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Four Receive Paul Harris Fellow Awards
The Lexington Rotary Club met on Wednesday, July 17, at KA national headquarters on Mulberry Hill in Lexington to belatedly celebrate the centennial of its founding. The Lexington Rotary Club was admitted to Rotary International on Feb. 1, 1922, 102 years ago.
At the celebration, four individuals were awarded Paul Harris Fellow awards for their service to the local club. In particular, these five people have served on the Community Festival Committee and have organized and prepared for the festival over the past four or five years. Awardees were Stewart Fleming, Skip Ravenhorst, Scott Risser and Mitch Belanger. All are members of the club except Belander, who has volunteered to cook every hot dog in recent years.
Betty McMichael joined the Lexington Rotary Club in 1989 and is the longest serving active member. She was the second female to join the club. The first was Sheryl Carls, who joined in 1988 shortly after Rotary opened to female members.
McMichael recounted the highlights of the club through the years.
At its beginning the club had 15 members and met at the Lexington Hotel (a location lost to current memory).
Through the years, the Lexington Rotary Club has sponsored four other clubs: the Buchanan Club in 1922, the Buena Vista Club in 1938, the Lexington Sunrise Club in 1994, and the Lexington Lunch Club in about 2016.
The club started the Christmas Basket program in 1960 and started the Bonnie Blue Horse Show in 1988. Over the years these events have grown and been handed over to organizations dedicated to their operation. However, the Lexington Rotary Club still runs the Community Festival, in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce. The club started this event in 1977, and Jerry Nay was the event chairman. The festival is scheduled for Aug. 24 this summer, its 49th year.
McMichael finished by noting that through the years the club has had a large and positive impact on the community. And, the members have had fun while doing so, she said.
ON HAND for the presentation of the certificate for 100 years of service were (from left) Woody Sadler, past district governor; Paula Aston, past district governor; Anita Aaron, current area governor; Joe Milo, president of the Lexington Rotary Club; Betty McMichael, Mark Hudson and Mary Honsinger, all past area governors.
