Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids' 100th Anniversary Program

June 1, 1914 – June 1, 2014

Rotary,

dedicated to the idea of service above self

for more than 100 years.

ROTARY CLUB OF CEDAR RAPIDS 1

Centennial Celebration ProgramApril 26, 2014

WELCOME & INVOCATION John Wasta

President of the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids

Len Ranson Strawberry Point United Methodist Church

DINNER

GREETINGSThe Honorable Terry Branstad

Governor of the State of Iowa

Ray Klinginsmith Former President and Board of Trustees Rotary International

KEYNOTE SPEAKER John Hewko

General Secretary Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation

PRESENTATION OF AWARDSAllen Witt

President-Elect of the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids

DESSERT BUFFET & MUSICRue Patel & Shortcut to Nowhere

ADDITIONAL SPECIAL GUESTS The Honorable Kim Reynolds

Lieutenant Governor of the State of Iowa

The Honorable Chuck Grassley United States Senate

The Honorable Tom Harkin United States Senate (invited)

The Honorable Bruce Braley United States House of Representatives (invited)

2 100Th AnnIvERSARY 1914-2014

April 2014

Dear Fellow Rotarians,

As a third generation Cedar Rapids Rotarian I am proud and honored to be the President of the club for the club’s 100th Anniversary. My grandfather lived just long enough to be a 50 year member of this club and my father is celebrating his 56th year as a member of Cedar Rapids Rotary. To be able to lead such a strong Rotary Club with such tradition and momentum is truly an honor.

In our 100th year we are the 33rd largest Rotary club in the world with over 350 members. This is especially notable since we are in a metro area that has seven clubs with over 700 Rotarians.

This club has a rich history of which our members can be proud. Through the years our service projects have been varied and include local projects with our members, local projects in conjunction with the other Metro Rotary Clubs and international projects from the Yucatan in Mexico to Tanzania in Africa. Currently with the other Metro Clubs locally we are finishing the ‘capstone’ capital fund drive for our largest capital project to date: establishing ‘Rotary Hall at New Bo Market.’ We are also continuing our support of the Rotary Foundation where our club and its members have donated over $675,000.00. Our current International Project is helping to establish Farmer’s Co-ops in Liberia by providing farm equipment to reestablish small local farms to help the country become self-sufficient.

On this special occasion, I want to thank you for attending this evening, thank our Centennial Sponsors and wish everyone an enjoyable evening. Together we have a lot to celebrate.

Sincerely,

John L. WastaPresident, 2013-2014Rotary Club of Cedar Rapid


President John,

I offer my sincere congratulations to you and your club upon the centennial anniversary of Rotary in Cedar Rapids. Very few organizations last for 100 years, and your club has not only lasted, it has become even stronger in its 10th decade of Rotary service and fellowship.

It is interesting to contemplate how much your club has contributed to the welfare of the Cedar Rapids community in the past 100 years. We can safely say that the other six Rotary clubs in the metropolitan area would not have been started as soon, or progressed as far, without the guidance and support of your club. Moreover, I doubt that the building now known as Rotary Hall would have been rehabilitated and made available to the public without the action of your club. And I realize that I have only scratched the surface of your club’s humanitarian service by mentioning these two achievements!

I have some very pleasant memories of Cedar Rapids because my aunt and uncle, Hazel and Paul Stark, lived there in the late 1940s while Uncle Paul was managing the Federal Bake Shop in the downtown area. I made some visits to CR with my parents during those early years, and I always enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the big city, as I considered CR to be — both then and now!

Later the economic power of CR became know to me, because two of my high school friends went there in 1955 to work for Quaker Oats. In addition, the housefather for my rooming house during my freshman year at the University of Missouri, Max Jobe, was hired as an electrical engineer by Collins Radio, and he and his wife happily lived and worked in CR for the next 50 years.

Now it has been my good fortune to revisit CR several times in the past few years for various Rotary events, and it has given me an opportunity to learn how much CR has grown and progressed since my early visits as a child. Even more importantly, my recent visits have clearly demonstrated the strength and vitality of your Rotary club, and the other Rotary clubs in the vicinity, and I genuinely appreciate the friendship and support of the many Rotarians I have been privileged to meet in CR. It is definitely a Rotary Town worthy of respect, admiration, and emulation!

Best regards,

Ray Klinginsmith Trustee, The Rotary Foundation, 2012-16 President, Rotary International, 2010-11

Ray Klinginsmith

4 100Th AnnIvERSARY 1914-20144 100Th AnnIvERSARY 1914-2014

John and Cindy Bender

Mary Beth Growney SeleneOur Regional Representative on the Rotary International Board of Directors

Dear Members of the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids and Fellow Rotarians,

It is an honor to congratulate you on your 100th Anniversary. We are all members of an organization in which we, as ordinary people, have the opportunity to create extraordinary change. I truly hope you are a “Proud Member”.

As we Engage Rotary – Change Lives, I hope you will take the time to look around the room at your friends and thank them for their commitment to Rotary. When we all serve as active members of our Club, we have the ability to do much, for so many.

The Charter Members of this Club must have been pioneers, visionaries and extremely bold. Nine years after that first meeting of four businessmen in Chicago, a gathering of leaders in this community became the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids…and led us on an adventure culminating in tonight’s celebration.

I would ask that each of us think of the challenges and obstacles as well as the ideas and successes that have occurred in the last 100 years. As a tribute to those who have gone before us, please share your dedication and engagement as a Rotarian with others. Continue to let others know why you value your Rotary membership and please, invite them to become a part of something very special.

Today is in honor of the lasting legacy of your Charter Members and the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids.

Congratulations on your journey and best wishes as you begin your second century of service to the Cedar Rapids and world communities.

Best Regards.

Mary Beth Growney Selene Rotary International Director, 2013-2015

To Members of the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids, Iowa,

As District Governor of Rotary International District 5970, I am delighted to congratulate the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids on the 100th anniversary of their charter. What a great honor to be the 118th club chartered in Rotary International worldwide, which now includes over 34,000 clubs.

I applaud the relentless dedication of caring and committed men and women, like the members of the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids, who have put “Service Above Self” for the past 100 years.

I look forward to the future as you find new and unique ways to engage your community, change lives and make the world a better place!

Sincerely,

John C. Bender, P.E. District Governor District 5970, 2013-2014

ROTARY CLUB OF CEDAR RAPIDS 5ROTARY CLUB OF CEDAR RAPIDS 5

In anticipation of the club’s centennial, a committee of past presidents proposed a series of activities to observe the accomplishment. First, with a pledge by the board of $200,000, the club decided to support the recovery of the City from the Epic Flood of 2008. Club members and metro area Rotarians fulfilled the pledge and in 2012, Rotary Hall in the NewBo City Market opened to the public.

Second, the club’s Board of Directors began planning a Celebration Banquet for April 26, 2014, at the city’s new DoubleTree Hilton Hotel and U. S. Cellular Convention Complex.

Third, a club history was prepared, which was a challenge due to the lack of the historical material. Almost no memorabilia, news clippings or other materials were available. The club’s archives do include board minute books that date back to 1941 (early-ones are hand written and often difficult or impossible to read). Fortunately, beginning with Secretary John Kehrer in 1950, the minutes were typed.

Happily also, Marion H. “Bishop” Morrison, Club President in 1930-1931, had written a brief history of the club’s early years for the Golden Anniversary in 1964. Morrison also served as the first Ripples Editor from 1952 until the early 1960s and his club history contains what appears to be source material going back to the original formation of the club in 1914. This would probably have included earlier club minutes at the very least. Unfortunately, whatever source materials he used to prepare the early part of the club’s history (first 50 years) have not survived.

Bishop Morrison, who died in 1974, was a graduate of Drake University and a newspaper reporter in Sioux City and Des Moines for four years before beginning a 40 year association with Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, mostly in Cedar Rapids. Bishop joined the club in 1926 when Rotary in Cedar Rapids was only 12 years old and certainly represents the strongest link with the club’s origins and his brief original history is a valuable document for the club and for this recounting of club history.

Bishop Morrison’s original history was updated by Arthur N. Hough in 1969. Art was a news editor and photographer at the Cedar Rapids Gazette. He joined the club in 1961 and was a member until he moved to Arizona in the 1980s. Art graduated from Grinnell College and was Ripples Editor for a number of years.

Alan B. Campbell did a third update of the club’s history in 1991. Alan Campbell was Club Secretary and an Assistant Superintendent for Special Services at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. His wife, Miriam, performed most of the clerical duties of the office after the purchase of the club’s first computer as Allen never really “took to automation.”

A brief update of the history was written in 1993, reflecting, in part, that the club was growing during the period between 1970 and 1993, becoming more active in the community. It was 20 years since the history was revised and these years have been the most vigorous in the club’s history both from the standpoint of involvement in the community, the scope of its international activities, and the growth and diversity of its membership.

Downtown RotaryA Centennial History of the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids

June 1, 1914 – June 1, 2014

PROLOGUE

In February 2012, the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids began planning for the celebration of the club’s centennial anniversary. The club, also known informally as the Cedar Rapids Rotary Club, or simply “Downtown Rotary,” is the largest and fourth oldest Rotary club in Iowa, and the thirty-third largest in the world.


Introduction

Paul Harris may be the best known of Rotary’s four founding members, but without Silvester Schiele, Gus Loehr and Hiram Shorey, the Rotary Club of Chicago would never have come into existence. It

was these four men who met at Loehr’s office in Room 711 of the Unity Building on 23 February 1905 to conduct what has come to be known as the first Rotary Club meeting.

At the time, however, their purpose was not to found an international service organization but to build friendships among businessmen in Chicago, rekindling the small-town camaraderie they had enjoyed during their boyhood. The fact that Harris was an attorney, Loehr, a mining engineer, Schiele, a coal dealer and Shorey, a merchant tailor, reflected the men’s desire to also build a network that would benefit their businesses. This goal was soon to be overshadowed by the concept of providing service, but the representation of diverse occupations in the club set the stage for Rotary’s hallmark classification principle.

The second club meeting took place two weeks later in Harris’ office with Harry Ruggles, often referred to as “the fifth Rotarian,” in attendance along with real estate dealer William Jensen and Albert White, a piano manufacturer. Ruggles, a printer, is credited with starting the practice of singing at club meetings.

Contrary to popular assumption, Harris was not the first president of the club. That honor went to Schiele, who was elected at the third meeting -- held in his office. It was then that the fledgling group named itself Rotary, based on the three-time practice of rotating meeting sites. Harris and Schiele remained loyal Rotarians and close friends until their deaths, even living next door to each other in Chicago and in adjacent vacation homes in Michigan.

— Rotary World, July 2001

A page from the Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette dated March 27, 1914, announces the beginning of the Rotary Club in the city.

Within a century Rotary spread to

almost 200 countries with more than

33,000 clubs and over 1,200,000

members.

Republished with permission © 2014 SourceMedia Group, Cedar Rapids, Iowa


Three years after Rotary’s founding in Chicago in 1905, San Francisco became Club No. 2, followed

in 1909 by clubs in Oakland, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. Rotary went international when the Winnipeg, Canada, club formed in 1910. By 1912, Rotary International boasted fifty clubs, including one in England and one in Ireland.

By 1912, clubs appeared in what were then the three largest cities in Iowa - Des Moines (1911), Davenport (1912), and Sioux City (1912). A group of local businessmen explored the idea of a Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids by the autumn of 1913. Although leaders of the Des Moines, Davenport and Sioux City clubs all advised the Cedar Rapids group on the merits of starting a club, none of the three clubs appear to have been formal sponsors, which became standard practice after Rotary Districts were formed.

In his club history, Marion H. “Bishop” Morrison, Club President in 1930-1931, wrote that “In 1914, Cedar Rapids was a city of 40,000 people.

Louis Roth was mayor and George W. Clarke, who fathered the plan for the extension of the state capitol grounds, was governor of the state. Charles D. Huston served the city as postmaster and J. J. McConnell was superintendent of schools. Miss Abbie S. Abbott ruled Old Washington High School with a firm but fair hand. Luther Brewer, who was this club’s second president, was president of the library board and Miss E. Joanna Hagey was librarian. Among the prominent ministers of the city were Dr. E. R. Burkhalter at First Presbyterian, Dr. E. J. Lockwood at St. Paul’s Methodist and Father J. J. Toomey at Immaculate Conception.

Prime hogs were selling at $8.75 per hundredweight, butter at $.25 a pound, and eggs at $.15 per dozen. Jones-Luberger-Pratt Furniture advertised nine-by-twelve Wilton carpet for $40. Armstrong-McClenahan was getting $3.75 to $15 for suits for boys 6 to 18 years old.”

In 1914, downtown Cedar Rapids was a thriving retail center, boasting buildings three and four stories high. The interurban railways to Iowa City and to Mt. Vernon were completed in 1914. The Magnus Hotel on Second Avenue was built and St. Paul’s Methodist Church moved from Fifth Street and Fourth Avenue to its new building “clear out in the country” at Fourteenth Street and Third Avenue. Immaculate Conception at Tenth Street and Third Avenue was dedicated that year.

The daily newspaper credited John B. Gordon, Jr., as the chief motivating force in the formation of the club. Gordon was the western representative of the Columbia Bank Note Company. He was a charter member of the club, but left the city around 1917. Luther A. Brewer, president of the Republican Printing Company, was another prime mover. He was the second president of the club and the first member of the club to become a District Governor.

In April 1914, the Cedar Rapids club became Rotary Club No. 118. The Rotary movement was only nine years old when the Club received its formal charter from Rotary International on June 1, 1914.

On April 6, 1914, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported: “With the presence of several prominent Rotarians from Des Moines, Davenport and other cities, officers of the Cedar Rapids Rotary Club were formally installed this afternoon during a luncheon at the Montrose Hotel. The meeting really marked the birth of the organization here, although a temporary club had been holding meetings for several weeks. Officers are: Fred Fisher, President, Luther Brewer, Vice President, Tom Prowell, Secretary and Ed Wilcox, Treasurer. Directors [are] Ed Killian, Frank Whelihan, Elmer Allen and Joe McCormick.” The Times also mentioned Dr. Richard Lord as a director.

As Bishop Morrison prepared the original text of his club history he reported that “Yesterday morning (Palm Sunday), members of the local club attended services in the Liberal Christian Church and heard a splendid sermon by Rev. Joseph Fort Newton, who is a member of the club. Miss Ruth Orchard sang ‘The Palms’ during the service.

Origins and Evolutions

Cedar Rapids – c. 1914

Luther A. Brewer, second president of

the Cedar Rapids club.


“Among those present from out of town, who spoke and told of the advantages to be gained by such a club, were Henry Moulton and Clifford DePuy of Des Moines, Allen Dawson and Oswald Becker of Davenport and W. J. Turck of Los Angeles (friend and guest of Will C. Henning). Mr. Becker was president of the Davenport club and Mr. DePuy was president of the Des Moines Rotary Club. All the visitors were enthusiastic in the apparent display of interest here, and predicted that the Cedar Rapids club had started out on the right track.”

The Charter Members There is some haziness about the actual number of

charter members. One newspaper reported 18 and another, 23. The original treasurer’s books showed 48 members as having paid their initiation fees and dues by the first official meeting (April 6, 1914). It seems reasonable that these 48 should be considered charter members. They are listed in the Appendix. Old Cedar Rapids family names like Armstrong, Killian, Barry, Burkhalter, Dieman, Fisher, Lattner, Turner and Whelihan are represented and a strong representation of business classifications including the retail interests

of Downtown Cedar Rapids is in evidence. Rotary has had a “classification” procedure since its beginning and the one in effect at the time of the formation of the club was quite restrictive. It limited Rotarians to one representative of any individual type of business to membership. The composition of the Charter Members of Cedar Rapids Rotary appears to have closely adhered to this plan. Among the charter group of members there were few duplicates of job classification. Samuel Armstrong and Edward Killian were both primarily in the “clothing business” and their enterprises were both to become major Cedar Rapids department stores and there were two newspaper men, Luther A. Brewer and Joe McCormick, but there was only one banker, one attorney, one physician and one dentist.

Retail activities were represented by sales of clothing, shoes, baked goods, a dime-store, cigars, hardware, jewelry, groceries and retail drugs. Manufacturing and industrial interests were represented by members employed in (and mostly managing) railway, printing, lumber, food processing and candy making interests.

These 48 men represented the leadership of the community, then centered primarily in Downtown Cedar Rapids.

Cedar Rapids Rotary Club’s three oldest members are pictured in 1964 as the club prepared to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Morris Sanford (right) joined the club in 1915, shortly after it was organized. John M. Ely (center) joined in 1916. Because both left and then rejoined the club, the man with the longest continuous membership is M.H. “Bishop” Morrison (left). He joined in 1926.

Nitish C. Laharry (second from left) of Calcutta, India, president of Rotary International, arrived at the Cedar Rapids airport in October 1962 ahead of a speech in Iowa City. On hand to greet him were (from left) Marshall Hardestry, past president of the Cedar Rapids Rotary Club; Laharry; John Burrows, Belle Plaine, governor of Rotary district No. 597; Allin W. Dakin, Iowa City, chairman of the finance committee, Rotary International; and Bob Marsden, Iowa City Rotary president.

Images republished with permission © 2014 SourceMedia Group, Cedar Rapids, Iowa


Membership from 1934 – 1964 A second generation of Cedar Rapids Rotarians

entered the club between 1934 and 1954. The list that follows offers a glimpse at the people coming into the club from its twentieth to fortieth year. It is representative, but not all inclusive:

Lou Burkhalter (1934 - Burkhalter Insurance), Erwin J. Wasta (1938 – Pioneer Litho Company), C. C. Birr (1941- Cedar Rapids Auto Club/AAA), Senator Bourke B. Hickenlooper (a Cedar Rapids Rotarian from his election in 1942 until his death in 1971), George Miller (1942 – Merchants National Bank), Irving Churchill (1943 – Coe College), Russell Hess – (1944 – Attorney), John Kehrer (1945 – Kehrer Appliance Center), William Quarton (1945 – WMT), Art Swarzentruber (1948 – Vigortone), Lou Blair (1948 – St. Luke’s Hospital), David Beck (1948 – Harper & McIntyre Co.), George Ahrens (1949 – H. R. Green Co.), James Colbert (1950 – Iowa-Illinois Gas & Electric Co.), Harry Chadima (1951 – The Hamilton Company), Willard Chadima (1951 – Iowa Farm Products), Milo Blahnik (1951 – Guaranty Bank & Trust Company).

Also, Gordon Harstad (1953 – Iowa Title and Abstract Company), Edward Bartz (1953 – Bishop Cafeteria), Abbott Lipsky (1954 – Smulekoff’s), Dr. John Huey (1954) – Orthopedics), Barney Morrison (1954 – Barney’s Paint & Wallpaper), Charles P. Rohde (1954 – C. P. Rohde, Inc.), Edward Broderick (1954 – Abell-Howe Company), W. H. Bartlett (1955 – Dor-O-Wall, Inc.), Matthew Bucksbaum (1957 – Town & County Shopping Center, Inc.), Robert Thiersch (1955 – Ohio National Life Insurance Company), John Brinker (1955 – Cherry – Burrell Corp.), Robert Bruner (1956 - WMT) , Edward Altorfer (1957 – Altorfer Machinery Company), Nathan Cohn (1956 – Dearborn Brass Company), George Baldwin (1957 – Wapsie Valley Creamery, Inc./Armstrong’s Department Store), William Shuttleworth (1957 – Shuttleworth & Ingersoll), Selby A. Ballantyne (1957 – Area 10 Community College/Kirkwood), Donald J. Brown (1957 – Herman M. Brown Co.), Leo Peiffer (1957 - Architect), Don Birdsell (1957 – Washington High School Principal), John Baker (1957 – Gordon Fennell Company), Donald Bowman (1957 - Adcraft Printing), William Lewellen (1957 – Lewellen’s Flowers in Town and Country.)

Also, Joseph McCabe (1958 – Coe College), Harold Childs (1958 – Goodyear Service Store, James Wasta (1958 – Pioneer Litho), Dr. Bruce

Fenchel (1959), Henry Amalong (1959 – Wilson & Co.), Darryl Schumacher (1960 – Rinderknecht Construction), Justin Albright (1961- Simmons, Perrine, Albright and Ellwood), John Barlow (1962 Barlow Investments), William Gasway (1962 – J. P. Gasway Company), Gerald Ovel (1963 – Iowa Pipe and Supply Company), Torrence Carlson (1963 – Cedar Rapids Public Schools), Robert Moorman (1963 – Moorman Equipment Company), Robert Chadima (1963 – The Kacena Company), Dr. Clifford Hendricks (1963), Robert E. Barnett (1963 – Western Union Telegraph Company) Charles Erb (1964 – Erb’s Business Equipment), Irwin “Tommy” Tucker (1964 – Tommy Tucker Realty), (David Pickford (1964 – Baker Paper Company), Arnim Brandt (1964 – Hawkeye Rubber Manufacturing Co.), Peter Bezanson (1964 – Morris Plan), Daniel Bobeck (1964 – Addressograph – Multigraph Corporation), and William Eddings (1964 – Kirkwood Community College).

Through the first 50 years of the club, with few exceptions, its all-male membership reflected traditional, for-profit business interests.


Women In Rotary The Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids admitted women

for the first time on November 9, 1987, two years prior to Rotary International formally adapting its constitution to allow such inclusion. For its first 45 years, Rotary’s status as a men-only club was never officially challenged. In 1950, the Rotary Club of India proposed a rule change to Rotary International to admit women, but it was voted down. Fourteen years later, the Rotary Club of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), organized a second proposal to admit women, which was also rejected. In 1972 a challenge from a United States club was similarly defeated.

In 1977, the Rotary Club of Duarte, California, admitted women to their club in direct violation of the Rotary International Constitution. Rotary International retaliated by terminating the club’s membership. Over the next six years, petitions from clubs in the United States, Sweden and Switzerland called for the removal of the reference to “male” in the Rotary constitution. These petitions failed.

In 1983, the Duarte Club filed a lawsuit against Rotary International in the California Superior Court which ruled in favor of Rotary International and upheld gender-based qualification for membership in California Rotary clubs. However, the decision was appealed and reversed, and the California Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

Rotary International appealed to the United States Supreme Court and on May 4, 1987, but the Court ruled that Rotary clubs may not exclude women from membership on the basis of gender. Still, it wasn’t until 1989 that Rotary International altered their constitution and allowed women as members. In the two years between the Supreme Court decision and the constitutional change by Rotary International, the story played out in Cedar Rapids.

The key decision makers during these two years were Club President Sam Wallace (1986-1987) and Club President Dick Wenzel (1987-1988). The board during the period consisted of Gene Bender, Jack Evans, Paul Phelan, Sr., Vern Flagel, John Brewer, Bob Andrews, John Gerber, Bill Bach and Jim Lamb. They advocated to the club membership that women be admitted using the same criteria as used for men and submitted that recommendation to a vote of the entire club. This position was not universally accepted, and there was concern that some members might resign over the issue, but the measure passed in a fairly close vote.

On November 9, 1987, six women were admitted into membership: Elizabeth Hatch Hendricks, a successful Cedar Rapids attorney (who also served on the Iowa Board of Regents); Ellen Wrzeski, a public school administrator; Amelia “Mimi” Meffert, a member of the Armstrong Department Store family; Tara Moorman, an artist; Mary Quass, a successful entrepreneur and radio icon; and Peggy Whitworth, the first director of Brucemore.

Over the next twenty five years, membership of women in the club continued to increase, reaching 83 Active Members (26% of total membership) in 2014. As of 2014, five women had served as Club President: Cheryle Mitvalsky, Donna Sorenson, Carroll Reasoner, Lee Clancey, and Lois Buntz.

At the November 1, 2012 meeting of the Rotary Board of Directors, Peggy Whitworth was named an Honorary Member of The Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids, the first woman to receive this designation.

Programming For 100 years, Downtown Rotary has hosted

politicians, performers, community leaders, and experts in their field who share meaningful insights and observations. The program series offers members perspectives and updates that keep them informed and engaged in their community. Presenters have included both local citizens and international dignitaries.

In the first 50 years of the club’s history, former President William Howard Taft, General Carlos Romulo (former President of the Philippines and President of the General Assembly of the United Nations), William Jennings Bryan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Wiley Rutledge and the elder Henry Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture, all spoke to the club. In 2001, Senator Tom Harkin spoke to the club. He brought with him Senator Tom Daschle on the eve of Daschle’s election as Senate Majority Leader.

Local leadership has also been frequently represented. In 1996, Rotarian and Mayor Lee R. Clancey made her first “State of the City” address before a joint meeting of Cedar Rapids Rotary and the League of Women Voters. In 1997, Bill Vernon moderated a panel discussion with four candidates for the Linn County Board of Supervisors: Lu Barron, Mike Mulaney, Deb Foster and James Houser.

A Cedar Rapids Gazette clipping from 1949 announces a speaker from Australia.


Presentations have offered behind-the-scenes glimpses at local organizations such as Dan Baldwin, representing the South-Side Policy Council who spoke on the purpose of the council to formulate a vision for the city’s lower Southeast side neighborhood that we now call New Bo. In 1998, John Ault, Warden, Anamosa State Penitentiary presented a photo tour of the Anamosa State Penitentiary, including the activities of prison inmates. In 2001, Cookie Vanous, Czech Feather & Down Company, shared her experiences running the family business. Roger Vincent, Quaker Oats Plant Manager, gave an overview of the Quaker Oats Cedar Rapids Plant, the North American cereals manufacturing consolidation, and the Pepsi-Quaker merger status.

Local issues are explored, as in 1999 when Jim Craig, Chair of the Facilities Study Steering Committee for the Cedar Rapids Schools, reported on a two-year study of the school district’s facilities needs and the proposal for a one-cent option sales tax to fund them. David Plazak, Adjunct Professor from Iowa State University reported on the population trends in agricultural and urban areas in Iowa and the implication for land use. After the Cedar River and Iowa River flooding of 2008 there were several programs dealing with the tragedies. Rod Lehnertz from the University of Iowa offered a first look at the recovery plans for the University. At a different meeting Dennis Hamilton discussed the plans of the Army Corps of Engineers.

The impact of national events has also been addressed. In 2002, Peter Teahen gave a gripping first-hand description of working with the American Red Cross at Ground Zero following the September 11, 2001

attacks. Hassan Igram discussed the misrepresentation of Islam in the media since 9/11, and Bill Aossey explored the challenges and opportunities in today’s changing world order. Randy Ramlo shared the impact of Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters on the insurance industry.

Some programs have simply been fun, thoughtful and entertaining. In 2000, Rotarian Laura Skandera-Trombley, Coe College, the author of “Mark Twain in the Company of Women” shared her interest in Twain’s relationships with the women in his life and how these relationships may have defined his writing. In 2006, Marty Kelly, “The Hollywood Cowboy,” presented a program of stories about the screen cowboys who appeared in the movie serials of the 1940s and 1950s.

Between 2009 and 2012, 22 percent of the club speakers focused on government related matters, 19 percent on education, 15 percent on economic development, 15 percent on non-profits, 9 percent on cultural subjects, 5 percent on medical, 3 percent on media, 2 percent on sports and energy and 1 percent on financial, agricultural, manufacturing and technology subjects. The survey resulted in a commitment to overall program diversity, but with an increased focus on business programs. The luncheon program series has long opened club members to a greater awareness of their community, and has exposed countless guests and visitors to club membership.

Sponsorship of Other ClubsIn varying degrees, Downtown Rotary helped facil-itate the creation of ten other Rotary clubs: Charles City (Charter Date: December 1, 1918); Belle Plaine (November 1, 1919); Monticello (December 28, 1921); Marion-East Cedar Rapids (May 15, 1969); Cedar Rapids West (March 26, 1980); Cedar Rapids Sunrise (May 22, 1990); Cedar Rapids Daybreak (April 7, 1995); Ely Gateway (June 15, 2001); and Cedar Rapids Metro North (June 5, 2003).

The birth of West club began with an ad hoc committee made up of three members of the Cedar Rapids Down-town Rotary Club, charged with determining ways to limit that club’s growth. With over 300 members, there were concerns at the District level that the club was becoming too large.

Iowa Hawkeye Football coach Kirk Ferentz spoke at a weekly Rotary meeting in 2014.

Images republished with permission © 2014 SourceMedia Group, Cedar Rapids, Iowa


The Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids has a long tradition of supporting the community reaching back to its

earliest days. The original treasurer’s ledger show that an assessment of members was made for the benefit of Battery E, one of the Cedar Rapids’ World War I military units. The club fostered the band of the old Washington High School, providing it with uniforms when it was the only high school in the city. When the original YMCA Camp Wapsie came into being, Rotary built and equipped one of the cabins. When Jane Boyd pointed out to club officers and directors that children in the Oak Hill district were suffering for a lack of fresh milk, the club financed an ongoing daily supply of milk dispensed at the Community House.

For a number of years Rotary participated in the city’s Christmas plans for underprivileged families. In many cases wives of Rotarians met the mothers of these families in downtown stores and assisted in the selection of gifts and clothing for the children. Individual Rotarians provided the funding.

The club also financed students in the American Field Service program for a year’s study in a Cedar Rapids high school. In 1966, the club replaces the AFS program with an annual grant of $1,000 to a junior student at Coe College or Mt. Mercy College for a year’s study abroad. The first such grant was made for the 1966-67 academic year and Elizabeth Lane, a student at Mt. Mercy College, chose to study music in Paris. The following year the grant went to a Coe student and in 1968-69, two $1,000 awards were made.

At a November 1988 Rotary meeting, President Jim Lamb (1988-1989) presented a check for $16,000 to officers of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art representing the final payment of a $35,500 contribution of the club toward placement of two major bronze castings by prominent artist Malvina Hoffman, a contemporary of acclaimed French sculptor Auguste Rodin.

In 1992, the club established the Cedar Rapids Rotary Club/Coe-Mount Mercy-Kirkwood Scholarship Program with an initial funding of $10,000. The colleges were directed to distribute the scholarship money to non-traditional and international students. This scholarship program expanded in 1996 to include Cornell College in Mount Vernon. In 2008, following the disaster of the Epic Floods, the board ended the scholarship program to direct monies to more immediate recovery efforts. During the period of its existence, the scholarship program provided $200,000 to the four local area colleges.

Beginning in the late 1990s, the club participated in a joint partnership, Gearing Up For Kids, with other local Rotary clubs. The project provided playground equipment to the Cedar Rapids and Marion elementary schools where over fifty percent of the children were eligible for government subsidized free lunch programs. This program, originally scheduled to be completed over a five-year period at a cost in excess of $100,000, was expanded to include additional qualifying schools. Rotarians purchased the equipment and assisted in

Service Above Self

Republished with permission © 2014 SourceMedia Group, Cedar Rapids, IowaThe epic flood of 2008.


the installations. All seven of the original planned installations were completed (Taylor, Polk, Washington-Marion, Harrison, Grant Wood, Johnson and Kenwood) and additional schools were added, including Monroe, Van Buren and Wilson.

A literacy project for Cedar Rapids Metro High School students got a tremendous boost in 2003 when the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids joined forces with Rotary District 5970 and The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation to provide critical funding.

Thanks to those efforts, Rotarians were able to provide $25,765 to enable Metro to purchase 14 new computers and a new software program called “Successmaker” to improve student reading comprehension. Rotary Club members also volunteered at Metro to help in classrooms, and assist with students’ college plans and career education and other Metro fundraisers.

Since the 1960s the club has collected prescription eyeglasses for distribution to third world counties. For many years, recipients were primarily countries in South America. Currently, eyeglasses are used in an African eye clinic in which a local optometrist is deeply involved.

The club instituted a Cell Phone Program in 2003 to provide members with an easy drop off point for old cell phones and then to put the donated phones to work in a socially responsible donation channel. The phones were initially distributed to organizations involved with domestic abuse issues. They are now distributed to the ARC of Eastern Iowa for use in their programs and for sale to provide program income.

Celebrating the centennial of Rotary International in 2005, Downtown Rotary initiated a project involving all of the seven greater Cedar Rapids area Rotary clubs. The goal was to improve the appearance and functionality of the north pond of Cedar Lake for the community. The Cedar Lake area is seen by thousands of commuters and residents every day via I-380. The area around the north pond of the Cedar Lake area, properly landscaped and with appropriate shelters, is now accessible for bikers, walkers, and runners.

The club’s observance of its own centennial included a substantial investment in the NewBo Market, to spark

revitalization efforts and foster economic recovery in the neighborhood. The $200,000 pledge was the largest single financial commitment of funds by the club in its history.

Rotary Pribyl Boys Golf TournamentThe Rotary Pribyl Boys Golf Tournament began

in the 1980s, organized by and later named in honor of Cedar Rapids Rotarian Ed Pribyl. Pribyl founded and managed the Iowa Division of the Butler Paper Company in Cedar Rapids, and for many years “The Pribyl” was sponsored exclusively by Downtown Rotary. After Ed’s death, the tournament continued under the leadership of his widow Helen and Rotarian John Kehrer. In 1998, the Rotary clubs of Cedar Rapids and Marion assumed shared responsibility for the tournament. Mike Donohue has been the long-time representative of the Downtown club on the Tournament’s Executive Committee.

Club International ServiceToward the end of its first 100 years, the Rotary

Club of Cedar Rapids grew increasingly active in international projects. In 1989 and 1990 the club raised funds to finance a cleft palate operation for a young Russian girl, Julia Sakarova, at University Hospitals in Iowa City. The project was called “Just for Julia” and began when club member Bob Kazimour and his wife Jan encountered Julia and her mother Marina during a tour of the Soviet Union. The Kazimours agreed to help arrange medical treatment for Julia in the United States.

Several other organizations coordinated on the effort, and Bob convinced the Rotary board that it would be a worthy international club project. Rotarian Julie Hender, owner of Destinations Unlimited, arranged free transportation for the Sakarovas to come to the United States. Julia, then only 10 years of age, was an accomplished violinist who went on to attend Oberlin College in Ohio and then the Julliard School of Music in New York City. She earned fame as a pianist in Russia and visited the club to perform on at least two occasions since her surgery in Iowa City.

In 2003, the Board partnered with a U.S. based organization called A Promise of Health. Their goal was to create a health care model for the rural, indigenous communities in the Mayan and the Yucatan Peninsula regions of Mexico. Many of these people

The Club Centennial project drew donations from individuals and metro-area Rotary clubs to name Rotary Hall in the NewBo City Market. Donors’ names were inscribed on bricks lining the sidewalk outside.


had no healthcare services. Carl and Mary Carson, of Cedar Rapids, were volunteers and board members for the organization. By 2004, Downtown Rotary began providing support for mobile medical clinics, comprised of used motor homes secured locally by the Carsons. The club helped fill one of them with school supplies for delivery to the children of the Yucatan.

By 2007, the initiative evolved into providing homeopathic physicians to serve approximately 32,000 people through a “Medicine Wheel.” Downtown Rotary paid $15,000 of the Medicine Wheel’s $26,000 total cost, secured a matching grant from the Rotary Foundation, and partnered with the Rotary Club of Merida Montejo of Merida, Mexico.

Club member Karl Cassell introduced another international project in 2010. Karl’s family had deep roots in Liberia, and he suggested the possibility of a Liberian Food Farming Project. Liberia has an 80% unemployment rate and imports 80% of its main staple, rice, from China. The Liberian Food Farming Project to which The Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids approved an initial contribution of $10,000 will create the means for a people to feed themselves while creating income for their families and the community. The club also participated in a Clean Water Project for Same, Tanzania. Tanzania (on Africa’s east coast) has a population of approximately 46 million people, 36% of whom live below the poverty level. Same, Tanzania, has approximately 26,000 residents and is growing. It has inadequate water supply, requiring expensive transportation of water via trucks and push carts. The Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids partnered with the First Lutheran Church of Cedar Rapids to provide $37,000 to establish a permanent well for the residents of Same.

At its core, Rotary is an international collection of service clubs. There are over 1.2 million members, in 33,000 Rotary clubs, located in over 200 countries and territories. Membership dues support the good works of Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation.

Support For The Rotary FoundationThe Cedar Rapids Rotary Club has actively supported

the Rotary Foundation since the Foundation was organized in 1917. During the 1989-1990 Rotary year, former Club President Bob Moorman agreed to serve as Club Foundation Committee Chair for the year. He pledged to recruit a new Paul Harris Fellow and present a Paul Harris Fellow Award at every meeting of that Rotary year. He made good on his pledge and 46 Paul Harris Fellows were presented at every week the club held a meeting.

In 1995, the Rotary board established a mandatory contribution to the Rotary Foundation for all new club members. The $100 contribution designates all club members a “Sustaining” member of the Rotary Foundation and is the first step to becoming a Paul Harris Fellow (which requires contributions totaling $1,000 for each award).

During the 2007-2008 Rotary Foundation Campaign, Rotary Foundation Chair Paul Morf asked the board of directors to establish a goal that every member participate in supporting the good works of Rotary International by making a gift to the Rotary Foundation at the $100 level. Every Member Every Year is now the stated fundraising objective for all clubs in support of the Rotary Foundation. In the initial campaign, over 250 (85%) of the membership made contributions to the Rotary Foundation totaling $32,000.

In 2013, Doug Laird and Allen Witt conducted a “Rotary Rush” Campaign at the District level that raised approximately $20,000 for the Rotary Foundation. The Rotary Rush Campaign encouraged first-time Paul Harris Fellows with matching funds. District Rotarians responded and raised an additional $15,000. Downtown Rotary accounted for 80 of the 135 total participants in the campaign. The club held a Paul Harris Fellow Award Meeting at the new Rotary Hall in the Cedar Rapids NewBo Market to present the awards to club members. Doug Laird’s comments that day documented that Downtown Rotary was the 33rd largest Rotary Club in the world. While it represented about 11 percent of the District’s Rotarians, it provided 23 percent of the Annual Fund dollars in the District. He called it “an excellent performance from an excellent club.”



Stories And Statistics

Rotary Meeting Places The Montrose Hotel, on the southwest corner of

Third Avenue and Third Street Southeast, was the first meeting place for Cedar Rapids Rotarians in 1914 and remained the headquarters into the late 1920s. Sometime after 1927, the club moved to the Roosevelt Hotel, though the exact year is undocumented. The club returned to the Montrose July 1951, after a survey of the membership recorded 81 favoring the Montrose, 39 wishing to remain at the Roosevelt, and 6 with no preference.

In July 1974, the Montrose announced that it was raising the club’s lunch price from $2.50 to $2.95 and, according to club minutes, this was accepted “providing that there would be better meat courses and a dessert.” Within a year, however, the Montrose informed the club that the hotel “would no longer be in a position to serve the Rotary Club due to kitchen renovations. The club returned to the Roosevelt (where the lunch was initially

$2.95 per plate) from 1975 through 1993. Within that span, the club met occasionally at Stouffer’s Five Seasons Hotel before moving there officially until 2011.

Cedar Rapids Rotary held its last meeting at what was renamed the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel on February 7, 2011. In the aftermath of the Flood of 2008, the hotel declared bankruptcy and the building was sold to the City of Cedar Rapids. On February 14, 2011 the club moved to the Cedar Rapids Scottish Rite Temple at 616 A Avenue NE. In September 2013, the membership voted to return to the downtown hotel (now a DoubleTree Hilton) and the new City Conven-tion Center, beginning January 2014.

Club Membership Guidelines And Growth

In 1994, the club adopted membership qualification guidelines requiring that each applicant: reside or work in Linn County; fulfill an available classification (no longer an important restriction); serve in a policy-making position with their employer (generally one of the top three policymakers in the organization); and be actively involved in professional and community affairs.

Total membership reached about 125 by the 1950s and grew to nearly 250 through the 1980s. Membership reached 300 by 1987 and peaked at 350 by 2014. The membership represents approximately fifty percent of metro Rotarians and fifteen percent of Rotarians in District 5970.


The Pig Roast And Beginning Of The Charitable Assessment

For many years the club hosted a pig roast as its principal fund raiser in support of charitable activities. By December of 1989, the Fund Raiser Committee struggled to secure volunteers, ticket commitments, and corporate sponsors. They annual event was replaced with a $50 annual mandatory assessment per member (generating about $16,000), and a raffle associated with a break-even social event, targeting another $7,500. The mandatory Charitable Assessment in lieu of mandatory fundraisers was raised to $100 per member paid semi-annually. Despite general disapproval of District officials, who felt that it decreased club camaraderie, the club has continued with the assessment.

Club NewsletterDuring most of the life of the club, a weekly bulletin

with various names and formats has kept club members informed about club activities and meetings. Among the early editors were Luther A. Brewer, the second club president and a Rotary District Governor and James F. Keevers – nicknamed “Mr. Rotary” – a club secretary for 25 years.

In January 1951, following a naming contest, Ripples from the Rapids emerged. Bishop Morrison was the first editor, followed by a string of successors. Ripples was initially a two-sided legal size typed sheet distributed by mail each week. It typically consisted of brief meeting program synopses, make-ups, obituaries, new member write-ups and a brief review of activities at the local, district or international level. For many years the back of the newsletter included members assigned to the various committees.

A July 2001 survey showed that 93 percent of the membership had access to the Internet and e-mail. A poll of members also revealed that 66 percent of respondents wanted to receive Ripples by e-mail,18 percent wanted to access it only on the club website, and 16 percent wanted to continue to receive a hard copy.

In response, the bulletin was posted weekly on the club website (www.rotaryclubofcedarrapids.org) and e-mailed to all members who preferred that option. The first electronic mailing went out in advance of the April 22, 2002 meeting. The hard copy edition was abandoned after 2008.

Club Golden AnniversaryBishop Morrison reported “The club held its golden

anniversary celebration April 16, 1964, with several hundred present including the Ladies of Rotary.”

“President Joe Daggett (1963-1964) presided and the invocation was given by Rotarian Dr. Joseph E. McCabe, President of Coe College. James C. Marvin, who was president in 1962-63 served as toastmaster. All past presidents who were present, including a number from out of the city, were presented and Rev. William A. Jacobs, pastor of the New England Congregational Church, Aurora, Illinois, who was club president in 1942-43, responded for them. The district Governor-elect, John H. McBurney of Webster City, spoke briefly and Will C. Henning, charter member, was introduced. The address of the evening was given by the noted columnist and author, Cleveland Amory. Adding to the pleasure of the evening were favors which were donated by the matched district of the year, in Central America.”



Community Service Awards The Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids Community

Service Award has been presented at the end of each Rotary year since 1993. The recipient does not need to be a Rotarian, but must demonstrate a substantial commitment to public service or leadership at the local, state or national level. They must be recognized by their peers as outstanding leaders in the community and must portray a Rotary model in their life while serving above self.

Recipients have included:

William P. Whipple* (1992-1993)

William B. Quarton* (1993-1994)

Vincent J. Noce* (1994-1995)

Jack B. Evans* (1995-1996)

Abbott B. Lipsky* (1996-1997)

Gary J. Streit* (1997-1998)

Roby Kesler (1998-1999)

Percy C. Harris (1999-2000)

Madge J. Phillips (2000-2001)

Cheryle W. Mitvalsky* (2001-2002)

Henry Royer* (2002-2003)

Norman R. Nielsen* (2003-2004)

Susan W. McDermott* (2004-2005)

Charles M. Peters* (2005-2006)

Emmett J. Scherman (2006-2007)

Terri Christoffersen* (2007-2008)

Donald P. Hattery* (2008-2009)

John M. Smith* (2009-2010)

James E. Hoffman* (2010-2011)

Kathy E.* and Rex B. Eno (2011-2012)

William A. Galbraith, M.D. (2012-2013).*Club member at time award received.

Club Appreciation AwardThe Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids Appreciation

Awards are presented at the end of each Rotary year based on the recipient meeting the following criteria:

1. Rotarians are ineligible for an Appreciation Award.

2. The focus of the award should be on a specific charitable activity or area of interest of the recipient to which they have made an extraordinary contribution.

3. The award would not usually be presented to an individual for the performance of their regular employment or vocation, but could be if that performance was over and above any reasonable expectation.

AwArd: $500 to the charity or charities of the recipients choice, but usually to the charity they are being honored for. Commemorative plaque.

Past Recipients of Club Appreciation Awards 1998-1999 - Ron Gonder, Jean E. Oxley, Bill Quinby and Madge Phillips.

1999-2000 - Matthew J. Brandes, Diane Handler, Kay Jackson and Ruth Mund.

2000-2001 - Dale F. Crosier, David Hite, Jr., Kate Hladky and Curran Rosser.

2001-2002 - Patty Lane, Ron Neil and Shirley Ruedy.

2002-2003 - Steven J. Pace and Richard A. Patterson.

2003-2004 - Shirley M. Cutchlow, John McMurray and Darlene Schmidt.

2004-2005 - Carl and Mary Carson, Chirantan Ghosh, M .D., FACP, The Junior League of Cedar Rapids, Inc., and Melody Rockwell.

2005-2006 - David Blankenship, Bill King (In Memory) and Lisa Linge McGrath.

2006-2007 - Dr. Nancy Hart, James E. Miller, David C. Neuhaus and Jim Wood.

2007-2008 - Myron “Mike” Wilson, James E. Levett, M. D., Chris Carman and John Locher.

2008-2009 - Wayne Engle & “Old Farts” Electric, Karla Goettel and Thomas V. Darden.

2009-2010 - Clint Twedt-Ball, Leanne & Ed Loehr and SCORE of East Central Iowa.

2010-2011 - Myrt Bowers, Mike Driscoll and Dr. Tom McIntosh, M. D.

2011-2012 - Barry Boyer and Kathy Green.

2012-2013 - Randy Bauer, Sarah E. Ordover and James R. Phifer.


VeteransThe club was formed on the cusp of the World

War I. Members also fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Some of our younger members (both men and women) served in the military during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2005 and 2006 club presidents Larry Helling and Lee Clancy organized Veteran’s Day programs to honor club members and others who had served in the military. Veterans of Foreign Wars members presented the American flag and led members and guests in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Len Ranson and Amy Johnson presented a collage of the military and civilian highlights of club members and family members being honored as veterans with Paul Harris Fellow Awards.

All veterans in the club received a special Paul Harris Award, made possible by the generosity of Rotarian Bill Quarton. Charles Larson, Sr., accepted the award on behalf of all of the club’s veterans.

The special honorees for 2005 were:

Bob O’Meara* (Marines)

Bill Shuttleworth* (Navy)

Larry Pipkin (Army)

Bob Chadima* (Navy)

Tom Parks* (Air Force)

Bud Jensen (Army)

David Pickford* (Army)

Dean Gesme, Sr.* (Army)

Francis Pipkin (Army)

Bruce Fenchel* (Army)

Darrell Schumacher* (Army)

Richard Helling (Army)

Andrew Meyer* (Navy)

The special honorees for 2006 were:

George Baldwin* (Army)

Murray Birchansky (Army)

Major General Louis Burkhalter* (Army)

Dick Heft* (Air Force)

Jeffrey Mauer (Army)

D. Fred Pilcher (Army Air Corp in WWII and Air Force in Korea)

Al Sorensen* (Army)

Bob Vancura* (Army)

James Wilson (Army)

*Club members

FinancialsWhile the club’s finances have been quite stable over its history, the secretary’s minutes for April 7, 1930, showed sixty-seven cents in the treasury, with unpaid bills totaling $138.79. The brave directors borrowed $300 from a bank, and the minutes of the following meeting reflected a sizable donation to the Red Cross had been authorized. About that time a budget system was established and the financial situation has never been as precarious since.


Celebrating 25 Years Of Women In Downtown Rotary

On November 19, 2012, the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids formally celebrated the 25th anniversary of admitting women into the club. Former president Donna Sorensen led the program noting that “in some ways 25 years seems like ancient history and in some ways it didn’t seem so long ago at all.”

The attendees heard from some of the first women invited into the club. Mimi Meffert sent a message from Palo Alto, California, that read: “It was truly an honor to be part of that first group of women who joined Rotary. Years ago, my grandfather, Samuel G. Armstrong, was a Charter Member of the Downtown Club. Your Club is filled with energetic people engaged in many facets of our community and the ‘greater community’. Currently, I am an active member of Palo Alto University Rotary, which meets on Friday mornings at 7:30 A.M., recites the Pledge of Allegiance, has many young members and no singing. Have a wonderful celebration of the Cedar Rapids Rotary early on accomplishment of bringing women into the Rotary circle.”

Tara Moorman wrote from Florida: “It is an honor to belong to Downtown Cedar Rapids Rotary. I have enjoyed working the badge table for many years as part of the Hospitality Committee. The late George Baldwin asked me to join his elite all male committee and how

could I resist George? I am proud of all the talented women members we have in our club now and proud of all the men who have championed us.”

Mary Quass recalled “that when we went through the food buffet line, those men that were not in favor of women being inducted would go through the line opposite the women and never look over the sneeze guard on the buffet line, almost hoping we were a mirage ---some of the men also chose not to speak to us for awhile.”

Peggy Boyle Whitworth shared a firsthand account of being a Rotary pioneer. She reminded the Rotary audience that “nothing says ‘welcome’ like a Supreme Court order.” In speaking of her initial days in Rotary, she noted that many of the early leaders may not have been sexists, but didn’t often understand that access to power was denied women. She said it was a huge honor to be invited and that it spoke volumes about Rotary.

Other women were honored, including Cheryle Mitvalsky. Cheryle was the first woman to serve as Club President in 1996, and helped initiate the first Metro Rotary joint project, Gearing Up for Kids. She was the first female Rotarian to be honored with the club’s prestigious Community Service Award. She has sponsored and introduced the most women into Rotary of anyone but Jack Evans.

Carroll Reasoner, Mary Quass, Peggy Boyle Whitworth, Cheryle Mitvalsky and Donna Sorenson (from left) celebrated the 25th Anniversary of women in Rotary.


IOWA TODAY®

Sunday, March 9, 2014 5AThe Gazette●

© 2014 The G

azette

TIMEMACHINE

A LOOK BACK AT PEOPLE, PLACES, EVENTS IN EASTERN IOWA©

2014 The Gazette

By Diane Langton, The Gazette

Rotary in Cedar Rapids of-ficially marks its 100th year in April.

It began with 18 men meet-ing at the Montrose Hotel for lunch March 23, 1914, to lay out preliminary plans for the Cedar Rapids Rotary Club.

Clubs from Des Moines, Sioux City and Davenport were invited for the official formation of the club April 6, again at a luncheon at the Montrose. After the constitu-tion and bylaws were adopted, the club’s officers were in-stalled: Fred Fisher, president; Luther Brewer, vice president; Tom Powell, secretary; and Ed Wilcox, treasurer. Almost as soon as it was official, the club received a number of applica-tions for membership.

The club’s practice was to meet for lunch each Monday at the Montrose. In line with Rotary’s motto of service, members were asked to come to the June 1 meeting with an idea about how to make Cedar Rapids a better place to live.

Among the ideas presented were a “safety first” move-ment for motor vehicles; a fund to support new factories and aid local industry; a free employment bureau; improve-ment of roads leading into the city; and preservation and beautification of Cedar Lake.

The first project the club got behind was an effort to clean up vacant lots, removing weeds and keeping properties in good condition.

Original member Keith Vawter started scheduling speakers to talk to the club in the early 1920s. He felt that if speakers were well-received they would sell on the lecture circuit. So the Rotary club was treated to the likes of William Jennings Bryan, Will Rogers, William Howard Taft and Har-ry Lauder — all for free.

NATIONAL HISTORYThe Rotary organization

was started in Chicago in 1905 by University of Iowa law

school graduate Paul Har-ris. He and a group of friends wanted a club for business-men that would recapture the comraderie of the small towns from which many of them came — a group Harris described as “an adventure in friendship.”

The club met in the office of one member at lunchtime, each man bringing a sack lunch. The name Rotary came from the rotation of meetings among the members’ places of business.

Rotary soon became too large for just Chicago. A second club started in San Francisco in 1908 with 14 more added by 1910, when a na-tional association was set up. Branches were cropping up all around the world, and Rotary became international in 1912.

“These clubs have had a wonderful success in most cities where they have been established, representing as they do, the highest class of membership, which is limited

to but one trade or profession of a kind,” a 1914 Gazette edi-torial said.

“For instance, there can be but one doctor, one lawyer, one newspaper man, and so on. Thus when members come together, they can discuss a wide range of topics concern-ing the various trades and professions, profiting and learning by the other fellow’s experience. Each member feels free to speak of his busi-ness and how it is conducted without the fear that a com-petitor in the same line might be listening.

“But it is the spirit of ca-maraderie which has made the Rotary club so popular. The air of good fellowship pervades all meetings and no matter how prominent the guest of honor may be, he understands the other fellows have the right to call him by his first name if they so desire. In other words, it’s a sort of ‘big brother’ movement among busy business men.”

EXPANDING ITS REACHBy 1980 there were three

Rotary clubs in Cedar Rapids. The original club had spon-sored the Marion-East Cedar Rapids club in 1969 and the Ce-dar Rapids-West club in 1980.

The Cedar Rapids-West Ro-tary in turn sponsored three new clubs: Sunrise (1990), Day-break (1995) and Ely-Gateway (2001). Rotary Club of Metro North Cedar Rapids was char-tered in 2003.

Rotary arrived in Iowa City in 1915. In 1989, the Iowa City A.M. Rotary was chartered with 57 members who wanted to participate but couldn’t make the Thursday noon meetings of the existing club. Iowa City Rotary Downtown was chartered in 2004.

Other area Rotary clubs were established in Belle Plaine in 1942 and Monticello in 1921, and Marshalltown in 1915, sponsored by the Cedar Rapids club, and in Indepen-dence in 1919, with the Water-loo club as its sponsor.

OPENING UP TO WOMENRotary in Cedar Rapids

was men only until Novem-ber 1987, when Cedar Rapids Downtown Rotary inducted its first women. Lisa McGrath, Tara Moorman, Davida Han-dler, Jo Elizabeth Hatch, Ellyn Wrzeski, Peggy Whitworth, Mary Quass and Mimi Meffert were introduced in the same way men had been since 1914.

Their admission to Rotary was the result of a unanimous May 1987 Supreme Court deci-sion. Associate Justice Lewis Powell wrote, “Indeed, by opening membership to lead-ing business and professional women in the community, Ro-tary Clubs are likely to obtain a more representative cross-section of community leaders with a broadened capacity for service.”

Before he died in 1947, national founder Harris de-scribed Rotary: “There was no inspired beginning. Young business men, mostly from the country, gathered to help and befriend each other. We had been lonesome and we found a cure for lonesomeness. No, I did not in 1905 foresee a worldwide Rotary movement. When a man plants an un-promising sapling in the early springtime, can he be sure that someday here will grow a mighty tree? Does he not have to reckon with the rain and sun — and the smile of Provi-dence?”

● Comments: (319) 398-8338; [email protected]

Gazette photos

Cedar Rapids Rotary Club’s three oldest members are pictured in 1964 as the club prepared to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Morris Sanford (right) joined the club in 1915, shortly after it was organized. John M. Ely (center) joined in 1916. Because both left and then rejoined the club, the man with the longest continuous membership is M.H. “Bishop” Morrison (left). He joined in 1926.

Nitish C. Laharry (second from left) of Calcutta, India, president of Rotary International, arrived at the Cedar Rapids airport in October 1962 ahead of a speech in Iowa City. On hand to greet him were (from left) Marshall Hardestry, past president of the Cedar Rapids Rotary Club; Laharry; John Burrows, Belle Plaine, governor of Rotary district No. 597; Allin W. Dakin, Iowa City, chairman of the finance committee, Rotary International; and Bob Marsden, Iowa City Rotary president.

University of Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz speaks at a 2010 luncheon hosted by the Cedar Rapids Downtown Rotary Club at the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel in downtown Cedar Rapids.

Service Above Self: Rotary’s century in C.R.

● Have a suggestion of where the Time Machine should travel? We want to look back at key people, places and events in Eastern Iowa and need your help. Call (319) 398-8338 or email [email protected]● Time Machine is online too, with additional time lines, photos and other materials at thegazette.com

WHAT ARE YOU INTERESTED IN?

“There was no inspired beginning. Young business men, mostly from the country, gathered to help and befriend each other. We had been lonesome and we found a cure for lonesomeness.”Paul Harris, University of Iowa law school graduate who founded the Rotary organization in 1905 in Chicago



On April 26, 2014, the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids held a gala Centennial Celebration to mark its

100th anniversary. A dinner and dance were held at the Double Tree by Hilton in the Cedar Rapids Convention Complex. Guests included Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds, Iowa

Senator Chuck Grassley, Ray Klinginsmith, President of Rotary International 2010-2011, and keynote speaker John Hewko, General Secretary of Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation. This history publication was presented to attendees as a gift and remembrance of the history shared by the Rotarians of Cedar Rapids.

Epilogue


E. C. Allen - Cedar Rapids and Marion RailroadS. G. Armstrong - Clothing Luther A. Brewer - Republican Printing Company John W. Barry - Lumber Dr. E. R. Burkhalter - Pastor, First Presbyterian Church E. B. Cameron - J. C. Cherry Company A. E. Chase - Laundry B. B. Currell - Bakery C. A. Dieman - Architect W. M. Deacon - Brewer- Deacon Investment Company F. C. Fisher - Security Savings Bank John B. Gordon - Columbia Bank Note Company Arthur Hurtt - Cedar Rapids Bottling Works D. E. Howell - Wartfield - Pratt Howell Company Wholesale Grocery W. C. Henning - Cedar Rapids Business College A. S. Hammond - Cedar Rapids Transfer Company A. A. Jeffrey - Central Chandelier Company Edward Killian - The Killian Company C. P. Kinyon - Wholesale Drugs - The Churchill Drug Company Dr. Richard Lord - Physician R. B. Larter - Burroughs Adding Machine Company Paul Lattner - Electric Service Station Dr. F. E. Miller - Dentist Dr. J. A. Marquis - President, Coe College

Leo B. Mull - Broker J. L. Mattson - ShoesJoe McCormick - Newspaper R. H. McKenze - Manager, Kresge Company Dr. Joseph Fort Newton - Peoples Liberal Church O. C. Olney - Cedar Rapids Candy Company J. M. Parker - Advertising Novelties T. B. Powell - Lawyer Almon S. Reed - Insurance I. W. Sellars - Cigar Store Lumir Severa - Manufacturing Pharmacists P. P. Smith - Paving Contractor W. H. Stepanek - Hardware A. A. Taylor - Jeweler C. E. Taylor - Manager, Montrose Hotel David B. Turner - Turner Mortuary C. L. Van Valkenburg - Investments Keith Vawter - Chautauqua George Wallen - Manager, Wallen Service Company A. N. Watson - Grocer John R. Weber - Manager, St. Louis Paper Company J. F. Whelihan - Retail Druggist Homer White - Manager, Western Union Telegraph Company E. E. Wilcox - Cedar Rapids Commission Company

Appendix I

Rotary Club Of Cedar Rapids Charter Members As Recorded April 6, 1914


*1914-15 Fred C. Fisher*1915-16 Luther A. Brewer*1916-17 Charles P. Kinyon*1917-18 C. L. Van Falkenberg*1918-19 Elmer A. Runkle*1919-20 Elmer B. Cameron*1920-21 Frank A. Beals*1921-22 Fred B. Wolfe*1922-23 Dr. Henry M. Gage*1923-24 John A. Limback*1924-25 A. L. Killian*1925-26 Earl E. Barbee* 1926-27 Rev. Charles C. McKinney*1927-28 Almon S. Reed*1928-29 Lael Ray Abbott*1929-30 Charles C. Hunt*1930-31 Marion H. Morrison*1931-32 Dr. Fred W. Bailey*1932-33 Rev. John J. Gent*1933-34 V. Craven Shuttleworth*1934-35 Dr. J. H. Calder*1935-36 C. W. Cottingham*1936-37 E. F. Moorman*1937-38 Dr. J. Stuart McQuiston*1938-39 Hans N. Boyson*1939-40 Leo P. Peiffer*1940-41 J. Rayner Harper*1941-42 T. M. Ingersoll*1942-43 Rev. William A. Jacobs*1943-44 Edwin B. Zeller*1944-45 John W. Miller*1945-46 Cyril L. Kegler*1946-47 Fred H. Killen*1947-48 Howard H. Hahn*1948-49 Leroy W. Busby

*1949-50 Howard W. Anway*1950-51 Louis P. Bourdreaux*1951-52 Rev. Marvin K. Kober*1952-53 Hale C. Reid*1953-54 Hubert A. Schimberg*1954-55 J. Archer Eggen 1955-56 Robert Widmark* (Resigned to leave the city) & Arthur Barlow* *1956-57 Louis Burkhalter, Jr. *1957-58 Waldo W. Wegner *1958-59 Gordon Simonds *1959-60 Sumner H. Foster *1960-61 James Colbert *1961-62 Marshall G. Hardesty 1962-63 James C. Marvin *1963-64 Joe A. Daggett *1964-65 John C. Rice 1965-66 Clarence C. McIntyre 1966-67 *A. Robert Tiersch & Dr. Robert Pritchard *1967-68 Darrell M. Schumacher *1968-69 Milford M. Delzell 1969-70 Robert C. Moorman *1970-71 Richard E. Scherling *1971-72 John Nevin Nichols *1972-73 Louis B. Blair *1973-74 H. J. (Gus) Schrader 1974-75 Charles T. King *1975-76 Leo L. Nussbaum 1976-77 Thomas R. Ecker *1977-78 Peter F. Bezanson 1978-79 Robert E. Zimmerman*1979-80 Peter J. (Jack) Laugen 1980-81 Dale H. Sawyer

1981-82 Randall C. Bray 1982-83 Emmett J. Scherman 1983-84 Bill F. Stewart 1984-85 Jerry S. Maples 1985-86 William J. Bach 1986-87 Samuel T. Wallace 1987-88 Richard C. Wenzel 1988-89 James L. Lamb 1989-90 Jack B. Evans 1990-91 Michael P. Donohue 1991-92 Gary D. Peterson *1992-93 Vincent J. Noce 1993-94 James A. Tinker 1994-95 Norman R. Nielsen 1995-96 Thomas R. Feld 1996-97 Cheryle W. Mitvalsky 1997-98 Donna J. Sorensen 1998-99 Gary J. Streit 1999- 00 Ron E. Olson 2000-01 Herbert L. Isenberg 2001-02 Marc R. Gullickson 2002-03 Carroll J. Reasoner 2003-04 Charles M. Peters 2004-05 John M. Bickel 2005-06 Larry J. Helling 2006-07 Lee R. Clancey 2007-08 Thomas M. Hayden 2008-09 Daniel R. Baldwin 2009-10 Paul P. Morf 2010 -11 Douglas D. Laird 2011-12 Theodore E. Townsend 2012-13 Lois A. Buntz 2013-14 John L. Wasta 2014-15 Allen Witt

Appendix II

CLUB PRESIDENTS, SECRETARIES & DISTRICT GOVERNORS

Presidents Of The Rotary Club Of Cedar Rapids

*1914-16 Tom B. Powell *1916-17 Harland C. Robbins *1917-20 Luton H. Stubbs

*1920-25 John B. Northcott *1925-50 James F. Keevers *1950-55 John S. Kehrer

*1955-88 Clyde T. Lindsley *1988-92 Alan B. Campbell 1992-2014 Larry H. Christy

*1917-18 Luther Brewer (District included all of Iowa and parts of Nebraska and South Dakota)

*1971-72 Edwin B. Zeller *1986-87 Peter J. “Jack” Laugen

*Indicates known deceased

Secretaries Of The Rotary Club Of Cedar Rapids

District Governors From The Rotary Club Of Cedar Rapids


100 OF SERVICE

ABOVE SELF

YEA

RS

from your fellow rotarians at

Larry Helling- Downtown; Brad Holub- Metro North; Brittney Savoy- Sunrise; Dana Nichols- CR West; Deb Gertsen- Downtown; James Klein- Daybreak; Karon Schladetzky- Ely Gateway; Kevin Bruns- Downtown; Ron Maxa- Metro North; Scott Overland- Daybreak; Wendy Nielsen- Metro North.

CONGRATULATIONSTO THE ROTARY CLUB OF CEDAR RAPIDS FOR


Thank You to Our 100th Anniversary Program

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ROTARY CLUB OF CEDAR RAPIDS

2013-2014 BOARD OF DIRECTORS & OFFICERS

John L. Wasta - President Allen Witt - President-Elect

Karl Cassell - President-Elect Nominee Lois A. Buntz - Past President

Laurie L. DawleyMarilee FowlerBradley G. Hart

Dennis E. JordanMary Klinger

Christine E. H. LandaJohn F. Lohman

Christian A. MuellerGail A. NaughtonElizabeth Schott

Leighton A. Smith Larry H. Christy - Secretary/Treasurer

Nicholas C. Gearhart - Sergeant-at-Arms

Centennial Celebration CommitteeGail Naughton, Chair

Lois BuntzBarbara Green

Cathy GullicksonSalma Igram

David JanssenChristine Landa

John WastaAllen Witt

Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids' 100th Anniversary Program

Documents

Transcript of Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids' 100th Anniversary Program