Let’s Recap! 4/19/24 Frank Hall has been a member of Arcadia Rotary since 2007 and a member of Rotary (8 clubs) since 1965. He tells us about his life in Rotary.
1. In 1965 I was named Vice-President and Manager of the Crocker Bank at Arrow Highway and Citrus in Covina. I had previously been a member of Kiwanis, but when I moved to Covina there was a Crocker executive in Covina Kiwanis, so my Boss suggested I look at Rotary. Shortly after the Branch had its Grand Opening I was contacted by a Past President of Covina Rotary, Barney Ingraham. Barney was a one-man Membership Committee who personally sponsored more than 100 new Rotarians before he retired.
During my Pre-Orientation, which included 3 meetings of about 3 hours each, I learned what my responsibilities would be as a Rotary Member. Here were the main Responsibilities.
A. Rotary is a Classification Club and no more than one individual could occupy a Classification. Since you were the only representative of your profession, you had an obligation to participate in Club Activities. You could prevent another person in the same Profession from joining the club simply by exercising a veto.
B. Attendance at Rotary is required. A Rotarian who missed more than 10 Percent of the Meetings during a year without make up and anyone who missed 4 meetings in a row without making up was automatically dropped from the club.
C. You could make up a missed meeting by attending the meeting of another club within 6 days (before or after) of the missed meeting. There were no Leaves of Absence except for health reasons and a letter from your doctor was required. Those with 100% attendance were recognized annually and had extra ribbons on their badges. It was highly prized.
2. Most memorable moments.
Laura Freedman’s Cruises. Before Laura moved to Oregon, where she is now the President of the Seaside Club, she was the first female President of Arcadia Rotary. She is a classic leader. When she organized a Rotary group to go on a cruise to Mexico, we signed up. Among those who came were Gil and Carol Stromsoe, Larry and Patty Webber, Dong and Betty Chang, John and June Fee, Rich and Gayla Hutton, Steve and Marge Garrett, George and Susie Sladoje (from the Sierra Madre Club), Laura and Gregg Freedman in addition to Patricia and me. It was a blast. Later she did another one to the British Isles and most of her alumni went along again. Phyllis Corliss handled arrangements on Crystal Cruises.
3. What projects, both local and international, were emphasized in the early days of the club?
The Polio Plus Project of Rotary International was the finest, most important project ever attempted by any Service Organization. In the early 1980s an RI president decided that Rotary should eradicate Polio. Rotary Clubs everywhere set about to raise the money and most of it came from the pockets of individual Rotarians. I was a member of LA5 (the downtown Los Angeles club) where we had 600 members. I chaired our fundraising drive and we raised more than $300,000 from our club alone. I know Arcadia also had a successful campaign. In the first year and a half of the campaign, the original international goal of $120 Million was exceeded and at the International Convention it was announced that over $200 Million had been raised. A second campaign about 10 years ago was equally impressive and drew the attention of Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation which has made several matching grants to Rotary Foundation for Polio Plus. Bob Novell has spearheaded Arcadia’s efforts and has announced that there are few cases reported in a few backward countries that have refused to cooperate with the inoculation Program
The most important local project is also International, it’s an annual trip to Tijuana to assist an orphanage in cooperation with the Tijuana Rotary Club. Dick Martinez has been featured in Rotary International’s Magazine for his work in organizing and continuing this project
4. Compare and contrast the club of the past to the present day club. Was there a difference in time, place and manner in which the meetings were conducted? What fund raising methods were used?
The Biggest change was the ruling that Clubs could accept Women members. When I was President of the Palm Springs Club I attended the RI Convention in Houston where a proposal sponsored by the Lake Placid Club to allow clubs to invite Women members was defeated. Sixty Percent of the Clubs in the United States voted for the resolution, but, clubs outside the U.S. almost universally voted against. When the Supreme Court decision that clubs with women members couldn’t be excluded from RI, it was welcomed by American clubs most of which immediately started to induct Professional and Business Women into Rotary. Phyllis Tompkins was Arcadia’s First.
Another big change is that most Rotary Clubs have fewer members than they used have. There are a number of reasons for that and Rotary has taken many steps including reducing the attendance and classification requirements in an effort to make Rotary more accessible.
For years Arcadia Rotary’s major fundraiser was a 50/50 Raffle and dinner which was called “Pot of Gold” Unfortunately, the State of California passed legislation which made such raffles illegal. George Fasching was the Patron Saint of the Pot of Gold events which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Rotary projects.