THE ROTARY CLUB OF CANTON...A CENTURY OF SERVICE...1915 - 2015...MEMORIES FROM PAST PRESIDENT JOHN WERREN

ROTARY CLUB OF CANTON
1978 – 1979
John R. Werren, President

The members of the Rotary Club of Canton met at the Mergus Restaurant in 1978-1979. The meeting was held in the Garden Room on the second of the Mergus above the bar room on the Second Street N.W. entrance. The main restaurant was on the first floor facing Tuscarawas Avenue and the Grill was located on the lower level. Each week Matt Watts, Principal of Lehman High School and Leo Punches, owner of Punches Jewelry, would arrive early to place song books on our tables. They would always stay after the meeting to collect the books and return them to storage as singing was a weekly event at the Rotary Club meeting. There were 300 plus members in Rotary in 1978-1979 of which of which 200 to 250 attended the weekly meetings which were held on Fridays at noon. The members were all male and the following article appeared in the July 25, 1978 Rotogram. 

READ YOUR AUGUST ROTARIAN

There is also a most interesting article about the Duarte California Clubs’ futile effort to take in female members. Many other bits of interesting information to keep yourself informed!

The President and his Rotary Ann attended the International Convention in Tokyo in 1978 with 40,000 Rotarians worldwide in attendance. It was a lifetime experience of great reward.

The club was active in a group study exchange which took place in Mexico and also supported Boys State and scholarships for young men to attend Camp Miniwanca in Shelby, Michigan. The President of Rotary in Canton himself had attended Camp Miniwanca on a Rotary scholarship in 1953.

Speakers during the year included William J. DeLancey, President and Chief Executive Officer of Republic Steel Corp.; Gary W. Mull, President of the Canton Jaycees; Vic Maitland, Executive Director of the NFL Alumni Association; Charles Bradshaw of Corpus Christi, Texas originator of the Wonder World of Work Program which Canton Rotary adopted in 1978; Bill Fitch, Cleveland Cavaliers Coach; W.G. Hulbert, Vice President of the East Ohio Gas Company, R.C. Lewis, Head of the Section of Electrocardiogram at Cleveland Clinic; Bill Willis, Director of the Ohio Youth Commission. Herbert E. Markley, Timken Company President and Chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers; Norman E. Jackson, presenting a slide presentation on Newmarket and the future of downtown Canton; and Robert T. McCowan , President of Ashland Petroleum Company; Ray Whitman, World Bank, Washington, D.C. and many others. Almost all programs at the Canton Rotary Club were the subject of an article in the Canton Repository on the following day written by one of the most active Rotarians in our club, Jack Maxwell.

The Rotary Club of Canton was active in the student exchange program sending six students abroad who reported to the club when they returned. The club hosted Andrew Bredin from New Zealand; Karen Kemp from South Africa and Glen Ward from Australia. Mr. Ward recently visited with Chuck Hoover at his residence in Stark County having been a member of the Larry and Nancy Hoover family when he was living in Canton as an exchange student sponsored by the Rotary Club of Canton.

Membership was controlled by the Classification Committee whereby it became difficult for an individual to become a Rotarian if the holders of the classification of the proposed Rotarian did not agree. There were generally two to three new member proposals submitted each week.

Naomi Wiskofski served as administrative assistant and she ran a tight ship. No one was permitted to make announcements from the podium during a meeting except the President. Politicians were not permitted to speak in any year in which they were running for office. Tickets to events not sponsored by Rotary were not permitted to be sold at Rotary meetings. Attendance was scrupulously recorded and failure to attend meetings according to the rubrics of Rotary resulted in termination of membership.

The Rotary Club of Canton acted as host club for the 1979 District Assembly. Lowell Bourns of Wooster, Ohio was District Governor. The Rotary Club of Canton won the governor’s cup in 1978-1979 as was true to form for many years.

Bowling continued to be an active part of the Rotary experience and Rotary scores were announced each week at the weekly meeting. The club initiated the Wonderful World of Work Program under the chairmanship of Jon Stein. The Board of Directors met monthly at Charlie Brown’s restaurant which was directly under Naomi Wiskofski’s office. In addition to the conduct of business for Board of Directors meeting was a great social event enjoyed by all who attended.

The club inducted five persons as Paul Harris fellows during the year. Mrs. Charles W. Stoneburner donated $1,000 to the Rotary International Foundation in memory of longtime Rotarian , Charles Stoneburner. A second $1,000 check was also presented on behalf of Mrs. Stoneburner to the Canton Rotary Foundation. This was to be used to establish the “Charles W. Stoneburner Memorial Fund”, of which the income was designated solely for the assistance of crippled children, the name associated with the Handicap Scout Committee. Leo Punches also bequeathed one-half of his estate to the Canton Rotary Foundation to assist the crippled children programs. This gift exceeded $150,000.

Pancake Day was a major fundraiser in 1978-1979 together with voluntary tax deductible gifts to the Canton Rotary Foundation. The June 1979 Board of Directors meeting, which was the last meeting of the Rotary year, was held at the home of President and Mrs. John R. Werren. The annual outing was held at Congress Lake Country Club in September 1978 and the annual August Directors Meeting which was a corn roast was held by Treasurer Paul Syler at his home in Wayne County, Ohio It was a good year!