July 1, 1956- June 30 1957
President: Joe Wood
Vice Pres: Don Kirby
Secretary: Ralph Wood
Apple Seed: Ralph Wood District Governor: John Coe
Attendance: 95.25%
New Members: 10
Members Lost: 5
Members end of the year: 157
This was quite an eventful year under the leadership of President Joe B. Wood. At the ceremonies transferring presidential authority, immediate past president Les Lewis was asked by Leo Lowe to define "illegal." Les failed; Leo said it was a "sick eagle"...pretty corny? This was the last year for this club in District #153. As of July 1, 1957, this 50-club District was divided making us one of 26 clubs in the new District #506.
October 4th, 1956, was a 100% meeting. This was the fort 100 percenter since 1945. Much credit was due to Attendance Chairman, Kirby Billingsley, who fairly sat with the make-up list on his lap and a telephone in his hand for the last two days before the deadline. We would have had another 100% meeting, but one member "forgot" and neglected to make up.
Through the Wenatchee Rotary Foundation we provided financial aid of $1,000 a year to Raymond "Bud" Gills to help him thru medical school. This is the third year of financial assistance to a promising young doctor. Our Club donated $1,000 to help in the construction of the Lake Wenatchee "Y" Camp Lodge. In addition, many members of the Club volunteered their time and talents in actual work on the camp lodge. (We're not all inactive even though they call us the "Old Man's Club.") A collection that raised over $300 was taken on February 14 for the "George Low Fund" to assist the very popular high school music director who was stricken with a terminal illness. His high school choirs were always outstanding and afforded Rotarians and their Rotary Anns many memorable moments.
On February 7, 1957, in recognition of National "Y" Week, there was a program entitled "YMCA on Review" with an illustrated talk. The wonderful work the YMCA is doing for the youth of our community is outstanding and points-up the necessity for a more expanded program in the future. Our Club will undoubtedly provide aid, both financially and with lots of man power.
The Club sponsored an Apple Pie Baking Contest for high school girls from Chelan County. The winner won a prize and a trip to Olympia to present the Governor an apple pie from the "Apple Capital of the World."
Don Kirby, Art Pohlman and Vint McBride, accompanied by their Rotary Anns, attended the Rotary International Convention at Lucerne Switzerland. Don and his wife could not get reservations at the village and had to take a small steamer across the lake, then a tram car up the mountain to the resort hotel where they stayed. Though the view would have been spectacular, they couldn't see it because of low clouds all the time giving rise to the expression "Can't Discern Lucerne; Durn!" On June 20 President-elect Don Kirby reported to the club on his trip.
23 Rotarians and 22 Rotary Anns attended the District Conference at Penticton, B. C. on March 31 and April 1 & 2, 1957. The warmth and friendliness of our neighbors to the north always makes our visits to Canada an unforgettable experience. Some of the highlights of this conference was the complete sincerity of Governor John Coe's address, the sparkling wit intermingled with serious thoughts of Leo Lowe's talk and the shouts of laughter that greeted the very British but very polite announcement by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that a Mr. Harry Whiteman's car was over-parked in front of the Dominion's Liquor Retail Establishment!
Driver Training Tests sponsored by the Wenatchee Rotary Club were conducted at Pioneer Park with 12 finalists out of 200-300 boys and girls from the high school. The skill in handling an automobile by these boys and girls is really remarkable. These tests are actually conducted by officers from the State Highway Patrol with Rotarians assisting. In one of the tests, serpentine-forward and backward, a girl made a perfect score. On a dare one of the younger patrolmen tried the same test and knocked over several markers on the backing thru serpentine much to the delight of the girl who had performed flawlessly. On June 20 we had the 10 winners as our guests. Without warning all Rotarians were checked at the door to show VALID driver's license. It's a good thing that the State Patrol guests didn't take the names of those carrying out dated driver's licenses, the clink would have been full of Rotarians. Over half were driving with INVALID licenses!
We had a very interesting report by Wilfred Woods, Editor of the Wenatchee Daily World, in May, 1957. He was one of a small group who called themselves the "20th Century Voyagers" and followed the trail of the Judson Bay Voyagers from the mouth of the Columbia River to its headwaters near Revelstoke in Canada. They made the journey in a few weeks in a couple of 20' power boats. They were stopped a few miles short of their intended destination by the ice-choked river where they were forced to abandon the trip further upriver.
Rotary is now in 100 nations of the world.
Long-time Rotarian, Tom Pybus, was named Pioneer Honor Citizen of Wenatchee for 1956. Tom's success story is phenomenal. From a one-man blacksmith shop to a million-dollar steel fabricating and foundry business in 45 years. It would be hard to find a more deserving recipient of the honor.
Rotarian Dick Jones was appointed by the Chamber of Commerce as Director General of the 1957 Apple Blossom Festival.
Charlie Bennett died in march, 1957. He had almost 25 years of perfect attendance. One of the last things he did was attend a Rotary meeting. Charlie was known by a (commercial) nickname of "Apple Bill" when he operated his storage garage in Wenatchee. His ads in the paper were almost given over to mention of charity functions, civic endeavors, plugging for the Boy Scouts or Camp Fire Girls, the YMCA or the C.Y.O.. The only mention of his own business in the ads was to start "Apple Bill says...." Charlie was a living example of "Service Above Self."