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.
Rotary at Work
Community Service & Community Projects
Salvation Army Christmas Fund $100.00
Residential Support Services $500.00
Civil Air Patrol Search unit $20.00
Buckeye Book Fair $400.00
Apple Creek Developmental Center Christmas Presents $100.00
Great Decisions $400.00
Wooster YMCA $705.00
People to People Capital Drive $2,000.00
Salvation Army Christmas Fund $100.00
Residential Support Services $500.00
Civil Air Patrol Search unit $20.00
Buckeye Book Fair $400.00
Apple Creek Developmental Center Christmas Presents $100.00
Great Decisions $400.00
Wooster YMCA $705.00
People to People Capital Drive $2,000.00
Rural/Urban
4-H Scholarships $750.00
ATI-OSU $250.00
4-H Scholarships $750.00
ATI-OSU $250.00
The Wooster Rotary Club, under the Chairmanship of Al Van Wie, celebrated the 70th Anniversary of Wooster Rotary with a dinner including members and guests and visiting Rotarians from Orrville, Rittman, Dalton and the District.
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.
During World War II, Wooster Rotarian enlistees were granted “leave” and assured of membership without any loss upon their return. It was fortunate that all enlistees did return to reclaim their membership. Today, there are many men and women veterans in the Wooster Rotary Club.
Beginning in the early 2000’s, the Wooster Rotary Club went further by sponsoring a special day, generally around Armistice Day, to honor all Rotary Veterans and any veteran guests a Rotarian brought to the event. The Club has gone on to honor all Wayne County Veterans by providing funds for the Battlefield Cross dedicated at Wooster Cemetery last year and the Gold Star Families Memorial this year, unveiled yesterday by Wooster Rotary's own Lt. Col. Greg Long.
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.
The Rotary International Rotary Foundation was celebrating its 75th Anniversary 1917 to 1972. During that time the Foundation had granted 1,300 scholarships, sponsored 300 Group Study Exchanges, sponsored grants for 70 international humanitarian projects and funneled interest on Foundation funds to Polio Plus. The 83rd Rotary International Convention was held in Orlando, Florida, June 14-17. Countries with approved Polio Plus grants stood at 97.
The 26th Annual Christmas Luncheon for 340 Senior Citizens was held at the YMCA gym. Everyone was entertained by musical groups from Wooster High School.
The Antique and Collectible Auction was held March 27 & 28. The Chairpersons were John Campbell and Jack Gant. The gross was $205,000 which should net the Club $35,000.
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.
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.
President Jim announced that there would be a $6.25 “Assessment” on all Wooster Rotarians each quarter to be used for advertising and related expenses for the Rotary Auction. The reason being so that we could say that all commissions from the auction would go for Wooster Rotary projects.
In March 1993 Rotary International declared the Western Hemisphere polio free!
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).
The newest member of Wooster Rotary, Dave Cullity, gave his classification talk on October 4th. He is now employed by Lutherans Insurance Company, but was previously employed by the Cleveland Browns and then the San Francisco 49ers. He played tackle in the 1989 Super Bowl and passed around his 3.5 carat diamond ring for all Rotarians to see. You have one guess which team he was on when he received the ring.
Wooster Rotary became a sponsor of the Great Decisions Program in 1994.
Wooster hosted a Group Exchange Team from Argentina for four days in April, 1994. In charge of the arrangements was Tim Zuercher.
George Kreps organized a bus trip to Cleveland in June to watch the Cleveland Indians. Doug Drushal was organizing a trip for Wooster Rotarians to Switzerland, France, Monaco and Italy for June, 1995.
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.
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.
1995 was the 90th anniversary of Rotary International. There were 1,200,140 Rotarians, in 27,260 Clubs, in 506 Districts and 150 countries. Paul Harris’s last words on the subject of Rotary’s founding, delivered in February, 1947 just before his passing were: “I did not in 1905 foresee a worldwide [Rotary] movement…When a [person] plants an unpromising sapling, can they be sure that someday here will grow a mighty tree? Once they see the first bud then they can begin to dream of shade.”
It is interesting that, in 2021, Wooster Rotary has planted 24 trees for the founding members of Wooster Rotary and will plant more to honor those Wooster Rotarians, past and future, who achieve 50 years of Rotary service.
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.”
It came to the attention of the Board that a Spangler Park shelter building built in part with Wooster Rotary funds had recently burned down. The City of Wooster had received a substantial settlement from the City’s Insurance Company. The Wooster Rotary Board urged the use of the funds for youth activities in the Park instead of rebuilding the destroyed building.
Judy Van Wie and Al Leist spoke to Wooster Rotary in support of the Crippled Children [ and now Adults] program. It was started by Edgar Allen from the Rotary Club of Elyria, Ohio in 1919.The program was eventually expanded to include other clubs in Ohio. In 1949 the Wayne County Committee for Crippled Children was formed. In 1982 the Wayne County Chapter broke away from the Ohio program and has operated on its own since then.
Did you know that Sue Crawford is the granddaughter of one of Wooster Rotary’s founders, William Harris? Also Doug Webb is the grandson of. Dr. Alonzo Smith.
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.
Monday at noon on December 9th Wooster Rotary hosted over 500 Senior Citizens for Christmas at the OARDC.
The 75th Wooster Rotary Celebration was held at the Black Tie Affair Party Center Friday evening April 18, 1997. There were 130 Wooster Rotarians present plus spouses and guests. After an excellent dinner attendees were treated to “75 Years of Jazz” by the College of Wooster Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Jeffrey Lindberg. The organizing committee consisted of: Jim Basford, Ted Bogner, Gene Buehler, Henry Copeland, Sue Crawford, Dick Davis, Lud Huck, Frank Knorr, Ray Leisy, Sandy Lueschen, Kay McFadden, Jim Morgan, Don Noble, Ford Ross, Peggy Schmitz, Chris Shook and Tim Zuercher. Twenty-five years later five are still club members. Are you ready for the 100th?
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 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.
President Peggy advised that the State of Ohio would begin issuing license plates effective January 1, 1998, which contained the Rotary logo. The new license plates cost an additional $25 with the State receiving $10 and the Rotary Foundation receiving $15.
Margo Broehl announced that the Benevolence Committee was active. If a member or widow or widower of a deceased Rotary member needed transportation for medical issues, meals, respite or other forms of assistance that Margo should be contacted to make arrangements as needed.
For $35 per person Wooster Rotarians could obtain transportation, a picnic meal and a ticket to the Indians vs. White Sox game in Cleveland on April 23rd.
Honorary memberships were approved for Tom Wondering, Ted Evans and Harold Freedlander.
The Orrville Rotary Club celebrated its 75th anniversary.
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.”
The Senior Citizens 14th annual Christmas Party drew a crowd of 451 Senior Citizens who were served by 150 Rotarians and entertained by the Tri-County Services Arts Bel Canto Choir, the Wooster High School Chorus and the Cedar Valley Cloggers.
Dr. David McConnell of the College of Wooster was selected for the spring 1999 Group Study Team to Italy.
The May 24th 1999 meeting featured Charles Neesan, chief compliance officer for Y2K concerns for Westfield Companies. He said the biggest problem would be working for a company that is not prepared. At the century’s turn on January 1, 2000, he advised having ”…a tankful of gas, a little cash, a five-day supply of food and your bills paid in advance.”
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.
The July 19th meeting included a trip to the Christian Children's Home of Ohio. Many of the meetings for the year concerned social and medical health agencies including a presentation by visiting Professor to the College of Wooster from England, Dr. Eric Matthew, who spoke on “Is there a Right to Health Care.”
A fascinating program was presented by Wooster Rotarian Dave Briggs about his trip down the Appalachian Trail with his two sons, Adam and Kristen, and a family friend, which began in Maine on June 15th and concluded 2,163 miles later on December 11 at the Springer Mountain trailhead.
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.
One of the more light-hearted programs for the year was introduced by Tom Zimmerman who introduced three members of “Clown Alley” (in costume) from Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Baily Circus. The three clowns introduced were Todd Zimmerman, brother of Tom, Thom Weaton and David Solove. We are happy to report that no Wooster Rotarian left with the group.
In November Wooster Rotary Board of Directors authorized $1,690 as one-half of the price of new tables for the YMCA.
During a January, 2001 meeting, Patty Johns, Director of the Wayne County Board of Elections, spoke about “Chads and Dimples.” It seems like a long time ago that the issue ended up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.
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.
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 counterism to Navy Seals, Air Force Delta Force students and Army Special Operations. His topic was “Fighting Terrorism in Afghanistan.”
It was announced that an audio visual committee of Wooster Rotary had been formed to video tape each program. Any Rotarian could ask to borrow a copy if they were unable to attend a meeting.
Wooster Rotarians Kyle Gustafson and Christopher Buehler were raising funds with the Wooster Rotary Interact Club though the “Flamingo Flocking” program. Rotarians could give the names of their friends and neighbors and a minimum donation of $10 and the Interact Club would place a flock of Flamingos on the designated lawn. At a subsequent meeting the Interact Club announced a successful collection of $400. No flamingos were lost in the project.
At the April 1, 2002, meeting Karen Edwards, assistant dean of students at the College of Wooster and four Muslim students spoke on the topic of “Understanding Islam.” The program was prompted by the attack of September 11th. Karen began the program by quoting J.W. Fulbright who said “Perhaps the greatest power of educational exchange is the power to convert nations into people and to translate ideologies into human aspirations.” Murat Sagine from Turkey, Naveed Ahmad from India and Asayia Tejani and Jamal Haidar, both from Pakistan, described the feelings within their own countries and the role Islam plays in their respective countries.
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.
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.
The Board of Directors of Wooster Rotary took note of the fact and began searching for an alternative fund raising project or projects. One idea that appealed to the Board was a Parade of Flags project that a member noticed another Rotary Club had instituted with great success. Wooster Rotary also began their partnership with Wooster Arts-Jazz program about the same time. But the focus was on a larger fund raising project, so in 2009, under the leadership of Paul Williams and Susan Marlar, the Wooster Parade of Flags was launched. The first year in 2009 over 800 flags were raised.
At the same time, the Rotary Auction continued at its normal pace, although evidently slowing. The decision was to set the 40th Rotary Auction as the last auction. So on April 4th and 5th, 2015, the Wooster Rotary Auction held its last auction. Dave Gallapoo and Chuck Dougherty, both of whom had been involved from the beginning, estimated that over $1 million dollars had been raised for the support of the Wooster community,