Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay ConnectedFounded in 1923
- Home
- Top Charts
- Top Networks
- Top Apps
- Top Independents
- Top Podfluencers
- Top Picks
- Top Business Podcasts
- Top True Crime Podcasts
- Top Finance Podcasts
- Top Comedy Podcasts
- Top Music Podcasts
- Top Womens Podcasts
- Top Kids Podcasts
- Top Sports Podcasts
- Top News Podcasts
- Top Tech Podcasts
- Top Crypto Podcasts
- Top Entrepreneurial Podcasts
- Top Fantasy Sports Podcasts
- Top Political Podcasts
- Top Science Podcasts
- Top Self Help Podcasts
- Top Sports Betting Podcasts
- Top Stocks Podcasts
- Podcast News
- About Us
- Podcast Advertising
- Contact
birthday became a perennial day of remembrance. At the time of his death, Washington was the most important individual in American history. To further commemorate our Nation’s first President, the building of the Washington Monument in 1848 and the centennial of his birth in 1882, were national celebrations.
Our nation’s 16th President, Abraham Lincoln is widely celebrated by the States. Guiding our fractured nation during our most difficult time, the Civil War, President Lincoln freed the Southern slaves and saved the Union. Washington and Lincoln still remain the two most recognized leaders, but Presidents Day is now popularly seen as a day to recognize the lives and achievements of all of America’s chief executives. Some lawmakers have objected to this view, arguing that grouping George Washington and Abraham Lincoln together with less successful presidents minimizes their legacies. Politicians arguing? No, can’t be!
In its modern form, Presidents Day is used by many patriotic and historical groups as a date for staging celebrations, reenactments and other events. A number of states also require that their public schools spend the days leading up to Presidents Day teaching students about the accomplishments of the presidents, often with a focus on the lives of Washington and Lincoln. I and I guess many of you are very happy to know this piece of information.
Here is a bit of trivia about President’s Day: Did you know? President’s Day never falls on the actual birthday of any American president. Four chief executives, George Washington, William Henry Harrison, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, were born in February, but their birthdays all come either too early or late to coincide with Presidents Day, which is always celebrated on the third Monday of the month. Well, three-day weekends are always welcome as the passage of the Uniform Holiday Act in 1968 gave us this and several others throughout the calendar year. Only Independence Day, July 4th and Veteran’s Day, November 11th remain on the actual day.
We are today, celebrating the Past Presidents of the Las Vegas Rotary Club. Please be ready to be amazed at what has been accomplished over the many years of the Greatest Rotary Club in The World!
Jackie Thornhill
President
Las Vegas Rotary Club
The victim of domestic child sex trafficking between the ages of 11 and 13, as well as domestic violence and multiple sexual assaults, Kimberly is a survivor turned advocate. She holds her Masters in Victim Services Management and utilizes her more than a decade of experience working with victims of violence against women, including over 400 sex trafficking victims, to influence policy makers and legislators in creating trauma informed victim focused policy.
Theresa Bower is a Recruiter for the 2020 Census. She has lived in Henderson for 20 years. For 4 decades, Theresa has served successful businesses as a creative brand consultant, a past advisor for the Los Angeles SBA, a writer for Yahoo! and a seminar facilitator. She’s taught at several colleges, including CSN and Art Institute. In 2000, she worked as a Census Enumerator for the Non-Response Follow-up unit.
“Census day was set at the first Monday in August 1790. Failure to cooperate with a marshal or assistant was punishable by a $20 fine. Today, the controlling law for the U.S. Census is Title 13 of the U.S. Code. The law requires that the census be conducted on or about April 1, 1980, and every ten years after that. The returns must be made available within nine months in order to apportion members of the House of Representatives to each of the states.”
Kat is the Director of the Nevada Department of Veterans Services, responsible for supporting the State Veterans Cemeteries, Veterans Homes, and Veterans Service Officer program.
Daniel Liles is a proud native of Las Vegas and 2011-12 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar sponsored by District 5240 in California. In, 2010 he graduated from California Lutheran University, where he earned dual Bachelor degrees in International Relations and Music, specializing in piano performance. It was a professor at his university that first introduced Daniel to Rotary and he quickly became interested in getting involved with the organization and pursuing the ambassadorial scholarship.
After graduating, Daniel was selected to be a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar sponsored by the Rotary Club of Thousand Oaks. He spent his year of service with District 3010 in New Delhi, India. While in India, Daniel worked in the largest slum in Delhi to revitalize a Rotary sponsored school. Daniel also was enrolled full time in an academic program studying International Development. After returning, and speaking with over 20 Rotary clubs both in India and the United States, Daniel was honored with a Paul Harris Fellowship from his sponsor club.
After his Ambassadorial year, Daniel was selected to a two-year fellowship with Teach For America, an organization that works directly with public education schools to address educational inequity. Daniel began his teaching career in special education at Dell H. Robison Middle school in the Clark County School District (CCSD), the same district from which he graduated. During this time, Daniel completed a Master’s degree in Education from UNLV.
Currently, Daniel is serving in a new role as an Instructional Coach at Will Beckley Elementary school. In this role, Daniel works directly with teachers and community partners to provide the highest quality education possible for the students he serves.
Outside of school, Daniel actively engages with the Education community on various levels. He is currently serving a two-year term on the State Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Cabinet, is an instructor for an undergraduate and graduate education course at UNLV, was selected as a Teach Plus Education Policy fellow in 2018, and is also an alumni and steering committee member of the Teacher Leader Academy at the Public Education Foundation.
Judith is a keynote speaker, author, radio show host, recording artist, and licensed board-certified music therapist. As a leading expert in music-based stress management, Judith empowers people globally to live differently.
season and are looking forward to the next six months of our Rotary Year!
Please reach out if you haven’t already been contacted. Reconnect and experience the Fellowship of Rotary!
Adam K. Joseph is Opportunity Village’s Vice President of Philanthropy and also serves as member of the Executive Team helping set the strategic direction for the organization. Reporting to President and CEO, Bob Brown, Adam along with his dedicated team has oversight for all fundraising and donor relation initiatives, which include capital campaigns, annual giving programs, major gifts, grants, and event fundraising.
Gregory has the honor of working in many roles at Opportunity Village over five years supporting people with disabilities in Southern Nevada. Gregory currently serves as the Director of Development, coordinating OV’s Major Gifts efforts, annual giving, legacy giving program and raising funds for OV’s Capital Campaign. Before joining Opportunity Village, Gregory served as a consultant for the Nevada Community Foundation and the Resource Development Manager for the Nevada Law Foundation. Gregory has served as Part-time Graduate Instructor for the Public Administration Department at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Gregory earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from UNLV and taught undergraduate courses as a Graduate Assistant. Gregory earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from The Ohio State University and worked in the Group for Attitudes and Persuasion Lab conducting studies on power, persuasion, and self-validation. Gregory is currently volunteering his time as the Treasurer of the Association of Fundraising Professionals – Las Vegas Chapter
Mark Hall-Patton is the Museums Administrator for the Clark County museum system, where he oversees the Clark County Museum, the Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum, and the Searchlight History Museum. He has been with Clark County for twenty-three years, and was previously the Director of the San Luis Obispo County Historical Museum in California. He has worked for both public and private non-profit museums, and has consulted with numerous start-up and established museums and museum boards.
Today, we will happily give the funds our club has raised, along with our partner service club, Kiwanis, to the Salvation Army to help refill their food bank. The food bank provides needed assistance for our city’s homeless and less fortunate. This is the 65th year our clubs have joined in this effort!
Donna was sixty and thought she was gearing down for retirement when a job making costumes for a Vegas casino came along. They set her up in the girls’ dressing room, where she worked and listened to them talk. It wasn’t long before she thought, someone could write a book about this. So–she did, The Last Two Aces in Las Vegas. The publisher said it was too long, and she had to cut twenty thousand words. She took out one character and turned that into her second book, The Las Vegas Desert Flower.
She was off and running. Her most successful book, Maude, the true story of her grandmother’s life, became an international best-seller and spent sixteen weeks on the Wall Street Journal best seller list. It’s been translated into Italian, German, and Russian. A movie is now in the works.
Alternating between Vegas mysteries and American westerns, Donna publishes almost twice a year. In March, sixteen years after The Last Two Aces, she brought out her newest story, The Vegas Tycoon. That brings her active title list on Amazon to twenty-five.
Her newest venture is into filmmaking. Along with writer, director, actor Shana Gagnon, she’s engaged in the pre-production work of fund raising for a mini-series or film to be based on her international best-seller, Maude.
Donna is currently working on two books. One is a modern-day story about two college drama students who find they’re just as good at solving murders as they are at acting. The other is a historical that begins in Kansas in 1899 and goes to the beginning of the twentieth century.
