Lorne Brown, an attorney and member of the Optimist Club of Pasadena, California, just finished his reign as President and Chairman of the Board of the Tournament of Roses. With help from 935 volunteers and 33 sub-committees, Brown successfully led the 112th Tournament of Roses Parade and another classic Rose Bowl on the first day of 2001. The parade and football game culminated a full year of planning, organizing and old-fashioned nail biting for Brown, who has been involved with the Tournament of Roses for the past 32 years. Despite the magnitude of the Tournament of Roses event, Brown sees a striking resemblance between the Pasadena organization and Optimist Clubs. Both organizations are very community-oriented.
Volunteers run both.
Both have a lot of caring, hard-working people, striving to make the organizations the best they can be. Brown says there is also an undeniable link between his Optimist Club and the Tournament of Roses event. 2000 President Ken Bores is an Optimist. Next year's president, Ken Oakem, is also a member of the Pasadena club. And, believe it or not, Gary Thomas, who will be President in 2003, is a member of the Pasadena Optimist Club.