President-elect Brian Hayes welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Centerville Rotary Club at Grant Park, and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Ray Merz provided a prayer as the group gathered around the Rotary memorial.
Brian Hayes made the following announcements:
- There is still time to register your team to play in the Golf Outing on May 8. Chuck King reminded all that the link to register is on the Centerville Rotary website.
- Thursday 4/29 we will return to in-person/hybrid meeting at Yankee Trace. We will use the same mask/social distancing protocols as we did last fall.
- The District Conference will be April 23 & 24. Registration for this virtual event is now open. It should be a lot of fun with music, trivia and BYOB on Friday night. Saturday, Kim Forster (who we sponsored to attend the London School of Economics) will be one of the speakers. There is no cost to attend. Just sign up on My Rotary.
Rev. Harvey Smith welcomed everyone to this special meeting to honor recently deceased members of our club and shared these memories:
Robin Parker
Robin joined Centerville Rotary in March 1975. He was born in India and his parents were missionaries. He maintained a vital connection to India most all of his life, contributing financially to Missions there. He traveled to India many times to support a children’s school, and upon his passing, our club donated $1,700 to the school in memory of Robin. Once he joined Rotary, Robin immediately involved in the club’s local and international service projects. He contributed to the Rotary Foundation liberal because he believed in our areas of service and because when he contributed, all of the money wen Otto meet needs in underdeveloped areas and countries. However, he did not wish to be recognized for his gifts. Robin owned a small company that made plastic items like tags, refrigerator magnets, etc. He lived in Centerville for many years but his final home was a rural property near Caesar Creek Lake, where he invited Rotarians to enjoy picnic gatherings. We are thankful for his many years of service to our club.
Robin’s daughter, Jane Parker Kessler helped place her father’s brick into our memorial walkway.
John Callander
John was an Ohioan by birth and served a term in the US Navy and spent his entire working career with General Motors. He worked oversees in Puerto Rico, Peru and Brazil. His last assignment with GM was in Dayton as manager of the GMAC branch, retiring in 1987. John was first a member off the West Carrollton Rotary club, where he was very active. When the West Carrollton club dissolved, he was invited to join the Centerville club, which he did in 1999. John was an active member, always one of the first to volunteer to help with a project or activity. He was good at fixing or repairing all kinds of things. He really enjoyed volunteering to work on the Wright B Flyer. We miss his great smile and infectious spirit.
John’s family present to help place his brick included his son and daughter-in-law, John & Barbara Callander, and his deceased wife, Beverly’s daughter, Barbara, her son-in-law, Jordan, and his daughter Ryann Beverly.
Next week’s meeting will be in person at Yankee Trace and also on Zoom. Safety protocols will be in place as before. Our speaker will be Debe Dockins from the Washington-Centerville Public Library (and also current president of the Noon Optimist Club!)