Posted by Peggy Strom on May 30, 2017
We were fortunate to hear from two of our newest members today as Joe Ziskowsky and Glenn Bowers gave their "classification talks".  It is always so interesting to hear about member backgrounds and today was no exception.  We learned that Joe's childhood included many moves as a result of his father's career in the U.S. Navy.  Born in San Diego, Joe's various homes included Nevada, Michigan, Colorado and Iraq.  It was during college at Creighton University in Nebraska that Joe met his wife Betty.  Upon graduation with a degree in electrical engineering, Joe and Betty moved to Texas where Joe worked at Texas Instruments Corp. developing calculators and other products.  When an opportunity to move to PAR systems arose, they made the move to MN, arriving in the middle of a blizzard in 1982.  After retiring several years ago, Joe and Betty have taken the opportunity to indulge their love of travel - visiting all states as well as all continents, with the exception of Antarctica.  
 
Glenn Bowers has an interesting story as well.  Glenn hails from Chicago, where  he remembers his grandfather being a staunch Republican in the Democratic stronghold of Cook County.  Glenn credits his kindergarten teacher for instilling a love of science in him at a very early age.  With an undergraduate degree in biology, he went on to earn a masters and PhD in plant pathology from the University of Illinois.  He has been involved in the study and practice of soybean breeding for most of his career which began in teaching but moved to corporate America during the 1970's.  It was then that it became possible to patent plants, which spurred a growth in business opportunity.  He is currently Vice President at a local firm which is in the development stage on several fronts.  One includes the application of plant genetic engineering techniques to a potential treatment for leukemia in humans.  Glenn has been an active Rotarian in all the places he's lived, with leadership roles at both club and district levels.  His wife is also a dedicated Rotarian and currently a member of the White Bear Lake club.  Like Joe and Betty, Glenn and his wife love to travel. They have attended a number of Rotary International conferences, and will be traveling to this year's conference in Atlanta in June.
 
We knew it before but their presentations today made it very clear that we are awfully fortunate to have Joe and Glenn as new members of our Arden Hills/Shoreview Rotary Club!