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District 6380
District 6380 is an
international district comprised of 50 Rotary clubs with
approximately 2,100 members. Eight clubs are situated in former Kent
County, Ontario, and 42 in Michigan, USA. The Michigan clubs are a
part of Zone 28. The Canadian clubs are located mainly in small
towns The Rotary Club of Chatham, chartered in 1921, with a
membership of 80, is the oldest and largest Canadian club in the
District. The Chatham Sunrise Club, with a membership of 40,
chartered in 1998, is the newest club. The clubs are strong
supporters of the Rotary Foundation. Many Rotarians are Paul Harris
Fellows, Major Donors, and Benefactors. In 1991, Chatham Rotarian,
PDG Richard Pearce (1984-85), and his wife, Lois, walked across
Canada to raise funds for polio eradication and were recognized
internationally for their efforts. In 1994 Pearce received the
“Distinguished Service Award” from the Rotary Foundation and in 2003
PDG Terry Youlton received the “Service Above Self” award. Despite
their small size, the accomplishments of the Canadian clubs in
District 6380 have been significant, initially in community service
and more recently in international service projects. The Thamesville
Rotary Club is an excellent example.
The Evolution of the Thamesville Rotary Club - a
Case History
“There was a big time in
Thamesville Wednesday night when some three hundred Rotarians,
members of 27 clubs in Western Ontario and Michigan assembled in ‘
The Gardens’ at the Ferguson Opera House to do honour to the newly
organized Thamesville Rotary Club, when it received its official
Charter, No. 3919 from the hands of Wm. M. Gray, 23rd District
Governor of Rotary.” So read the Thamesville Herald in
reporting on the 26 March 1936 charter night of the Thamesville
Rotary Club.
Bernard Mercer,
charter president of the Thamesville Club received presentations
from other clubs in the district: a Canadian flag from the Windsor
Club; standards and bases from the Aylmer Club; Rotary shield from
Chatham; Code of Ethics for each member of the new club from
Amherstburg; club identification badges from London; a case for club
badges from Essex; song books from Bleinheim; and a Rotary bell and
striker from the Ridgetown Club. A “crib” for the “baby club” in the
district was presented by the Rotary Club of Roseville, Michigan,
which up to that time had enjoyed the distinction of being the
infant club in the district. The Club boasted 18 charter members,
but several more members were inducted the next week.
Thamesville is
located on the old bed of glacial Lake Warren. This flat area, once
covered by the Carolinian forest, is drained by the Thames River
that meanders through it. The ancient Native trails eventually
became the main highways and roads of today. In 1856 pioneer settler
David Sherman laid out the plan of the village which he named
Thamesville; it was incorporated as such in 1874. Located at the
crossroads of Highways 2 and 21 and five minutes north of Highway
401, Thamesville has maintained an almost constant population of
1,000 residents. The mainline of the CNR that transverses
southwestern Ontario passes through the village.
The area around
Thamesville is rich in Canadian history. The first settlers were
Moravian missionaries who in 1792 were granted 25,000 acres of land
bordering the Thames River east of Lake St. Clair. The American
congregation moved there from Delaware with their Native converts
and founded a settlement with the name of Fairfield north of the
Thames and 48 miles southwest of London, Ontario. By 1797,
Fairfield contained 50 houses with a population of about 150 Natives
as well as the missionaries. The village was destroyed following the
battle fought on 5 October 1913 between the Americans under W.H.
Harrison and a combined Native and British force of 1,000 under Col.
Henry A Proctor and the Native warrior Tecumseh. Proctor was
defeated and escaped, but Tecumseh was killed. Following the war of
1812, the Moravians re-established their mission village south of
the river, re-named Moraviantown. Both the battlefield, Tecumseh’s
grave, and the original village are identified with historic
markers, erected by the Thamesville I.O.D.E. (Independent Order of
Daughters of the Empire) in 1913.
Many of the 18
charter members of the Thamesville Rotary Club were descendants of
the original founding settlers of the area. Charter president
Bernard Mercer was a grandson of John Ferguson mentioned below. The
first recorded settlers after 1796 were the Sherman, Hubbell, and
Cornwall families. In 1811 Lemuel Sherman built a huge barn which
was later used as a hospital for the wounded in the battle of the
Thames in 1813. Many of the soldiers carved their initials in the
beams of the barn, regrettably destroyed by fire in 1929.
James Ferguson
and his two sons, John and Robert, arrived penniless from Scotland
in 1854. They finished construction of a sawmill that had been
started by the Sherman family, and within a few years became wealthy
lumbermen. John and Robert founded the J & R Ferguson banking house.
John remained in business in Thamesville while Robert became a
well-known politician.
From the beginning the
Thamesville Rotary Club has been active in improving community life.
In 1936 the first Rotary- sponsored street fair was held, with
street dancing, boxing, bingo, baseball, a pipe band from Glencoe
and a Scots singer from London, Ontario. Games of chance were in
play, and as the story goes, one local citizen was extremely lucky
playing the roulette wheel to the point of “breaking the bank.” A
couple of Rotarians decided to distract this lucky fellow for a few
minutes while some slight adjustment was made to the wheel. The
outcome was that $400 was raised to assist crippled and needy
children. A Halloween party was held that year with judging; prizes
were awarded to young people from the village and surrounding areas.
Another unique fund-raiser that year was a jack rabbit drive. Jack
rabbits had become a menace to the local farmers, so in early
December, the Club decided to organize a jack rabbit drive. Several
Rotarians and area residents – all crack shots – gathered pledges on
the number of kills each would make. Rotarian Barney Jeffrey had
charge of the drive and disposal of trophies after the hunt. History
did not record the number of kills or the funds raised but it was
enough to erect a community Christmas tree, adorned with coloured
lights, in Memorial Park. The 1930s saw the sponsorship of the Boy
Scots and a bantam baseball league. In 1937, the Club raised funds
to upgrade a seven-acre woodland and pasture area as a beauty spot
for the village. This land eventually became the community park –
now Ferguson Park - and Rotary has provided the park with a
swimming pool, tennis courts, a bowling green, baseball grounds, and
an outdoor skating rink.
The 1940s saw a
number of community service projects completed by Thamesville
Rotarians. An unused building was moved from Rondeau Park and
installed as a Boy Scouts club house in the community park. The club
also erected swings, slides, teeters, and a wading pool in the park.
Rotary started a “calf club” on 12 May 1938, with 16 local farm
boys. It was felt that a club would encourage the youths to better
understand the benefits of proper feeding techniques and care of the
calves in their charge. Thus began a long association between the
Thamesville Rotary Club and the surrounding farming community. A
movie projector was presented to the Thamesville school board and
prizes given to winners of a Rotary-sponsored essay contest on the
subject of “tolerance.”
In the 1950s,
the annual Rotary Five Dollar Banquet was started with proceeds
going toward many community activities. The Youths’ Band was the
first recipient of the 1951 proceeds of $531.25 for instruments and
uniforms. In 1953 the Thamesville Rotary Club won second prize at
the Rotary Music Festival, sponsored by the Rotary Club of St.
Thomas. Rotary sponsored little league baseball involving 60 boys.
In 1953, the Club launched another unique fund-raiser. Lloyd Mitton,
who had been a Junior Rotarian in 1937, had an Angus Aberdeen calf
born on his farm. Nothing unusual in that, except that the calf was
born with an extra leg. The Rotary Club arranged to exhibit the calf
at the Ridgetown Fall Fair with the understanding that the Club and
Lloyd’s son, Bob, would share the proceeds 50/50. The calf was kept
in a tent and any person wishing to enter was charged 10 cents. Over
1,000 people viewed the calf. The Rotary Club was $50 richer, and
young Bob had enough money to buy his first bicycle. The Club began
supporting a foster child in 1956.
On 9 July 1960,
the Thamesville community swimming pool officially opened. The Club
continues to support the pool and as recently as 1998 installed pool
heaters. In 1961 Rotarians contributed to the recently opened
Fairfield museum. Earlier the Club built a shelter overlooking the
old original Fairfield church on what is now the Moraviantown
reserve. The structure was rebuilt by the Club and is used by the
many visitors to the museum. The Club held a ceremony dedicating a
cairn erected to the memory of the late Robert Ferguson, M.P.P. who,
in 1901, donated the land to the village for the park. Every two
weeks, the Club arranged for buses to transport the children of
Thamesville to the East Kent Memorial Arena in Ridgetown for
skating.
In 1976 the
Rotary Club built a picnic shelter in Ferguson Park, which was used
in July of that year for the first annual threshing festival. The
festival was kicked off on Friday evening with a giant parade
featuring over 75 entries. On Saturday, with a glimpse into farm
history, grain which in an earlier time had been cut with binders
and stooked was brought into the park for threshing by horse-drawn
wagons. Various activities included a model airplane show, a pony
pulling competition, ball games, a variety show, a horse show, and a
tug-of-war. A smorgasbord dinner followed by dancing rounded off the
evening. Proceeds from the festival were used to help pay for the
picnic shelter, community development, and aid to crippled children.
The 1970s saw the sponsorship of teen dances on weekends at the new
Rotary Picnic Shelter in Ferguson Park. In 1978, responsibility for
planning and building a community centre known as the Brunner Centre
was turned over to the Rotary Club. Funds for the project were
donated to the Rotary Club by Ada Hubbell Brunner and her husband
Charles Brunner. In recognition of their very generous contribution,
the Brunners were made Paul Harris Fellows, the first in the history
of the Thamesville Rotary Club.
In the 1986 the
Thamesvillle Rotary Club celebrated its 50th anniversary with a
banquet at which it honoured two charter members, Wallace S. Leeson
and Nelson S. Dickson, with Paul Harris Fellow recognitions. Later
that year the Club was awarded a certificate in recognition of
being an Easter Seal club since 1947. Over the years the small
Rotary Club had raised in excess of $41,000 in Easter Seal
campaigns. A car show was held at the threshing festival that year
at which 192 automobiles took part. Proceeds went to Easter Seals.
The club entertained the Anchor Bay Rotary Club of Baltimore,
Michigan, with which it has had a long and rewarding relationship,
even today.
On 25 March
1996, the Club celebrated its 60th anniversary. Charter member
Nelson Dickson was presented with a certificate of appreciation for
60 years of faithful service. In 1990 the Club hosted its first of
many exchange students – Geraldine Gore from France. The 1990s saw
the continuation of the annual Sod Busters golf tournament and the
start of the annual Rotary-Westover charity auction On average, the
Club earns about $5,000 at the auction which allows it to support
its many community projects as well as some external projects such
as the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance. In 1994 Judi Miller and Joanne
Humphrey became the first women inducted into the Thamesville Rotary
Club. Judi was sponsored by her father, Bruce Murray; Joanne was
sponsored by her uncle, John E. Leeson, and was presented with the
original badge used by her great-uncle and charter member, Wallace
S. Leeson. Joanne was elected first woman president of the Club for
2001-02. Joanne was the first member of the Club to become a Rotary
Foundation Benefactor and she encouraged two other club members t o
do likewise. During her presidency, the Club initiated a first World
Community Service project. The Club has had 11 Paul Harris
recipients since its beginning.
Businesses on
the main street have changed since the Rotary Club was chartered in
1936. The last 68 years have seen the coal man disappear along with
the blacksmith. The egg grading station, the canning factory and
door to door milk delivery are things of the past. Main street now
boasts an accounting firm, flower shop, giftware shops, and a pizza
parlour, but some of the old businesses remain. One can still buy
ice cream cones on a summer evening but no longer for a nickel.
Through the
years the Thamesville Rotary Club has been instrumental in
introducing many changes in the village for the betterment of people
and especially the enjoyment of children. Today there are 17
members, one less than the original club in 1936. The Club has held
meetings in a variety of locations beginning with the Tecumseh House
in 1936. For 48 years they met in James Presbyterian church. Through
the first decade of the 21st century, Rotarians have met every
Monday night in St Stephen’s Anglican Church hall, where they enjoy
Rotary fellowship and plan how to improve their community in the
future. |
