Retired Johnson Space Center Director Mike Coats, center, gets a warm welcome from Rotary President Ralph Kramer and Rotarians Kippy Caraway, far left, and Mary Alys Cherry as he arrives at Bay Oaks Country Club to address the club.
Space Center Rotary off to a lively start SPACE CENTER ROTARY is off to a great start to its new club year with two well known speakers and a new set of officers. Banker Ralph Kramer is the club’s new president, following aerospace executive Daryl Smith, who passed the gavel at the beginning of the new Rotary year. Other officers are President-elect Nancy Anderson, Secretary Michael Porterfield, Treasurer Raymond Moore and Sgt.at-Arms Michael Thomas. Mike Coats, the retired Johnson Space Center director, was the first to address the Rotarians as they began a new year, marveling at all the work done by astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station. “What’s fascinating are the long stays
Bay Area Regional Medical Center Senior Vice President Santiago Mendoza, center, visits with San Jacinto College Vice Chancellor Teri Crawford and stockbroker Jerry Smith as he arrives at the Rotary luncheon at Bay Oaks Country Club.
in space,” he said. “There is a tremendous amount of research done on the space station. At any one time, astronauts are conducting 150 different experiments,” he said, noting that the ISS had been designated a national laboratory by Congress. But while he is fascinated with the work on the ISS, he was equally frustrated at all we have to pay the Russians to carry astronauts into space – “$80 million a flight. Half a billion a year!” And, he added, “I’m excited that next year sometime we’ll have two spacecraft flying (from the U.S.) at a cost of about $200,000 per flight to the ISS.” He also expressed hope the Space Council, revived by President Trump, will provide a clear direction for NASA. Santiago Mendoza, the senior vice president of Bay Area Regional Medical Center, brought the
Banker Ralph Kramer, center, is the new president of Space Center Rotary. With him are, from left, Treasurer Raymond Moore, President-elect Nancy Anderson, Past President Daryl Smith and Secretary Michael Porterfield. Michael Thomas, the sergeant-at-arms, was absent from the photo.
Rotarians back to Earth the next week as he described the hospital’s work and accomplishments as it focuses on healness and wellness, and continues to expand and grow. After giving a rundown of the hospital’s various attributes – 191 beds, 8 operating suites, 4 cardiac cath labs, a full service emergency room, 23 treatment rooms, 4 trauma rooms, plus a new women’s center, he pointed out that its just-opened Heart and Vascular Center is one of only five in Texas, and it recently was awarded a Certificate of Excellence in Surgery. And soon, he told the crowd, the new Women’s Center will start delivering “little miracles, providing exceptional care for both moms and babies with a family centered approach.” And for those with weight problems, the hospital has the Metabolic Weight Loss Institute
Special Rotary guests were Atiya Abouleish of Clear Lake and her brother, Mostafa Saleh, visiting from Cairo, Egypt, where he is a member of Cairo Rotary.
and its Bariatic Center has earned the Center of Excellence designation. Next, the hospital is in pursuit of the Level III Trauma Center designation, he said.
Before Harvey, we were all enjoying life. Here, Bay Oaks Country Club General Manager Stephen Morris, second from the left, welcomes, from left, Yvonne Perrin, Perry Laabs, Zack Seiberling and Megan Napoli to the Margaritaville new member mixer the club hosted during the summer.
OCTOBER 2017 | Bay Area Houston Magazine
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