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2022 Parade of Flags

The 2022 Wooster Rotary Parade of Flags kicks-off on Memorial Day weekend. Celebrate our country and our community by subscribing or renewing today!

Join your friends, neighbors and local businesses to show your patriotic pride and support community organizations. Click the link below to order your flag subscription. You’ll receive a flag on five holidays in 2022: Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Patriots’ Day and Veterans’ Day. The deadline for the first flag holiday is May 10.

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We are grateful for your support of this program and our community!

Class of 2021 Scholarship Winners

Including this year, the Wooster Rotary Club has made 200 scholarship awards for nearly $360,000.

Due to the COVID19 pandemic, the traditional senior awards assembly was replaced with a hybrid assembly on Thursday, June 3, 2021. Students being presented with awards were invited to attend in-person and scholarship groups who wanted to make their presentations were done electronically.

Club President Justin Starlin welcomed our finalists with a video about Wooster Rotary’s continuing support of educational opportunities.

This year, Wooster Rotary Club awarded $16,500 in scholarships to 9 Wooster High School seniors as listed below.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - A Series

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

This starts a series on the history of Wooster Rotary, the first of which addresses the founding of Rotary International.

The first Rotary Club was formed when Paul P. Harris, an attorney, called three of his business acquaintances in downtown Chicago together for lunch at the office of Gustave Loehr, a mining engineer and a freemason. The other two attendees were Hiram E. Shorey, a tailor, and Silvester S Schiele, a coal merchant. The members choose the name “Rotary” because they initially decided to rotate subsequent meetings between their respective offices. However, the Club soon began to grow so quickly that they decided to select a permanent meeting place.

100 YEARS OF WOOSTER ROTARY (PARTS 1-6) THE FOUNDING

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

In 1915, Walter D. Foss, President of the Wooster Brush Company, after the death of his wife, decided to retire and move to Cleveland. Once he arrived in Cleveland, he decided to take up residence at the Hotel Carter in downtown Cleveland. He commuted back and forth to Wooster once or twice each week to keep in touch with the Company and family in Wooster.

At some point, he joined the Cleveland Rotary Club and soon decided that Wooster could benefit as well with a Rotary Club.

He enlisted his son, Walter R. Foss, President of Wooster Brush, Walter Whitaker, a Wooster Insurance Agent, and William Harris, a cashier at the Citizens National Bank. Together they compiled a list of candidates for the Wooster Rotary Club. They approached each candidate personally and explained the principles of Rotary and the qualifications for membership and all of the rules and regulations of Rotary. Some potential members who were approached declined, others who were not approached asked if they could join.

Soon, 24 potential members were selected, being an adequate number to apply for a charter and a meeting was set for January 21, 1921, although that is not the “official” date for Wooster Rotary. Walter D. Foss received a letter from the International Association of Rotary Clubs dated 28 February, 1921 accepting the Wooster application. The Charter itself carries a March 1,1921 date; Charter No. 834. So, we can have three celebrations if we want.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 7

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

A few Rotary members have been asking about the Rotary Youth Exchange program, no doubt prompted by the excellent article about our current inbound and outbound students in the Daily Record last week.

The Rotary Club of Denmark initiated the first Rotary youth exchange in 1927 with the Rotary Club of Nice, France following in 1929. The exchanges then usually took place during summer or school vacations and only lasted for a few weeks. Exchanges were abandoned in the mid-1930’s because of economic conditions and the impending unrest which ultimately led to World War II.

100 YEARS OF WOOSTER ROTARY (PARTS 8-20) THE EARLY YEARS

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

As you may note by the occupations of the original twenty-four members of the Wooster Rotary Club and their contacts throughout the Ohio business world, the Wooster Rotary Club held the promise of great things to come with special emphasis on “Service Above Self”. By 1924, the Wooster Rotary Club had grown to 55. That same year a Motion was made to pay the expenses of a Wooster Delegate to the National Rotary Convention. The second Wooster President, Charles Gary was sent as Wooster’s Delegate to the St. Louis Convention. Also, at that time the fiscal year for each Rotary Club ended on March 31st.

1924 was a very active year for the Wooster Club, contributions were made to the Boy Scouts and our first relationship with the International Society for Crippled Children resulted in an average donation of $4.00 per member to that organization.

In 1925, after an address by the Chaplain of the Ohio State Penetentiary, Wooster Rotary adopted a Resolution sent to the Ohio Legislature that prisoners be encouraged to further their education through correspondence courses organized by the State of Ohio. The Wooster Club was also recognized by the Crippled Children Foundation for buying an electric chair for a local Wooster citizen. This is the first time that Wooster used funds to support a local citizen. This also was the first time that the membership held a picnic at the newly opened Wooster City Park, known now as the Christmas Run Park.

100 YEARS OF WOOSTER ROTARY (PARTS 21-32) COMPLETING THE FIRST 50 YEARS

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1960 to 1961 Wooster Rotary Year began with a new Club President, Al Burger Sr. In his first order of business, President Al pointed out that Wooster Rotary would observe its 40th Anniversary on January 21, 1961 and he was appointing a special committee to provide a suitable recognition of that date.

Of special interest were some of the programs for the year presented by Luke Sewell who recounted his 33 years in baseball with the Cleveland team and many other teams ending as manager of the St. Louis Browns; Albert Dix who spoke about his travels in Africa; Norman Auburn, President of the University of Akron, who spoke about his recent trip to Russia; Dr. Earle Kay of Cleveland and a leading heart surgeon who spoke about new advances in heart surgery (with slides); C.H. Lawrence, nuclear specialist, who spoke about the nuclear ship Savannah; Jerry McKeel, engineer with Goodyear Aircraft, who presented a program about the new space program; and Carl V. Weygandt, Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, and a native of Wooster, who spoke about his reflections upon Memorial Day.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 33

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1971 to 1972 Wooster Rotary year began with a new President, Pete Bogner. The new incoming Board members were Keith Remy, Vic Dix and Francis Varga. President Pete’s first official pronouncement was for all Wooster Rotary Committees to meet and prepare a written report concerning the Committee’s project plans for the year. President Pete also called upon all Wooster Rotarians to make contributions to the Wooster Police Blue Coat Fund established to honor Wooster Police Officers Goodrich and Nisely, both of whom died during the July 4, 1969 flood trying to rescue others.

The annual family picnic on July 22nd at the OARDC drew over 350 Wooster Rotarians and their family members. The Wooster Rotary Club hosted the annual all-city club meeting at Lowry Center on Thursday evening, September 2nd. The speaker was Perle L. Whitehead, retired regional Boy Scout Executive. Members of Wooster’s eight service clubs packed the ballroom for an excellent program. Over 400 people were in attendance.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 34

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1972-1973 Wooster Rotary Year began with a new Wooster Rotary President, Bill Drumm. In his first presentation President Bill pointed out that Wooster Rotary was one of 15,306 clubs worldwide in 149 countries with 719,500 members.

The proposed budget for Wooster Rotary was balanced at $28,255. Dates were also announced for the Annual Family Picnic and for the Annual Rotary Golf Outing. Members were urged to sign up quickly.

At the July 26th meeting, Honorary Membership was conferred upon P. T. Raju, retiring Professor of Indian Studies at the College of Wooster and a Wooster Rotary Member. Professor Raju received his BA, MA and PhD from the University of Calcutta and taught philosophy and psychology at the University of Rajasthan before his appointment to the College of Wooster Faculty in 1962.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 35

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

This week will be a change from the year by year chronicle of Wooster Rotary’s history for a history of the death of the last founding member of Wooster Rotary. The following is a verbatim reprint found in the “Woostarian.”

Last week Rotarians bade farewell to Herman Freedlander, the last living charter member of Wooster Rotary and beloved benefactor of the community in which he lived and worked for nearly a century. Herman, who faithfully attended Rotary until early this year when declining health made it an impossibility, died May 30. [1974] Services were held June 3 with Rotarian J. Garber Drushal assisting Rabbi Paul Mandel. The following excerpts from the Wooster Daily Record are an appropriate tribute to a Rotarian, who perhaps more than any other followed Rotary’s motto to the letter, and for his entire life put “Service Above Self.”

Born in Buffalo, New York, Herman Freedlander came to Wooster with his family as a child and built a department store business recognized as one of the largest west of the Hudson River.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 36

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1973 to 1974 Wooster Rotary Year began with a new Wooster Rotary President, Bill Drumm. The Secretary remained W. Lee Culp, the Treasurer remained Frank Hayes and new Board members were Roger Cook, Tony Biggio and Norm Herzog. I must apologize for my mistake in naming Bill Drumm as President in 1972 to 1973, the President that year was Tom Wonderling. As part of the first meeting for President Drummn, Vocational Chair Harold Freedlander reported on a new project which began in the 72-73 year in which students were paired in their potential profession with Wooster Rotarians in that profession for interviews and career advice. There were 25 interviews with selected students from Wooster High School, the Joint Vocational School and Waynedale High School. All of the counselors from those schools enthusiastically support the program. Hope was expressed by Harold to continue the project.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 37

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

We hope that you enjoyed the Holiday Season last week while the Club Historian took a brief Holiday. Needless to say it has been a strange and trying year for everyone due to the Covid 19 Pandemic. Let us all hope that 2021 will be a better year.

This week we feature Wooster Rotary Year 1973 1/2 to 1974. If you checked your Wooster Rotary Yearly Handbook, which is no longer printed for the information of our newer members, or you were a member in 1973, you will note that two Wooster Rotary Presidents are listed for 1973-1974; Bill Drumm and Ted Crawford. Bill Drumm officially resigned as President of the Club at the November 15, 1973 meeting as he had accepted a new job in Columbus, Ohio. Ted Crawford had been Vice President and automatically was sworn in as President pursuant to the Wooster Rotary Constitution. The nominating committee was activated and later nominated Walter Grosjean as Vice President to be elected by the membership.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 38

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

Happy New Year!

The 1974 to 1975 Wooster Rotary Year began with a new President of Wooster Rotary, Walter C. Grosjean. His classification was “Corporation Law”. He was an Attorney with Critchfield, Critchfield, Critchfield and Johnston. Walt is still a member of the Wooster Rotary Club and will be celebrating his 59th year as a Wooster Rotary member. He was introduced to Wooster Rotary by his father, George F. Grosjean, who had joined Wooster Rotary in 1941. In taking over his new post Walt said “I’ve had the opportunity to make up at clubs throughout this country and other parts of the world and I’m convinced Wooster Rotary Club is one of the best anywhere.” President Walt also went on to advise Club members that the price of meals was being raised from $20 per quarter to $22.

At the September 19th meeting Wooster Rotarian Keith Remy brought to the attention of the members a local family including four children. All four of the children attended Wooster Schools. Through no fault of their own they have ended up with only the clothes that they were wearing. They have been established in a good house and have clothing provided by local agencies, but Keith advised that a large amount of furniture was needed. Wooster Rotarians should contact Keith to make arrangements of any furniture that they were able to donate to the family.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 39

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1975-1976 Wooster Rotary Year began with new President Paul Ladd at the helm. Many current Rotarians will remember Mr. Ladd as Principal of Wooster High School. President Paul’s first address was to report on his trip to the Rotary International Convention held in Montreal.

The first program of the new Wooster Rotary Year was presented by Congressman of the 16th Ohio District, Ralph Regula. The program on August 7th was presented by Jennifer Moorhead who represented Wooster Rotary the past year as an Exchange Student to Saltillo, Mexico. Wooster Rotary also welcomed Ignacio Garcia from Tehuacan, Mexico as an Exchange Student for the academic year.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 40

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1976 to 1977 Wooster Rotary Year began with the induction of a new Wooster Rotary President Roger Cook. President Roger began by thanking all of the Rotarians for their participation in the 1976 Bicentennial events and parade. Wooster Rotary sponsored a Wooster Rotary display in the windows of Real Estate Showcase managed by Don Pritchard. Wooster Rotary also had a float in the parade.

The speaker for the meeting on September 13th was Don Brown, President of the Wooster United Way. Brown explained that the Wooster United Way was formed in 1957 with 24 Board Members. Over the years Wooster Rotary members have been very involved in campaigns and as Board Members. Brown announced that the campaign chairman for the 1976 drive was Wooster Rotary’s own Clyde Webb.

New members inducted into Wooster Rotary included Al Van Wie and Charles “Chuck” Dougherty. Both would play significant roles in Wooster Rotary in the coming years. Al was the basketball coach for the College of Wooster and Chuck was Director of Sales and Marketing at Diamonite in Shreve. Of course, Wooster Rotary eventually became the sponsor for the Al Van Wie Rotary Basketball Classic and Chuck went on to be one of the key managers for the Wooster Rotary Gallery Antique auction.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 41

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The Wooster Rotary began as usual with a new President for the Wooster Rotary Year 1977-78, Victor Dix, who announced that the Wooster Club budget for the year 1977-78 year would be $39,100.00. The “Teapot” was expected to add an additional $1,450.00. Disbursements were to be International Service $800.00; Community Service $800.00; Crippled Children $200.00; United Way $375.00; An additional sum for the following from the General Fund was allocated to: International Service $800.00; Vocational Service $100.00; International Service $100.00; and Community Service $400.00.

The October 3, 1977, meeting included a tour of the new Justice Center hosted by Sheriff Jim Frost. Walt Grosjean was in charge of arranging the tour and most Rotarians took advantage to visit the new Justice Center as guests. The Rotarian Editor was quick to point out that the Rotarians first had their usual meal provided at the YMCA,

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 42

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The Wooster Rotary Club began the first meeting of July, 1978, with the passing of the gavel to our new Wooster Rotary Club President Bob Weiss. A special announcement was made about the grand opening of the Tri-Dent building in downtown Wooster with four dentists being recognized. Three were Rotarians and a fourth was the son of a Rotarian, later to become a Rotarian: Dr. Ted Crawford, Dr. Tony Biggio, Dr. Brian Lacey and Dr. Doug Webb, son of Clyde Webb and future Wooster Rotarian. An announcement was also made concerning the Wooster Rotary Club Golf Outing to be held at Julie Fe View golf club followed by a dinner at the club. The Club wished Rita Mykrantz “good luck” as she was leaving for a year in Brazil as a Rotary Exchange Student and welcomed Tina Hallin from Sweden for her year long stay in Wooster. Wooster Rotarian Lowell Bournes made his “official” visit to Wooster Rotary as District Governor.

The month of December, 1978, was a busy month for Wooster Rotary beginning with the Annual Christmas Party for senior citizens. Over 400 meals were served in the YMCA gym. The Wooster Rotary Club was forced to expand seating also to accommodate the growing membership at 203 with 90% attendance rate. The Club also bought trophies for the Wooster Basketball Classic at the College of Wooster.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 43

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The Wooster Rotary Year 1979-80 began with a new Wooster Rotary President, David Briggs. President Dave began the new Rotary year with a club assembly where all club committees met with their chairmen and committee members to plan for the coming year. A new committee was added with Pete Bogner as chair to plan a celebration of Rotary International's 75th Anniversary. President Dave and Past President Bob Weiss also shared a slide program outlining Rotary International’s 3H program for the 75th to help hunger and health programs. Although local Rotary Clubs were not set specific goals, Wooster Rotary voted to contribute $1,500 to the project.

The July 18th program was one to remember presented by Wooster Rotarian Gerhard Soeseman who shared his experience as a member of the Hitler Youth Brigade, German youth 10 years or older were pressed into service in the Hitler Youth Brigade. Gerhard was pressed into service at the age of 13 working in a munitions factory. Then in the summer of 1944, with no notice, Gerhard and his fellow corpsmen were loaded onto a train and sent to Holland. Once there they were set to digging tank traps and machine gun nests. After D Day they were sent back to Germany and conscripted into the German Army to defend Berlin and Hitler. They retreated towards Berlin driven by American forces and soon came up against the Russian forces. When they heard that Hitler was dead, Gerhard and 10 of his friends surrendered to the American forces. They spent three months in a prisoner of war camp. Gerhard and his wife came to the United States in 1955 where he worked for Moore’s Bakery until he opened his own store, Gerhard’s Bakery.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 44

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1980-81 Wooster Rotary Year began with Leonard Schnell taking over as President. President Len announced that the Wooster Club gave $1,500 to the Rotary International 3-H program in honor of Rotary International’s 75th anniversary. Overall, Rotary International had raised $5.5 million to date. President Len also announced that a Group Study program was being put together for the District to go to Bangladesh. The members must be non-Rotarians. The leader will be a District Rotary Member.

Brothers Dennis Webb and Doug Webb, sons of Rotarian Clyde Webb, both were sworn in as members. It was announced that Ted Bogner will be in charge of this years United Way Run. Rotarian Gene Buehler announced the grand opening of the new Buehler's store on Milltown Road.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 45

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1981-82 Wooster Rotary Year began with the administration of a new Wooster President, Gene Buehler. The program year began with an address by Justice Anthony Celebrezze of the U.S. 6th District Court of Appeals. He had just ended three years as Director of the United States Health, Education and Welfare Department. Prior to that he had been Mayor of Cleveland and U.S. Senator from Ohio.

At the August 31st meeting, Dan Parmalee was presented with his 50 year pin, at little late in time. Rotarian Dan had been a member of Wooster Rotary since 1926. We were also reminded by the District Governor of the original of the Rotary Wheel. It was first used as a simple wagon wheel beginning in 1905. The cogged version was accepted in 1919 at the national convention. A keyway was added in 1929 to show that the wheel was a “worker” and not an “idler”. The comment was also made that “…it will not act alone, but needs energy, a force behind it to set it in motion.”

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 46

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1982-83 Wooster Rotary Year began with a new President, Gerhard Soesemann taking office. Rob Rollers, son of Warren Rollers, was the first guest speaker of the season to Wooster Rotary. Rob graduated from Wooster High School and Mt. Union College. He finished 11th out of 584 competitors in the Hawiian Iron Man Triathlon. He swam 2.4 miles in the ocean off of the “big Island,” rode his bicycle along 112 miles of the coast and then ran 26.2 miles. Rollers added that he is now in training for the 1983 Triathlon by riding 300 miles per week, running 60 miles per week and swimming 10 to 15 miles per week.

The last meeting of August provided a special focus on the Rotary Youth Exchange program. Returning Wooster Exchange students Beth Corbett (Columbia), Robert Noll (Germany) and Joel Kreps (Finland) each reported on their experience abroad. Each agreed that the year abroad was an excellent experience and not one to ever be forgotten. Joining the trio were two current inbound students Lisa Grainger (Zimbabwe) and Niclas Thalen (Sweden). Since the Wooster Rotary Club has participated in the Student Exchange program starting in 1966, this year 2020-21 will be the first year that the Wooster Rotary Club has not either sent or received an Exchange Student. Of course there are obvious international reasons, but it is an opportunity greatly missed by the students and Rotary members at each end of the exchange.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 47

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1983-84 Wooster Rotary Year began with the term of a new Wooster Rotary President, Paul E. Kerr, Pastor of Central Christian Church. President Paul announced that Wooster Rotary would be sending four Wooster Exchange Students abroad this year: Joy Colburn to Australia, Jackaye Raff to Finland, Susan Dix and Amy Holtman, both to Columbia. Wooster was set to host three Exchange Students this year from Sweden, Chile and Thailand.

Outgoing President Gerhard Soesmann talked about returning to his hometown of Goettingham, Germany, which was celebrating over 1,000 years of history. President Gerhard also outlined the Wooster Rotary financial support during his term for the following projects and organizations: Spangler Outdoor Education Park, People to People, Every Woman’s House, the Wayne County Agricultural Museum, the United Way, Great Decisions, the Wayne County Public Library, Wooster Community Center, Goodwill, ACDC, Meals on Wheels, Committee for Crippled Children and Adults, Wooster Shade Tree Commission, Wayne County Alcohol Services and Scholarships.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 48

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

As noted last week, the 1984-85 Wooster Rotary Year began early for President Mike Steiner as 1983-84 President Paul Kerr had to leave early due to a professional relocation. President Mike had already set forth four goals for his term: programs, attendance, community projects and the Rotary auction. President Mike also sought homes for three new incoming Exchange Students: Silvanna Turganti from Switzerland, Hilario Magsino from the Philippines and Linnar Holgersson from Sweden.

Rotary International President Carlos Canseco sent a message to all United States Rotary Clubs concerning the recent decision by the United States Supreme Court concerning the United States Jaycees requiring that they admit women. He said “Rotary is a men’s fellowship whose purpose is service. It is not a business or public accommodation. By policy it is not political. Rotary prohibits a member from seeking any business or professional advantage from his membership. The Supreme Court decision requires no change in Rotary membership rules and accordingly none are authorized.” How wrong he was.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 49

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

To begin the 1985-86 Wooster Rotary Year outgoing President Mike Steiner thanked retiring Board members Art Baird, Earl Gray and Don Wise. He welcomed new Board members Bill Cullen, Jim Sauer and Dave Taylor.

Incoming President Richard Marion addressed the Club with his goals for the year. Of special note was the fact that Wooster Rotary had only $18,000 available for grants for the year and $10,000 of the money available was allocated to scholarships.

Wooster Rotarian Rick Jones presented the program for July 24th with a presentation on the move by the Wayne Center for the Arts from the College of Wooster to the old Walnut Street School. In the nine months since the move the Center has experienced 11,000 visitors. Ann Gerlach, Program Director for the Center, talked about the expanded classes since the move.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 50

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

At the first meeting on July 7, 1986, President Dick Marion passed the gavel to incoming President Jim Horn for the 1986-87 Wooster Rotary Year. President Dick Marion said that the greatest highpoint for the year for him was Rotary’s participation in the project to build Wooster High School’s new multi-purpose sports complex next to Kean Elementary School. He commended Rotarian Larry Wise for chairing the project and Ted Crawford who delivered the dedication speech.

Rotary Run Chair Dave Early reported that the 10k run will again take place this year. A 5k competitive run and a 1k fun run have been added. For the first time the run will go through downtown Wooster so he appealed for help in blocking off streets. An announcement was also made that the annual Wooster Rotary Family Picnic will take place at the OARDC in the evening of August 25 and the annual Wooster Rotary golf outing will take place on August 21 at Wooster Country Club. The Club also released $5,000 to People to People for their new building fund.

Wooster Rotary Secretary Lee Culp announced that Wooster Rotary now stood at 222 members. Lee reminded the Club that the District capped Wooster’s membership at 226 before the District would request that we divide into two clubs. Lee also thanked the 34 Wooster Rotarians who helped deliver Meals on Wheels for the past week.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 51

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The History of Women in Rotary Part One

1904 The first meeting of Paul Harris and three friends in Chicago, Illinois

1910 At the first Rotary Convention in Chicago, some delegates made the first attempt to sanction “women’s auxiliaries.” It was rejected overwhelmingly.

1912 The Minneapolis Women’s Rotary Club was established. The Club was not sanctioned but remains active today. The Belfast, Ireland, Rotary Club considered allowing women as guests, but rejected the idea. Ida Buell of the “Duluth Woman’s Club” spoke to the Duluth Rotary International’s Convention about letting them form Rotary women’s clubs. No action was taken.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 52

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The History of Women in Rotary Part Two

June 1949 The Rotary International plenary speaker was actress Madelaine Carroll, impassioned in support of the world’s children. She is one of the first women permitted to speak at the International Convention. Others were Helen Keller in 1957 and Pearl Buck in 1959.

June 1950 The Rotary Club of Almendabad, India presses at the International Rotary Convention in Detroit to delete the word “male” from the standard club constitution. The proposal was overwhelmingly rejected.

June 1964 The agenda for the convention includes a motion to admit women to Rotary. The delegates vote to withdraw the motion.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 53

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The History of Women in Rotary Part Three

July 31, 1986, The Seattle-International District Club votes to admit women to the Club.

September 4, 1986, The Seattle-International Club secretly admits 15 women so they won’t loose their charter.

September 15, 1986, the Seattle-International Club files an injunction against Rotary International and announces that they have admitted women.

February 1987, The Duarte Club elects Sylvia Whitlock as Club President. She promptly attends a District President Elect Training Seminar.

May 4, 1987, The United States Supreme Court, in an unanimous opinion, affirmed the Appellate Court of California in Board of Directors, Rotary International vs. Rotary Club of Duarte and permits the membership of women in Rotary.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 54

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

At the first meeting of the Wooster Rotary Year 1986 to 1987 President Jim Horn passed the gavel to incoming President Ron Holtman. President Ron announced that Rotary International had announced that the major program this year would be the PolioPlus campaign. The worldwide goal for the year was to raise $120 million to eradicate polio from the world. President Ron also announced that Wooster Rotary’s goal was $60,000, to be raised over the next three years, $11,000 has already been pledged.

Dave Early reminded Rotarians that help was still needed for the 9th Annual Wooster Rotary Run through downtown Wooster on August 9th. It was also announced that the Exchange Students would be seated at a different table each week and would be introduced by a Rotarian at that table.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 55

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

I need to begin this week with an apology to Ron Holtman. Ron took over as President of Wooster Rotary not for the 1986-1987 Wooster Rotary Year but for the 1987-1988 Wooster Rotary Year. Everything else in last week’s article did take place in the 1987-1988 Wooster Rotary Year.

On July 6, 1988 Ron Holtman turned over the gavel to Dave Gallapoo for the 1988-1989 Wooster Rotary Year. President Dave announced that Wooster Rotary was sending five students abroad this year: Jack Jones (Australia), Cathy Mattison (Australia), Julie Cicconetti (Italy), Kristin Briggs (Denmark) and Angela Tannhoff (Germany).

The 1989 Wooster Rotary Auction exceeded goals with 1,165 bidders, 1,550 items sold, $4,685 kitchen proceeds, $21,500 for one item (a 100 year old Steinway grand piano), $174,000 gross sales with an expected $43,000 profit. It was noted that sales from the start until now were over $1 million.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 56

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

At the Wooster Rotary Club Assembly on July 10, 1989, President Dave Gallapoo handed the gavel over to Al Van Wie for the 1989-1990 Wooster Rotary Year. President Al, in passing around the Teapot, reminded Wooster Rotarians of the significance and importance of the Teapot for fundraising. Ira Neely, President of Wooster Rotary in 1924, introduced the Teapot in jest of the big news of the day, the “Teapot Dome Scandal” during the Harding Administration. The first recorded collection was $2.60 with the proceeds then, as now, going to help others.

The Annual Wooster Rotary picnic was held again at the OARDC on August 7th with over 400 Rotarians and guests in attendance.

At the August 14th meeting $500 was donated to the 4-H for camp scholarships, $500 to Layton School for playground equipment and $5,500 for college scholarships. Since 1984 Wooster Rotary had given out $49,300 in scholarships. President Al advised that every Monday a Committee Chair would report on their Committee goals for the year.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 57

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

As Wooster Rotarians have no doubt noticed, the planting of an avenue of 24 trees in Wooster Oak Hill Park has been completed. The 24 trees are to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Wooster Rotary and the 24 original founders of the Wooster Rotary Club. Their names and history were featured in the first edition of this series.

Ron Holtman is now coordinating with the Wooster Urban Forestry Commission and the City of Wooster Park District to plant more trees in the “Rotary Grove” to commemorate those Wooster Rotarians who have, and will have in the future, 50 years of membership in Wooster Rotary. Their names will be added to a large plague in the Rotary Grove. As others follow, their names will also be added.

Incidentally, there are three Wooster Rotarians serving on the Wooster Urban Forestry Commission: Steve Webster Chair, Ray Leisy Secretary and Dr. Alan Kiefer.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 58

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

At the first meeting of Wooster Rotary Year 1990-1991 outgoing President Al Van Wie turned the gavel over to incoming President Franklin R. Hall. W. Lee Culp returned for another year as Secretary and Frank M. Hayes returned for another year as Treasurer. Tim Zuercher was President Elect.

An Honorary Membership was given to Cliff Morrison. It was also noted that Wooster Rotary member Gillian Flynn, a former resident of South Africa, had been granted United States Citizenship.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 59

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, has its origins in family members who decorated graves of those who died in the Civil War. The origin of the event in history is uncertain. Many groups claim to have started the event.

After the two World Wars it became a general day of remembrance, not just for the Civil War. While the name “Memorial Day” was used as early as 1882, it did not come into wide use until after World War II when it became a day to honor both deceased and living veterans. It became a Federal Holiday in 1971 and the date for observance was fixed as the last Monday in May.

Since the organization of Wooster Rotary in 1921, Memorial Day has taken on significant meaning for the Club. There were at least two veterans of the Spanish-American War to join the Club in the early years, and many returning veterans of World War I added to the number of Veterans in the Club.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 60

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

On July 8, 1991, Tim Zuercher took the gavel for the 1991-92 Wooster Rotary Year. President Tim announced the Youth Service grants for the year: Junior Achievement Applied Economics Program $500; Wooster High School Speech Department $675; City of Wooster Parks and Recreation $100; Wayne County Public Library Children’s Summer Reading Program $420; Wooster City Public Schools Summer School Scholarships $500; and City of Wooster Pool Passes for low income youth $500.

President Tim announced that the Wooster Rotary annual family picnic would be held at the OARDC on Monday, August 19th. He also announced that 271,447,689 children world wide had been immunized through Polio Plus. Membership in Wooster Rotary stood at 228. The schedule for the Adopt a Highway group of 48 Wooster Rotarians was distributed to cover both sides of U.S. 30 from the Fairgrounds to Oak Chapel United Methodist Church. It was noted that Bob Gates asked that separate containers be used to collect aluminum cans which he would exchange for money to be added to the Teapot.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 61

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

On July 13, 1992 the gavel was passed to Jim Myers for the 1992-93 Wooster Rotary Year. One of the first programs for the year was presented by Kimberly Sayers who was introduced by Chuck Dougherty. Kim spoke about programing at OSU/ATI. The next speaker of the year was Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court Thomas Moyer. Also, at that time, there were 32,000 Rotarian women members in North America.

The Wooster Rotary picnic was held at the OARDC on August 24th and the Wooster Rotary-United Way Run was held on the streets of downtown Wooster September 19th. The Christmas Luncheon Program was held December 14th at the OARDC.

Wooster Rotary President Jim announced that District 6650 was asking for donations to help people in south Florida and Louisiana recover from hurricane Andrew. Donations were to be made to President Jim. The Wooster Rotary Foundation would add to the funds and send the funds collected to District Governor of 6650 John Gates.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 62

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1993-94 Wooster Rotary Year began with the meeting on July 12th and the gavel being handed to Leroy Adams. President Leroy celebrated the occasion by playing a solo on his trombone. Adopt-a-Highway was going strong as was the annual Wooster Rotary picnic. The program on August 16th was presented by Lt. Col. Paula Roderick who was a Rotary Exchange student in 1967 to Sweden sponsored by Wooster Rotary. She is now the Air Force Chief of Staff Liaison Officer.

Speaking of Exchange Students, Rotary this year hosted four students: Jukka Paajanen (Finland), Severine Moreau (France), Borja Espanoza (Spain) and Carina Sturm (Argentina).

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 63

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The Wooster Rotary Year 1994-95 began with the administration of Tony Biggio as President. It coincided with the opening of the new Wooster High School on Oldman Road, which involved a box luncheon at the school for Rotarians and a tour of the new school in place of the August 15th noon meeting. Incidentally Tony had attended the annual Rotary International Convention in Taiwan and passed out a Taiwan coin to each Wooster Rotarian and asked that they pass them on to a friend.

At the November 29th meeting Frank Knorr reported that the most recent Al VanWie Basketball Tournament collected 646 canned items for People to People and $308 in cash. Wooster Rotary also purchased and presented trophies for the Tournament.

At the April 3, 1995 meeting Don Noble of Rubbermaid introduced Lud Huck, Vice President of new ventures, who reported that, since it’s opening in 1988, the Everything Rubbermaid store in downtown Wooster had, in it’s first 18 months of operations, sold over $6,240,000 worth of goods and contributed wages for 35 employees of over $700,000. Lud reported that the store planned further increases.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 64

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1995-96 Wooster Rotary Year began with J. Douglas Drushal’s year as President. The first act by the Board was to award Honorary Membership to Harry Burnsteen, Lefty Miller, Dr. Bill Schultz and Harry Landes.

Wooster Rotary Treasurer Frank Hayes announced that the budget for the year was set at $85,380.00.

President Doug introduced Wooster Rotary’s own Leonard Schnell as the new District 6650 Governor.

The first speaker of the year was Sam Rutigliano, former Coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1978 to 1984. The Coach felt that. “…the professional sports system can be exploitive of young athletes. Fewer than one-third of professional football players receive their college degrees and about three quarters wind up broke. The average career length is only 3.7 years.”

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 65

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

During the 1996-97 Wooster Rotary Year the Club reached another milestone, it was the 75th Anniversary of the founding of Wooster Rotary. Martin Degnan was sworn in as President, Peggy Schmitz as Vice-President, Lee Culp remained as Secretary and George Kreps took over as Treasurer succeeding long serving Treasurer Frank Hays who was awarded an honorary Wooster Rotary membership.

During the year the Club Historian, Frank Stevens, wrote a weekly feature for The Woostarian titled “Notes from the Past.” The Board of Directors, on October 10th, matched Wooster Kiwanis gift of $1,500 for a new refrigerator for the YMCA. The District announced that Wooster Rotary was top of the list for all-time giving to Rotary International with a total since founding of $582,762 almost $250,000 ahead of runner-up Canton. Wooster also led the list with 69 sustaining Paul Harris Fellows and was second with a total 136 Paul Harris Fellows. Wooster’s membership stood at 235 members.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 66

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The first Monday meeting of the 1997-98 Wooster Rotary Year saw the “passing of the baton” to Wooster Rotary President Peggy Schmitz. President Peggy introduced the chair and vice-chair of each service committee.

The first official order of business involved our youth. The stipend for our incoming exchange students was increased from $50 to $75. Mary West and Tim Swift presented a request for “start-up” money for a Wooster Rotary Interact Club.

It was also announced that the Wooster Rotary Club will sponsor a group study team to India and request was made for suggestions for four area non-Rotarians to join the team. Doug Drushal was named leader of the team to leave for five weeks beginning January 7, 1998.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 67

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 1998-99 Wooster Rotary began with a few changes. First Scott Buehler was sworn in as our new Wooster Rotary President. Second, the Woostarian went to a bi-weekly printing. The Board of Directors voted to support two projects to begin the year: the purchase of an InterAct Club banner for $115.00 was approved as well as a $1,000 donation to CAMO.

At the November 9, 1998, meeting Jon Rose, Chair of the Al VanWie Rotary Classic Basketball Tournament, announced the collection of 18,000 food items for People to People and $2,000 in “Turkey Money” for People to People.

At the December 14, 1998, Wolfgang Schmitt spoke to Wooster Rotary about the Newell-Rubbermaid Corporate merger. He predicted that it would mean little change to Wooster. He said “The strength, size and versatility of the new corporation can only mean growth. Wooster will fare well.”

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 68

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

Wooster Rotary prepared to enter a new millennium for the Wooster Rotary Year 1999-2000 with a new President, Susan Buckwalter. In his last official act as outgoing Wooster President, Scott Buehler presented special 50 year badges to six members with more than 50 years of service in Wooster Rotary: Ray Dix, 68 years; Harold Freedlander, 64 years; Don Noble, 57 years; Ford Ross, 51 years; Ted Evans, 50 years and Bill Lytle, 50 years.

Based upon figures prepared by Treasurer Burwell Myers the cost of meals for visiting Rotarians was increased to $8.00 and for guests to $6.00. David McConnell reported on his group study exchange to Italy.

The Board approved a gift of $2,000 to WOO-2 for the celebration of First Night 2000.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 69

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

The 2000-2001 began with the Presidency of Ron Pycraft. One of the early programs for the year was presented by Dr. William Kirwan, 12th President of the The Ohio State University. His topic focused on the work of the OARDC and ATI and how to adapt to the new technology economy.

A very interesting program was presented by Darin Cambell, current President of the Crippled Children’s Committee, a Wooster Rotary Committee. Darin reminded Wooster Rotarians that Wooster Rotary has provided the leadership of the Committee beginning in 1921. Currently most needs focus on medication with the Committee issuing a debit card which can only be used at K-Mart for no more than $400. K-Mart gives Wooster Rotary a 33% discount in turn.

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 70

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

On July 2, 2001 the gavel was passed to in-coming President Steve Shapiro for the Wooster Rotary year 2001 to 2002. President Steve announced his theme for the year “Think Outside the Box.” President Steve also mentioned his five major goals for the year: bring in 18 new members, work hard to integrate the new members into Wooster Rotary and involve them in projects and activities, adopt a new community service project, increase the size of our endowment fund and take on a new world service project. The Wooster Rotary budget was set for the year at $109,518.00 and the Wooster Rotary Foundation at $50,100.00.

One of the more interesting and timely programs was presented on December 31st by Gordon McCormick who teaches counter-terrorism to Navy Seals, Air Force Delta Force students and Army Special Operations. His topic was “Fighting Terrorism in Afghanistan.”

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 71 - Will you win the prize?

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

We are trying something different this week. Instead of our usual report on Wooster Rotary’s 100 years we are trying a little audience participation test. Do not worry, it is open book and most of the answers can be found in the previous weekly reports available on the homepage. As an added incentive we will have a drawing from all entries at the September 27th Monday Rotary meeting for a valuable prize. All entries should be emailed to

ally1953@sssnet.com by September 26th. So here goes:

100 Years of Wooster Rotary - Part 72

Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian

Our topic this week involves the two largest fund raising projects in the history of Wooster Rotary. They are the Wooster Rotary Auction and the Parade of Flags. Both programs existed together for a short time period.

As the Wooster Gallery Auction entered the 2000s, it continued to sell antiques and collectibles year after year in the average amount of $200,000 with “profits” around $40,000 per year. At the same time the Wooster Rotary Club began to grant more and larger college scholarships, so it was important to continue the same income stream to fund scholarships and other Wooster Rotary projects. But, as the event approached its 40th year, Tom Cole, general manager, commented that the prices for antiques and collectibles were beginning to decease. Also, younger generations of buyers did not seem to find the same fascination with antiques and collectibles as their parents had.

History of the Rotary Bell

In 1922 U.S. Rotarians organized an attendance contest; the challenge was that the losing clubs would join in giving the winning club a prize. The Rotary Club of New York City was declared the winner and to them was awarded a bell from a popular patrol boat, which was placed on wood that came from HMS Victory, Admiral Nelson’s vessel at the battle of Trafalgar.

2019 Veterans Day Meeting

Wooster Rotary honored our members, our family members (i.e. spouses, children) and community members who are veterans at our November 11th meeting. Major General (Ret) Tod J. Carmony was the day's speaker. He noted the impact that a nation of WWII veterans had on the generation after them, as parents and as community leaders, and how many of those veterans shaped his own passion to serve. MG Carmony is a Wooster native who served 39 years in the US Army; in addition to numerous deployments around the world, he also deployed to Mississippi as part of the Katrina Relief mission in 2005.

2019 Community Service Project

In the Spring of 2019, President Matt Long and Community Service Chair Chad Bailey oversaw the installation of 3 bike kiosks along the new Wooster bike path. The Rotary Club of Wooster donated approximately $10,000 and some leg work to purchase the kiosks for the City of Wooster.

Wooster Rotary Honors Member Service

The Wooster Rotary Club started a new tradition. At the Monday, January 30th meeting 137 members were honored for over 2700 years of service.

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