They are members of Order of Merlin of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and charter members and past presidents of IBM Ring 250, The Presto-Digitators.

Mr. Magic, known on the street as Ed Hurtubis, is currently the treasurer and a life-time member of the International Magicians Society. He followed his grandfather into magic at the age of 6 and has been entertaining large and small audiences for more than 60 years. This Senior Full Professor of Camelard College of Conjuring of Clemmis may even explain that alliterative title.

The Great Loudini is better known as Lew Wymisner, Larimer County Workforce Center's assistant director, administrator of Larimer County's Enterprise Zone and coordinator of the monthly Employer's Roundtable and September Symposium.

The Great Loudini, who first appeared at age 10, has opened for a number of music groups and performed locally for many community based organizations. As part of the Presto-Digitators, formed by Mr. Magic in 1979, he helped create an annual magic convention, drawing close to 300 magicians from around the country to Fort Collins and includes the Magic in the Rockies show at the Lincoln Center.

"This small crew scoured our adopted section of highway 14 last Saturday; Melanie Chamberlain and her spouse, former member Ray Chamberlain, Bill Moellenhoff, club president, Jim Beaty, Chuck Mabrey, Tom Bennett, Herman Meyer, Charles Peterson and Troy Peterson, his grandson. Herman Meyer calculated that if honorary and excused senior active members are excluded from the calculation, we had 3.9325 % participation. He waved aloft a dollar that he found during the cleanup and said he was donating it to the club. His suggestion, that those that did not assist in the cleaning should seek absolution by following his lead, was heartedly endorsed, and the club raised $105.36 that was later donated to the children's clinic."

Kirvin was given an award of distinction from the University of California at Davis from the college of Agriculture and Environmental Science. The Awards are presented annually to a small group of recipients whose contributions and achievements enrich the image and reputation of the college and enhance its ability to provide public service. He has received many awards, citations and recognitions and recently was elected to the Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame and named the Educator of the Century by the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. Congratulations Kirvin.`

He started by saying "this is a fantastic day, the Rockies are playing tonight, the weather is magnificent and I'm the hell out of Iraq," which he said kiddingly. Before getting to the heart of his presentation he told us how unique his position was, being one of 55 general officers where only three others were reserves, being one of the three oldest, being only one of two engineers and about the high level of military and government officials that he dealt with daily.

His position was developed to rebuild the infrastructure and started when Ambassador Paul Bremer selected Rear Admiral Nash to do the rebuilding job and when congress set aside $20.8 billion in 03 and 04 appropriations as the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Act, IRRA. He was the fourth in this Director's job that reported to the State Department, but operationally he was an intermediary between State and the Corps of Engineers in the Department of Defense.

He described a typical day of his that went on seven days a week and nearly twenty four hours a day. The helicopters started arriving at 0300 and you decided how long you would tolerate the noise and vibration before you got up, which was usually around 4:30 a.m. for him. In at work at 5:30 and called Phyllis for a ten minute chats most days. His aide brought coffee at 6:05 followed by breakfast at 7:00. Then there were two meetings of senior officers, the BUA, Battle Update Assessment, and the Huddle for daily priorities. This was followed by nine to fifteen meetings when he was not traveling, mainly for people asking for money. The day ended at 9:30 p.m., then a little dinner at 10:00, followed by a some TV or reading to help maintain a little sanity.

He related two special days. The first was near his time to leave and his daughter's time in Iraq to begin. He said he pulled every string to get to see her and did get to spend a whole day with her, which he described as precious moments. The second was his attendance of a ceremony in the Palace at Camp Liberty where 60 soldiers and sailors took the oath to become citizens. He said that there was not a dry eye in the audience and that it was one of the most touching events of his life.

The best part of his job was getting out to see, feel and smell the projects that he was responsible for funding and overseeing. He said he was one of the top five in traveling the country. He visited 143 locations, spent 240 hours in helicopters and more that 100 trips out of the "Green Zone." On over 50% of this travel he was protected by Blackwater employees, the private protection company hired by the Embassy. He was very complementary about Blackwater for their professionalism and related two specific stories of their protective efforts of him and one of his staff.

When asked if he would return he said yes if ordered he would go where he is told. If asked, it would be a decision between he and Phyllis, but if it was only him, "I would go back in a minute," because "how can you not go back when you are rebuilding a nation and helping a nation regain its dignity."

He ended his presentation by thanking us and all who take the time to send cards and letters to him and all in Iraq. He said remembering saves lives. He also thanked those in our club that supported his family while he was there and thanked all for embracing the returning soldiers and sailors. He answered two questions in detail. One was concerning the security situation and the second was about sectarian violence.

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