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Contents Dedication PREFACE INTRODUCTION PART I Section II: The Founding of Champaign Rotary Section III: The Early Years Section IV: Projects and Activities: Community Service, and Section VI: Post-War Projects and Activities Section V: The WW II Years Section VII: International Service and The Rotary Foundation Section VIII: Inside Rotary and Section IX: Inside WGRC Section X: Rotarian Profiles Section XI: Changing Times, Changing Faces PART II Calvin L. Owens, 1988-89 Dan M. Crispin, 1989-90 J. Michael Martin, 1990-91 David C. Thies, 1991-92 Janice M. Bahr, 1992-93 Ivan W. Davis Jr., 1993-94 Thomas M. Good, 1994-95 James F. Keene, 1995-96 Gary G. Wackerlin, 1996-97 Scott Anderson Jr. 1997-98 Thomas J. Costello, 1998-99 Nina W. Eisner, 1999-2000 Mark D. Stolkin, 2000-2001 George H. Scheetz, 2001-2002 PART III: PRINCIPAL PROJECTS PolioPlus Hands Across the Americas: The Azul, Argentina, Connection Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars Rotary Youth Exchange Operation Rainbow: Missions of Mercy Rotary Youth Leadership Awards The Uganda Project: Matching Grant No. 10050 PART IV: NEW PROGRAMS OF THE ROTARY FOUNDATION Children’s Opportunities Grants Preserve Planet Earth Literacy for Bangladesh Along the Road to Health Care for Kenya Rotary Centers for International Studies (In Peace and Conflict Resolution) Urban Peace Teen Suicide: Searching for Solutions In Apartheid’s Aftermath Rotary Responds to AIDS PART V: ROTARIAN PROFILES Janice M. Bahr: What Gender Gap? William H. Creswell Jr.: Rotarian and Humanitarian Glen W. Wensch: He Took It Seriously Kip R. Pope: Aesthetics and Integrity Elizabeth A. Beauchamp: Lioness of Literacy Vernon L. Barkstall: Builder of Bridges David C. Thies: Passionate Rotarian Douglas W. Nelson: GSE Missionary Denton R. Brown: He Makes It Happen Ken Gunji: A Rotarian’s Rotarian Frank D. Keck II: Rotarian of the 1990s Arthur J. Skelton: Rotarian of the 20th Century PART VI: WHITHER ROTARY? APPENDIX I: Members who have passed away APPENDIX II: Club Officers APPENDIX III: Recipients of Significant Awards APPENDIX IV: Editors of The Fizz APPENDIX V: District 6490 Rotary Clubs The Story Continues 2002-2013 2002-03: President Bill Williams 2003-04: President Bob Aldridge 2004-05: President Dave Bernthal 2005-06: President John Ady 2006-07: President Carl Meyer 2007-08: President Dan Wheatman 2008-09: President Joan Dixon 2009-10: President Elizabeth Krchak 2010-11: President Robert Driver 2011-12: President Bill Malone 2012-13: President Fay Rouseff-Baker Conclusion CHAMPAIGN ROTARY CLUB THE STORY 1916 - 2001 Champaign Rotary Club: The Story, 1916-2001 Copyright © 2001 by the Rotary Club of Champaign All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the Rotary Club of Champaign, Illinois. Published by the Rotary Club of Champaign, Illinois, USA ISBN 0-9717095-1-3 The Rotary Club of Champaign gratefully acknowledges the generosity of Royse Wagner, Inc., in providing the cover design and illustration. Book Design by Peter T. Tomaras Printed and bound in the USA by UpClose Marketing and Printing Co., Champaign, Illinois For More Information Rotary Club of Champaign Arthur J. Skelton, Executive Secretary 5 Greenfield Court Savoy, IL 61874-9756 Champaign Rotary Club: The Story incorporates two books in a single volume. The first, Steps Going Up: A Selective History of the Champaign Rotary Club, was first published in 1988, and is reprinted here as the first segment of this volume. The second, Champaign Rotary Club: The Story Continues, 1988-2001, is first published as the second segment of this volume. Dedication “History is Philosophy teaching by examples.” — Thucydides (c. 460–400 B.C.), Athenian historian “Service is the rent that you pay for room on this earth.” — Shirley Chisholm (b. 1924), African American politician “A Rotarian’s life is one that really counts. It is a life of commitments made and commitments kept. Mankind Is Our Business.” — Richard D. King (b. 1938), RI president, 2001-2002 Champaign’s oldest — and, may I say, most distinguished — service club, the Rotary Club of Champaign, will celebrate the 85th anniversary of its charter on 1 February 2002. The history of our Club — a Rotary club steeped in tradition and committed to excellence — is filled with stories that demonstrate our strength, our dedication, and our willingness to tackle (and ability to solve) the problems of our community. In Steps Going Up (1988), Edward E. (Bud) Roderick aptly dedicated “this legacy of Champaign Rotary’s past to the men and women who represent our future.” In keeping with this theme, it is my privilege to dedicate this latest installment of our Club’s history to two distinct yet irrevocably linked groups: (1) The hundreds of members, past and present, of the World’s Greatest Rotary Club since the inaugural meeting on 11 December 1916, whose “commitments made and commitments kept” have created this history; and (2) The quality men and women who are Rotarians, but not yet members of a Rotary club. As RI President Richard D. King observed, “They too are the business of Rotary if our organization is to reach its destiny in the 21st century.” George H. Scheetz President, Rotary Club of Champaign 2001-2002 PREFACE The problem with a history of a living organization is that it stops the day it goes to press, while the members of the organization go on to make more history. —Edward E. Roderick, 1988 With those words from his dedication of Steps Going Up, Bud Roderick handed Champaign Rotary’s historians an ongoing assignment: keep recording the accomplishments of this Club “...as new generations of Rotarians broaden the horizons of service.” Since 1988, Champaign Rotarians have indeed broadened their horizons. Unquestionably, it is time to update the progress of our Club. The challenge: should we rewrite Steps, incorporating 14 more years of Champaign Rotary history? That would produce a single volume covering 1916-2001, and might be a desirable solution. However, cogent arguments support the approach we have chosen — an addendum covering 1988-2001, providing (along with Steps) a history in two segments. Anticipating future updates, we have entitled the addendum Champaign Rotary Club: The Story Continues, 1988-2001. In The Story Continues, references to Steps Going Up provide essential background. This approach has spared the writers and editors of The Story Continues the daunting challenge of stuffing a wealth of new information into the complete-unto-itself Steps. We could justify neither the labor nor the expense of recreating the layout of nearly every page, especially when we envisioned how cumbersome that task would become with future updates. Since no more copies of Steps Going Up existed, the Club directors voted to reprint Steps and print The Story Continues in one combined book – a logistically prudent decision that should convenience both present and future members. A last consideration justifying separate update volumes is this: what Champaign Rotary undertook 30 years ago pales in comparison to what WGRC now accomplishes. The Story Continues stands as the more relevant paradigm, the platform from which the Club will launch its service projects in the ensuing years. We envision that other addenda will serve similarly. INTRODUCTION Because Champaign Rotary is intrinsically a cog in the wheel of Rotary International, we cannot portray WGRC’s activities and achievements outside their primary context — the district and international framework of Rotary. The men and women of Rotary, 1.18 million strong, carry their good works over four broad Avenues of Service that reach into 163 countries – into every inhabited region of the world. The steps of Champaign Rotarians stray not from those four paths, nor can this narrative. Week by week, year by year, Champaign Rotary (still referred to by insiders as WGRC, the World’s Greatest Rotary Club) has generated a steady flow of modest achievements, highlighted here and there by something rather grand. Over 14 years the compendium of works grows unwieldy, and reducing it to a representative, yet readable chronicle becomes a process not of compilation, but of elimination. Because people breathe life into pages of words, we have included hundreds of names and faces. In so doing, we inevitably omit worthy individuals. Many members assume important Club responsibilities, serve selflessly (and sometimes invisibly), then step aside to be replaced by others. That their names appear infrequently, if at all, in The Fizz and this history does not diminish the benefits their work brings to people in the far- flung community of Rotary, from Champaign to Uganda. A thorough review of records from 1988-2001 suggested organizational guideposts. We needed to correct a few errors in Steps Going Up; we needed to revisit the international reach of the Rotary Foundation, as well as ongoing Club projects; and we needed to describe the Club’s most significant new projects and achievements. In Rotary, as with any successful organization, implementation is accomplished by the many, but vision and inspiration come from the top. Through the years, Champaign Rotary Board members have selected their presidents based on demonstrated abilities and commitment to the Object of Rotary, looking past political or social connection, town or gown, years in the community or WGRC, gender or ancestry, popularity or income level. The “character” of each July1-June 30 Rotary year stems from the distinctive leadership style of the Club president. This annual cycle establishes a useful chronological structure that we have adopted. Inevitably, a Club the size of Champaign Rotary loses members, each year, to death. In the course of recapping the high points of presidential years, we find no appropriate place to record these losses.

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