 |
 |
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
HomeMeeting InformationMeeting MakeupsPresident's MessageOfficers & Directors MembershipClub MembersBecoming A Member Service ProjectsCommunity ServiceInternational Service Club FundraisersHole-in-One ShootoutMini-Dinners Club ActivitiesCalendarFamily of RotaryFellowshipNewsletterPhoto Album Featured ProgramsGleaning3-H GrantBarth Valentine Bash About DMHAbout Denver Mile HighThe Club Foundation Rotary InternationalAbout Rotary Other SitesUseful Links Contact DMHContact UsSite MapFor members...Administration Login
|
Please add Tributes and Rememberances of Fellow Rotarian Don Elliott who died on September 25, 2009 . . . Send your comments by e-mail to Ed Wittman ed@wittman.biz
Don was such a special member of Rotary. He truly was "Service before Self." Along with his intense world interests, support, and investment in time and expertise, he did so much more. It was his idea to honor my husband Bob with a Celebration of Life event raising money for the Cancer League and getting our Rotary Club involved with providing drinks, providing items for a silent auction, attending, and helping in many ways. Don also was such a great user of the Mini Dinners. What a treat when he was at one with any of us. He is sorely missed, and there is such a void.
Sarah Hite Rotary Club Of Denver Mile High, ICA, the hospital and HIV/AIDS home in Miraj, India, Recording for the Blind, the list goes on and on of the people, organizations and projects which will miss Don Elliott. He was my friend, my buddy. We enjoyed many wonderful times together. We traveled to Nepal and India last year to work on possible projects in small villages in Nepal including bringing water to a small village outside Katmandu. We will continue to work on this project next year. He was very disappointed we were not going to be able to finish it this year because of the lack of matching funds. Hopefully we will be able to complete it next year in honor of Don. Wherever he went he was loved, his sense of humor, his sense of purpose, his big steps and fast gait, all of this was a challenge to keep up with, but so much fun to try. I will miss him. I will miss hearing him say "Oh boy, oh boy oh boy. These people need so much". And just know he was going to do everything in his power to "be of use" in helping to provide.
Linda Sue Shirkey Always a smiling face, and a good heart! John F Holman
Because Don has been such an avid bicyclist, he was a blessing and gift to the little children at the annual Peace 'N the Streets Health and Safety Fair. Don would arrive in his biking attire, helmet included, as he had just biked several miles to volunteer for the day. It was a great joy to see Don compassionately fit each child with a bike helmet and send them forth with a big smile on their face.
~ Kurt Bartley
I never really had the good fortune to know Don, but his counsel is profound: "I want to be of use." What a remarkable thing to say.
Thanks Don.
Rory Donaldson
Sad new about Don's death. To all of you who knew him, my condolences. I spent a week with him last November and all I can say say is: Don was a big man with a big heart. He had room in it for everybody. I am happy I shared a bit of it. May he rest in peace. Don Elliott
I am on my way to Zimbabwe today. You may not know that Don started this journey five years ago when he asked, quite innocently, if I would help him write a Rotary Matching Grant. (My idea of "help" was slightly different than his, of course.) The grant was for $13,000 to fund HIV/AIDS training in Zimbabwe, and it was the first of three small grants...plus, of course, the $330,000 Rotary grant we were awarded in May.
I would never have gone to Zimbabwe without Don's innocent question, would have never met the beautiful people there and embarked on the journey that truly changed my life. I will miss him, as we all will, but I will never forget the gift that he so generously gave to me and to all of us-the gift of opening our minds and opening our hearts.
God bless you Don. Carolyn Schrader
It is with much sadness that we have heard of the passing of Rotarian Don Elliot. His death has robbed Rotary of one of its champions. We at Highlands remember him as someone with a great passion for Rotary who loved Africa and Zimbabwe in particular. We also remember him as someone with a great sense of humour who loved to mingle with the community crowds, taking pictures everywhere when he came to visit projects. We feel sad that he will not see the fruition of his efforts in the initiation and development of our 3H Grant programme. Kindly pass the condolences of the Rotary Club of Highlands, Harare, to all your members and to Don's loved ones. May you all be comforted at this sad time.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you all. Yours in Rotary, Nisa Kerbelker President - Rotary Club of Highlands, Harare, Zimbabawe
When the DMH Rotarians meet this weekend to glean for the 15th year, I believe, we will miss Don as he has always participated in the event. I recall he helped harvest brussel sprouts in the early years, to potatoes, onions, cabbage and other produce to help the less fortunate. I remember he helped other DMH members sort some rather old strawberries at the COMPA warehouse. It was a messy job for a surgeon, but he handled the triage between good and bad berries quite well.
Don's life was spent in helping others. Many friends around the world will miss him, and he leaves behind Kazakhs whose lives were extended due to his skills as a heart surgeon. Our hearts here have been gladdened to know Don, and we shall miss him very much. Jack & Peggy Houser
Written by Fran Corsello - A remarkable person died on Friday, Sept 25, 2009. He was Dr. Donald P. Elliott, a retired cardio-thoracic surgeon and an extraordinary medical missionary as well as an extraordinary human being. He turned 77 in April but looked 57 and acted 27! Don again participated in Ride the Rockies in June and climbed a few 14ers later this past summer.
He grew up in Amarillo, Texas, graduated with honors in three years from The College of Wooster near Cleveland. After attending Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia he was selected chief resident in thoracic surgery both in San Francisco and at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He then went on to have a distinguished surgical career at Rose and St. Anthony Hospitals.
Don joined the Rotary Club of Denver Mile High in August 1989. It gave him the opportunity to be serve in so many ways. Always with a smile and the enthusiasm of trying something new or recruiting someone to join him in a new adventure.
Don volunteered for medical missionary trips to repair broken hearts and aortas and heart valves all over the world: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, northwestern India, on and on. In recent years he undertook medical volunteer work in Zimbabwe to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and was about to take off for a medical project in China and another to northwestern India in January. Other volunteer projects were to bring clean drinking water to isolated international communities. Nine years ago he was one of two doctors who amassed and took medical equipment and supplies to hospitals in Cuba. He volunteered one morning every week at Recording for the Blind in honor of his mother who gradually lost her eyesight as she aged.
The list goes on and on. Don said to me once "I want to be of use." And he was.
Don Elliott sang in the choir at Montview Presbyterian Church for 45 years and participated and helped to underwrite a number of Montview volunteer projects both locally and internationally, as he did for the Denver Mile High Rotary. He served as the national president of the Institute for Cultural Affairs and spearheaded many ICA volunteer projects to build harmony between nations. He had just rejoined the Board of ICA and was once again engaged in the programs that he had loved since he first became involved with them in 1970.
A man with an infectious love of life, a lively sense of humor, incredible kindness and the generous gift of his time and talents, Don was a delight to be around.
Dear President Carolyn,
Stella Dongo
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|||||||||
print this page