Monticello Rotary Club celebrates 100 years of service

     The Monticello Rotary Club held a special luncheon and program on Sunday, Oct. 3, for its 100^th anniversary.

     The event was held at the Durgin Pavilion at Camp Courageous, with current and former Monticello Rotarians were in attendance, as were Rotarians from area clubs.

     The celebration was led by current Monticello Rotary President, Brian Jaeger, who is also superintendent of the Monticello School District.

     “I am very lucky to be president of Rotary,” said Jaeger. “Ninety-nine others have come before me. I get to be president during our 100^th year, which is just fantastic.”

     The Monticello Rotary Club started on Dec. 26, 1921. Their first meeting was held in the S.A. Adamson home, which was known as “Maples Inn.”

     The Monticello club was one of the very first small towns to secure a Rotary Club, which was mainly seen in larger cities after it started in 1905.

     Paul P. Harris, an attorney in Chicago, was the founder of the Rotary Club. In 1900, Harris set out to organize a club made up of representatives of various business sectors and professionals in business. The club would be made up of men, organizing in friendship and fellowship. (It wasn’t until 1989 when women were allowed to become Rotary members.)

     The Monticello Rotary Club was sponsored by the Cedar Rapids Rotary Club in obtaining its charter 100 years ago. A couple of current Cedar Rapids Rotarians were in attendance for the luncheon.

     The 17 charter members of the Monticello Rotary Club were: Dr. A.M. Maurice, dentist and mayor; J.J. Hayes, mortician; G.P. Rockstad, manager of a lumber yard; L.A. Iverson, mortician; Fred J. Kay, drug store; Dr. T.M. Redmond, physician; W.A. Berry, dry-goods store; T.S. Lazell, hardware store; J.T. Staff, hotel; F.A. Locher, furniture business; C.L. VanMeter, greenhouse; V.L. Hanssen, contractor; C.A. Doxsee, publisher Monticello Express; P.W. Guilford, sweet shop operator; R.C. Hoag, Hoag Duster Factory; Fred Stuhler, shoe store; and John Liddy, grocery store.

     The Monticello club later sponsored both the Anamosa and Manchester clubs.

     Jaeger highlighted many famous and well-known Rotarians throughout history: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Bill Gates, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Dr. Charles H. Mayo (founder of the Mayo Clinic), Colonel Harland Sanders (founder of KFC), Sam Walton (founder of Wal-Mart), Charles Lindbergh, Prince Charles, Gerald Ford, John F. Kennedy, Walt Disney.

     “Some big names, and I feel proud to be associated with those names,” noted Jaeger.

     Today, there are about 1.2 million Rotarians worldwide.

     As part of the program, immediate-past-president of the Monticello club, Kathy Pratt, shared some history about women in Rotary. Prior to 1989, women’s involvement in Rotary came with the title: “Rotary Ann.” This signified that you were the wife of a Rotarian.

     In 1987 when Pratt and her husband, Gary, loved in West Union, she was one of three women who were inducted into that town’s Rotary Club, despite the national council.

     “We didn’t understand the repercussions of making the decision to do that,” recalled Pratt. “Several members of the club welcomed us with open arms. Two members of that club decided to quit. ‘If there’s going to be women in Rotary, then we want nothing to do with Rotary.’”

     Pratt said several years later when she became president of that club, it was an honor to be voted into office.

     When the Pratts moved to Monticello, Pratt got involved with Rotary here, and praised the club as being “forward-thinking.” In the club’s 100 years, there have been six female club presidents, including Pratt.

     “Rotary is a unique organization that cares for its members, its community, and country, and also the world,” Pratt shared. “If you’re a woman, be sure you will be welcomed with open arms.”

     Monticello Rotarian Gerald Retzlaff highlighted the history of the Monticello club.

     “Members of the first Rotary Clubs were all men of different occupations. That’s the way that Paul Harris wanted Rotary to be,” he said.

     They met in each other’s offices, rotating around week to week, hence the name “Rotary.”

     The Monticello Rotary Club, aside from the recent Music Park at Camp Courageous, took on many service projects during its 100 years, including establishing the high school’s Interact Club in 1966, participating in war bond drives and scrap metal drives during WWII, building the park-and-ride south of town on Amber Road, sponsoring the Boy Scouts in the mid-1940s, getting rock put on gravel roads that came into town, helping to deliver mail, contributing toward the first swimming pool in Monticello, contributing toward the pocket park, contributing toward the Fountain Park, contributing toward the Berndes Center, and financially contributing toward a berm south of town to help prevent flooding. The club has also been very supportive of all programs associated with the Monticello School District through its 100 years.

     “Early on we were very community-minded and contributed toward the way in which Monticello developed,” said Retzlaff.

     He said above all else, Rotary is about service and fellowship.

     “That’s why I got involved,” said Retzlaff of his 40-year involvement in the club.

     Other speakers at the lunch included: Tom Brooke, long-time Rotarian from West Liberty; and Jeff Hassman, Rotary District Governor. Both acknowledged the history of the Monticello Rotary Club, and the great things the club has done, not just locally, but has been a part of nationally as well.

     Bringing some entertainment to the event was Monticello’s own pianist, Jim McDonough. He performed a medley of classic tunes, noting that his intent was to honor a “classic” service club in the community today.