The Howell Rotary Club
Paul Harris and four friends started a club in Chicago in 1905 as a service
group. These men who worked in the same building, on the same floor took
turns holding their meetings in each other's offices---thus the name "Rotary
Club."
The idea caught fire and by 1911 there were clubs being formed in
Canada and Europe and Rotary was on its way to becoming the worldwide
service organization it is today, with over a million members in 150 countries.
Early in 1924 John S. Page, Howell Superintendent of Schools, was
approached by members of the Ann Arbor Rotarians about forming a club in
Howell.
He became excited about the idea and talked with several Howell
business members and they agreed.
Howell Rotary Club No. 1746 was
chartered on May 5, 1924 with 17 members who took on the work of
establishing the new club.
The first officers were William H. Cansfield,
President; William E. Robb, Vice President; John S. Page, Secretary; Herbert R.
Gillette, Treasurer.
The club included members: Glenn H. Beurmann;
Sherman J. Field; Dr. James G. Erwin; Dr. Ernest J. Browne; Don Goodnow;
Wilber B. Johnson; R. Bruce McPherson; William McPherson, III; Albert L.
Smith; William McPherson Smith; Charles H. Sutton; and Don W. Van Winkle.
Each year the membership increased and by 1949 eighty men were enjoying
the fellowship, friendship, privileges, and benefits of Rotary.
It was decided that their first and principal project would be crippled children's
clinic. Each year in the spring, children were brought to the school (and later
to the Methodist church parlors) where they were examined by doctors and
optometrists to see what help they might receive.
By 1927 the Rotary thought they should take on the project of a city park by
Thompson Lake. Talks with the landowner were held and the city purchased
the land for Thompson Lake Park that same year. Roads were laid out and a
bathing beach was started. Talk of a bathhouse in 1929 became a reality in
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The Howell Rotary Club
1930 with the urging of President Dr. Sam Ross. The bathhouse was good for
many years, but by the 1960's had fallen into bad shape. Many wanted to
build a new one, but the cost by then was many thousand of dollars and we
couldn't find a way (the Chamber of Commerce took on this project in the
1970's and did a fine job).
Rotary members were influential in getting things done with the alleys, sewers,
and streets of Howell. The depression held things up for a while, but they did
complete quite a bit.
At Christmas time in 1930, John Page asked the new music teacher, Keene O.
Stollsteimer, to bring the Madrigal Club he had formed at the school to sing
Christmas carols to the club. Many wives were invited, too. The second floor
of the 1st National Bank, where we held our meetings, was filled and a
wonderful time was had by all. So, every year since, for the past 74 years the
group has been invited back.
The first inter-city meeting was held in Owosso with seven clubs attending in
1934. Most all of our club members attended, as did members of clubs from
Owosso, Flint, Centerline and others attending.
In 1936, a group from Brighton was invited to attend a meeting and on the
22nd of June 1936, the Brighton Rotary Club was started.
About this time the weekly newsletter The Question Mark was started. Handled
by several editors, it settled down to Bert Woodhams doing the job each week
for many years. In 1939, a new newsletter appeared called The Mushroom. It
was edited by Cal Gatesman and sometimes offered a different point of view.
So we had two papers a week for a while until the Mushroom died out. Later
The Question Mark became The Howeller. Les Merrit and others handled The
Howeller at times, but Bert was the mainstay until his death. Recently his son,
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The Howell Rotary Club
Fred Woodhams has done a fine job with humor to make it fun.
Now Jim
Gilligan has put us on the Internet.
The first meeting in January for years was Bert Woodhams' message on "The
State of the Union", which everyone looked forward to. They were masterpieces
and were usually printed in the paper.
One of the prime factors of Rotary was that no two men with the same job
could be members. With all people from different vocations, you can have a
cross section of your community. However, this leaves many good men who
cannot join because there is already someone with his classification. The story
went around about two priests whom the Club wanted.
They finally listed
them as "priest-retail" and "priest-wholesale". The Howell Club helped solve
the problem in 1936 when Lions Clubs were beginning. Our club helped get a
Lions Club started in Howell.
In January or February of each year we had a ladies night when all the wives
would come to a special meeting. Rotarian's wives were called "Rotary-Anns" in
those days. Speakers or magicians were brought in for the meeting. The poet
Edgar A. Guest was a favorite, as was his son Bud Guest many years later.
Inter-city meetings were held each year as well as Rural-Urban meetings, with
each Rotarian bringing a guest farmer.
Father - Son and Daughter day was held each year and the program usually
featured a magician. At the end of the football season the whole team and their
coaches were brought in for a meal and special recognition.
A national project called "Easter Seals was launched in 1939 to help the
crippled children. The club still held clinics for the crippled children well into
the 1950's. In 1939 the first Junior Rotarians were chosen from among the
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The Howell Rotary Club
high school seniors and invited to meet and eat with us. Each month two
different students attended the Rotary meetings for one month.
The last
meeting in May these Junior Rotarians shared what they had learned by taking
over the meeting and put on their own program for us. I don't remember when
it stopped, but it was a good program. Some of them later became Rotarians.
In cooperation with Washtenaw-Livingston Council of Boy Scouts America the
Howell Rotary Club gave of their time and money to help improve Camp
Newkirk near Dexter by erecting and equipping a new cabin. They also
provided camp fees enabling many young scouts to attend summer camp.
Howell had a Rotary Troop for many years. Bill McPherson IV was the Rotary
representative and after many years received the Silver Beaver Award. Other
Rotarians acted as merit badge counselors and spent weekends at summer
camps with the boys. Longtime scoutmaster, Jim Young, a former Junior
Rotarian, was later elected mayor of Howell and served in that position for 12
years.
In 1939 the war was started in Europe and Michigan Governor, Frank D.
Dickinson gave a talk at the Howell Rotary about the affairs of the State. The
newsmen referred to him as the governor with a "pipeline to God" in the corner
of his office.
In 1940 with the war in full swing in Europe and the London bombings at their
height, many English children were shipped over to Canada until the war was
over.
In the spirit of international service our club bought many gifts and
drove them over to Rotary Clubs in Ontario to distribute to the British kids.
Later that year members drove to Ann Arbor and picked up 25 refugee
students at the University of Michigan and brought them to our club meeting
to talk with us. The national speed limit was 35 mph during the war.
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The Howell Rotary Club
On September 23rd, the Club took a bus to Detroit for a Tigers game. The
Tigers won!
In 1941, Ned Millis, longtime manager of Detroit Edison in Howell who had
served as a Colonel in the Army during WWI and in the reserves afterward, was
called back to active duty for a year. He sent a card to the Club saying he
figured he'd be out by December 1st. December 7th was Pearl Harbor!
Bankers, doctors, and other professionals all closed on Wednesday afternoons
so they started a Rotary Golf team at Chemung Hills, the only golf club in this
county.
In 1944 Boys State was started on the campus of Michigan State College at
East Lansing. The club paid expenses for one or two boys each year to have
the chance to learn first hand about the problems and techniques of
administration of city and state government.
May 8, 1945 was "V.E. Day." The war had ended in Europe! "V.J. Day" was
August 14, 1945 when the war ended in Japan.
In 1946 Joe Brady, a member of our Club since 1930, was elected District
Governor of our district in Ontario and Southeast Michigan.
The district
conclave was held in Howell.
That same year a group of Fowlerville businessmen were invited to meet with
our club to find out what Rotary was all about.
The Fowlerville Club was
started soon after that and we had three clubs in the county.
On V.J. Day in 1946 there was a parade and the Rotary Club made a big float.
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The Howell Rotary Club
As the years went by, the club realized that several Rotarians had died and it
was felt that something should be done in their honor. We usually went to the
funeral and entered as a body sitting near the front. It was felt that it would be
much better if something permanent could be done.
We had put up the
backstop and fixed the baselines where the softball field is on top of the hill in
the park, but out past the outfield it was just grass. They decided that a tree
would be planted on top of the hill for each deceased Rotarian. After three
plantings, years apart, the early trees were getting quite large and there just
wasn't room for more. In 1970 Bruce Campbell took on the job of finding who
still hadn't had a tree planted for him.
It was quite a job and with the park
full, we planted the last eight trees by the water at the boat landing. It was far
too wet, so they all died and it will have to be done again someday.
In 1946, Paul Bennett, a Rotarian and high school athletic director found some
large field lights in the Upper Peninsula that he thought would light up the
football field. Paul, along with some Rotarians and others, hired a large stake
truck and drove to the U.P. to get them, which cost $500. Detroit Edison put
in poles and hooked up the lights and we had the first lighted high school
football field in the central Michigan area (probably in the whole state). The
football field ran east and west near railroad tracks then.
In 1949 the Rotary Club in Howell was 25 years old. The celebration was held
at the Waldenwoods Convention Center.
Seven of the original 17 charter
members were still alive and there was a big party.
In 1951 a circus wanted to stop in Howell for a two-day show and contacted
the Chamber of Commerce about promotion. "Zemp" Zemper had been elected
secretary of the Chamber and he negotiated with them to let us bring crippled
children to the circus free. An agreement was reached and Rotarians drove
around the county in their cars and took all the children to the circus. They all
sat together in one section with all the popcorn and Pepsi they cold handle.
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The Howell Rotary Club
Afterwards we took them around to see the lions and tigers and elephants
before going home. It was a wonderful day.
In 1952, Superintendent John Page felt there was plenty of room on the
athletic field to put the football field north and south, away from the railroad
tracks. It was a fine field with new lights. The Lions Club felt a good project
would be a large lighted scoreboard. They had a good idea, but no money. So
they came to the Rotary Club, but the Rotarians had no money either.
However, we said we would do it some way. We advertised a Rotary auction
and people called with things they no longer needed or wanted. Bob White and
Mike Hagman had pick-up trucks to collect the things in and they stored them
in garages at Cliff Heller's and D. Zemper's. Amazing the people who came and
the stuff they bought and we had a beautiful lighted scoreboard. The sign on it
read "Sponsored by the Lion's Club" and didn't mention Rotary Club.
It wasn't long before we realized that we needed a loudspeaker system on the
field. So back to the auction again. We put a microphone system in the press
box with speakers on the roof and it worked out fine.
The city was given the old Montegue house and property where the Citizen's
Insurance Company building is on W. Grand River.
The City put in an ice
skating rink and the Rotary put in slides, teeter totters and merry-go-round for
a playground. The Rotary also put in playground and B-BQ grills at Thompson
Lake Park at that time.
In the fall of 1955 the football team under Coach Harold Fulk was undefeated
for the first time ever. Football started here in Howell in 1896. So, the Rotary
Club got a large trophy---a gold plated football on a large base---and had it
engraved with all the players names and the names of all of their opponents
and the scores.
At the end of the season they had one touchdown against
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The Howell Rotary Club
them in nine games. The trophy was presented to them at the Rotary team
dinner that year.
Bob Parker felt that with the refurbished softball field and picnic grills etc. on
the hill we should have a fountain on the hill for ball players and picnickers. A
committee went to the city and proposed it.
The city engineer figured it out---
no city water in the parks! We would have to bring in a pipe from the city line
underground to the hill, then up the hill and put a fountain on top. Cost--$14,000---a lot of money in those days. The answer was "NO"!
We didn't have much industry in town in those days. Bob Parker went back to
his plant and called every company in the area. The next Monday he came to
Rotary---held up a slip of paper over the secretary's desk and let it flutter
down. It was a check for $14,000. (I think most of the money was Bob's.)
From the beginning, our meals were always prepared by Mrs. French and her
niece, Mrs. Fern Miller. All the years in the bank building she served familystyle chicken, roast beef, ham or occasional fish.
Big platters of meat and
mashed potatoes, bowls of vegetables, and a large slice of pie at every setting.
The cost to us was always 25 cents and no one ever complained about the
meals or the price.
With the Great Depression and World War II over, the county was booming and
the price of meals went up to 50 cents and then a dollar. Mrs. French died and
Fern Miller continued. She hired high school girls to serve until we left the old
bank building.
Rotary was instrumental in getting a youth center built. Today it is know as
the Paul Bennett Recreation Center. When the construction was completed in
1966, the Rotary started having their meetings there. This was much better for
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The Howell Rotary Club
several of the older members who had trouble with the stairs in the old
building. There was no elevator then.
Until about the 1970's when the meal was finished and the pie was eaten, it
was light-up time.
Between each two plates was a glass ashtray and most
everyone smoked. Cigars, cigarettes and a few pipes would be lighted up and
the air would take on a blue cast.
During the 1930's, 40's and 50's we celebrated the first meeting of each New
Year with a Christmas Tie Day.
Each person brought a tie he'd received at
Christmas that he couldn’t stand, all wrapped as a gift. The ties were put on a
table and each member would take one home, hoping he got a better tie than
the one he had brought.
In 1974 we had our "Golden" or 50th anniversary was celebrated at the
recreation center. I believe that Charles Sutton was the only original charter
members left at that time.
About 1979 we started thinking about a picnic shelter at Thompson Lake Park.
We felt that we could do it if we didn't have to pay for the labor. The only way
that could happen would be to build it ourselves, which we did. Not many of
us had worked with cement or bricks or roofing, but with the help of some men
around town who were willing to show us how---we got it done. We had a big
picnic in the shelter in the park with our "Rotary-Anns". It rained some, but
we didn't get wet. It was a success! We've had a picnic meeting there each
year since.
It soon became evident that a latrine facility was needed at the park. No sewer
lines went in and the city was not about to do anything---so here we go again.
Bursting with the pride of our shelter accomplishment we offered to put up the
building if they would furnish the cement blocks. They did and we put up the
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The Howell Rotary Club
building, put in the toilets and sinks and it was complete except for the sewage
field.
The call went out for help to lay the tile for the drain field on a Saturday
afternoon.
Jack Maul and I were the only ones who showed.
Evidently
working in a sewer field didn't sound appetizing. Luckily, Jack knew what he
was doing and on a hot sunny afternoon we laid the slotted tile in place and
covered it with a gravel and sand base.
Rotary meetings were moved from the recreation center to a small auditorium
in McPherson Hospital for about a year then downstairs in the Community
Room where we have been now for a few years. Our meals are catered out of
Brighton each week and the price is not 25 cents, but $7.50!
When the Melon Festival got going well it was felt we should do something. We
found a closed trailer with a big side window, which we were given the use of
each year at Melon time. Arby's roast beef roasted and sliced large beefs for us
and we sold hot roast beef sandwiches for $1.50 each. This went on for several
years, making several hundred dollars each year for the treasury. I can still
remember Circuit Judge Bert Hensick wearing a chef's cap and apron yelling
out to people to "come and get em" and they did, and they were very good.
When the Chamber of Commerce started the Balloonfest each year, Rotary
decided to have a Sunday Pancake Breakfast with members doing all the work.
We've had a great time for many years now.
It's held in the high school
cafeteria and is one of our better projects.
Each year the club has golf outings with the other clubs in the county in a
friendly rivalry. Our club beat Brighton only once when they forgot to show up
and we won by forfeit. We suspect they have a couple of pros on their team.
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The Howell Rotary Club
We bowl each year for benefit of "Big Brothers" and "Big Sisters". It's quite a
fund-raiser and fun.
In the 1980's it was determined that ladies should be allowed to join. There
were so many service clubs having been formed in the last 30 years that it was
getting difficult to keep the membership up. This wasn't a happy thing for all
our members---when we took in 2 lady Rotarians, 4 of our members dropped
out. We didn't realize it at the time, but when you say to a girl "we've got a job
to do"---they go and do it. When you ask a man, he has to figure, and wonder
about the time, etc. We haven't missed the four who left.
The last two years Jerry McKeon Anderson has worked out an antique
appraisal that has been a real moneymaker for the treasury and our
scholarships.
When Kathy Zaenger was our president she contacted people about a gazebo in
the new West Street Park. It cost $18,000, but it is a beautiful addition and we
have a picnic there every July and it is paid for.
For many years we hosted the Mayor Exchange Luncheon at our meeting and
have for many years honored the top ten graduates. Now with over 500 seniors
in the graduating class the students with a grade point between 3.5 and 4.0
totaled 19 this year.
We have added another Rotary Club to the county.
It’s a breakfast club
meeting on Friday mornings in Genoa Township and is called "The Sunrise
Club." They're getting a very good start. Now we have four clubs in the county!
In 1999 we had our 75th anniversary. All the charter members were gone of
course, but we had many dignitaries and others there to congratulate the club.
It was also an honor for me as I finished 50 years of perfect attendance.
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The Howell Rotary Club
Attendance was always a prime factor in Rotary until the last few years. If you
miss a meeting you can make it up in another club 6 days before or after the
meeting you missed. In almost 58 years I have made up meetings all over the
country; Montana, Oregon, California, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, England,
and Paris, Europe and the old "number one" in Chicago. It's a wonderful thing,
you see how other clubs work and bring home ideas and meet wonderful
people.
Perfect attendance was always the goal. "You can't be any help if you're not
there." If you missed a meeting your name was in the bulletin and whether you
made it up or not. If you missed three meetings without any excuse you were
dropped from the rolls. If you were a Rotarian, you were a proud Rotarian.
There was always someone else in the community eager to take you place.
When school elections were coming up for school board members, John Page,
Superintendent would always see that at least one Rotarian was on the ballot.
The elections were on Monday, so John would mention at the meeting that we
should be sure to vote. Often we would leave the meeting together and walk
the two blocks to where the election was held in the high school gym.
We
always had Rotarians on the school board. I remember one election when 53
Rotarians voted and only 69 votes were cast.
Rotary members have served as chairmen or members of the on many
community projects, including the hospital in 1959, the recreation center, the
library expansion and the swimming pool in the new high school. We had the
first exchange student in the county, Herbert Vey from Germany in 1951, who
stayed with the Zemper family for the whole year.
There has been other
exchange students since staying for 3 or 6 months.
We have always
contributed to the Salvation Army, Big Brothers and Sisters, United Way,
Chamber of Commerce and others.
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The Howell Rotary Club
Scholarships for high school seniors were started in the will of Herbert Gillette
and later John page and Bill Ladner after they died and Rotary added another
one annually.
With the work of Peter Bowen, an Interact Club has been started in the high
school and they have been doing a great job.
They've contributed several
thousand dollars and hundreds of hours of community work.
The last meeting in June is the annual meeting, the changing of the guard.
The new president and officers were installed. Members were recognized for
their attendance. You got little numbers that were inserted in your Rotary pin.
There would always be a list of names called for one year of perfect attendance.
They would make a line and receive their pins. Then the two year pins and
three and five---maybe a ten or a fifteen. Wilber Johnson got his fifteen-year
pin, got sick and missed and worked up to twelve again. Herb Gillette had the
record at thirty-two years before he died. No one thought that record would
ever be broken.
Now as I am approaching fifty-eight years of perfect attendance I think back on
all the things we've done and over a million Rotarians in 150 countries in the
world are doing now for humanity. The elimination of Polio by 2007 may be
possible.
I look around our meetings and think of all the people who have
never been acquainted with Polio in our country---never experienced the fear of
it, since it's been eliminated here. When we think of all the things that Rotary
is doing in the world for all the little communities and for the little people of the
world, we can be thankful for Paul Harris and his idea 100 years ago.
D. L. Zemper (Zemp)
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