Who's Who in Fort Yuma Rotary?

Marlene was chosen for our July Rotarian of the Month for her hard work on our Back to School Clothing shop. For being a fairly new Rotarian, Marlene jumped right in with both feet and did a wonderful job organizing and taking care of the details of our first service project of the year. She did an outstanding job for never even attending a clothing shop before!

Marlene has been a Fort Yuma Rotarian since November, 2010 and was sponsored by David Carvell. Marlene and her husband Pat have been here for almost three years. Marlene is a Paul Harris Fellow and a Sustaining Member and joined Rotary because she wanted to have some socialization and community involvement outside of work.  Marlene is the Practice Administrator for Pat's medical practice, Aiello Eye Institute. 

Marlene joined the Air Force when she was 17 years old and went to Kaiserslautern, Germany for four years where she worked as a military cop. After her stint in Germany, she returned to Phoenix, joined the Air National Guard and worked full time in the County jail for four years while she took college classes.While Marlene worked in the County jail, one of the maximum custody inmates hung herself. Marlene cut her down, provided CPR and saved her life! After that, Marlene quit her job and went to school full time to become a nurse. Marlene holds an Associates degree in Nursing, a Bachelors degree in Business in Health Care Administration and another Bachelors in Criminology. Marlene has been a nurse now for almost 20 years and was working as a trauma nurse when Pat was recruited by YRMC to come to work in Yuma. They have five children (three girls and two boys-all grown up) and three grandchildren.  

Below are some answers to some questions we asked Marlene:

Something interesting about you? "I am a little bit hyperactive and OCD. I am about an hour away and a short cross country flight away from getting my private pilot's license."

Favorite Restaurant? "Here in Yuma, it is Julianna's."

Favorite Food? "Seafood and anything that includes goat cheese -Yum :)"

Favorite Movie? "Get Him to the Greek."

Favorite Actor/Actress? "I LOVE Paul Rudd. Also any movies with Queen Latifah."

Favorite Book? "Catcher in the Rye. Someone took my paperback copy and I am really annoyed!"

Favorite Music? "That's hard cuz I go through phases. I just left a Pop-Top 40 phase and am on to both Reggae and Classic Rock".