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District 5360
District 5360 is one of
seven all-Canadian districts in Zone 22. Originally part of District
18 that extended from northwest Ontario to the British Columbian
border, the District was one of the largest in the Rotary world. The
first District Conference was held in Edmonton in 1918. After
several changes in numbering, the District became 536 in 1957-58.
In 1991, it was changed to 5360 and discussions took place on the
possible division of this huge district that contained more than
sixty clubs. Finally, at the Lethbridge conference in 1998, division
of the district was agreed upon. The northern half of Alberta
became District 5370, while District 5360 covers the southern half
of Alberta and the southwest corner of Saskatchewan. The District
now has forty-seven clubs with a combined membership of about
twenty-three hundred. There are forty-four clubs in Alberta and
three in Saskatchewan. The District has produced four directors of
Rotary International: Jim Davidson (1926-27), Glen Peacock
(1958-60), George “Curly” Galbraith (1988-90), and Bill Gant
(1999-2001). Davidson, Peacock and Galbraith became vice-residents
of RI.
Little is known
abut Peacock, but Davidson’s considerable contributions have been
discussed elsewhere. Bill Gant served as Chair of the World
Community Service Committee 2003-04 and was a member of the
nominating committee to choose the president of RI for 2006-07.
The
contributions of PRIVP Curly Galbraith have been considerable. A
Rotarian for fifty-five years, with perfect attendance, Curly served
on numerous international committees, including as vice-chair of the
1996 International Convention in Calgary. For four years, he was
national chairman of the Canadian Rotary Committee for International
Development (CRCID). He represented District 5360 four times on the
Council on Legislation, and served twice on the RI president’s
nominating committee. He was founder and co-convener of Rotary’s
Stay in School Initiative. He served as vice-president of Rotary
International in 1989-90. The following anecdote reveals Galbraith’s
high degree of commitment to the Rotary ideal of fellowship. On 26
April 2001, Dr. Murray Young, a new member of the Rotary Club of
Calgary, was engaged on a company assignment verifying the medical
safety on a British Petroleum Company’s oil drilling rig on the
Alaska North Slope in the Beaufort Sea. At 11:00 a.m. he was
summoned to the telephone. It was Curly Galbraith wishing him a
Happy Birthday. For twenty years, Curly Galbraith has telephoned
every member of the Calgary Rotary Club and other Calgary Rotarians
on their birthday to wish them a “Happy Birthday.” Distance is not
an obstacle.
The Rotary International
Convention was held in Calgary, Alberta in 1996; it set a Western
Hemisphere attendance record with about twenty-five thousand people
from one hundred and twenty-six countries in attendance. RI
recognized Nan Jensen, the niece of Paul Harris, at this convention,
and she became an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Calgary. A
major attraction at the conference was the ’96 Rotary Family Round
Up, co-chaired by PDG Gardie Shaw and PDG Doug Martin with a lot of
help from PRIVP G.H. Galbraith and other committee members. All of
the Rotary clubs in the area participated in the convention,
contributing to its great success.
In the world of
Rotary, youth and community service are inseparable, and in the long
history of the Rotary Club of Calgary there are many examples of
this bonding of noble ideals. Perhaps one of the most dramatic is
the story of Randy Avery who, throughout his lifetime, produced an
annual spectacle known world-wide as the Calgary Stampede Grandstand
Show. He founded one of the premier youth performing arts groups in
Canada – The Young Canadians of the Calgary Stampede.
In 1966, Peter
Lougheed and the Grandstand Attractions Committee brought Avery to
Calgary from his home in Chicago to work on his idea of a
scholarship-based, tuition-free performing group. The idea took
hold, and from that day, thousands of young people have been trained
in all aspects of the performing arts from ballet, tap, jazz, and
hip-hop, to vocal music and acting. Each Stampede, the Young
Canadians perform for ten nights before an audience of some one
hundred and seventy over the run of the annual show.
In their
thirty-six year history, the Young Canadians have appeared at
command performances before the Queen, had their own television
specials, and have made world tours. Their performance was among the
most talked about highlights of the 1996 Calgary International
Convention.
Though Randy
Avery passed away some years ago, the work has been carried on by
his son, Bill who succeeded his father as a member of the Rotary
Club of Calgary.
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