Rotary Club
of Greenville, Mississippi
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Greenville
Rotary Club History 1920 – 1970 According to records available the
Greenville Rotary Club was organized in April, 1920, and received its charter
from Rotary International May 1, 1920. Our sponsor was the Clarksdale Rotary
Club with W. K. Herrin as its special representative. The first meeting was held in the
cafeteria of the old Greenville
High School. For the first ten years we met upstairs in
what was then the Elysian Club, but later known as the William A. Percy
Memorial Library. The meals were prepared and served by the Women’s Auxiliary
of the Episcopal Church under the leadership of Mrs. Lola Belle Eustis,
according to information furnished by the late Andrew Alexander.
First Officers The officer elected the first year were
W. P. Kretschmar, President; Will A. Percy, Vice-President; Hubert B. Crosby,
Secretary; Sam Blum, Treasurer. The Board of Directors consisted of W. P.
Kretschmar, T. C. Holmes, J. A. Hunt, J.
A. Merfeld, and S. L. Moyse. The fortunes of our club have followed
closely those of our city. Together they have shared prosperity and adversity.
We have survived two economic upheavals, two world wars and other conflicts, a
disastrous flood in 1927, but in spite of all of this, we have emerged from it
stronger and better. In 1923, the Greenville Club, through
the interest of Lyne Starling as president, and with the cooperative efforts of
Will Percy, sponsored and helped to organize the Leland Rotary Club. The same
year, Will Percy, representing Rotary International, helped to establish the
Indianola Club. It was in 1924-1925 that one of our
members, Milton Smith, was elected Governor, for District Number 16, which
included 31 clubs at that time, and was comprised of all the clubs located in
North Mississippi plus Memphis, Tennessee. Special mention should be made of the
1927 flood. Most of the members of our club remained in the City for its
duration; engaging in the rescue work, conservation and restoration. Recognition
should be given to the leadership during this crisis by Rotarians such as Will
Percy and General A. C. Paxton who headed up the Relief Agency and the National
Guard, respectively. District Conference Then, on our Tenth Anniversary in May,
1930, the First District Conference was held in Greenville. The headquarters for
that event was the Hotel Roslyn. In office at that time were the following:
John Davis, President; Andrew Alexander, Vice-President; Henry Starling,
Secretary; Granville Stanley, Treasurer. The Directors consisted of Andrew
Alexander, Maurice Bergman, Jimmie Crumpton and Sidney Moyse. It is of interest that Chauncy Smith;
of our sponsoring club, Clarksdale, was the District Governor at that time.
Another interesting item is that the Song Leader for this Conference was none
other than Walter Jenkins, a member of the Memphis Club, and also Song Leader
for the Chicago International Convention of that year. Walter Jenkins, who is
retired and lives now in Houston, Texas, has been the official Song Leader for
all Rotary International Conventions up until two years ago. To be remembered by Past President
Davis are the following Mayor Shelben - address of welcome, Rev. Phillip
Davidson - invocation, and a band concert by the Memphis Rotary Boys Band at the
Grand Theatre. And believe it or
not, a visit to the Saenger Theatre that night to see a “talking picture”
starring Vilma Banky in “Lady to Love.” The featured speaker for the
Governor’s Banquet, which was held at the old 555 Service Station building
that night, was Oscar Johnston of Scott, whose topic was “Mississippi, Its
Past, Present and Future.” Then to close the festivities, there was a boxing
match scheduled for that night, between two outstanding fighters at the American
Legion Stadium, at South Hinds and Johnston Streets. New Members and Projects As Greenville grew through the years,
adding and opening up new classifications, so did our membership. In the year of
1935 when the new Greenville Hotel was opened, larger quarters were secured
there for our weekly luncheons. We used this facility until May, 1966, when we
moved to the Community Center, and then December 1969 to our present location at
the Downtowner. It was in the middle Thirties that our
club took a very active part in supporting the Hospital for Crippled Adults in
Memphis. The success of this worthy project was mainly due to the untiring
efforts of our charter member, Hubert Crosby. To this day, the Greenville club
has led all other forty clubs in District 682 in contributions. During the Second World War and the
Korean conflict, our club furnished its quota of men, too numerous to mention by
name, to the Armed Services, all of whom served with honor and distinction.
Two of our presidents were called to military duty while in office. Frank Hall
left in 1942 for duty with the Army and T. Russell Nunan, installed in 1952 and
president for one meeting was called back to duty with the Navy during the
Korean conflict. Our club participated with other civic
clubs in various projects to entertain the cadets training at the Greenville Air
Force Base during these times. We also joined with other civic clubs to welcome
home the 31st Division, commanded by our own Lt. Gen. Paxton. Greenville’s Rotary Fellows One of our youngest presidents ever to
wield the gavel, W. C. Kimbrell, inaugurated some worthwhile projects in
co-operation with our school authorities. One
of these was to Initiate the 4 Way Test in our schools. It was during his
administration that a group of our members accompanied Albert Lake to Memphis
and Little Rock to present one of the finest programs ever presented - “The
Louisiana Purchase.” Our club was also most fortunate to celebrate the Golden
Anniversary of Rotary International by having Judge Ed McFaddin, one of the most
outstanding Rotarians of our time, to make his inspiring address to our club. It
was also in 1955 that our first Rotary Fellow, Richard
T. Harbison, was selected for one year of study at St. Andrews, Scotland. We may point with pride that in 1956
during the administration of President W. M. McGough, Miss. Shirley Stanton, the
second Rotary Fellow from our club, was selected to spend one year of study in
Montevideo, Uruguay. The Greenville
club enjoys the distinction of being a club in our district, consisting of
forty-one clubs, to send more than one Rotary Fellow abroad for study. There was
developed for our club, also during President McGough’s term, a classification
roster which still serves as a model through out the District.
Also, as Our club grew in size and stature, more of our members have been
called on to serve on various Rotary programs at conventions, panels, etc. “Hildegard’s 102 Daddies” Commemorating the Fortieth Anniversary
in the year 1959-1960 under the administration of President Frank Koestler, our
club undertook an international project by supporting an orphan child in
Austria. There are quite a few children’s orphanages in that part of Europe,
which are supported by different civic groups and churches. We sponsored a young
girl for several years until her graduation, by birthday donations from our
individual members. This project received very favorable publicity for our club,
including an article published in the “Rotarian” entitled “Hildegard’s
102 Daddies.” Since terminating this particular project, our birthday
donations go to the support of our local Teen Club. Another outstanding International
Project was initiated and brought to a successful conclusion under President
John McPherson and his committee, which included Dr. Ernest Butler. One hundred
thirty-five Rotary Clubs in foreign countries were contacted with the hope that
correspondence and the exchange of ideas could be developed. Also a check was
enclosed for the purchase of a suitable gift for our Rotary Ann night that year.
What was most remarkable, only two
clubs refused to co-operate. Governor Frank Koestler The year 1963-1964 brought additional
honors to our club by having one of our members, Frank Koestler, elected
District Governor. That conference was held in Greenville under the capable
leadership of President Victor Smith. By all standards, this conference was the
best attended, and especially the banquet hall most beautifully decorated by our
Rotary Aims. One outstanding feature presentation of this conference was a
program on the “Manned Moon landing” by Mr. John Goodrun, chief project
officer for NASA. The predicted target date given for this project was before
the end of the last decade. The prediction proved to be correct by the
performance of the astronauts in the Apollo Series. Under the direction of President Hal
Buchannan the following year saw the formation of the first Interact Club of our
district. An Interact skit by
charter members of the Greenville Interact Club was presented at the Natchez
District Conference. The year of President Bill Condon’s
reign added a great deal of thought and dignity to the admittance of a new
member - a breakfast meeting with the prospective member was instituted before
final induction into the club. At
this meeting, usually conducted by the vice-president and other officers, the
aims and objects of Rotary are explained. At
the time of induction, the new member’s Rotary Ann is invited to be present at
the luncheon. Greenville Rotary is well recognized throughout the district for
its induction procedure. The object of Rotary, in its four
avenues of service, particularly stresses the importance of International
Service. To this extent some of our
members whose travel takes them to foreign lands make every effort to visit
clubs while traveling abroad, creating good will by exchanging club banners and
other interesting information. Banners of clubs in Bolivia, Columbia, Peru,
Israel, Europe and Japan avid others are displayed. International Student Comes In addition to supporting the Rotary
Foundation which has as its basic purpose
the furtherance of international, understanding, the Greenville Club has
undertaken another project. Our latest adventure in international
understanding began as a project on one of the youth committees of the Rotary
Club in 1967. This group recommended that we sponsor a high school student
through the American Field Service Organization, and asked the Board of
Directors to donate the $850.00 fee necessary to participate in the program.
This was readily done and the search was on for a Rotary family to be the host
for our student. The Dick Peterson family was selected and passed the rigorous
application procedure administrated by American Field Service headquarters in
New York City. Then came the word
that our student would be Toney Drinan from Melbourne, Australia and what a
marvelous year it has been with the Petersons as wonderful host parents. We are
eagerly awaiting word of whom our foreign student (a girl this time) will be
this year. We are listing additional club
activities receiving our financial support: Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Boys’
State, Girls’ State, Teen Club, Little League Baseball, 4-H Club, 4 Way Test,
Cerebral Palsy School, Educational Foundation, Scholarship Award, and
Sportsmanship Award. Fifty years of Rotary has seen many
changes in our community. Our club has grown from a starting membership of
twenty to the present roster of one hundred sixteen. The classification
principle of membership is the foundation upon which a Rotary Club is
established and maintained. Therefore it assures participation by our members in
all phases of the professional and institutional life in our community. May Greenville Rotary in the next 50
years be true to the “Objects of Rotary” and to our motto “SERVICE ABOVE
SELF.” It is impossible to mention by name
each person who contributed their share in time and talent to make our club the
outstanding civic organization it is, and who helped foster the ideal of service
to our community.
HONOR
ROLL Charter
Members at the time of organization: Sam
Blum, N. A. Bergman, William Crump, T. A. Crittenden, H. B. Crosby,
T. A. Hunt, T. C. Holmes, Dr. W. B. Johnson, W. P. Kretschmar,
W. T. McGehee, Dr. D. C. Montgomery, H. A. Merfeld, S. L. Moyse, William
A. Percy, T. M. Robertshaw, Lyne
Starling, Joe Weinberg, Charles P. Williams,
Otto Wineman, B. B. Payne (As
of: May 1970) MEMBER
50 YEARS
MEMBER
OVER 45 YEARS
MEMBER
OVER 40 YEARS
MEMBER OVER 30 YEARS
May 1970 Frank Koestler, Editor |
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