We’ve asked some of the senior members of the Arcadia Rotary to recall some of their memories of the club’s early days. This is the first in the series of these recollections. It’s from John Fee, who has been a club member since 1975.

1. Share some of your early memories of the club.

“I have been in the club 39 years. During the early years, the club meeting location seemed to move around a lot. It started at a motel (SE corner of Huntington Dr. and Colorado Place) for about three years. Then we moved to the Women’s Club for a year or two. Next, back to the motel. Then to what is now the Marriott Hotel (in Monrovia !!!). This is where we were during my year as President (1984-85). About a year later, we moved to the Embassy Suites, and we’ve been anchored there ever since.”

2. Your most memorable highlights from your years in the club.

“To me, the most memorable highlights were the experiences I had during the years I was President (1984-85) and District Governor (1986-87).”

3. What projects, both local and international, were emphasized in the early days of the club?

“During my early Rotary years, the Arcadia club was very active in community projects (e.g.: school buildings, Camp Trask, playground improvements, etc.). There was virtually no international activity. This changed in the early 1980’s when Orla Pederson and Dick Martinez initiated the annual projects in Mexico.”

4. Compare and contrast the club of the past to the present day club.

“During my Rotary years, the Arcadia club was always a Friday noon club. The general format of the meetings is still the same (eat—business meeting—the program—out by 1:30 p.m.). Forty years ago, we were a big club (approx. 150 members). It was always well respected and a “fun” club. The current club (approx.. 100 members) has much more active meetings.
During the early 1980’s, Rotary had a new idea for a fund raiser—a “Concert in the Park” at the Arboretum. George Fasching was the spark-plug and chairman of this project. Since this had never been done before, it required a lot of publicity. George even hired an airplane to fly over the community dragging a banner promoting the event. It didn’t work out very well. The first year, we lost about $10,000. The second year we made about $8,000. And the third year we just broke even. It was not worth the effort required; so we abandoned the project. The Arboretum was very pleased with the number of visitors it produced, so they took it over and contracted with Victor Vener to continue the venue.”

5. Anything else that from your experience you think would be of interest to club members.

“During the early years, Rotary was an all-male organization. This changed in 1987 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that because of the Unruh Act in California, Rotary was a “business” club—not a “social” club. Therefore in California women must be allowed to join. A year later, Rotary International made it optional for each Rotary club to invite women members. In my view, I think this was a big improvement in Rotary.”