Celebration of Life at sea for Past Commodore Joseph B. Ottenstein will be held Sunday June 3 2007. Rear Admiral William Master will officiate. Boats will leave the Halifax River Yacht Club docks at approximately 10:00 a.m. and return around 2:30 p.m. Commodore Chris Brown Captain of Trident will lead the following boats in procession Miss Aud Too (Captain Miss Aud) Traces (Captain Dave Winkler) For Suzy Q (Captain Larry Robinson) Lady Elaine (Captain Ron Zoske) Megalove (Captain Wayne Stewart) and Donna Jean (Captain Rich Schaufert. If you are a boater who would like to participate in the offshore ceremony please meet at the club by 9:30 a.m. In case of inclement weather the ceremony will mostly be inshore. Friends of Joe Ottenstein unable to join us at sea are invited to attend the continuing celebration at the Halifax River Yacht Club at 2:30 p.m. for brunch and music. His career as a corporate executive involved mass market distribution of periodicals and books. At the time that this business was merged with a NYSE listed conglomerate the volume of the businesses accounted for 15% of the mass market circulation of magazine and books sold on newsstands in the United States. Airport Concessions were developed as a separate entity at major regional national and international airports across the country. This business included: fast food full service restaurants sundries stores gift shops duty free shops bars and cocktail lounges and in-flight catering. Miscellaneous activities made possible by the primary business operations were the development of high-rise office and apartment buildings warehouses and shopping centers. Since retirement he has spent his time as a volunteer in several areas of the Volusia community. Donated the first full scale computer laboratory for the Volusia County School System in 1978 out of which a rapid expansion of computer literacy programs followed at all levels of the school system. Many years were spent recording for the blind at the Daytona Beach Regional Library for Blind and Physically Handicapped. This evolved into training staff and volunteers in operating one of the nation's first computerized Braille systems which led to increasing production at the facility by 800%. "If I don't learn something new each day I feel the day has been wasted" Joe used to say "And that's the way I've tried to live my life". A co-founder of the Volusia Literacy Council which follows the techniques developed by Laubach Literacy International; bringing this organization to standards that qualified it to be certified by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax exempt charitable organization and then meeting the requirements established by the United Way in order for it to be accepted as a member agency. A director and officer of the United Way of Volusia County and the director of its Endowment Fund during which time the Fund grew from just a few thousand dollars to more than $750 000 of which Joe donated $200 000. A yachting enthusiast for more than 60 years he was a member of the Halifax River Yacht Club serving on the Board of Directors and as its 1997 Commodore and later the first Commodore of the Sunset Harbor Yacht Club in 2004. A member of the International Order of The Blue Gavel and Past President of the Halifax River Chapter of that organization a member of Oceanside Country Club and The Loyal Order of The Moose. A recipient of the Memorial Health Systems 1997 Humanitarian of The Year award. "As citizens we can't just take" Joe often professed "what we give I can assure you comes back tenfold." Local charities supported in addition to support given to many national charitable organizations include: The London Symphony Memorial Health Systems several expansion funds Palmetto Place Advocates The Museum of Arts & Sciences W.O.R.C. and The United Way.