Granite Chips

Posted by Michael Calcagni 
on Jun 08, 2016
 
The meeting was called to order by President Karl noon sharp. We pledged, we sang and then we prayed an amazing Grace eloquently offered by Michael Calcagni.  Karl offered more free meal cards for prospective members and asked if anyone need more tickets to the pancake breakfast and inquired if everyone was coming to Rotary at Night Thursday PM:
Scott: happy $ wife is out of town and he found the kitchen
Susan P 1 AND 9 on Scott and Tony for sitting alone, segregation was implied. Scott had no defense, Bob P paid Tony's fine to encourage him to stay at his table with Scott. Tony plead the childhood issue defense, no one bought it, the fine was passed. Tony who had not attended last week’s meeting read the Granite Chip recap and remarked as there were no fines levied that he would move to fine the "large table" Tom B stated that a table can't be fined. Tony ranted about a fear of politics being the reason for the fine. He then suggested that he wanted to change the fine to every member at the large table. Bertil, boasting a new Caesar haircut, stated that as he was not at last week’s meeting he could not be fined. Susan explained that because last week's speaker was so mesmerizing that we had no time for fines. Vote was nay.
 Secretary Susan introduced our guest: Fred Bashara, Tony ranted again and interrupted the introduction, but Susan prevailed. Fred has had 50 years of perfect Rotary attendance! 
 Karl mentioned new business: Discussion of Robert Campo as a prospective member. In an effort to get new members he passed out free lunch cards to Rotarians so that we can invite prospective members to our meeting by giving them the free lunch cards. He explained that this way they can learn more about Rotary. PDG Bill Thompson, district 7850 Membership Chairman gave money to the club for this purpose. Karl then asked if anyone needed more raffle tickets for the syrup that we are selling for the breakfast for the library.   
Special note: if you want to see the bios and pictures of our upcoming programs just click on their names to the left of this bulletin.
Then Karl introduced Robert Campo as our guest speaker.
 Robert Campo – Rock of Ages= ROA 
Bob is the Vice President of Sales for the Rock of Ages Quarry Division.  He started with Rock of Ages in 1979 and has held various positions within the company.  In 2004 he was promoted to Vice President of Quarry Sales and will celebrate 37 years in the granite industry with Rock of Ages in August of 2016.
A graduate of Spaulding High School in Barre, Robert earned his Associates in Civil Engineering degree from Vermont Technical College in 1979. He is the father of one adult son and lives with his wife, Michele in Barre, Vermont.
 
 
Bob talked at length about Bethel White granite quarried in Bethel VT. It is the gold standard of granite and ROA is the only supplier. You can see this quarry on the West side of I-89 just South of the Randolph Exit 4.
He passed around a polished core sample for reference. Caroline, no, Charlotte asked , "what is granite"?  The room was silent, Michael volunteered, Granite is a light-colored igneous rock with grains large enough to be visible with the unaided eye. It forms from the slow crystallization of magma below the Earth's surface. Granite is composed mainly of quartz and feldspar with minor amounts of mica, amphiboles, and other minerals. This mineral composition usually gives granite a red, pink, gray, or white color with dark mineral grains visible throughout the rock. Only the blue gray comes from the Barre area. Michael was a tour guide at ROA the summer of 1972 and remembers well the lesson learned, and not to take the experience for granite! PUN!
 
Fred Bashara asked about quarrying methods, Diamond wire saws are now the method used to remove blocks of granite. 120K cubic feet of granite are quarried annually by ROA. 
 
1st building clad in Bethel white, Union Station Washington DC 1903-1907, Smithsonian Museum, 1910, was next.
 Union Station, Washington, DC 
More recent buildings using Bethel white: , Grand Hotel in Salt Lake City...Mormons like to use Bethel White because their founder Joseph Smith was from Bethel Vermont and just a fun fact, Mormons believe that the Garden of Eden is in St Louis Mo.
  Wisconsin State capitol, before Scott Walker, was constructed 1906-1917, largest granite dome in the world.
 Prudential building in Newark NJ   
In addition to Bethel Vt, ROA has several other quarries. Those located in  Barre VT, PA and NC produce some of the best exclusive granite. Curbing granite comes from Concord NH.
 
The grand arch in Paris is the 20th century version of the Arc de Triumph. It took 4 years to build and was originally clad in Carrara marble, but it was unstable. It is now being re clad with Bethel White.  Arc de Triumph 
 
Maestro Dick asked if marble is softer than granite and was struck with the polished core sample of Bethel white to see what he thought. He concurred. 
 
Bob noted the quarries in NE were able to stay open all 12 months last year due to the mild winter. They typically close at Christmas. 
 
Q and A with discussion:
 
Discussion of the grading of granite quality
Discussion of how granite is cleaned.
The merits of polished granite for monuments
What a nice singing voice Michael Calcagni has developed
 
Applause and back slapping ensued, meeting was adjourned at 1 pm
 
Cheers, Michael.