|
|
The Belletarian |
| Rotary International Chapter 690 • Belleville, IL • District 6510 |
| Home Page |
August 2002 |
|||
| New web site planned for Belleville Rotary |
Paul Pongpitoon is 2002-03 Rotary President |
|||
| Within the next month
we will be activating the clubs web site on the Internet. You can access the site at www.belleville-rotary.org. The current club news-letter and previous news-letters will be available on-line for your review. If you have an email address, announcements of future versions of the newsletter will be sent via email. If you do not have an email address, a copy of the newsletter will be sent via regular mail. The on-line and mailed newsletters will be the same, except that the on-line version will have color pictures and links to the district web site as well as related information. by Bob Havlin |
"I always wanted to do
something for the community," said Paul. "Through my business I was
providing good services at good prices to the community, but when I attended
a Rotary lunch and saw what they did, I knew I wanted to be part of the
Rotary organization." Paul joined Rotary in 1995. He has served as treasurer, secretary, president-elect and a member of the board of directors before becoming president. "I hope to reach my goals of helping our local Rotary Club as well as helping the International Rotary," he said. Paul has experience dealing with challenges. He was born in a small village in Thailand in 1945 where the average education was only to the 4th grade. Paul’s father was a school teacher and Paul and three of his five brothers and sister continued their education, with Paul attending a university in Bangkok. He passed an entrance exam where less than ten percent of applicants are permitted to continue beyond high school. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Medical Science, he became an instructor at the university. He also worked for the U.S. Army within a medical unit during the Vietnam War. Paul came to the U.S. in 1968 and took additional training in medical technology at Missouri Baptist Hospital in St. Louis. "At this time I read and wrote English fairly well, but understanding English spoken by Americans still proved difficult for me," said Paul. In 1972 Paul returned to Thailand where he and Somlak were married before returning to the U.S. Paul and Somlak eventually moved to Michigan where Paul continued his education, graduating from the University |
 of Michigan in 1976 with a Masters Degree in Public Health. They returned to St. Louis and Paul worked in area hospitals. In 1985 Paul founded Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (MDL). "We had only three employees in the beginning. My wife Somlak joined the business in 1988. Today, we have about 100 employees and three service centers located in Illinois and Missouri." Paul and Somlak live in Swansea and have two children, Ben and Melissa. After graduating from college, Ben joined his parents and works at MDL. Melissa graduated from college and lives and works in Chicago. Paul said he loves to play golf, travel and go fishing. He also used to play competitive tennis. Paul said he is looking forward to the challenges that are before him as president of Rotary. "I want our Rotary to provide quality programs that will be of service to the local community as well as to the international community. " |
||
|
|
||||