to this week's meeting of
The Rotary E-Club of Canada One
For the week beginning March 16, 2026
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to this week's meeting of
The Rotary E-Club of Canada One
For the week beginning
March 16, 2026
Scroll down to enjoy the content!
Complete the form for a make-up!
The Rotary theme for 2025-26 -
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Greeter this week
Rotarian Doug
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Inspirational moment
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Canadiana
The Edmund Fitzgerald
November 10, 1975 - Lake Superior
A massive freighter called the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was pushing through one of the worst storms ever recorded on the Great Lakes. Winds howled at nearly 60 miles per hour. Waves rose as high as 35 feet—dark walls of water slamming into steel.
The lake was angry, cold, and unforgiving.
That afternoon, the ship radioed a chilling message: it was taking on water. Minutes later, the Fitzgerald vanished from radar. All 29 crew members went down with her. No distress call. No survivors. No bodies ever recovered.
Just silence where there had been voices.
It was the deadliest maritime disaster on the Great Lakes in decades—29 ordinary men who went to work that morning and never came home. Husbands. Sons. Brothers. Fathers. Their names could have faded into statistics. Unless someone remembered them.
A Canadian folk singer named Gordon Lightfoot read about the sinking in Newsweek magazine. What haunted him wasn’t spectacle or drama. It was the ordinariness of it. Men doing their jobs. Weather turning lethal. A lake that never gives up its dead. So he sat down and wrote a song.
Not a radio hit.
Not a commercial single.
A memorial.
“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” was six and a half minutes long—a detailed ballad that unfolded like a slow procession. Every verse carried weight. Every line honored the men lost beneath the waves.
“The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy…”
When Lightfoot brought the song to his record label in 1976, executives were alarmed. Six and a half minutes was too long for radio. Pop songs were supposed to be three minutes. They told him to cut verses. Shorten it. Make it marketable. Lightfoot refused.
The story needed every minute. The men deserved the full telling. He would not cut a single word.
The label released the song as-is. And something extraordinary happened.
“The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy…”
When Lightfoot brought the song to his record label in 1976, executives were alarmed. Six and a half minutes was too long for radio. Pop songs were supposed to be three minutes. They told him to cut verses. Shorten it. Make it marketable. Lightfoot refused.
The story needed every minute. The men deserved the full telling. He would not cut a single word.
The label released the song as-is. And something extraordinary happened.
Radio stations played the entire six-and-a-half-minute ballad.
Listeners stayed. They listened through every verse. The song climbed to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the most iconic ballads in North American music history.
Not because it chased trends. Because it told the truth.
That refusal became the blueprint for Gordon Lightfoot’s entire career.
Born in Orillia, Ontario, in 1938, Lightfoot grew up singing in church choirs. His voice was never flashy—but it was precise, controlled, and deeply human. He wrote about weather, distance, work, loneliness, endurance.
About ordinary lives. His songs sounded simple. They weren’t. Every word was chosen. Nothing wasted.
“If You Could Read My Mind.”
“Sundown.”
“Carefree Highway.”
Bob Dylan admired him. Johnny Cash covered him. Elvis Presley recorded his work.
And still, Lightfoot stayed in Canada.
“This is where the stories come from,” he said.
He struggled privately—especially with alcohol. His health suffered. His life slowed. Then in 2002, he nearly died. An abdominal aortic aneurysm ruptured. Doctors didn’t expect him to survive. He fell into a coma for six weeks.
But he lived. And when he returned to the stage, thinner, weaker, older, he sang anyway.
For nearly two more decades, Gordon Lightfoot toured quietly. Smaller venues. One man. One guitar. Songs that had outlived trends, charts, and time itself.
When Lightfoot died on May 1, 2023, at age 84, Canada mourned a national treasure.
But the most meaningful tribute wasn’t loud. People pressed play on “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
They remembered the ship. They remembered the storm. They remembered the 29 men. Because one songwriter refused to shorten their story.
Gordon Lightfoot’s legacy isn’t about fame. It’s about integrity. He believed some stories require patience.
Some truths need their full length. Some lives deserve to be remembered exactly as they were. On November 10, 1975, Lake Superior took 29 men. Gordon Lightfoot gave them a six-and-a-half-minute requiem.
The label told him to cut it. He refused. And because of that refusal, they are not forgotten.
Some voices don’t just sing. They preserve.
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Comments from our guests and members
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Would you please send us your comments?
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Archived Meetings
- All meetings are archived. Click here to see a list and choose what you wish to view.
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Announcements
March 22, 2026
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Saturday, March 21
International Day for Elimination of Racism Day
Two short videos of interest
International Day for Elimination of Racism Day
Two short videos of interest
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Little Bit of Service
Submission from Rotarian Jim
Here's the most recent picture from Braemar School, where Lois Hannam and I helped provide lunch to the students there. Braemar School is one of the projects supported by the
Here's the most recent picture from Braemar School, where Lois Hannam and I helped provide lunch to the students there. Braemar School is one of the projects supported by the
Rotary E-Club of Canada One (RECCO)
Lois Hannam and Jim Ferguson at Braemar School
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Material Suggestions and Greeter Messages Always Needed!
Please feel free to forward an approx. 150 - 200 word message or any material suggestions in an e-mail, or in a Word document, along with a JPeg picture or two, to E-Club Administration Chair, Kitty Bucsko.
We'd love to hear from you!
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Just so you're aware -
Our Club's Ongoing Projects -
We provide ongoing support for the following projects:
Click the links below to find out more about each project!
And we're doing great!
Ask for more information if you'd like to be involved!
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Real-time meetings
Each 3rd Thursday of the month is our Fellowship Assembly, and we often invite interesting speakers or Rotary Leaders for this entertaining, educational fun event. Plan to join us.
The time is 9:00 a.m. (Mountain Time) in lieu of the weekly Coffee Chat except for July and August when there are no FA’s. Here is the zoom link:
Everyone is welcome to attend and we encourage your participation.
Please click our Event Calendar for details and access Link.
For further inquiries or suggestions please contact: info@rotaryeclubcanada.ca
All our videos can be viewed on our YouTube channel.
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How do you support our club?
- The Paypal button on our ClubRunner Home Page
- The donation button on the attendance form, or
- Make an Interac transfer to rotaryeclubcanada1@gmail.com
- Send a cheque to:
The Rotary E-Club of Canada One
14008 101 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5N 0K3
(780) 267 4547
Environment
Humour
Why is Australia located so far from the UK despite being a former British colony with mostly white people?
Because Australians were rather smelly and had annoying habits, like being too good at sport, the English decided 250 years ago to push them out to sea on a dry lump of dirt, along with a random assortment of strange hoppy, bitey animals they didn’t really want.
Then thousands of good English folk gathered on the south-east coast, at a place called Folkestone, and threw lots and lots of stones into the sea to make them keep drifting further and further away, and they eventually ended up in the Pacific Ocean.
Pretty clever if you ask me.
Of course, they didn’t know then that airplanes would be invented and Australians would eventually be able to fly back and kick their arse in every sport they invented, but you can’t plan for everything, can you?
Because Australians were rather smelly and had annoying habits, like being too good at sport, the English decided 250 years ago to push them out to sea on a dry lump of dirt, along with a random assortment of strange hoppy, bitey animals they didn’t really want.
Then thousands of good English folk gathered on the south-east coast, at a place called Folkestone, and threw lots and lots of stones into the sea to make them keep drifting further and further away, and they eventually ended up in the Pacific Ocean.
Pretty clever if you ask me.
Of course, they didn’t know then that airplanes would be invented and Australians would eventually be able to fly back and kick their arse in every sport they invented, but you can’t plan for everything, can you?
…submitted by Rotarian Angel (for a laugh!) 😊
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Rotary members' corner
Even small acts of service can make a world of difference. As we focus on WASH Month, here are a few reflections to spark awareness:
• Clean water is more than a resource—it’s a foundation for health, education, and economic stability.
• Clean water is more than a resource—it’s a foundation for health, education, and economic stability.
• One of the most effective tools in global public health is astonishingly simple: handwashing with soap.
• Many Rotary clubs support projects such as portable water filters, rainwater harvesting, and hygiene education—low-cost, high-impact initiatives that strengthen communities for generations.
March offers each of us the chance to learn a little more, share a little more, and recommit to Rotary’s mission of creating sustainable change. When people have safe water, everything else becomes possible.
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Rotary minute
March brings us to one of Rotary’s most transformative Areas of Focus: Water, Sanitation & Hygiene.
W.A.S.H.
The ripple effect is profound—children miss school, families are exposed to waterborne illness, and entire communities struggle to break the cycle of poverty.
Rotary members around the world work every day to change that. From well-drilling projects in rural villages, to menstrual hygiene education for girls, to gravity-flow water systems that climb mountains and cross valleys, our efforts restore health, dignity, and opportunity.
This month invites us to reflect on the Rotary spirit at its best: practical action, lasting solutions, and compassion made visible.
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Food for thought
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Rotary Jukebox
For a small donation, your favorite musician will be featured on one of our next e-meetings for everyone to enjoy.
Click Here to send your request.
THIS WEEK - Andrea Bocelli
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The Four-way Test
To close the meeting, Rotarian Angel recites the Four-Way Test of the things that Rotarians think, say, or do.
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Invite friends to Like our page and enjoy our posts. Also, please take the time to Share our posts on your Facebook Page.
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Program Donations
Our E-Club is a dynamic club comprised of ordinary working and retired people who acknowledge that Rotarians are people who are generous with their time and their resources.
Our club and the program you have just enjoyed, either as a member or a visitor, is funded only by donations.
We are developing ideas for fundraising with our members who are scattered across Canada, USA, Central America, and Europe, but we do need your help.
As you have not had to buy lunch or travel to attend this program, please make a donation of a minimum of $10.00, considering you're saving in time and cost in appreciation for the experience you have enjoyed.
Interested in providing Rotary Service? Unable to attend terra club meetings?
Contact our membership chair for information or
or HERE to learn about Associate Membership
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