The truth is that I’m not much of a Rotarian, but without my Rotary membership, I would not be allowed to serve RGHF (Rotary Global History Fellowship). What I mean, is that most “Rotarians” are involved, with their clubs, in their communities, while I spend my time working for a group that serves other Rotarians.

When I was born, 17 March 1944, my grandmother was attending Rotary meetings. As I child, Rotary meant community gatherings, picnics at the Salmon River Park. I never knew that my grandmother only took her deceased husbands place and that she was not a Rotarian. Then along came an abusive step-father, he joined Rotary and so did his own father, also abusive. Both father and son were ranchers. But, thanks to my grandmother, Rotary was a good thing. I remember singing for Rotary meetings in the early 1960’s. The members were the community leaders of Missoula, Montana. I formed an entertainment group, in the mid-sixties and we entertained at clubs, hospitals, the Montana legislature, and even the state prison. Organizing groups has been a part of my life since I was about 6 years old. The singing stayed with me until 2010. It came naturally to me, and helped me overcome an aversion to crowds and meeting people.

Then, in 1976, I created a video, for a local California Rotary club, and to thank me, they made me an honorary Rotarian. I didn’t really understand what the group did, and rarely attended meetings. The next year, when I tried to join for real, I was black balled, banned from the club. The incoming president was former employer, and members felt that I would be a distraction for his year.

The next few years were tough ones for a young man. Most of us can relate to a rough patch. Mine were lingering effects of my childhood. This sort of sums it up

                           Grief strikes deep in the heart of one

Whose tears have been un-shed,

Fears have been un-said

And thoughts have been un-read.

I will, in life, confess truth

that at death

it may be marked as good.

A life planted in shadows repressed emotions

Nurtures no growth,

Bares no new fruit

And withers to remain

a leafless hulk at winter’s edge

awaiting only the cold snow

to gather in its branches.

(Jack Selway, Circa 1977)

I recovered from the sting of that Rotary event (and others) and a few years later moved to a nearby town. I got it that being a Rotarian could be good for my new business, so I found vendors, businessmen with Rotary signs in their windows, or on their desks, and began to do business with them. I had no luck, but one kindly old doctor took an interest in me after I kept coming back with new illnesses over and over. I was not sick, just wanted to get to know this Rotarian doctor. It worked.

He recommended me, but it took one entire year, interviews in our home, and then, finally sometime in 1982, I became a Rotarian. I did videos for the club, one of them being the first orientation, on video, for any Rotary club anywhere. I also created a video about women in Rotary, well received for the time, 1982, before women were admitted to Rotary. I was very active in the club, mostly giving speeches and creating videos. I also gave speeches on topics that I invented, such as the “Message to Garcia,” which I liked. I spoke at many Rotary clubs and began singing at the Rotary Club of San Francisco.

One day, in 1987, a Rotarian I knew called to say that a new club, a breakfast club, would be starting. Then he asked if I would be the first president. Without hesitation, I said yes, and I had something productive to do. We launched the club, still very successful today. I was selected as the District 5160 Rotarian of the year. We started our club on 4 March 1987, exactly, to the day, two months before the US Supreme court’s ruling. Our four sponsoring clubs did not have women members and were mostly against the idea, so we did not bring in charter women members. However at our charter night, 2 September 1987, with PRIP Cliff Dochterman as our speaker, we then brought in several women who added tremendous energy and variety to the early morning meetings. One of the women, PDG Susan Wait, became a district governor early on. In my last year with this club, I suggested that they should record their history. There was strong opposition, and they still do not have a history. RGHF has the history of their district, but the club is not included. I felt strongly that the club should have a recorded history.

In 1991, I moved my business to San Francisco and became the singer and video guy or Rotary Club of San Francisco, the second club of Rotary. SF#2 was strong on Rotary, and I loved being in their company. There was limited opposition to women, but my observation was that the small number of women was doing much more than their share of the work. A great group of Rotarians, men and women…

In 1997, with my long time video business winding down, I moved to Pueblo, Colorado, USA, the home town of my wife. She joined me one year later, when she had retired. I joined the local club, Rotary Club of Pueblo, the 43^rd club of Rotary. In 1999, I created the club’s first website, and on 11 October 2000, I started a list of the first fifty Rotary clubs. www.rotaryfirstfifty.org. This is the actual first page. Fairly simple... I send emails to all of the clubs for whom I could find email contacts. Several responded, but four of these Rotarians became the founding members of RGHF.

Around the time I began this project, I wrote: "I hope this archive is an inspiration to all who visit. Many people have labored to bring you all of this rich history. This was also a personal labor of love. The items below, and the creation of this website are something for which I'll always be grateful.  This archive is posted solely for the protection of this valuable information and is not affiliated with any Rotary Club, Rotary International or Rotarian. My own valuable archives, books and memorabilia, collected from over 28 years in Rotary, are now part of the archives of the Rotary Club of Chicago, Rotary's founding club. Much of that is represented in the list of my personal contributions below. I could not have done this without the support of the original founders and the many other Rotarians who have since taken up the project. The work stands for itself and is a lasting tribute to Paul Harris, the founder of all of this.”

And, the rest is history.

Well, almost.

In our first few years, we almost lost this project when RI demanded all domains with the word Rotary in them. I still “owned” this project. We had supporters, but I was paying all the bills at this point. I had registered rotaryhistory.org, rotarylibrary.org, rotarywomen.org, and 56 other “rotary” domains, knowing that www.rotaryfloat.org was allowed, so I figured I was on good ground. It was a tough year, but “history” replaced “rotary” and today we have many domains that have history in them. See www.historycommittee.org for the entire list. Thanks mostly to RGHF member, PRIP Frank Devlyn, Mexico, I was allowed to keep two “rotary” names: www.rotaryfirstfifty.org and www.rotaryfirst100.org and we are still using them. Most of our work is found under rotaryfirst100.org. That domain was created when we were still primarily working on the histories of the first 100 Rotary clubs. Today, our scope is far beyond that, but the domains stuck.

And that’s the story of the first 100.

We became a fellowship on 3 October 2003 with about 50 members. (several of the board members who approved this fellowship later became members) The organization has grown, and it is my privilege to serve with much of my time devoted to RGHF. I figure that if I’m good at this that other Rotarians might be inspired by the Global History of Rotary and then do more for their communities and the world.

I’m still not much of a “Rotarian,” but I work hard at being a servant to RGHF. If that, and the work of our entire organization bring others to be “true Rotarians,” then I’m well paid and satisfied. Each day at RGHF is a reward I never expected.

Jack Selway, Pueblo, CO, USA

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