Bluffton Rotary Club Chartered June 6, 1919 Bliss Hotel, Bluffton, Indiana a Century of Service
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A Century of Service Bluffton Rotary Club Chartered June 6, 1919 Bliss Hotel, Bluffton, Indiana A Century of Service A compilation of the history of the Bluffton, Ind., Rotary Club on the occasion of the club’s 100th anniversary, Celebrated June 6, 2019. Introduction Sometime in 2018, as the 100th anniversary of Bluffton artifacts, all of which became gold mines of information. It Rotary Club’s first meeting came within sight, I felt it would has also been very helpful that I have had access to the News- be appropriate to gather what information I could about the Banner’s archives, which produced photos of past presidents club’s history. I didn’t feel it would produce much, since we and news clippings about them and the club itself. Thanks had assumed that all of our club’s archives and old photos had would be expressed to the late Gene McCord for his meticu- been lost in the Dutch Mill fire Dec. 27, 1997. The club had lous archiving and to technology that allowed me to find been meeting there every Tuesday since 1963 where we had digital copies of articles and photos in the more recent past. been granted a cabinet which held our badges, songbooks, As Bluffton Mayor Ted Ellis said at our 100th celebration club flags and club records. June 6, 2019, our club and our members have made a signifi- I had, over the years, seen a few old pictures, and knew cant impact on our community. there were a few scrapbooks in the club’s container that we Our members have served in virtually every single leader- have carried with us at our weekly meeting locations the past ship position — governmental, philanthropic, business, etc. several years. I also had a copy of the history Keith Huffman — that you can imagine. They have been industrial, retail and wrote in 1994 for our 75th anniversary. technology pioneers. The big break came one day when I went into It is impossible to measure the total of dona- the News-Banner office (I still have a desk tions made by the club to innumerable efforts. there at this writing) and found an old loose- Early on, I found notes indicating that the leaf notebook filled with musty, typewrit- club “was instrumental in assisting and ten pages about the club’s first 50 years. A raising funds to build the Rotary wing for part-time employee, Bruce W. Miller (not crippled children at the James Whitcomb to be confused with the other Bruce W. Riley Hospital in Indianapolis.” From Miller who has been a club member and notes found from 1991-92: “the club has leader, and is profiled in this history) had provided financial assistance for, among found the book in the attic of his father-in- others, the Boy Scouts, scholarships and law as they were helping them to “down-size.” educational meetings for students.” It turns out that Bruce’s wife’s grandmother’s I asked current club treasurer Phil Swain how second husband was Francis McFarren, our 29th far back he could go in the club’s financial records to president in 1946-1947. get an idea of how much we’ve raised and donated in recent I felt like I’d found the Holy Grail! The history had been years. Print-outs from year-end reports from 2006 to so far in compiled by J. Edwin Reynolds (a charter member and 1934- 2019 total up to $294,480 and some odd cents. 35 club president) and commissioned by club president Bill Some mysteries remain. For instance, as you may read in Cline as the 50th anniversary of Rotary International ap- the original newspaper coverage of our inaugural meeting proached in 1955. on June 6, 1919, a Mr. Charles Creece was elected as our first As I read through this history, it occurred to me that any president. Yet, his name is barely mentioned elsewhere with historian worth his salt would have provided a copy to the all credit to Mr. W.A. Patton as our first president. Mr. Creece library. Sure enough, a visit to the Indiana Room at the Wells came to Bluffton in 1914 and left town in 1920 to be district County Public Library found “A Short History of the Bluffton superintendent for Bell Telephone in South Bend. He had R ot ar y C lu b.” been general manager of United Telephone here and was also He continued to write biographies up until his death July the engineer for Citizens Telephone of Kokomo and of Port- 4, 1961, after having been “in failing health (for) several land (all separate organizations, I believe). So we can surmise months,” according to his obituary. Thus, his booklet includes that very shortly after June 6, 1919, his work caused him to biographies of club presidents up through the 1960-61 year step down from what would prove to be a historic position as and members at that time. Those biographies provide us with his career took him away from Bluffton. information about our club presidents through the 1968-1969 Other questions I found vexing are less important, such Rotary year. Hence, my efforts picked up where Mr. Reynolds as what year we moved our meeting place from East Chi- had left off. In addition to gathering the profiles of all our cago Pizza in the Dutch Mill Plaza to the Timber Ridge Golf past-presidents beginning in 1969-1970, we include in this Course event center. booklet other historical articles I’ve found to which I have At any rate, it is the hope that this history will be found of added a series of articles I hope catches the essence of the interest 50 years from now and that it might shed light on our club’s more recent history. community’s rich heritage just as Mr. Reynolds’ work contin- Those articles and photos were greatly aided by other ues to do after more than 50 years. boxes of archives that were subsequently found by some Mark Miller older members and former members, which produced other July, 2019 Page 1 An image of the original story taken from old microfilms exists in the club’s archives. The Evening News Saturday, June 7, 1919 ROTARY CLUB WAS LAUNCHED IN BLUFFTON BANQUET AT THE BLISS FOR 25 CHARTER MEMBERS AND VISITING ROTARIANS The Bluffton Rotary Club was instituted and took its place dinner, and also between some of the numbers, while George among the city’s live-wire organizations, at a banquet held Fri- Panos and Carl Shinkle gave much appreciated vocal solos. day evening at 7 o’clock at the Hotel Bliss. It was arranged that a luncheon will be held next Friday night The club was launched with twenty-five members the maxi- at the Bliss House. mum charter membership permissable, and the meeting fea- The Bluffton Rotary charter members are: J.R. Spivey, W.W. tured with the excellent five-course banquet Friday evening saw Weisell, R.S. Todd, W. B. Gutelius, W.R. Barr, W.A. Kunkel, the charter members organized with the selection of officers for Dr. Chas. E. Caylor, Abram Simmons, George L. Arnold, Dr. the first year, as follows: J.C. Blackman, C.A Breece, Geo. S. Morris, Geo. L. Saunders, President — C.A. Breece W.A Patton, Dr. Lew W. Dailey, David Meyer, Fred L. Londgen, Vice-president — W.A. Kunkel Wm. H. Berling, J.O. Cottingham, Alfred G. Saurer, Dr. Louis Secretary — J.O. Cottingham Severin, Earl R. McFarren, J. Edwin Reynolds, John W. Carnall, Treasurer — R.S. Todd Homer R. Gettle. Nearly one hundred men including visiting Rotarians were gathered around the banquet tables when Geo. L. Arnold, act- The Rotary Club ing as temporary toastmaster, introduced E.W. Puckett of Fort Pamphelts explanatory of the Rotary Club furnish the points Wayne, who was in active charge of promoting and installing set out below: the club here. Mr. Puckett after a few words acted in the capac- — Meets once each week for luncheon or dinner. ity of toast-master for the remainder of the evening. — Memberships formed on the unique plan of one active and Speeches were made by presidents of the clubs represented at representative man from each line of business and profession in the banquet, explaining the more practical uses of Rotary and the community. the benefits to be derived from its practice, all speakers seem- ing to dwell especially on the fact that modern business must Benefits grow through service, and that instead of the old slogan, “Let — Making the acquaintance of men you ought to know. the buyer beware,” was the new one, by which Rotary obtains its — Genuine, wholesome good fellowship. growth, “Let the seller beware, urging each business man to give — Developing true and helpful friends. the service in selling, that will not only make more “satisfied — Enlightenment as to other men’s work, problems and suc- customers” but the kind of service that will create a wealth of cesses. good feeling between the customer and the business or profes- — Education in methods that increase efficiency. sional man which every time will be a great boon to the com- — Stimulation of your desire to be of service to your fellow- munity. Visiting Rotarians who spoke were T.J. Potts, President men and society in general. of the Huntington Club; Will Kramer, president the Decatur — Business returns that come from enlarging your acquain- Club; Chas. Watkins, of Muncie, District Governor of Rotary, tance and inspiring confidence in you and your business.