The program was everyone’s favorite:  Craft Talks from two new members, Sue Lamb and Long Nguyen.

Sue Lamb is the daughter of long-time member, Jack Lamb, better known as “Gramps” in their family.  She is a third-generation Rotarian.  Born in Altadena, mostly raised in Sierra Madre, she now lives in Monrovia.  Sue is a realtor with Coldwell Banker in Arcadia.  Her territory extends from La Canada to La Verne, but she mostly sells homes in Arcadia, Monrovia, and Pasadena.  She provided shopping bags for club members filled with goodies and local real estate market stats.  Her description of the current real estate market is “Good but changing” and offers a referral give-back in which she donates $1,000 to the charity of your choice with a referral to her.  She was recently confirmed at St. Rita’s in the Catholic faith.  She shared photos of her favorite things: her lovely home and garden, birthdays and bowling with family, brushes with celebrities, and her “boyfriend” Mike Trout.  She has a dream of learning to drive large construction equipment, specifically a backhoe.  Richard Schulhof offered to let her drive the backhoe at the Arboretum and several other Rotarians added their support for such a club outing opportunity.  Sue’s final photo was of her mom’s favorite quote – “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere!”

Long Nguyen, also known as “Longo,” is the owner of a favorite local restaurant, Matt Denny’s.  Long has owned Matt Denny’s for about a year and has continued the good service and food so appreciated by many Arcadia Rotarians.  Named for a movie star, Long was born in 1975 in South Vietnam.  His father was a fighter pilot with the South Vietnamese Army and was in a prison camp when Long was born.  At age five, Long, his mother and sister attempted to leave Vietnam by river boat.  When stopped by the military police, Long answered the police honestly and he and his family were arrested.  He told us that the moral is “If you’re doing something illegal, don’t tell the kids.”  Ultimately, his family was able to escape to an oil rig off the coast of Vietnam.  After stops in Malaysia and the Philippines, they immigrated to the United States.  Long grew up in the San Fernando Valley and still lives there.  He has two sons, age 11 and 14.  He worked in IT for 15 years before changing to restaurant work.  When the opportunity to purchase Matt Denny’s came along, it was too good to pass up.  He thanked the club for the support the community has shown him as the new owner and is happy to welcome us all there.