A Brief History
In 1986, Allan Purdy
Geddes had moved to the Williamsburg area and, having been a Rotarian for many
years in Illinois, began attending the Williamsburg Rotary Club as a guest.
The Williamsburg Club, founded in the 1930's, met every Thursday night
for dinner. Allan anticipated
joining the Williamsburg Club, but felt that a second Club in the area, meeting
at a different time of day, might be a beneficial addition to the community.
He asked several friends, among them, Pres Layfield, Loy Collingwood and
Jim Chase, if they might be interested in helping to form such a Club and the
idea for the James City County Club was put in motion.
Following Rotary practice, The Williamsburg Club, as the nearest existing
Club, was asked to "extend" this new Club, meaning that they would
sponsor the fledging group and assist in its formation, development and growth.
Kenneth Axtell, then president of the Williamsburg Club, acted as
coordinator and attended most of the James City Club's early meetings.
The first meetings of the provisional James City County Club were held at
the Kingsmill Golf Clubhouse in the Riverview Room where the Club still meets,
beginning in the fall of 1986. Membership
grew as meetings were held at 7:00 am on Tuesday mornings. A minimum of 20 members were necessary for Rotary
International to grant a charter and this number was reached and exceeded in the
fall of 1986 when membership reached 32. This
charter was applied for on November 11, 1986 and a letter from the President of
Rotary International, M.A.T. Caparas, dated February 5, 1987, welcomed the new
Rotary Club. The actual charter was
received in March of 1987, having been delivered earlier to the District
Governor, who had been unable to present it.
With that, the Club was official, with Allan Geddes being elected as the
first president.
The 32 member names on the
December 23, 1986 roster and assumed to be the same 32 names submitted with the
November 11, 1986 charter application were: John Akers, John Austin, William Brauer, Ron Campana, Jim Campbell, James Chase
The January 23, 1987
roster added the name of Gordon Chappell (33rd).
The February 10,
1987 roster added: Steve Blanks, Bob Bradshaw, Frank Spayth, David Teasley, Buzz
DeHaven, Al Gotthardt & Jim Harward, and deleted: Jack Poland, Dewayne
Moore, & John Austin (33
members, add 7 & delete 3 = 37)
At the Board meeting of
February 16, 1987, the Board confirmed that the 37 members on the February 10,
1987 roster were in good standing and shall be considered Charter Members.
Charter Membership was 37 when the charter was received
9 of the above 37
are still (at 9/12/01) active in the club.
Of the 9, 7 have served as president.
The presidents of
The Rotary Club of James City County have been:
Formation to June 30, 1987 Allan Geddes
July 1, 1987 to June 30, 1988 Allan Geddes
July 1, 1988 to June 30, 1989 Jim Chase
July 1, 1989 to June 30, 1990 Loy Collingwood
July 1, 1990 to June 30, 1991 Bob Ware
July 1, 1991 to June 30, 1992 Pres Layfield
July 1, 1992 to June 30, 1993 Charlie Glazener
July 1, 1993 to June 30, 1994 Al Gotthardt
July 1, 1994 to June 30, 1995 Tom Shriver
July 1, 1995 to June 30,
1996
Dave Ledbetter
July 1, 1996 to June 30, 1997 Michael Lanning
July 1, 1997 to June 30, 1998 Julian Fields
July 1, 1998 to June 30, 1999 Jack Clark
July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2000 Bob Magnusson
July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001 Jerry Fields
July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002 Bill Brauer
July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003 Bud Robeson
July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004 Mike Lucier
July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005 Gary Chenault
July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006 Victor Holman
July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007 Dick Gillem
July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008 Jodi Fisler
July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009 Ron Lynde
July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010 Wayne (Skip) Yohe
District
Leadership
Member Allan P. Geddes
served as District Governor for District 7600 during 1993-1994
Member Bob Magnusson served as Assistant District Governor from 2001-2003
Member Jack Clark served as Assistant District Governor for the year 2003-2005
Member Jerry Fields was
District Governor for the year 2004 –2005
Member Victor Holman was an Assistant District Governor for the year 2007 - 2008
Member Gary Chenault is an Assistant District Governor for the year 2009-2010
Known Deceased members:
John Harbour Frank Spayth James Chase Bill Files Oren (Buzz) DeHaven
Dave Hiester Mac McCormick Henry Dorris Loy Collingwood Jim Love
Board meetings have been held at the Kingsmill Golf Clubhouse upstairs lounge, the Virginia Power (then Vepco) training building (Ware, Layfield and others), the Kingsmill Sales Center (Glazener, 92-93, Gotthardt, 93-94), the offices of Precision Software (Shriver), Bush Construction offices (Lanning, Fields, Clark) and the Ukrop's Grocery Store Community Room (Brauer, Robeson)
The Club has always had
its regular weekly meetings in Kingsmill facilities, except during the Golf
Tournament week, when meetings have been held at, for example, the Days Inn near
Water Country, the Kingsmill Marriott Courtyard and at the Ramada Inn East (now
the Sheraton Four Points on York Street near Pocahontas Trail).
For periods of time, the Club met in the Kingsmill Sports Club
restaurant, in the Fairfax meeting room in the Conference Center (which is no
longer there, due to the Center's expansion), and occasionally in a downstairs
corner meeting room in the Conference Center.
Other meetings have been held at member's workplaces and involved tours,
such as Busch Gardens (Keith Kasen), Flight International (Mike Lanning), and
Williamsburg Community Hospital's expansion (Les Donahue).
David Kent led an after-breakfast tour
of the late Gene Chismer's home under construction in Kingsmill. There was a tour of the Anheuser Busch Brewery.
Bob Ware arranged an late afternoon visit to the Virginia Power Surry
nuclear plant on May 19, 1987 and on June 9, 1999.
Early fund raising
activities included the Rolympics, in 1987 and 1988, which was a combination of
two tournaments, in golf, tennis, and, in 1988, a third, gin rummy. Two
bowl-a-thons were held. Paint-your-heart-out
in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and is planned for 2002.
Entertainment Books have been sold in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001.
Poinsettias have been sold at Christmas time as a fundraiser each year
since 1996. Two pancake suppers
were held at the Colonial Pancake House in 1997 and 1998.
Charities supported have been Polio Plus (some of which was from Paul Harris Fellowships), Eastern State Hospital, scholarships for Lafayette High School seniors and later for Jamestown High School, beginning in 1999, the Malcolm Kerr scholarship, the Jabbo-Kenner Boxing Club, the Salvation Army, Virginia Co-operative Extension Service, 4-H, FISH, Avalon (battered Womens' Shelter), First Night of Williamsburg, Model UN, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, Williamsburg Community Hospital Christmas Baskets, and the Wilbur Wallace scholarships. For many years, the Club hosted foreign exchange students during the Summer Student Exchange Tour.
In 2009-2010 the club has generously given over $27,000 in donations to: FISH, Avalon, Boy Scouts of America, Court Assisted Special Advocates (CASA), local third grade dictionaries, Salvation Army, Olde Towne Medical Center, Williamsburg Regional Library, Kenya Water Project, Meals on Wheels, Haiti Relief, Hospice Support Care of Williamsburg, JCC Rescue Squad, Water for People, Rita Welsh Adult Literacy, Lackey Free Clinic, Grove Christian Outreach Center, Rotaract Club Foundation, Rotary Foundation Polio Plus, Williamsburg Youth Baseball and four high school senior scholarships.
Selected
Highlights from the first years of the Rotary Club of James City County
1986
(Rotary year July 1 to June 30 of the following year)
On November 11, 1986, an
application for a charter in District 760 was submitted for the new Rotary Club
of James City. The officers and
directors were shown as: Allan Geddes - president, Jim Chase - president-elect,
Jim Lukaszewicz - vice president, Vince Sutlive - secretary, Ken Johnston -
treasurer and Ira Krams - sergeant-at-arms.
Directors were: Bill Brauer, Bob Ware, Jack Poland, Ron Piland and Dwayne
Moore. Annual dues were stated at
$460 per year. A $45 initiation fee
was adopted (but was deleted on January 19, 1987). The application declared that there were 32 charter
members (the minimum being 20). It
was signed by Ken Axtell, of the Williamsburg Rotary Club, serving as
"special representative." A
$200 fee accompanied the application.
1987
A letter from the
President of Rotary International, M.A.T. Caparas, dated February 5, welcomed
the new Rotary Club. There was a
Valentine's Day dinner at the George Washington Inn on February 14.
Friday, March 6 was the Charter Night dinner.
The District Governor visited on March 31.
In May, the Club established a no-smoking policy at meetings.
The Surry Nuclear Power Plant trip was late afternoon on Tuesday, May 19
and included dinner there in two railroad cars, located on the site and used for
training rooms. An inter-Rotary
Club Rolympics golf tournament was held in October, with the winner's prizes of
$4,000 donated to the Polio Plus project. Bob
Fleming was the 87-88 District Governor. On June 10, the IRS assigned the Club's tax identification
number 54-1416043. On June 11,
Rotary International wrote to inform all Clubs that the U.S. Supreme Court had
upheld a California decision that Rotary Clubs could no longer exclude female
members and that Rotary International would abide by that decision.
RI had earlier revoked a charter of the Duarte, California Club, which
had accepted a woman member. Membership
at June 30 rose to 49, with 15 having been added in the 87-88 year and 3 having
been lost.
The Tuesday, July 7
meeting was canceled due to the KM golf tournament.
A Pig-Pickin' social was held on July 19 at the Mounts Bay Recreation
Center in Kingsmill. The Club
banner was designed and ordered. The
Club worked with Housing Partnerships. There was a tour of NASA on October 23,
1987. The Club sponsored a team in
the Southeastern Virginia Youth Soccer Association.
On February 17, 2007, the James City County Board of Supervisors issued a proclamation designating that day as James City County Rotary Day. This proclamation recognized the exceptional services of the James City County Rotary Club for quietly and consistently donating its time, effort and skills for the betterment of the James City County Community, as well as the pursuit of international aid and understanding, for two decades.
County Supervisor Bruce Goodson presented the proclamation to the club membership at a party celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the James City County Rotary Club.
Club Historian
Jim Harward
updated 5/24/2010