Our Program on Tuesday, January 17th was Scott McGinnis giving us his Personal Biography. Gary Thompson kicked things off as Opening Marshal by giving us a short history lesson and quiz of Rotary and our club. Pres. Elect Randy Schumacher presented Pres. Steve with Paul Harris major donor award. Then Pres. Steve s
howed the website he and Scott Zerby did which features each of this year’s Rotary Events on our revolving slide show (Check our website at www.excelsiorrotary.org ) Our member speaker Scott McGinnis gave a great biography of his life! He started by telling us that he always puts his middle initial “D.” (i.e., Donnivan) when in his name to honor both of his grandfathers. Being a Historian, Scott then took us through the chronology if his life with dates and 
a good amount of humor! His parents married young and he was born on 12-4-1965 and is the 3rd of 4 children. His sports of choice were Hockey and Baseball and a lifelong love of fishing. He graduated from MHS in 1983 and got his Bachelor’s Degree from the U of M in History in 1987. He married his wife Beth, who he met in college, on 9-19-1987at Trinity Episcopal Church in Excelsior and was the 4th generation in his family to be married there. They have two sons – Alexander and Andrew.
a good amount of humor! His parents married young and he was born on 12-4-1965 and is the 3rd of 4 children. His sports of choice were Hockey and Baseball and a lifelong love of fishing. He graduated from MHS in 1983 and got his Bachelor’s Degree from the U of M in History in 1987. He married his wife Beth, who he met in college, on 9-19-1987at Trinity Episcopal Church in Excelsior and was the 4th generation in his family to be married there. They have two sons – Alexander and Andrew. Scott has had a lifelong love of restoring old cars. He started by restoring a 1929 Model A Ford and has now restored 5 automobiles and did the restoration of the last one with his son. He also helped Darel Leipold rebuid the engine for his 1910 Model T Ford. Scott also enjoys building homes and built the family cabin in Nisswa. He is also a canoe enthusiast and has done many trips to the Boundary Waters and Mississippi River. He recounted his near death experience on 6-1-2022 when he and his son’s canoe capsized in a storm and was saved by his son from dying of hypothermia.
He then shared his love of History all the way back when he was 10 years old in Carl Orstad’s class when he researched Winston Churchill’s life for a call project. He loved history so much he even landed a job at the Mn Historical society and from high school through college. He combined his love of history and research to become a consultant on Environmental historical contamination using his research for legal adjudication in contamination cleanups. He retired in 2013 to care for his Father-In-Law after having a heart attack and passed away this last September 21st. He continues the love of history and serves as President of the Minnetonka Historical Society located in Excelsior.