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Brief
histories of Rotary's First 100 Clubs
Rotary
Club of Austin 63
Rotary International District
5870
ROTARY CLUB OF AUSTIN
On June 2, 1913, the Rotary Club of Austin Texas
celebrated the 63rd charter awarded by the Association of Rotary Clubs in
Chicago during an inaugural luncheon held at the Driskill Hotel. Roy Rather, a
businessman who persuaded a former University of Texas classmate to bring
members of the San Antonio club to Austin for a meeting with interested
businessmen, initiated the impetus for the Austin Club. The meeting was held in
Austin on March 6, 1913, the 77th anniversary of the fall of the Alamo. Ten San
Antonio Rotarians and thirteen "movers and shakers" in Austin met over lunch to
talk Rotary, and it didn't take long for them to decide that Rotary would be
good for this growing city of 30,000. So, in a year when O.P. Colquitt was
Governor, President Woodrow Wilson was beginning his first term of office, (and
on the day that the major headline in the Austin Statesman proclaimed, "Snake
Saves House From Lightning: Reptile Forms Connection Between Ends of Broken Rod,
and is Burned to Death,") the Rotary Club of Austin was organized.
A list of the thirteen charter members appears on page xxxvi of this roster. The
Austin club held the sixty-third charter in an organization that had been
developed only eight years before by Paul Harris, a young attorney in Chicago.
It was called Rotary because meetings were rotated between the members' offices.
Roy Rather was the Austin club's first president; Fred K. Fisher was
vice-president; William L. Vining was secretary; and William H. Folts was
treasurer.
Before he could complete this term as president, Roy Rather changed businesses,
and thus his classification, so he was forced to resign since his new
classification was filled. He became an Honorary Member of the Rotary Club of
Austin, and Fred Fisher completed his term of office.
The Rotary Club has had seven previous homes. It met at the Driskill Hotel until
June 3, 1947, when it moved across the street to the Stephen F. Austin Hotel.
From July 1955 to June 1969, the Club moved back to the Driskill, but when the
hotel was closed for extensive remodeling, the club moved to the Commodore Perry
Hotel. In January 1977, it was back to the Stephen F. Austin, and in 1981 it
returned to the Commodore Building. From August of 1983 to 1990, the club met at
the Sheraton Crest Inn. That was followed by a move to The Terrace, our home
until sale of the property forced a move in February 1996; at that time Palmer
Auditorium became our home. In the summer of 2002, closure of Palmer Auditorium
for transformation into the Long Center for the Performing Arts necessitated
another move, this time to the Hyatt Regency Hotel. On January 1, 2005, the
meeting place changed to St. David’s Episcopal Church.
Through the years, members of the Rotary Club of Austin have been civic leaders
serving on countless boards and the City Council. Several have been mayors and
one governor of the state.
In addition to wide recognition for its outstanding speakers and programs, the
club has a superlative record in areas of vocational, community and
international service. One of its earliest projects, the Helping Hand Home for
Children, continues to be a priority of the organization. It was extremely
active in the initial PolioPlus Campaign. Through the estates of former
Rotarians Evans Swann, PDG George K. Marshall, and Charles Burton, and donations
from current members, college scholarship funds have been established for Austin
area high school students.
To help high school students better understand the Free Enterprise System in
America, the club annually conducts a weekend seminar, “Rotary Camp Enterprise.”
In recent years international service has become even more important, and this
is reflected in the projects carried out by the International Friendship
Committee and various exchange projects worldwide. The club is a substantive
supporter of The Rotary Foundation, and several hundred members are Paul Harris
Fellows.
Through the years, the Rotary Club of Austin has furnished leadership on the
District level through committee service and conference program participation.
Members having served as District Governor are William H. Richardson, Jr.,
Governor of the 12th District in 1915-16; Robert E. Vinson, 18th District,
1991-20; Thomas H. Shelby, 129th District, 146-47; Jack H. Dillard, 187th
District, 1950-51; George K. Marshall, 187th District, 1953-54; O.V. Koen, 587th
District, 1959-60; J. Neal Miller, Jr., Governor, District 591, 1960-61; Maurice
Acers, 587th District, 1965-66; Dave Smith, 587th District, 1969-70; Wilson E.
Speir, 587th District, 1974-75; and James L. Stoner, 5870th District, 1992-93.
John W. Ezelle was nominated to serve as Governor of District 129 for the year
1939-40, but had to withdraw because of ill health, and Thomas J. Hemphill was
Governor nominee in the old District 187 for 1955-56, but died before taking
office. Members and former members of the Club who served their District while
members of other clubs are John A. Crockett, 47th District, 1931-32; Allen
Sears, 130th District 1942-43; Leon Graham, 185th District, 1950-51; George K.
Marshall, 130th District, 1943-44; Clarence R. Miller, 187th District, 1955-56;
J. Neal Miller, Jr., 591st District, 1960-61; and John B. Mayo, Jr., 5340th
District, 1992-93.
PDG Dave Smith was the first member of the Rotary Club of Austin ever to be
elected a vice president and director of Rotary International. He served on the
International Board of Directors from 1975-77, and was Vice President of Rotary
International in 1976-77. He has represented the President of Rotary
International at Rotary meetings and conferences worldwide and served on various
international committees. He was General Chairman of the Rotary International
Convention held in Dallas in 1982.
Dorothy Fitzgerald was the first paid Executive Director, a position she held
from 1950 until her retirement in 1980. Carolyn Henderson was Executive Director
from 1981 - 1989. After Rotary International voted to include female members,
Carolyn was the first woman asked to join the RCA in 1987. Dorothy and Carolyn
are now Honorary Members. Nancy McCoy became the Executive Director at the end
of 1989.
As the Rotary Club of Austin has grown, it has shared its territory so other
Rotary Clubs could be organized. Today, Austin has thirteen additional clubs.
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