier of the two groups to manage.

Ric Flood provided the meeting’s most cautionary tale: having paid to reopen his hot tub after a Florida winter, he returned home Saturday to find three inches of water left in the basin. His phone, he noted, might ring at any moment. The basketball contingent was also well represented. Carol had nearly written off the Connecticut game when it was down twenty, had set it aside and gone about her evening — and then came back to watch an improbable rally end in a .4-second buzzer beater. One member was simply glad that Duke had finally lost. Both responses were entirely valid. On a more graceful note, Danica’s gymnastics season concluded with a successfully landed handspring full twisting layout, which earned its own round of applause. And one member made a warm pitch for Lyric Theater’s production of Frozen, opening April 9th — with a reindeer costume that, it turns out, contains an entire human being inside it. Attendance was encouraged.

With the 55th anniversary gathering on May 8th, Race Vermont on May 3rd, and the Changing of the Guard now set for Thursday, June 25th at Jessica’s home — with no regular meeting the evening before — the spring calendar is filling in nicely. Members are reminded to complete the membership survey if it’s still sitting in the inbox; links have been circulated in the newsletter. See you next Wednesday.