Left to Right Callie Summerlin, Lynn Castle, Jade Rayburn and Natasha Garrett The Women of Rotary by Micah Leigh Photos by John Fulbright Rotary International is a worldwide service organization of 1.2 million members who take action to create lasting change across the globe. Founded in Chicago in 1905 by attorney Paul Harris, it has grown to 35,000-plus clubs who work to promote peace, fight disease, support education and more. Southeast Texas has four female Rotary presidents. While it is now commonplace to see women in leadership positions, for most of Rotary’s history, women were denied membership. Starting in 1950, several challenges were made to delete the word “male” from the Rotary Constitution. It took 37 years and a fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court to overturn this rule. In 1987, women were finally allowed to join. By 1990, there were 20,000 female members worldwide. Today there are over 200,000, many in leadership positions on the local, district and global level. Here are four of these amazing women. THEVIPMAG.COM | NOVEMBER 2018 21 Jade Rayburn President, Spindletop Rotary Rayburn is the director of development at Girls’ Haven and the busy mom of 2-year-old twins, Jude and Isla. Born and raised in Beaumont, Rayburn is a graduate of West Brook High School and Lamar Institute of Technology. She is also a graduate of Leadership Beaumont. While many would think her plate is full enough, Rayburn carves out even more time for Rotary projects. “I have been a member since 2013. I like that Rotary benefits both the local and the international community,” she says. “We all have different interests in our lives, but as Rotarians, we come together to serve humanity. I also like the fact that we are all business professionals, and we understand the commitment to our careers and community. We have to have a balance. We must prioritize our careers, but still serve locally and globally.” Rayburn, who is number four in a succession of five women presidents for the Spindletop Club, says she likes being a leader. “I am excited to be able to take our club in a strong direction not only for my year, but to benefit the next five years and future presidents. I want us to continue to evolve and grow, and be able to pass it on.” Spindletop Rotary is known for the Soap Box Derby held every spring. Rayburn wants to increase the number of service projects to six per year. “The Soap Box Derby is our biggest fundraiser. The proceeds go to college scholarships for the participants. Our newest event is Pints for Polio, scheduled for Jan. 29 at the Neches Brewing Company in Port Neches. All the proceeds go Rotary’s efforts to eradicate polio. Only 14 cases of polio have been reported this year worldwide, so we are almost at our goal!” Callie Summerlin President, Port Arthur Rotary “I’m from Groves and graduated from Port Neches-Groves High School in 2005,” says Summerlin. “I am proud to say I graduated from Lamar University and also studied in Spain at the Universidad de Salamanca as part of the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program. Currently I am sales and marketing director at the Port Arthur Convention and Visitors Bureau, but my job entails a variety of tasks. We are a small operation, and we are all hands on deck.” Besides Rotary, Summerlin serves as Sabbath School superintendent at the Groves Community Seventh-Day Adventist Church. “A portion of that role is developing leadership and advocacy for the global missions of the church. I smile when I realize how related my church and Rotary service have become. I view leadership as a sacrifice, and I treat it very seriously. People are important to me, and I want to give them what is most valuable in life: my time. Summerlin credits a high school teacher with helping her see the importance of giving. “Mr. Reeves was my criminal justice teacher. He made me president of PN-G’s law enforcement program, which allowed me to intern at various police departments, CASA, Garth House and the Women and Children’s Shelter. He taught me to put others ahead of myself. The Rotary motto is Service Above Self, so it was a natural progression for me.” Summerlin says many members of her club are still recovering from Hurricane Harvey. “I see an ongoing need for fellowship and healing, so this year will be a nurturing year for the club and the community. I want to help individuals and increase our club’s personal interaction with the citizens we serve. We are expanding our scholarship program to more high schools, and our dictionary project to more third graders in Port Arthur. We are working with United Board of Missions on a new Easter basket project. We are also working on our first tree planting project in Port Arthur that will be completed by Dec. 31. Last but not least, we are partnering with another Texas club on an international service project that will take place next year in Guatemala. Rotary is a global organization, and our world is our neighbor.” 22 NOVEMBER 2018 | THE VIP MAG.COM Natasha Garrett President, Orange Rotary Natasha Garrett is known as a strong shoulder for friends in need. Generous with her time and resources, she is mom to Adrianne, 15, Gavin, 13, and Graham, 8. She and husband, Colin, own and operate G&G Enterprises Construction Corp. After graduating from Conroe High School, she attended Texas A & M. Although she is busy with family and as Rotary president, she still finds time serve the community in other ways. “I am vice-president of our local BNI (Business Network International), I’m on Cattle Baron’s Ball planning committee, Date Night for Ubi Caritas, Association of General Contractors and member of Beaumont, Port Arthur, Nederland and Orange Chambers of Commerce.” Garrett says she got into Rotary through an invitation from a friend. “I was out promoting our business about four years ago, and I went to a meeting. I loved the people and the service! It was fun to dive right in and learn just how big it is! Rotary is service that happens all around the world. It’s so much bigger than what we see in our local meetings. I really saw this when I attended the international conference recently in Toronto. And Rotarians help not only their communities and the world, they help each other. Last year after Harvey, Rotarians came from all over to help us.” Garrett says she was not seeking a leadership position. “I was attracted to Rotary because I’m a doer and prefer to work behind the scenes, but my members convinced me to take the reins. It gives me an opportunity to get the Rotary message out. Too many people still don’t know what we do. I want people to be aware of the wonderful opportunities for our kids in school through Interact and Rotaract clubs. I take my kids to all our events so they will learn to serve. Our group will celebrate 100 years in June. I look forward to doing joint projects with other Rotary clubs. It’s an exciting time right now for Rotary in our area!” Lynn Castle President, Beaumont Rotary Lynn Castle has been the executive director of the Art Museum of Southeast Texas since 2000. Born and raised in Fort Collins, Colorado, Castle and husband, Kris, moved to Beaumont in 1986 for his job with Nalco Chemical Company. Castle, who has her bachelor of arts degree in art education and attended graduate school in art history with an emphasis on museum studies, is very active in the local arts scene. “I am deeply embedded in the local arts community. I sit on two arts-related committees at Lamar and serve as board secretary for the Downtown Beaumont Cultural Arts District. I also serve as a Eucharistic minister at my church.” Rotary had to wait awhile for Castle. “I was asked to join in 2000 to increase networking opportunities, but my two children were in elementary school, so I didn’t think I could give my time to Rotary. Once they were off to college, I was able to join. What made me fall in love with Rotary was the community service it provides on so many levels — locally, statewide, nationally and internationally. There are so many ways members can contribute: eradicating polio, sending layettes to Nicaragua, building water wells in third-world countries, rebuilding homes right here after Harvey.” Castle says her goals include increasing membership. “I also want to put planned giving on the radar. Rotary is such a great organization. Why not plan to make a gift when estate planning? Our club gives two generous scholarships to students right out of high school. In addition, this year, we are offering a non-traditional scholarship to older students who want to go back to school to finish their degree.” Castle sums up by saying, “If you are interested in giving back to your community, country or world in a positive way, you need to join Rotary. You will meet like-minded people and enjoy the heck out of it!” THEVIPMAG.COM | NOVEMBER 2018 23 .