SAN MARINO NEWS
By Bill Arp

"Listen closely,” San Marino Tribune Editor Mitch Lehman said in Friends Hall of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens last Thursday afternoon while cupping a hand to his ear.
“That sound you hear...it's Paul Harris rolling over in his grave.”
As the sellout crowd roared in laughter, Lehman purposely flipped his signature ponytail into clear view, a tribute to the founder of Rotary International.
Lehman was on hand to receive his due as the Rotary Club of San Marino’s latest Paul Harris Honorary Fellow, earmarked for the citizen who most embodies the club’s motto of ‘Service Above Self.’ But his typical self-deprecating humor led off a powerful address to the packed room.
“To all of the previous winners, I apologize that my receipt has sullied this most precious honor,” Lehman began. “Lynn Reitnouer told me that when Winnie heard I was the 2008 recipient, she used her Paul Harris plaque as kindling for a family fire.”
Winnie Reitnouer, the 2006 recipient of the award, guffawed in laughter at the gaff, but Lehman’s address soon turned poignant.
“Thank you to the Rotary Club of San Marino,” he continued. “I can tell you that there is nobody in San Marino that has more respect for your organization than I. Looking at the list of previous recipients, the hallmark of the typical Paul Harris Award winner has not included volleyball shorts, flip-flops a ponytail and sunburnt nose, and for looking beyond the stereotypes of your standard honoree I thank you. Because I spent so many years as a fledgling young athlete in the Midwest during the sixties and seventies, it is almost impossible to accept a compliment, as no coach worth his or her salt would ever lead you to believe that you were mastering any of the skills necessary for success, but would instead be much more likely to focus on those many areas in which you fall short. Therefore, the vast majority of my contemplative time is spent figuring out how I can do better, so it is very difficult for me to accept your praise. But just this once, I'll take your word for it. Thank you.”
Shifting his gaze towards San Marino City Cable Channel 19’s camera crew in the back of the room, Lehman thanked his parents, who were unable to make the trek from their Florida home.
“Mom, thank you for all of your years of unconditional love and support, for your positive attitude, and for playing music and singing every single morning as I was growing up,” Lehman said. “It’s a habit I continue to practice to this very day, and while most of the people in this room would like to kill you for it, I say thank you.”
He thanked his stepfather, Ed Galm, for being “a blessing,” and thanked him for “all the love you have brought to our family.”
But the afternoon’s most emotional moment came when Lehman addressed Barbara Steele, widow of longtime Rotarian Bill Steele, who was in the audience.
“If there was ever an individual who represented all that was good about Rotary, it was your late husband Bill,” Lehman said as the room fell into complete silence. “In this very room two years ago, while listening to the wonderful celebration of his rich life, I was inspired to try and be a better person, so please know that Bill’s influence is still very much alive to this day through many of the people gathered in this room and through this club.”
Lehman did admit that he “wasn’t so stupid to even pretend to attempt to dress as stylishly” as the notoriously dapper Steele, but acknowledged he had done well to wear a suit to Thursday’s event.
“Not a suit,” as he said earlier, but “the suit.”
Again, a cascade of laughter.
Lehman acknowledged three of the communities educators, all of who were in attendance at the luncheon; San Marino High School physics teacher and Honorary Paul Harris Fellow Scott Cameron, Principal Loren Kleinrock, and Mickey McNamee, who Lehman said “has taught anyone who cares to notice how to live a life of integrity and grace.”
Lehman also acknowledged Tribune Publisher Clif Smith, of whom he said; “At a time when newspapers have sold their editorial souls to appease the fickle advertiser, you have maintained the courage to provide a publication that cares about the community we serve and possess the tough love needed to actually perform the duty of a newspaper, which is to try and make the community it serves a better place. At our summer camp we encourage the young people to stand for ‘the hard right against the easy wrong,’ and you have implemented that same philosophy here in this community, and for that, I am very proud to be an employee of the San Marino Tribune.”
He thanked his wife Teresa and their daughter Alexandria – the “lights of his life” – for their sacrifice “during the many hours I spend here in San Marino. Either that, or you really like it when I’m out of the house. And I don’t want to hear the answer to that question.”
His closing remarks assured that there would not be a dry eye in the house.
“There is a line in an old movie that never, ever fails to drive me to tears, and at this very moment, it could never be more poignant,” Lehman said, pausing as he was overcome with emotion. “Like George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life,’ I'm the richest man in town.”
Lehman stood on the podium, brandishing the plaque signifying his recent honor as the crowd rose as one in a thunderous standing ovation, then walked directly into the waiting arms of Barbara Steele and the two embraced.
Lehman is in his twelfth year as Editor and Sports Editor of the San Marino Tribune. He is a past recipient of the San Marino PTA’s Very Special Person Award at Founder’s Day and the Terrific Titan Award from San Marino High School. He has been a broadcaster of San Marino athletics on City Cable Channel 19 for ten years, where he is on the air more than 200 hours a year.
He also volunteers as a public address announcer for the school’s football, basketball, baseball, soccer, wrestling, track and volleyball teams and is the voice of the all-City Track Meet and 4th of July celebration.
This summer will be his 20th year as camp director at Camp Fox on Catalina Island, where he oversees hundreds of junior high and high school-age campers each year.
He recently received the Cy Battison Award for excellence in camp directing from the YMCA of Glendale. Ten years ago, Lehman invented the Old Man Marathon, an outdoor challenge program at the camp. More than 4,000 young people have participated in the Old Man Marathon since its inception.
Lehman was also a Big Brother for ten years and a member of the Big Brothers speakers bureau. He told this reporter he is most proud of his involvement with Tyler’s Team, a San Marino High School service club dedicated to the memory of former student Tyler George, who died of leukemia; The Tribune’s J.P. Blecksmith 5K Run, which honors San Marino’s Lt. J.P. Blecksmith, who lost his life leading his Marine platoon into battle at Fallouja; and bringing back the city’s annual Memorial Day ceremony, which is now regularly attended by more than three hundred observers.
Also attending the event were past honorees Rosemary Simmons, Lois Matthews, David Narver, Winifred Veronda, Judith Carter, Cameron, Reitnouer, Patricia Connell, Warren Weber, Sandra Fastnow, Sylvia Wikle, Gene Dryden, Jeanne & Wray Cornwell, Barbara Maxwell, Linda Gentry and Melanie Arms.
Rotary International Scholar Carol Huang from San Marino shared her experiences in Lebanon as a student and most recently as a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor.
Organizers attributed the sell-out crowd to strong community support for the selection of Lehman as many non-Rotarians attended.
San Marino Rotary’s Honorary Paul Harris Fellow awards recognize those special men and women who give their time and talents to make our community better, but who are not themselves members of Rotary.
The international organization's motto and mission is to give ‘Service Above Self.’ The club in San Marino selects and honors annually one or two people with this Fellowship, saluting their service while contributing in their name to educational exchanges and to improving health, hunger, and humanity around the globe.
Over 1.3 million Rotarians worldwide donate many hours and millions of dollars each year to programs near the clubs and in needy countries. San Marino’s Rotarians are leaders in giving more than one million dollars to The Rotary Foundation, the charitable arm of the international organization.
The San Marino club has selected and funded recent college graduates for Ambassadorial Fellowships to study abroad, and has supported local and distant projects including the remarkable PolioPlus program to eliminate the polio virus from the world, nearing complete success after twenty years’ effort.
Gregory Thompson, chair of the Foundation Committee for San Marino Rotary, explained how the Paul Harris Fellow award includes a contribution in Mitch Lehman's name to further many international projects, thus extending Lehman's own volunteering to boost youth and families worldwide.
Lloyd Ownbey, a San Marino Rotarian long active with the club's Foundation efforts, nominated Lehman for the 2008 honors, and told more than 165 guests gathered at The Huntington of “Our Mitch’s good work with our schools, sports teams, and the remarkable camp program he has created for underprivileged kids each summer on Catalina.”