Message from Br 32 Big Sir

Welcome Fellow SIRs,

Happy St. Patricks’ Day

Here we are marching into March madness, for those that follow basketball.  For those of us with a wee bit of Irish, it is time for a little foolishness from the mischievous leprechaun (look out).  With a mischievous grin, I wish one and all a very “Happy St. Patricks’ Day”.  Make sure you all wear Green for our SIR luncheon on March 19, 2025.  Speaking of luncheons, our monthly luncheon attendance continues to be strong.  We had 98 members, 1visitor, 3 guest, and 1 Speaker.  Thanks to all our members for attending.  It is great to look out over a crowd of men having fun and enjoying good friendship.  SIR Branch 32 is still growing.  Two of our guest at the February luncheon have already submitted their applications.  A big thank you to all of our members who continue to bring friends and help us grow.  It looks like we have another four men to be inducted this month.  We Have 165 Members as of the end of February and the four additional applications will bring us to 169 members.  Keep up the great work.  I would like to give a big “Thank You” to Ken Roberts for giving us an amazing line-up of speakers who have presented some truly fascinating topics. 

I would like bring to everyone’s attention that SIR Branch 32 received some well-deserved attention this last month.  San Jose Council member George Cassey, of District 10, did an outstanding write up about SIR Branch 32 in his February monthly newsletter.  Below is a copy for your review. 

Wes Howard, Branch 32 President (Big SIR)

---

---

New March Inductees:

Fred Tierney, Randy Spencer, John Cognetta, Tony Cistulli, Neck Resz, and Sean Campion were inducted at the March 2025 Lunch. Welcome all to SIR.

March 2025 Luncheon Speaker

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Bio:

Tony Mazzucco is a retired aerospace engineer who worked for Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale for 35 years supporting a variety of space programs.  He is active in the SIRS men’s program locally in San Jose, enjoying the golfing, hiking, pickleball and wine clubs.  He volunteers with his wife at their church in San Jose, serving in the Children’s Ministry, Food Pantry and Grief Share programs.  He also volunteers as a teacher of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) at his local elementary school, and tutors middle school math.

Topic:

Tony will be sharing a brief overview and update of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the world’s most powerful (and expensive) space telescope, including its incredible engineering design and some of the amazing discoveries and images collected since it began its science mission in mid July 2022.   Webb is designed to “look back in time” to see the most distant galaxies in the Universe, and study how stars and galaxies evolved over cosmic time.  Webb also studies planets orbiting other stars looking for the chemical signatures of the building blocks of life, as well as studies the planets in our own solar system.

---

Future speakers:

April – Dr. Kenneth Peters will talk about symptoms, causes and measurement of hearing loss and what we can do about it.

---

Emeritus Honorary Life membership (HLM) Award for Deceased Don Pedrotti

Tony Mazzucco, Bob Grandey and Doug Krause (not pictured) met with Don Pedrotti’s wife Miriam to provide her with the HLM award which was not available prior to his death.

There is no higher honor than Emeritus HLM that is reserved to those HLM’s not able to attend luncheons or activities due to illness or disabilities. “Once an HLM, always an HLM.” Don was aware of receiving the honor of Emeritus HLM before he passed away.

Don was bestowed the Honorary Life Member award in 2006 and served twice as Big Sir in 1999 and 2003. Don Pedrotti was also an avid photographer and chaired the Camera activity. 

---

2025 Officers and Directors Installed

Left to Right: Wes Howard, Nick Jize, Paul Gardner, Mike Bishop, John Caldwell, Darrel Gray, John Pfanhl, Doug Krause, Larry Hallinan, Jim leBlanc, Jim Caratozzolo, and kneeling, Tony Mazzucco. Officers / Directors were installed by Bob Grandey, past Big SIR and Area Govenor (far right).