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Rotary Club committee assignments were not taken lightly, as this headline, from the Feb 23, 1922 “Marshall Morning News”, reveals:
The Centennial-Armistice-Day ceremonies this week, soberly remembered those Veterans who died in the trenches of France and Belgium. "When the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, the fighting was over", became one of the most famous fallacies of all time. Perhaps they should have included “Boy Scouts” who died fighting the German Army well after the Armistice was signed.
During the 1920s immorality and crime ran rife and efforts to curb both were mostly unsuccessful (think “Prohibition” and “Chicago Mob”). The Knot-Hole Gang was a notable exception.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious may be a long and made-up word, but it is easy to pronounce if you have heard it sung by a very talented artist. Kids all over the world squealed and adults like me, couldn't get the catchy tune out of their heads after they heard Julie Andrews sing it in the movie “Mary Poppins”.
In a speech, recorded in the "Marshall News Messenger", dated June 12, 1947, Mrs. J. F. Lentz, recalled the beginning of The Marshall era.
Few aspects of the research into the history of the Rotary Club of Marshall Texas, have been as interesting and inspiring as the story of its founder’s life, which David Weaver captured brilliantly in the first paragraph of his tribute in the Marshall News Messenger, March 7, 1999, page 42.
Rotarians in the first part of the 20th century, for the most part, were just grown-up kids in suits and hats. Scouting was as much a part of their lives as newspapers and cigars.
Sometimes one joins an organization for one reason but leaves a legacy of a completely different sort. Such was the case for Jim Kennedy who moved to Marshall and joined the Rotary Club in 1922 for business reasons.
.... “never, in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”, is considered to be one of the most memorable speeches delivered by Prime Minister Winston Churchill during WW II. It was one in which he praised the gallant pilots who flew the Spitfires and Hurricanes against the Luftwaffe during the battle of Briton when the odds were unbelievably high.
Rotary International President, Ed Cadman described a typical Rotarian as: “an ordinary man, doing extraordinary things in quite ways.” There is no better example of that statement than Marshall Rotarian, Lt. Col. Tommy Athanas, who passed away September 24, 2001.
Whether battling the Ku Klux Klan, The Lions, or any one of the thousands of battles that Rotary has engaged in over the past 100 years, one thing is certain, not all battles are winnable, at least in the short term, but defeat is not an option; the battle against disease falls into that category. Only one battle in this category has ever been won in my lifetime, the battle against smallpox. The devastating disease killed one out of every three who got it. According to Wikipedia, smallpox was the leading cause of death in the 18th century, killing over 400,000 people.
For your enjoyment, here is an article published in the “Marshall Messenger, November 20, 1925, without comment,:
Rotary clubs are non-government-organizations (NGOs), and as such are not allowed to take sides on political issues. Individual Rotarians, however. are free to choose whatever candidates or parties seem appropriate to them, and support the laws enacted by them. but, politically biased programs or campaigning for office are not permitted at club meetings.
Happy Birthday Marshall Rotary
For ninety-nine years, three weeks and one day we have been standing on the shoulders of giants. Soon we will join them celebrating a century of changing lives in Marshall and beyond.
For the most part someone does not join Rotary looking for fame or recognition and the Marshall Rotary club does not encourage or sponsor self-promotion schemes in any way.
The Rotary club scholarship program, using funds transferred from the Student Loan Fund in 1946 and in 1948, awarded its first scholarship in 1949 to Miss Olga Miller.
A Century of Serving Our Youth began within weeks of it's admittance into Rotary, when Rotarians of Marshall decided that defending and helping children, essentially changing and reshaping their future, was to be one of their top priorities from the very beginning and has continued as a major part of the Marshall Rotary club’s service projects in one form or the other since then.
June 15, 1920, Dr. Humphreys, president of the College of Marshall, offered the Marshall Rotary club a scholarship, which they could award to a high-school graduate that the Marshall Rotary club thought would otherwise be unable to attend school (college) and who would benefit from the grant of $80 to pay a year’s tuition.
Rotary has struggled for more than a hundred years to shed the image of being a secretive bunch of old men trying to control the affairs of the community for their own gain. From the very beginning, Rotarians themselves, have struggled to define and express in words, what it means to be a Rotarian. That was not a problem for a Marshall newspaper editor/reporter nearly a century ago…
When the Marshall Rotary club, was established, in 1919, no one thought it would play a prominent role in the shaping of a new avenue of service in Rotary, so, when it introduced a novel new element (Youth Services) into what had heretofore been a dignified and austere organization, it attracted little attention.
Though he had traveled the world for five years, Paul Harris had never heard of Marshall Texas when he started his first Rotary club in Chicago with four of his business associates, on a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” basis. The early motto, “He Profits Most Who Serves Best”, reflected the mission statement of Rotary, wherein business (Club Service) was paramount, community needs (Community Service), was second, and Vocational Service was a catchall for all other services.
By 1919, Paul Harris had patiently and skillfully crafted his vision of Rotary into a rapidly expanding, well organized, and effective organization, whose purpose was to coordinate and support over 500 clubs in six countries.
During those fourteen years much had been happening behind the scenes; the new organization had chosen a name (Rotary), a motto (“He Profits Most Who Serves the Best”), a logo (a spoked-wheel), had adopted “Ideals”, had established a constitution and bylaws, had begun to hold conventions, and, having a lawyer at the helm, had begun to establish rules and guidelines for clubs to follow.
With some serious reservations about our own safety and wellbeing for the next two weeks, my wife and I were aboard a Boeing 747, traveling to the Philippines. The trip followed my year as district governor in 1992-93, in which Rotary clubs in district 5830 teamed up with Rotarians in the Philippines to obtain and successfully complete a Matching Grant there. For our part, this was the culmination of a dream come true.
The Taco Fest June 23 will be the club's last fundraiser of Louraiseal's year. She needs a bunch of volunteers to help hand out beer at the event. Every can we hand out means one dollar and twenty five cents for the club projects. we need to roll up our sleaves and support our club and community . Sign up to volunteer on the club website or call Jay Webb at (903) 926 4672. 6 volunteers need on each shift. Hours are as follow:
- 9:00 AM to 11:AM (Set up and Ice Down)
- 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM (Serving Beer)
- 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM (Serving Beer)
- 7:00 PM to 11: PM (Serving Beer and Tearing Down)
One of the most fascinating events in the world is the migration of billions of Monarch butterflies each year from Mexico to Texas. Less well know is the migration of Rotary butterflies between the Rotary Club of Marshall Texas the Club Rotario de Villa de Alvarez in Colima, Mexico, in 2003. (re. Balloons and Butterflies Analogy)
Rotary butterflies come in all sizes and backgrounds. Many of them require help from others who posses the needed resources unavailable to them. Often, that means bringing those resources great distances at great cost. In many cases this involves Rotary clubs, as was the case with the two Rotary clubs above. Rotary International's Foundation also became a partner (butterfly) in this heartwarming story, as told by our late Past President Jim Taylor.
