Rotary Program: 7/21/04

Program Chairperson: Jerry Kanney

Speakers: New Rotarians

President Rakeesh Sachdeva introduced Kris Potnis, a retired Ob/Gyn physician as our first speaker. Kris received his medical degree at the University of Bombay and spent six years of residency and internship in the U.S. before beginning his practice in the rural areas of Mississippi. His wife, Karen is a nurse practitioner and certified midwife. Kris said that his early years as a doctor were difficult due to the fact that the people were so poor in the cotton growing regions of the Mississippi delta and medicare coverage was non-existent at the time. He was the director of 5 clinics that provided prenatal care for thousands of women and follow-up for their children. At that time the state became a part of the Federal Health Improvement Project that health care more accessible to those people and conditions greatly improved. Kris and his family came to Martin, Ky. in 1987 and worked at the Our Lady of the Way Hospital until 1992. He then moved his practice to Pikeville where he worked until his retirement in 1997. Kris says the one thing that makes his proud to be a Rotarian is that it is an organization that cares about the community. We all welcome Kris to our club and hope he has many successful years of service with us.

Next, Joanne Anderson introduced Carolyn Dickerson to the club. Carolyn came to Pikeville as the manager of the J.C. Penney’s store in October. She moved here from the Charleston, S.C. area, but has worked off and on for the Penney’s organization for the past 30 years in Georgia, Alabama, and Virginia, her home state. Carolyn received her Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a Masters in Education, but has spent most of her professional life in merchandising and operations with Penney’s. She said that teaching became mostly refereeing, so she thought it best to get out and find something else to do. She and her husband, Joe have been married for 33 years. He is also in sales and merchandising and commutes back and forth from North Carolina every other week. Carolyn says she loves art and music and finds the diversity of the Rotary membership most appealing to her. She thought of it as the domain of mostly men, but finds it refreshing to see so many women who are so active in the club.

Other Rotarians that were scheduled to speak were not present today so the meeting ended with a performance of “Crazy”, a song made famous by Patsy Cline, sung by Suzanna White, who is the headliner for a show at the Artists Collaborative Theatre in Elkhorn City. Shilpa Sachdeva, daughter of President Rakeesh rang the bell to adjourn the meeting. - JMC