What did you want to be when you grew up? For years, I planned to be a lawyer. My parents always said I could argue my way out of anything!!

First job? I bagged groceries at Paulus’s in Cedarburg. My first day on the job, I dropped a box of ketchup and the manager said that I was “broken in”. Before that, I worked on a potato farm in Cedarburg.

Most interesting job? I spent two years as a Russian linguist at a small NATO base in Italy listening to flights over what was then Yugoslavia. 

Main accomplishment? Jan and I have raised two very caring, well-adjusted and successful sons who have gone on to raise great kids.

Career mentor? Very early in my social work career, I worked for a man named Al Kasprowicz, the director of St. Aemilian’s in Milwaukee. He taught me that whoever has the most options in a situation will prevail, and Al could be very effective in creating options. As a therapist, my job was to simply open up painfully stuck people and families to new options in their thinking, feeling and actions.

Hobbies, interests? Where do I start … Jan and I have traveled to about 60 countries and spent over five years living and traveling outside the US.  I am very active in the community and was the MT Chamber’s Citizen of the Year in 2006.  I enjoy golf, photography, music and life.

Most memorable Rotary moment? In 2006, Steve Peterman called me up to the mike at the Changing of the Guard to receive my first Paul Harris award.  It was completely unexpected and I was speechless.

Favorite Quotes? “If you talk to other people the way you talk to yourself, you won’t have many friends.” (I don’t know where I learned this) and “I never give them hell.  I just tell them the truth, and they think it’s hell.”  Harry Truman (“Give ‘em Hell Harry”)

The Ozaukee County Branch of the NAACP, Bridge the Divide and MATC would like to invite you to attend "Forgiveness Discussion: The Gift of Our Wounds" on Saturday 6 April from 4:00pm-5:30pm. Please click here to learn more about this and to register for this free event.

This forgiveness discussion came about after the 2012 terror attack at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, WI. Pardeep Kaleka lost his father and former White Supremacist and skinhead Arno Michaelis felt responsible due to the attack being carried out one of his disciples. They have come together as friends to demonstrated the triumph of love over hate.

With the recent terror attack on the Mosques in New Zealand we need to find ways to overcome the fear that creates hate filled actions that continue to take the lives of innocent human beings.

Please join us on 6 April.

Brian Monroe