By By JOHN EBY / Niles Daily Star
DOWAGIAC – Cass County Council on Aging Executive Director Bob Cochrane knows better than most that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
For years, he overpaid $2 a meal every week.
Cochrane, Dowagiac Rotary Club's fine-collecting sergeant at arms, transferred here four years ago when he came to the COA, but he actually became a Rotarian 16 years ago in Omaha, Neb.
Instead of paying the $8 lunch fee, he kicked in $10, with the understanding the difference would go toward Rotary International foundation and, eventually, his designation as a Paul Harris Fellow for what has accumulated to more than the requisite $1,000 contribution.
"I've been throwing in the extra two bucks for a lot of years," Cochrane commented. "I'm honored to get this."
Cochrane, accompanied by his wife, Mary, who works for Dowagiac District Library, is also helping organize Rotary's July 24-26 strawberry shortcake booth for Fun Fest.
Dick Judd, who presented Cochrane his Paul Harris medallion, noted that he and his daughter and son-in-law, Beth and Dr. Matthew Cripe, participated in the COA's Trivia Night.
"We didn't win, but we had a lot of fun."
Judd and Cochrane are also among the club's most avid downhill skiers.
Rotarians' rousing rivalries rear their heads when it comes to sorting themselves into their sports allegiances. Judd is a Michigan State Spartan, Charlie Gratz is the most rabid Ohio State Buckeye and there are also plenty of University of Michigan Wolverine loyalists and followers of the Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame. And then there's Cochrane, the Kansas Jayhawk.