Dave Freeman—Dave was born in San Diego but spent much of his childhood in Panama. He learned how to speak Spanish before English and began a life-long love of languages. He also knows some Mandarian thanks to his Uncle and Cambodian thanks to the “love of his life” Lynn. Dave’s upbringing also involved being around horses so he has always been an animal lover. His father was a world champion badminton player and therefore, his father’s love of sports rubbed off on him. Dave played tennis, judo and soccer in high school and in college even got to play with tennis greats Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith and Wayne Bryan. Another hobby of Dave’s is music. He played the trumpet in school and even appeared in the Rose Parade a couple of times. Dave had the dream of becoming a brain surgeon when he entered college with a microbiology major. When he decided to learn the business side of medicine and obtained a law degree, the thought of attending even more school to become a brain surgeon steered him towards opening a law practice instead. Dave wasn’t interested in becoming a high powered corporate attorney, but instead chose to settle in a small town like Arcadia and focus on real estate law. Dave is high powered in his own right, though, since he has served as President of the Board of Realtors and continues to be active in that organization after his retirement.

Frank Hall—Frank has been a Rotarian for over 50 years, 7 of those with the Arcadia Rotary. Frank kept us intrigued as he spoke of being a Rotarian in Palm Springs and having visiting Rotarians’ from all over the country who were snow bunnies escaping to the warmth of Palm Springs, like J.C. Penny and Jack Benny’s Announcer Don Wilson. Back in those days, you were not allowed to miss 4 meetings or you were out of the club and the coveted spot for your particular classification would be given to an eager person waiting in line to be a Rotarian. Frank was born in Bakersfield and left the Central Valley to attend USC and never returned to his hometown. He was a banker for most of his career, working his way up to becoming the youngest Vice President in Citizen’s Bank (Crocker Bank) at the young age of 27. At Citizen’s Bank if you were an Asst. Manager you were to belong to Kiwanis, is you were a Manager you belonged to Rotary! It was quite a honor to be a Rotarian. Frank worked in Covina, Palm Springs, Newport Beach and was a Rotarian wherever he went. Frank spent a lot of time volunteering for various boards and was very successful at fundraising. Frank was so successful that a hospital in Palm Springs lured him away from the world of banking to become a professional fundraiser. The last part of his career was spent in fundraising for foundations, which is why he is so good raising money for our club!

(Teri Muse)