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25 Years of Service to McHenry McHwiry Rotary's 2Sth Year - Pag* 7 The McHenry Rotary Club marks its twenty-fifth an­ niversary this year at the same time as Rotary In­ ternational celebrates its seventy-fifth year of service." And appropriately1 the combined Rotary clubs of McHenry County will act as hosts for the 75th annual Rotary convention scheduled to be held in Chicago, where the movement began in 1905. A -Rotary Club was organized in McHenry in early 1955 and was chartered April 12,1955 after a group of local leaders became aware of thebenefits of this service organization. Charles R. (Chuck) Peterson, one of the charter members, recalls that Dr. William Nye and Ralph Bennett met with Dr. Louis Richt during 1954. meetings with ipotwragn ficials, at tfee Ficat Hole, U Charfe^^ ît banquet was held May It and District Governor Jerry Sproul * Flagpole -* btaiit&'by j i t j appeared as an honored guest. As the McHenry Club was launched on its active career of community service and fellowship, the first officers bore names well recognized in the community. There were Dr. William Nye, president; Ralph Bennett, vice-president; Jotfn Torrence, secretary; and Gerald Carey, treasurer. Completing the list of 29 charter members were: A1 Barbian, A1 Blake, Jerome Buch, William Burfeindt, Edward Bruchheuser, Walter Carey, Chauncey Duker, Howard Pike, Joe Gausden, John Herdrick, Walter Hojnacki, Richard Hester, Richard Jager, Dan Justen, George R. Justen, Richard F. Justen, James Lennon, John Looze, Ray MfcGee, James McMahon, Charles Peterson, Herbert Reihansperger, Harold Steffen, Henry Tonyan, and Ernest Useman. Three charter members remain in the club: Blake, Buch, Peterson and Reihan­ sperger. Attracting people to this new club besides the op­ portunity to band together for community service, was the principle that the membership was tb include representative individuals from all professions and trades which presented the opportunity for talking with and understanding people outside the business The history of the McHenry Rotary Club, after its founding, is written in the projects and service units which it accomplished. Noteworthy is the part its members played in- the establishment; of; two other clubs in McHenry County. Largely through the efforts of John Loose, McHenry Rotary's second president, a club was- organized in Crystal Lake in 1963 and in Woodstock in 1969. A close relationship between these dubs remains to this date. The annual sports banquet became one of the club's early projects, and marking the 1956-57 year was an address by the late, great Jesse Owen at the packed high school cafeteria. The earliest continuing community service project was the student loan project which the club funded out of its "Fun and Frolics" ac­ tivity at its regular meetings. This activity results in fines against members for ridiculous reasons during the meetings which accumulate into a working fund for a number of causes^ Fines are actually forced donations in small amounts, levied and paid in all good humor .The student loan program was even­ tually discontinued to be replaced by scholarships offered to local high school graduates who demon­ strated ability and a certain need. The 1957 club members experimented with a new method of raising funds and in the process skirted the edge of fiscal disaster. Members Ralph Bennett and Lou Consago arranged with a rodeo company for a show in August and the club, collectively worked hard to And and prepare a site for the show with seats, fences and stands, sold tickets and prepared to control the crbwd for thepropqsed three shows, , Howeypr, the; rp4ep company went broke before they reached McHenry and the committee frantically searched for a replacement. One was found and the show went on at a delayed date. History reports, "Finan­ cially the show was not too much of a success." but the Rotary Anns, the distaff side of the club membership, bailed out the project in part with their operation of the consession stands. And undaunted, the club agreed to hold another rodeo the next year. The second rodeo was held in July, 1958 in connection with Fiesta Day and in concert with other service organizations. Ilie funds, $1,200. resulting to the Rotary Club from the two years of rodeos purchased the first public address system for the high school to be used at McCracken Fields The club was also diver­ ting money to the Red Cross, the Woodstock Children's:) Home and to gifts for needy families at Christmas, thereby building a base for increasing charitable ac­ tivities for the future. Also in 1958 a project undertaken largely by Jerome Buch with the aid of a few members received district recognition. Buch designed and fashioned a sk! tow to use at a much used coasting spot on the McHenry Country Club and _ directed its use for several years until insurance con­ siderations forced its discontinuance. Used on weekends, the tow served the throngs flocking to the snow covered tenth hole hill. In 1959-60 twelve members wore honored for 100 percent attendance records with Norbert Mauch. Ray McGee and Dick Jager topping the list with perfect 5 year ap­ pearances at meetings. The club contributed $100 to the Fiesta Day fund and $250 for a proposed swimming pool for the city. In addition, besides arranging outings for boys and girls from the Children's Home, the club was also furnishing clothes, shoes and free lunches to children in the public school system who had been identified as having needs., During the 1960-61 year the list of projects was expanded to include teenage ballroom dancing for 7th and 8th graders, a basketball game for the benefit of the crippled children's fund, cash gifts for McHenry residents at Valley Hi, participation in the Easter Seal tag day (for which the club later became chief support). The club also held a horse show for fund raising and adopted aclub banner designed by former president Ernest Useman. The Rotary, which also has . a fun side, scheduled numerous' social events. The club decided at this time to limit the Fun and Frolic fines to 25 cents per incident. Student loans from this money totaled $750 for the year. In 1961-62 a weekly student guest program was discontinued and the club turned its eyes outward to the international scene. Working with the high school Student Council, the club met with an Illinois University student from Pakistan. Then, with the American Field Service, arranged to have a student from y^-g^ntma,attend the Exchange Student Rosie Changes Life-Style ROSIE NANGEL y Jan. 23,1900, when a $&*Botary exchange student, Rosie Nangel, of Salisbury, Rhodesia, landed at O'Hare field in Chicago. When asked what she first noticed about America, she said, "The snow. I wasn't wearing gloves or socks and I only had a light coat." A country about the size of California, Rhodesia, she explained, has a very warm climate. "There's no real humidity and no change of seasons," she said. "In the winter the temperature is around 50 degrees and in the summer it gets into the 90's." The homes tend to be very open with large windows and gardens, she noted, and few have air conditioning., . "Most of the people with large houses have swimming pools," she said. Most Americans spend their money on central heating and air conditioning, where the climate in Rhodesia allows the people to forego these things and buy swimming pools instead. A very active person, Rosie was, at one time, a member of the national diving team and has traveled to other countries on diving tours. "I do a lot of sports," she said." Among her sports endeavors are sailing, swimming, field hockey and mountain climbing. Rosie came to America from the city of Salisbury, the largest city in Rhodesia with a population of about 600,000. "I've been into Chicago and it was huge," she said. "I was on top of the Sears tower." The tallest building in Salisbury is about 30 stories, she explained. She was a little surprised at the number of small cities and villages which dot the countryside. "In Rhodesia, we don't have so many small cities - mostly larger ones with a lot of open space in between." She is living presently with the Phil Bartmann family in Johnsburg. Bartmann is also in charge of the Rotary youth exchange program. In Salisbury, Rosie at­ tended, and graduated from a public high school. She noted the difference in discipline between the two systems. "The schools in Salisbury are much stricter," she said, "students are not allowed to talk back lo the teachers." She said there is a classroom maximum of 30 students and the course offerings are not as varied as in the United States. She noted that while the school she attended was coed, most of the govern­ ment schools are either all- boy or all-girl. School uniforms are required. Misbehavior, she pointed out, can be dealt with strictly. "The guys are beaten and the girls get detentions," she said. "You really have to respect the teachers." About two years ago, the high school was integrated and she said there were no real problems. "Now the blacks and the whites mix socially as well as at school," she said. There is only one television station in the country and it operates from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. during the week. "You really never watch television during the week," she said. When there is time to watch television, American programs are available. "We get the Rockford Files and Happy Days," she observed. As opposed to the American system, where public education programs are left primarily to the, publicly supported stations^ public education and en­ tertainment programs-^re both broadcast on the one channel. Since her arrival in the United States, Rosie has also visited Arkansas and Texas. "It was warm and great and really very pretty," she said. In June, she will embark on a bus tour of the West coast. 8 Her plans for the future include enrolling at the university in Capetown, South Africa, where she hopes to study bio­ chemistry. McHenry high school. This led later to McHenry-s participation in the Rotary Student exchange program. The club also sponsored a boy to the Boys State at Springfield. In 1962-63, Hay McGee, McHeriry'S -postmaster, became president and John Looze, as (Rotary District) Governor's Personal Representative, guided the formation of the Crystal Lake club. On Oct. 14, 1962, the first club Ham Dinner for fund raising was held with over 500 persons being fed. This successful': event has been continued annually and is now the traditional fund raising event for the Rotary. The first "Urban-Rural" dinner (member hosting an area farmer) dinner was held. In 1963-64 forty farmers were guests at the second Urban-Rural dinner and 579 people appeared at the annual Ham Dinner. McHenry's Rotary Club led the county in the amount of money raised in the Easter Seal drive. And in recognizing scholastic achievement the club hosted the thirty members of the high school National Honor Society. . Highlighting the year was the club accomplishment in raising more than $10,000 in about ten days to meet a fiscal deadline for the building addition to the McHenry library. The merabepBhipnesponded with their, usual-/ energy when Rotarians Harry Dean, Tom Bolger, John Looze and Ernie Useman advised the club that the money was needed in one week. On the tenth anniversary of the club's founding, 14 of the original 29 charter members were still active in the McHenry Rotary joined in the first combined meeting with the Richmond and Crystal Lake clubs. As a club project for 1964-65 the Rotarians, under the direction of Jerome Buch, made a number of benches for the city park and presented them to McHenry. In 1965-66 the club's view turned outward to in­ ternational affairs as members hosted a visitor from Australia and a member of a matching club in Epemay, France visited a Fireside Meeting locally. In the fall Rotarians met with AFS students from Viet Nam and New Zealand. Con­ tinuing interest in the library was shown by a gift of a set of reference books. Among social events, the club . reinstituted the (high school) student guest program. And the McHenry Rotary's bowling team won the District tournament high team scratch game trophy. During the hard working but relaxed year of 1966-67 members bought materials and assembled them during the summer for a needed washroom and storage building at MacCracken F|eld, and then dabbed it "Walsh's Washroom" in* honor of Earl Walsh, club president for that year. The washroom project was completed in 1967 and dedicated Sept. 1. The cost was $2,700 and 1000 hours of labor. During the current year 1979-80, Dave Benrud, who was club president in 1974-75 is governor of District 644, which includes the North Shore area, of the Rotary International. He is the first McHenry member to reach this office. To commemorate this and the 75th anniversary of Rotary International's founding the club is planning a 25th anniversary party - locally. District 644 is especially involved with the Rotary In ternat ional celebration because within its boundaries at Evanston is located the international headquarters building. Guiding the Rotarians in selecting and effecting their community projects, is their four way test which they explain as: Is it truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build good will and better' friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? Peterson notes that the Rotary is more than a "knife and fork club". "True, Rotarians meet and they eat at weekly luncheons or dinners-but their activities go far beyond these meet ings . Rotar ians f ind many outlets for their ac­ tivities, both in committee work and as individuals."