Member Moments - Dan Buron & Rod PPender

On hand today to tell us about themselves were Dan Buron and Rod Pender. Dan kicked things off by telling us that he comes from a family of 8 children – 3 boys and 5 girls. He said that when the family would go on vacations, he and his brothers would always wrestle to see who would sleep on the floor – Dan always seemed to lose! Dan mentioned his older sister, Karen, and that it was her influence specifically that provided the impetus for him doing the work he does at Goodwill. Karen, he said, was eleven years old when he was born and was born with a developmental disability. He and his sister were very close. In fact, they even worked together at one time. Karen loved her work as a bus person and playing sports. She participated in Special Olympics since 1975. Karen and Dan had many conversations about the work she did which always excited her. Dan’s other family members would return for the holidays and would talk to her about her work. It kept the family connected. Dan credits Karen with inspiring him to use his unique talent and work with others who have developmental disabilities. Karen passed away a number of years ago and as a tribute to her he put her picture and various medals she won in a frame and it now hangs in his office. Dan showed us a hand drawing of the Goodwill facility he was given by an individual in Goodwill’s Micro Enterprise program which, he said, reconnects him to the idea about the work he does and why it’s so important to him and the impact it’s had him and other people’s lives. Dan said he is very fortunate that he found a vocation that is truly a passion of his. His other passion, he said, was his family – his wife and two girls, 4 and 7. They’re headed for Chicago this weekend to visit the American Girl Doll store there. He concluded by saying that he also really enjoys his involvement with the Adrian Noon Rotary Club.

 

Next up was President-Elect Rod. He began by saying that not only was he born at a very early age, he was originally from the UP – Upper Peninsula, specifically Ontonagon. He said the city's name actually came from several Indians who were playing cards and one was caught cheating so one of them picked up a bowl and hit the other “on the noggin”! Rod and his wife Karen have been married for 25 years – 20 of those were good years. They have one son, Jarrod, who is 15 and attends LCS and is a sophomore and very involved in varsity sports. He started out in the hotel business working at the Red Roof Inn and even opened up a Drury Inn in Frankenmuth and ran several hotels in Troy. He started selling real estate in 1990 as well, he said. In 1994 Karen’s dad passed away and they moved to Adrian in 1995 where he started to work for the Carlton Lodge and Super 8. Shortly thereafter, Rod was sponsored into Rotary by the first woman president, Andrea Wilson. He said he was club president in 2002 following Mark Murray and now he’s President-elect and will follow Mary Murray in 2015-16! Rod went back into real estate having become part owner of the Real Estate Center in Adrian and then he and Karen opened Maple Center Realty. He left the club in 2004 when he took a position with a firm requiring him to travel around the country teaching real estate seminars. He did this for 7 years – 30-50 trips a year. Rod also taught seminars for Robert Kyosacki who wrote the best selling book “Rich Dad/Poor Dad”. That career took him all over the country as well and it was something he truly loved to do, he said. When the real estate market took a dive he and Karen owned a substantial number of properties but Rod decided to change jobs in 2011 and began working for Edward Jones in their Blissfield office. He soon became a Blissfield Rotarian until he was transferred to the Adrian area so re-joined this club. Karen is an agent with the Howard Hanna Agency. Rod said he was excited about following Mary as president of the club next year and remembers when the club supported the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization and that he was proud to have been a Big to Ben who was 9 years old at the time and he is now 26 and will always be a part of his life!