On this page we display the major Happenings at each luncheon.
November 2024 Luncheon
Big SIR, Hersh Brown, welcomed a spirited group to a Thanksgiving turkey lunch. He introduced our new Director, Charlie Raisor, and announced that, due to no new volunteers for leadership positions, all members in 2024 leadership and committee positions will continue in 2025. Rob Miller’s guest, Derek, was introduced and a good group of people signed up for the Day Trip to the Air Museum in Morgan Hill. We then learned, from Oliver Klink, the skill, perseverance and love required to become the World Class photographer documented in his book “Poetry in Motion”
October 2024 Luncheon
Big SIR Hersh Brown welcomed a happy group of old, and some young, guys to a delicious Chicken Parmesan lunch. 78 percent of the branch showed up to catch up with old friends, learn about the upcoming Day Trip to the Air Museum in Morgan Hill and learn from, Jose Benitez, the opportunities provided by Sourcewise.
September 2024 Luncheon
Bob Davis was introduced to the membership at the September luncheon. We lost one member, Glenn Avila, who moved out of the area. So our membership remains steady at 73. We need new members, so ask your neighbors and friends to join us in our many activities.
Bob is a young person looking to make new friends and join in activities. Bob likes to play golf, take Day Trips and make investments. We have activities that meet his interests. So, lets introduce him to our events.
Welcome Bob!
August 2024 Luncheon
Our Big SIR Hersh Brown welcomed a happy group of old friends to a lunch of Chicken Parmigiana, Salad and rolls. We introduced a potential new member, Bob Davis, and a new member Steve Fulton. Then we had a ‘Wake Up’ and informative presentation on Life Under Nazi Rule by Irene Perbal a survivor of 5 years under the Nazi boot.
July 2024 Luncheon
July 11 at Three Flames Restaurant was a special time for all members, wives and their guests to celebrate summer. We had an Hawaiian theme with many people dressed for the occasion We enjoyed an Hawaiian band with Hawaiian dancers and dinned on Tri Tip steak and Salmon with all the trimmings. The music was lively and many joined in dancing (not hula). We ended with a raffle and a special, two week stay at the Sea Scape Resort, entry from Bruce Hodgin. Everyone had fun!
June Luncheon
Our Big SIR John Knapp welcomed a happy group of old friends to a lunch of Meat Loaf Salad and rolls. We introduced a potential new member, Steve Fulton, and a visiting guest from Peru. Then we had an informative presentation on End Of Life planning and Hospice care. Watch the video; we learned a lot!
May Luncheon
Our Big SIR John Knapp welcomed a bunch of old friends to a lunch of Shrimp Scampi, Salad and rolls. Unfortunately we lost three members this month and no recruits. we did have an interesting speaker that is trying to provide the ability for Elderly people to stay in their homes longer.
April Luncheon
A nice April day with sun makes a lot of happy faces. Our Big SIR, John Knapp welcomed everyone with a nice lunch of Beef Kabobs, rice and mixed vegetables. He then introduced five new members and Jon Haveman made an interesting presentation on the Economics of Immigration. Finally, Chuck Moggia presented the next day trip to Morgan Hill to see exotic cars and Glenn Ando accepted the Attendance award.
March Luncheon
Little SIR John Knapp started the meeting with thanks to the members that brought 5 guests and to Atsu who brought a new member! We enjoyed a very nice St. Patrick’s Day lunch of Corned Beef and Cabbage with potatoes, carrots, salad and rolls followed by an excellent presentation by “Big Daddy” Les Stuart (click his image to see the presentation). We learned about the Day Trip to the Water Treatment Plant and hiking opportunities. But most of all, we had a record turnout and everyone had fun!
February 2024
Big SIR Larry Snapp kicked off the meeting with a reminder for everyone to bring in guests and new members. Our goal is to Increase membership from 72 to 101! Atsu Fujiyama was the first to bring a guest who submitted a membership app. John Knapp continued the training program. We had e a nice lunch of Chicken Breast, rice, vegetables and rolls. Ret. Capt. Tom Spink made an excellent presentation on the history of Moffett Field. Finally, Ron Gaumont won the Attendance Award!
January 11, 2024
Big SIR Larry Snapp kicked off the first meeting of the year with a plea for everyone to bring in guests and new members. Increase membership from 72 to 101! John Knapp laid out a training program to educate both current and new members. We had e a nice lunch of Beef Kabobs, rice, vegetables and rolls. Ex BR54 member Alan Baker made an excellent presentation on Network Security along with risks and prevention. finally, Steve Cornaglia won the Attendance Award!
Holiday Luncheon December 14
Big SIR Larry Snapp welcomed everyone to a festive occasion with many old and some new friends. We enjoyed a nice lunch with Steak or Salmon accompanied with salad, rolls, potatoes and vegetables. And then we had holiday cake.
Frank and Maggie “The Irish Twins” provided non stop entertainment; some old, some new and some holiday. It got lively and brought people to the dance floor with calls for more but we had limited time and Maggie picked the first winner for our raffle and there were a lot of winners. But some of us lost. We all had a great time.
November 9, 2023
Big SIR Larry Snapp chaired the best attended meeting of the year. We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving lunch of turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy, veggies along with salad and rolls. John Knapp, Nominating Chair, presented the Officer and director candidates for 2024, Pierre started collection of 2024 Dues and we had a great presentation by Bob Feldman of his, Joanne and Patties tour of Patagonia.
2024 OFFICERS
BIG SIR 1Q Larry Snapp
2Q John Knapp
3Q Horace Hines
4Q Herschel Brown
LITTLE SIR 1Q John Knapp
2Q Horace Hines
3Q Herschel Brown
4Q Vacant
SECRETARY Joe Lowry
ASST. SECT. Vacant
TREASURER Pierre Garabedian
ASST. TREASURER John Knapp
2024 DIRECTORS
Marcel Tomassian
Glenn Darragh
Joe Salamida
October 12
Big SIR Larry Snapp presided over a very nice lunch of London Broil, Rice, Vegies and rolls. This was followed with an update on golf, Hiking and Day Trips. Art Andres provided an overview of the Greeter/Badge process and Ron Gaumont an overview of the Lunch Ticket process. Mike Popovich then introduced San Jose Mayor Matt Mahon who gave a great update on the state of San Jose and plans to make it better. Click on the Mayors image to vies his presentation.
September 14
Big SIR Larry Snapp was incapacitate with Covid so John Knapp stepped up and presided over a wonderful lunch of Chicken breast with Rice and caper gravy along with vegetables and rolls. We inducted a new member, Reza Mostafavi and Ken Walling gave a brief introduction to the website tools that can be used to learn about Branch Job Functions and Horace Hines gave a great presentation about his trip to Iceland.
John, Ken and Horace all voiced the need for a 2024 Big SIR, Little SIR, Asst. Sec., Asst. Treasurer and Directors along with Committee chairs. We Need Help!
August 10
Let’s celebrate
And we did! The August luncheon was a real treat. We started with a happy hour attended by wives and friends getting reacquainted followed by a very good lunch of Tri-tip Steak and Salmon with salad, rolls, potatoes, veggies and cake and ice cream. We were then entertained by the Pila Ho ‘okani band and the Lei Nani Dancers. Great music and dance lead by our very own Art Andres. Click Art’s image for a video of the dancing.
Click Art’s image for the performance
July 13, 2023
Larry Snapp, Big SIR, started the meeting with the introduction of a possible new member, a very nice lunch of Salad, Rolls and Pasta with Italian sausage followed with the introduction of our new member Butch King. This was followed with a very interesting presentation by Jon Haveman on the possible impact of Autonomous Vehicles.
June 8, 2023
The Big Rooster watched over Big SIR Larry Snapp and Sec. Joe Lowry as we enjoyed a nice lunch of Chicken Breast, mushroom gravy, mixed vegetables and rice. Jim Kahn was not available so we had a bit of difficulty with the audio visible but Horace Hines made it work and we had an informative presentation from Wharn Bird on stair lifts for the infirm. Our committee chairs, Hengst, Tomassian, Belogolovsky and Darragh gave updates on SIR activities and their benefits. And best of all John Knapp and Ron Gaumont introduced two new members, Don Chase and Mike Thomas.
May 11, 2023
Big SIR Larry Snapp welcomed a happy group of SIR. We inducted two new members, Victor San Vicente and Don Chase. We also welcomed two guests Mike Thomas and Roger Blank. Our featured speaker, Dr. Jim Spohrer, made a great presentation on AI, the tools, future and risk. Go to the Speaker page and click on his image to view his presentation. We also enjoyed a nice lunch of meatloaf, vegies, salad and rolls.
April 13, 2023
Big SIR Larry Snapp welcomed a happy group of SIR’s by announcing the eliminations of all Covid restrictions. We welcomed two visitors, Victor San Vicente, who also presented us an application for membership, and Terrance Hunter our featured speaker in 2018. Terrance attended to hear Dr. Joseph Marshall’s presentation. We inducted a new member Mike Popovich, really enjoyed Dr. Marshall’s presentation and a lunch of Eggplant Parmesan with pasta, vegies, salad and rolls.
Alive & Free: The Prescription to End Violence and Change Lives
Dr. Joseph E. Marshall, Jr. is an author, lecturer, radio talk show host, and community activist. He is the founder of Alive & Free, an international violence prevention organization headquartered in San Francisco, the creator of the Alive & Free Movement and president of the Alive & Free Consortium-an organization dedicated to eliminating violence worldwide. Click To learn more about Dr. Marshal. To view his presentation click his image.
March 9, 2023
Our Big SIR, Larry Snapp, welcomed us to a delicious Irish lunch. Area 11 Representative,, Phil Thomas, helped us celebrated a Super Senior and a Senior Award. We introduced three new members and two guests. We had updates on Branch Activities and then learned all about Forensic Physics from Scott Perry.
February 9, 2023
Our Big SIR Larry Snapp kicked off the meeting by welcoming Branch 62 who joined us for a nice salmon lunch with rice, vegtables, rolls and salad. He then welcomed several guests and introduced two new members. We then enjoyed an informative presentation by Mike Potter about the valley’s water problems and solutions.
January 12, 2023
Big SIR Larry Snapp welcomed all members and guests to the first luncheon of 2023. We had a great turnout with a nice lunch of Meatloaf, potatoes, vegetables, salad and rolls. Everyone had a great time reconnecting with old friends and meeting all the new guests and potential new members. Mark Harville gave an informative presentation about Clinical Research and FDA approvals. It was also good to have Branch 62 again join us. (Their meeting location was destroyed by fire.)
Have a Happy and Healthy New Near!
We had a Christmas Party!
December 8, 2022 at The 3 Flames Restaurant
Live entertainment
Bob Ray, DJ and great historian of the music of our time, was back with favorites!
The rest of the team that made it happen!
We had a great time celebrating wedding anniversaries, meeting guests and potential new members, testing our luck with a raffle and renewing old friendships.
A few of our distinguished members
And we enjoyed a number of guests
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
November 10 Membership Luncheon
On November 10 we met, along with Branch 62, at the Three Flames for a Thanksgiving lunch of Turkey with all the trimmings. Bob Douglas, Sprig Manager, Title 24 Compliance made a informative presentation on California Energy Efficiency Standards Bob’s presentation is on the Speaker Page. Just click his image. We also welcomed 5 guests, some old friends that have not around and a bunch of Veterans.
Larry Snapp, Big SIR, welcomed a large group, finally, to a nice Thanksgiving lunch, a lot of old friends, veterans from several wars, 5 guests and Bob Douglas a great speaker.
The people that make things happen: Jim Kono & Heinz Bodeker greeting and checking people in, Pierre Garabedian selling Christmas lunch tickets and Joe Salamida selling lunch tickets. Joe is also one of our Vets, a proud Marine, Charlie Raisor and Army Gunner, Al Code a Vietnam survivor and Herschel Brown clothed in only his Dog Tags. Thanks to all our Vets!!
I think some people read the banner as we had 5 guests. Ron Gaumont introduces Miles Godfrey, Jack Byers introduces Don Chase, Larry Snapp introduces Larry Lupo, Pierre Garabedian introduces Ed Gastelu and Larry Snapp introduces Robert Miller.
It was good to see new people and we hope you all return!
September 8 Membership Luncheon
On September 8 we met at the 3 Flames for a lunch of chicken breast, rice, vegetables, salad and rolls. We had a joint lunch with Sunnyvale Branch 62. Their meeting location was destroyed by fire so we shared. We also shared their speaker Elli Tehrani from ClearCaptions who shared information on a telephone captioning device for the hearing impaired. Her presentation is on the Speaker page; just click her image.
August 11 Membership Luncheon
On August 11 we met at the 3 Flames for a lunch of chicken breast, rice, vegetables, salad and rolls. We had a small attendance but then we now are a rather small group, 71 total. We had a great speaker, Joe Gold, who not only presented a very informative History of the Violin but also shared his expertise on the violin. Joe’s presentation was shared on Zoom but some people had difficulty getting access; others did not. We will identify and resolve the issue. To view his presentation, go to the Speaker Page and click on his image.
July 14 Membership Luncheon
On July 14 we met at the 3 flames for a lunch of chicken breast, rice, vegetables, salad and rolls. The world has been affected by Covid and we are no exception. We were isolated, partially open and then isolated again. Many of our members have missed our activities for most of two years and this year we have lost 17 members. At this meeting, we attempted a reintroduction of Branch 54: who we are, what we do and how everyone can help. We followed up with a Space adventure. Horace Hines gave us a peek at the James Webb Space Telescope, how it was built and deployed, where it resides and how it maintains its position and some of its first images. Assume!
A reintroduction of Branch 54: who we are, what we do and how everyone can help presented by Ken Walling, Marcel Tomassian and John Knapp.
May 12 Membership Luncheon
On May 12 we met at the 3 Flames for a lunch of Hamburger Steak, mixed vegetables, potatoes and gravy, salad and rolls. Only half of our members joined our reunion and spirited discussions. Richard Kabanek and his Activities team gave updates on ongoing and upcoming activities. Marcel is still leading hikes every two weeks, Archie is leading Petanque competitions on Wednesday and Saturday and Ken is organizing an Area 11 golf tournament at Bay View in May. Also, the golf groups are still playing twice a week. Richard is trying to start and renew additional activities. Day trips have been very popular in the past and he/we need someone to take the lead and organize; Richard has a file full of opportunities. He is also trying to start a dining group; perhaps one of the wives would like to help get it going? And finally, Big Sir Larry Snapp emphasized the need to increase our membership and reach our goal of 80% of members at our luncheons.
If you have not payed your annual dues, send $25 to Pierre Garabedian or click “Annual Dues” on the menu and you can pay with a credit card.
Jerry Giles
Tony Madieros
April 14 Membership Luncheon
On April 14 we enjoyed a nice lunch at the 3 Flames and a very informative presentation by Larry Stone the SSC Accessor which you can view on the speakers page. Richard Kabanek elicited an update from the Activities Chairmen so we got updates on the interesting things our members are doing. And, finally, we got to meet a new member but, unfortunately, we lost two members. It was a fun and rewarding day but will be much better when the rest of our members join us next month.
March 10 Membership Luncheon
On March 10 we had our first 2022 Member Luncheon at the 3 Flames. We enjoyed a great St. Patty’s lunch and an outstanding presentation by Horace Hines on the Science of Baseball. Now we know why the ball does all those funny things and why it is so difficult for the professional batters to make contact. It was good to be able to visit with members we have not seen for such a long time. It was also good to introduce a new member and a guest and get updates on all the member activities.
Horace Hines explains the science of baseball. He demonstrates and explains why and how the ball spins. He demonstrates why it is so difficult for the professionals to be even 30% effective. We will never see a ball game the same.
And next, the science of a golf ball?
December 9 Holiday Luncheon
On December 9 we held our Annual Branch 54 Holiday luncheon. We had a great lunch of Steak, Salmon or Chicken accompanied with Salad, Rolls and desert that was enjoyed by all. We also enjoyed getting reacquainted with other member wives and friends. We elected new Officers and Directors for 2022 and finally enjoyed The History of Rock and Roll along with a lot of favorite music as presented by Bob Ray. This is the third time that Bob has entertained us.
The event was coordinated and orchestrated by a great team led by Richard Kabanek with ticket sales by Pierre Garabedian, technical set up and management by Bruce Hodgin and Horace Hines, raffle ticket sales by John Humphrey and Larry Snapp and coordination support by Big SIR John Knapp.
On the Red Carpet
Making friends and enjoying a nice lunch
And a little Branch Business
And finally a bit of fun!
On November 11 we had a sit-down lunch with Bud Mackinzie as a speaker.
Budd Mackenzie, who was recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as an “Unsung Hero of Compassion” in 2014, discussed his work in Afghanistan.
After raising money to build a school in Afghanistan and discovering how U.S. involvement in the country had affected its people, Mackenzie founded Trust in Education, a nonprofit, grassroots, people-to-people organization, to help Afghans rebuild their lives and country. He currently devotes over sixty percent of his time to this work. Information about Trust in Education can be found at www.trustineducation.org.
Bud Mackenzie the Unsung hero of Afghanistan
October 2021: another great lunch with good friends and from one of our own a great presentation of his Around-The-World sailing trip.
Part 1 Around the World
Ernie Mendez and his wife retired and sailed around the world in their 43′ sail boat. This is a narration and visual presentation of the first half of the trip.
Part 2 Around the world
Ernie promised to return again with the second half of the sailing adventure.
Our newest member, Alan Douglas, shares his interests and passions.
We enjoyed four visitors from Branch 39.
Jim Kahn was the lucky attendance winner and will be wearing a nice SIR hat.
September 2021 we enjoyed a set down lunch with guests from Branch 32.
August 2021 we had a special luncheon to celebrate coming out or at least getting back close to normal.
June 2021 and finally we have a Face-to-Face Luncheon
The members that made it happen – The Working Teams!
