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|Club History |

|Editor: Reese Gibbs |

| |Club History |

|The Marshalltown Rotary Club was the 185th Rotary club to become active and was established in 1915. There are now over 32,000 Rotary |

|clubs worldwide with over 1.2 million members. |

|That's a long time for any service club to have been in existence. But the Marshalltown Rotary Club has not only been around for a long |

|time, its members have always been the leaders, the movers and the shakers on most of the significant community projects that have |

|needed to be done in our community over the last eight decades. |

|The Marshalltown Rotary Club prides itself in not just having "Service Above Self" as part of its motto. The club's members also |

|practice this motto within the community to make their hometown a better place for all of us to live in and raise our families. |

|When the first Rotary club was formed in Chicago in 1905 by Paul P. Harris and three of his friends, the purpose was to form an |

|organization of business and professional people who could "help each other out." The motto "Service Above Self - He Profits Most Who |

|Serves Best" idealized the force behind Rotary. Harris wanted the club to represent a cross section of the business and professional |

|life of its community. |

|By 1910, through the influence of Harris, 15 other Rotary Clubs had formed in cities around the country. Rotary was a club where its |

|members were encouraged to "talk shop." Rotary advocated conducting business as a public service and encouraged members to take an |

|interest in their community. These ideals came from service objectives established by the group's founder. |

|The National Association of Rotary Clubs and the International Association of Rotary Clubs, later Rotary International, were formed as |

|the number of clubs increased. |

| Following a visit to a meeting of the Chicago Rotary Club, Marshalltown banker businessman, Wallace H. Arney, organized an |

|informational meeting about the organization in Marshalltown which was attended by 13 businessmen. Word spread and by July 7, 1915, |

|about a month later, the first permanent organizational meeting of the Marshalltown Rotary Club was held, attended by 52 prospective |

|members. |

|When the first Marshalltown Rotary organizing committee contacted the Rotary Board of the international association, the board ruled a |

|club could not thrive in a city of less than 25,000 people. |

|Through the persistence of the Marshalltown group, however, permission to establish the club was finally granted and the city club was |

|assigned the number 185. Their pin symbolized their location in the heart of Iowa. |

|The first regular meeting of the newly organized group was July 19, 1915, at the Pilgrim Hotel with Arney elected as the first |

|president. On Sept. 15, 1915, Rotary met at the farm home of member Ben Robinson. Meetings continued once a month, frequently at a |

|member's factory or business or at the new YMCA on Church Street. |

|Marshalltown Rotary members started a tradition that continues more than seven decades later - the first rural-urban meeting. Members |

|invite area farmers to attend a special meeting once a year. |

|For many years, the farmers were treated to airplane rides over their farmland with Rotary members serving as pilots. In the fall of |

|1917, 25 cars filled with members, their wives and the Soldiers Home Band left one morning for a visit to the Industrial School for Boys|

|at Eldora. They stopped at Albion, Liscomb and Union to make themselves known in music and song. Later Marshalltown Rotary sponsored the|

|organization of the Rotary Club of Eldora. |

|Service to the community by Rotary members is an important principle of the organization, a tradition that began in 1920 when the club |

|adopted a Child Welfare Program to furnish proper medical care to the children of Marshalltown. |

|A room was set aside by Mercy Hospital for patients sponsored by Rotary which-provided $700 to furnish this room in the new hospital. |

|This project continued for more than 20 years. Rotarians who were doctors donated their medical services. |

|The tradition of the schedule for Rotary meetings was set in 1923 under, President John R. Bullard when the by-laws were amended to |

|provide for weekly noon meetings to be held on Tuesdays. |

|Marshalltown Rotary has seen three of its members elected District Governor during the past 80 years. The first was C.H.E. Boardman, who|

|served during the 1923-24 meeting year. The Rev. Kirby Webster served as District Governor in 1958 and Cecil Porter was District |

|Governor in 1988. |

|In 1927, Rotarians were leaders in the group that raised $125,000 toward the funding of the half million dollar Hotel Tallcorn. Rotarian|

|L.C. Abbott was chairman. |

|Encouraged by President William Shirley, members voted to contribute $5,000 toward that fund and on Oct. 9, 1928, the Marshalltown |

|Rotary began a tradition of meeting at the Hotel Tallcorn which continued for the next 60 years. |

|However, before the hotel was air conditioned, they were known to desert the hotel, holding July and August meetings at the Country |

|Club. |

|Marshalltown Rotary members hosted the Eleventh District Conference in 1930. Nearly 1,000 members and spouses attended the gathering. |

|Rotary gave considerable assistance to the reorganization of the Chamber of Commerce in 1936, cooperating with Ken Brintnall, Chamber |

|president. |

|On Oct. 1, 1940, when Rodney C. Wells was president, Marshalltown Rotary celebrated its first 25 years with a Silver jubilee Celebration|

|held at Elmwood Country Club. |

|From time to time members complained about the food at Tallcorn. They tried meeting at the Pilgrim Hotel again, then met at the YMCA for|

|a while, but finally returned to the Tallcorn. About this time pianists Ralph Carpenter and Bill Fisher kept the members amused and |

|vocally "on their toes." |

|The "war effort" dominated the country during the early 1940s. Rotary sponsored a community mailing of a post-war brochure on the needs |

|of Marshalltown as World War II was winding down. |

|Rotary's $1,000 gift to Dr. Lawrence Jones, some 20 years earlier, was noted in a story about Piney Woods School in the October 1945 |

|issue of the Rotarian. Reader's Digest then ran their version of the Rotarian article. |

|The late Ralph McCague, a former president, began the tradition of seating members at a round table in 1948 and induced the late Paul G.|

|Norris Jr. to give a newscast, a tradition that continues today. He also instituted the practice of "fireside" chats, an informal |

|orientation for new members. The new members are invited to the home of an active member where the history and ideals of Rotary are |

|shared. |

|It was also under McCague's guidance that the Frank Pierce Trust began. Pierce, also known as the "boy mayor of Marshalltown," was a |

|charter member of Rotary and the founder of the Iowa League of Municipalities. Following his death, he left his estate in trust to his |

|wife. When she died, the money went to fund scholarship low-interest loans for Marshalltown High School students attending a college or |

|university in Iowa. In 1994, 67 students received a total of approximately $150,000. Today that number has grown even more |

|substantially. The fund is governed by a board of trustees consisting of the president of Marshalltown Rotary and four other civic |

|leaders. |

|An era ended for Marshalltown Rotary Club on May 5, 1955, with the death of Edgar (Shorty) Francis, who had served as club president in |

|1929-30 and secretary for almost 30 years. |

|In the early years, secretaries held office for only six to 12 months, but Shorty held the job for six years in the 1920s, then held the|

|position again from 1933 until his death. Rotary had recognized his contribution in 1948 with a set of luggage and verbal gratitude. His|

|reply in the next "Shaft" indicated his pleasure, saying, "nothing can be more soul-satisfying than the words that tickle...the ear and |

|ego of mortal man." Guy Polluck was the next secretary. |

|The club's membership reached 100 on Jan. 31, 1959. Lee Brintnall was president that year and at 32 was the youngest person to serve in |

|that office since the group was founded 44 years earlier. |

|Four other young men who became presidents are V.J. Ferguson, Warren Pattie, George Hinshaw and Bill Tank. |

|Marshalltown Rotary observed its 50th anniversary with a celebration at the Hotel Tallcorn on Oct. 5, 1965. Clifford Randall, past |

|president of Rotary International, addressed the group. Dr. Rex Hinson was president that year. |

|During the 1968-69 meeting year, the Marshalltown club attained a 1,000 percent status in the Rotary Foundation. It was just 20 years |

|earlier, in 1948, that the club had reached the 100 percent plateau in the Rotary International Foundation, which was formed in 1917 to |

|promote world understanding and peace. A club reaches the 100 percent plateau when total contributions equal $10 for each member. Higher|

|plateaus are reached when the total amount of contributions average at least an additional $10 per member, based on the number of |

|members during the previous year. These goals were to be achieved through international charitable and education programs. Each year, |

|the Foundation funds 1,400 scholarships, approximately 320 group study exchanges, more than 150 international humanitarian projects, and|

|15 or more grants of university instructors to teach in developing nations. The Foundation also funds immunization programs to protect |

|millions of children against polio, approximately 160 volunteers providing needed service abroad and up to six Rotary Peace Forum |

|meetings. |

|It was also during the 1968-69 year under President Sam Neill that members hosted 38 foreign exchange students from various countries |

|and seven Norwegian business and professional men under a Rotary exchange agreement. |

|The following year, the VROOM (Vaunted Rotarian of One Month) Award was created by president George Hinshaw as recognition of |

|outstanding community service by a member. This award was replaced in 1975 by the annual Kenneth Brintnall Memorial Award. The late Paul|

|G. Norris, Jr. was the first to receive the recognition the year his son, David, was president. |

|The first annual Father-Daughter Valentine Day gathering was held in 1973 under President James Larson. This is an opportunity for |

|daughters to attend a regular meeting of Rotary with a special program geared to their interests. |

|In 1975, President-elect Cliff Wilson was inducted as the first Paul Harris Fellow. A Paul Harris Fellow is an individual who |

|contributes $1,000 to the Rotary International Foundation. Since 1975, scores of other Marshalltown Rotarians have become Paul Harris |

|Fellows. In addition, several other Rotary members are designated sustaining members who have committed themselves to contribute $1,000 |

|over a 10-year period. At the end of that 10-year period, they will also be recognized as Paul Harris Fellows. |

|Marshalltown Rotary members began a fun tradition in 1970 under President Rev. H.C. Buchmueller by their involvement in the city's |

|Service Club Olympics. By 1975, the group had won the competition four out of the previous five years. |

|In the spring of 1978, under the presidency of Bill Bestmann, an inter-club exchange with the Ames Rotary was initiated which included |

|dinner and a C.Y. Stephens performance at Ames, which now continues with the Newton Club. |

|During the 1979-80 club year, Rotary became a 2,000 percent club in the Rotary Foundation. Also, a plaque was presented to the late Paul|

|G. Norris, Jr. in appreciation for 31 1/2 years of news reporting service during the weekly meetings, a tradition carried on since that |

|time by his son, David. |

|A "Son's Day" began in 1984 under President Eugene O'Neil to go along with "Daughter's Day." |

|During that same year, the Marshalltown Rotary Foundation was formed under the leadership of the late W.K. Ervin. The Marshalltown |

|Rotary Foundation is separate from the Foundation of Rotary International. The funds of the Marshalltown Rotary Foundation may be |

|designated "restricted" and used to support six Marshalltown High School students who plan to attend college. The financial grant is up |

|to $1,000 a year for each student. The "unrestricted" funds may be used for other charitable community projects. During that same year, |

|a fire in the kitchen at Elmwood Country Club disrupted the Christmas party. |

|The club received the Rotary International Presidential Citation Award during the 1986-87 year under President Tom Smith. The award was |

|given for work in increasing membership; in recognition of participation in the District Assembly including an increase of 10 percent in|

|the number of members attending the Assembly and in recognition of contributions made to the Rotary Foundation. Since then, several |

|presidents have continued the tradition of the club receiving the award that so many clubs seek. |

|Marshalltown Rotary inducted its first female members in 1987. Four women from the community: Pauline Hartman, Julia Messersmith, Martha|

|Ellen Tye and Dr. Beverly Nelson joined the organization. There are currently nine husband-wife combinations: Loras and Karen Neuroth, |

|Paul and Connie Koehler, Larry and Joynell Raymon, Jerry and Anita Ellingson, Gene and Kay Beach, Dr. David and Nancy Wilson, Mike and |

|Ellen Bergman, Joel and Sharon Greer, Drs. Foster Hawkins and Nancy Urbanowski; two father-daughter combinations with Tom Deimerly and |

|Aimee Deimerly-Snyder, and Bob Bauer and Cynthia Ragland; and three father-son combinations: Larry and Jim Goodman, Jack and Mark Lundy,|

|Rick and Trent Vogel. |

|Also in 1987, after almost 60 years of weekly meetings at the Hotel Tallcorn, the Board voted to hold club luncheons at Elmwood Country |

|Club. |

|It was again in 1987-88 that Rotary International undertook its most ambitious project ever with a goal of eradicating polio and five |

|other preventable diseases from the face of the earth. The campaign was named PolioPlus and cost an estimated $120 million. The "Plus" |

|inoculation included tuberculosis, diphtheria, measles, whooping cough and tetanus. The Marshalltown Club's share of the goal was |

|$42,000. Jim McKinstry was chairman of the local committee. Bill Bestmann, Glenn Brockett, Bill Lankelma, Cliff Wilson and Lloyd |

|Thurston served on the committee. The local goal was raised to $44,000. By the end of the year, a total of $47,830 had been pledged to |

|the project. |

|In 1988, with Cecil Porter serving as District Governor, Marshalltown again hosted the annual District Assembly and Conference. |

|In 1995 the Marshalltown Rotary Club celebrated its 80th anniversary. The club saw many worthwhile community projects completed. |

|During Mike Bloom's presidency in 1996-97 the club contributed over $6,000 toward the completion of the Judge Park along Marshalltown's |

|bike path. |

|In 2000, during Conrad DeJardin's term, the club made significant contributions to the Sand Lake project and the Light The Field |

|fundraiser to replace lights at the MHS Baseball Field. |

|Other projects included distributed almost $3,000 worth of trigger locks to encourage gun safety in 2001, a significant contribution to |

|the GrimesFarm project in 2002, and seating for the YMCA in 2003-2004. |

|In the fall of 2005, club members Bettie Bolar and Gene Beach spearhead an effort for a Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP). The |

|project was a Rotary International initiative that featured various Rotary clubs hosting delegations of Russian workers coming to visit |

|America. Other community projects include environmental projects such as marshland and park development including community |

|beautification projects; purchasing an electric piano for the MHS Swing Choir and robes for vocal groups; funding Headstart; raising |

|money for the Salvation Army; supporting Girl and Boy Scout activities; funding countless scholarships for area youth; |

|hosting/sponsoring foreign exchange students; assisting with booster clubs and school needs. |

|Rotary also plays an important role in the Iowa State BBQ Contest that is hosted by Marshalltown every year for the last three years. |

|Lew Miller, fellow Rotarian, organized the event and got it moved to Marshalltown as a permanent event that draws over 20,000 people to |

|the community. Rotary helps fund this event and many members serve as judges and helpers to make the event a special weekend every year.|

| |

|The single largest project the Marshalltown Rotary Club has ever taken on was done in 2003 during Anita Ellingson's term, the first |

|female president of the club. A committee made up largely of Rotarians and headed by Rotarian Conrad Dejardin, raised the money for the |

|Marshall County portable band shell that is used at nearly every Marshall County event to this day. The band shell cost over $100,000 |

|and Rotary gave $20,000 to the project. |

|Today, the active club membership of the club totals 172 making it the largest service club in Marshalltown and one of the largest |

|Rotary clubs in the state. Other interesting facts include there have been four father-son presidencies in the club's history: Kenneth |

|Brintnall (1947) and Lee Brintnall (1960); Paul G. Norris, Jr. (1957) and David Norris (1975); and Walter Brown (1955) and Greg Brown |

|(1985) and Jim Boyd (1958) and Doug Boyd (1999). Ralph McCague (1948) was the father-in-law of Walter Brown and the grandfather of Greg |

|Brown. Two charter members have descendants active in Rotary at the present time: Charlie St. Clair's grandson, Robert McGregor; and |

|Ross Apgar's son, Pat and grandson, Tom. The annual Christmas party, including Rotary Anns of deceased members, is a highlight of the |

|club year. The City of Marshalltown and Rotary Club #185 have seen many changes over the years. With the firm foundation and philosophy |

|of Paul Harris still evident, Rotary has grown with the community and will help shape its direction for the future. |

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