Los Banos Rotary Club History
Rotarians See, Hear of Trip To Russia

Mrs. Mary Parker, wife of Dr. James A. Parker of Merced, last week gave members of the local Rotary Club an interesting insight of Russia and its people.

Dr. and Mrs. Parker were among a group of American doctors and their family making a 10-day guided tour of the country, which included stops at Leningard and Moscow.

Illustrating her talk with colored transparencies, Mrs. Parker reviewed her impressions of the country and people, and told interesting sidelights along the tour route. She was specially impressed by the magnificence of Moscow and the famed Red Square, also the cathedrals, which, are now open as museums but not as places of worship. Equally impressive was the lavish stadiums and the emphasis placed on sports, and also the magnitude of the Moscow University, where the 22,000 students are trained at government expense.

On the depressive side, she said, was the sameness and monotony of both men's and ladies' clothing, the lack of home conveniences such as we know them, the handicap of Russia's apparently good doctors by lack of modern equipment, and the general lack of modern machinery and equipment such as is commonly accepted in the United States.

February 28, 1958

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