Speakers

Our Rotary exchange student, Agi, arrived in August and is settling in well to the La Crosse area.

Come and learn where she comes from and how she became a part of the Rotary Exchange Program.

Join us for the Rotary Club of La Crosse's Annual Meeting and Mystery Program!

Discussion with slides focusing on Gene Moran of Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin. During WWII, Gene, a 19-year-old tail gunner on a Flying Fortress bomber plane, was shot down over Nazi Germany and fell four miles without a parachute. He survived, but was quickly captured by the Germans. My talk will focus on Gene's war and the development of the book which told his story - Tailspin.

John Armbruster grew up in rural Central Wisconsin and currently resides outside Viroqua, Wisconsin. He graduated from UW-Madison with a journalism degree and then went on to write for a public radio program and two Wisconsin newspapers: The La Crosse Tribune and the Marshfield News Herald. John returned to UW-Madison and earned a degree in secondary education-social studies, and later, a master’s in education from Viterbo University. John recently retired after a 30-year career teaching a variety of middle school and high school social studies courses. John has two sons: Matthew, a police officer in Madison, and Joe, a biosecurity technician for the USDA in Iowa.
Tailspin is John’s first book.

THE PURPOSE OF ROTARY LIGHTS, INC. IS TO FEED THE HUNGRY OF THE COULEE REGION 

https://www.rotarylights.org/

The annual Rotary Lights display began in 1995 and has grown tremendously since then due to the fantastic support from the greater La Crosse community.

Pat Stephens has partnered with incredible volunteers and volunteer organizations since then and now, nearly 130,000 visitors per year enjoy this holiday tradition while driving, walking or taking a carriage ride through Riverside Park.

At our meeting, the past year's illumination of the downtown waterfront and some of the people who helped make it a success will be celebrated with checks to multiple organizations.

Pat Stephens retired in 2013 from UW-L after many years in leadership with its Foundation.  He is the "Irish Man of the Year", an Iverson-Freking Ecumenical award recipient, long-time leader of Freedom Fest, recipient of Viterbo University's Pope John XXIII award and the driving force behind many community fund raisers and community events.

Rusty Cunningham is an award-winning journalist who served as editor and publisher of the La Crosse Tribune and River Valley Media Group for nearly 25 years. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2024.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war, you’ll hear what it was like to be a kid in a small village while the war raged in the nearby countryside.  Tan Pham will talk about the stroke of luck that allowed him (at age 12) and his immediate family to escape shortly before the fall of Saigon.

You’ll be moved by Tan’s experience of joy when he was finally able to return to Vietnam and to see his grandparents for the first time in 20 years; and you’ll gain an understanding of how the country has grown since the war ended and the military presence left.

Tan is the owner of Cuisine Adventure Tours and at least twice a year takes inspired visitors to see his homeland.