Focus On The Family of Marshall Rotary Vol. 1 Chapter 7

Cecil Tomlinson was a salesman for, and later became, the manager of Southwest Meter & Supply here in Marshall.  Cecil resisted all efforts to enlist him, using the excuse that he was a traveling salesman, and could never meet the rigorous attendance requirements of the Rotary club.  Cecil finally relented when he was told that he could “Make up” meetings at other Rotary clubs and take his clients out to a meal and interesting speakers as well. Cecil immediately joined Rotary in 1980 and began collecting makeups almost daily all over his territory.  Thinking that he had accumulated enough makeups to last 6 months or more, beaming with pride, he turned them in at the next Rotary meeting.  Imagine his surprise when he was told that he could only count two of them (True Story).  From then on, Cecil arranged his sales schedule so that he could make the meetings on Thursday in Marshall, and probably still holds the all-time record for makeups, and became the most knowledgeable new Rotarian in the district.  He went on to become president of the Marshall Rotary Club in 1984-85, an extended Paul Harris Fellow and Benefactor. Cecil served as District Governor of District 5830 during 1987 to 1988 and was the representative from our District to the Rotary International Council on Legislation in 1992. For many years he was on the District Youth Exchange Committee, and he served as the Rotary International team leader and led a Group Study Exchange team to India. He was also extremely involved in the District Rotary Foundation Committee. Cecil was active in community, business and civic affairs in Marshall.