At 12:21 pm on April 26th at the Intercontinental Hotel, President Todd Nicholson opened the meeting. Jim Kosmo provided the inspirational minute and 4-way test. Jim talked about the 6 steps to overcoming adversity, the need to control the adversity, be industrious and find passion, a good attitude, finding mentors, use humor and do good for someone else daily. Sarah Guy-Levar introduced visiting guests which included many Rotary alumni. John Kupris and Sarah Guy-Levar were greeters, while Laura Nichols-Endres was the online greeter and Linda Mulhern, the scribe. Todd wanted to thank our tech team of Dave Wolfgram, Katie Dailey, Ken Crabb and Matt Majors for their tech help with the hybrid meeting format.
Today was our Rotary Alumni day and the following former members attended the meeting: Lloyd Stern, Blake Davis, Deb Gelbach, John Brodrick, Roger Nielsen, Mindee Kastelic, Larry Morgan, Kathleen Riley, Chuck Standfuss, Anne Frisch and Diane Nimetz.
John Guthmann introduced our speaker, Anne McKeig, an associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Anne is a member of the White Earth Indian tribe located near Leech Lake in northern Minnesota. She grew up in a town of approximately 100 people called Federal Dam. She has written books about domestic abuse and works with tribal communities around the state. She is active in promoting diversity. Anne also works for the Infinity Project at St Catherine’s University, her alma mater She is the mother of 5 children and a huge fan of Johnny Cash.
Her career has always been based on caring for kids. Her parents met in the Twin Cities but moved up to the White Earth reservation when she was quite young. Her father would pack up the family on Fridays and bring them to the reservation, until her mother got so tired of packing and unpacking kids on Sunday and decided it waws easier to move the family to Federal Dam. She referred to her four “mediocre” brothers in jest. They all lived in a trailer home that burned down when she was 6 years old. She knew that she had to earn money for college and started working when she was 13 years old. Her parents were very influential but had to support a large family on the limited salary of her father. She decided to become a lawyer in 9th grade, but also considered becoming a country music singer in the process. Her mother wanted her to have two options if one didn’t work out. After graduating from St Catherine’s University and law school, she worked for the Hennepin Couty Attorney Office and was placed in the child protection unit. She saw many of the same problems in Hennepin County that she saw on the reservation. Her mother was known as the social worker for many of the children on the reservation. She was mentored by Judge Blaeser, another member of the White Earth reservation who gave her guidance to become a better lawyer and told her to learn to listen to others. He told her to apply to become a District Court judge and she was appointed by Governor Tim Pawlenty.
Judge Blaeser’s comment to her was that the community needed a native American to sit at the table when the associate supreme court position opened up and she should apply for it. She was appointed by Governor Mark Dayton. She is now in the 6th year as a Minnesota associate supreme court justice. She was mentored by David Lillehaug because the court has a formality and a routine to be learned and followed, but that is not to say that she doesn’t involve her law clerks helping her on an occasional practical joke.
She was honored when Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor asked to meet with her when she visited the Twin Cities. It isn’t easy being a part of the judiciary because of the amount of work needed to come to judgements. She is working with a very diverse court currently, but they can come to agreement on 70% of the issues presented to the court.
President Todd presented a certificate to Judge Anne McKeig with a donation in her name to Cherish All Children after her speech to the club.
Ken Crabb talked about our club activities to the membership. The club has several global grants working to provide clean water in Nicaragua, medical equipment to Tanzania and provide a large water supply for farmers in Bolivia. Locally we are working to end Human Trafficking and providing grants to Neighborhood House. We plant flowers in Cleveland Circle near the Xcel Center and work with the Rondo Center for Diverse Expression. The club will send out 4 students this fall through Rotary Youth Exchange, we successfully had Camp RYLA two weeks ago and will provide a $20,000 Second Century Scholarship to a St Paul student this spring. We will have Education Day for the middle school students for students that have been able to overcome adversity within a couple of weeks. The club hopes to start STRIVE this fall for St Paul high school seniors who would like to improve themselves through Rotarians mentoring them. We are able to accomplish many of these goals through our fundraising.
Upcoming events include the “Creating a Safe and Just Community Together” sponsored by the St Paul Sunrise Club on April 28th. For our 5:01 pm meeting on 5/3, there will be a discussion on the repurpose of historic buildings in the area. Our meeting on 5/17 will include inviting people interested in becoming Rotarians at the University Club on Summit Ave for the meeting and drinks.
President Todd adjourned the meeting at 1:22 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Mulhern
Scribe