Club History

The Rotary Club of Geneseo, Illinois

Service above self

Club History

Charter members of the club were Ray Achterhof, Donald F. Anderson, Wilson Baker, William Bean, Dr. Donald Collier, Dr. Richard Fehlman, James C. Feldman, Hollis Guild, Walter Howard, Harvery Marshall, Rev. Pryor T. Smith, Herbert Taube, Dr. C.L. Watters, Bart Wigren and Jesse Wray.

Among some of the early club projects were building grills in the park and helping build the swimming pool in 1952. “Everything but the professional labor and installation was done by volunteers, “ Bob Orsi, club secretary and former director of the Geneseo park District, said.

The club has had several meeting places over the years, including the Geneseo Hotel, Maid Rite, Lee’s Lanes, the Central Trust and Savings bank basement and currently meets in the Community Center in the George B. Dedrick Room.

Members of the club fondly remember different fundraisers over the years, especially some of the more unusual ones. “I don’t know who was more scared, some of them or us, “ Dr. David Rash recalled about the shrimp and assorted sea creatures that Rotarians sorted through and repackaged for profit. Other projects have included selling turkey legs, fruit cakes, ground hog dinners on Ground Hog Day and delivering phone books. The club has held ice cream socials in the city park.

Rotarians have sponsored exchange students from Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, and Taiwan. The club has also sponsored outbound students to Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Sweden, Turkey, and Venezuela.

In addition to sponsoring exchange programs, the club has sponsored community programs and activities: the Music Festival Queen Contest, After-Prom gifts, Rebuilding Together, JA, Visiting Artists, Bi-State Literacy, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, the Close Up Washington trip, and scholarships for high school seniors. In 2009, the club spearheaded a $13,000 drive to provide new robes and attire for the Geneseo High School music department, some of which are around 40 years old.

The club has supported the worldwide projects of Rotary in Polio Plus, a prevention program eradicating the disease through vaccinations, and other humanitarian programs concerned with health, hunger, clean water, playground projects, and, most recently, a literacy project in Haiti.

The national organization started to include female business professionals in 1988 and the club has a very active group of women, including several presidents over the past decade.

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