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History Home Page
Space Center Rotary
 


History
of
The Rotary Club of Space Center (Houston), Texas, U.S.A.
Club 2010 District 589
for
Rotary Year 1974-75

President
Richard D. Chandler

Chartered August 6, 1964

Eleven years of serving the local and world communities with a passion for
“Service Above Self”

Officers
Vice President
Don Kirk
Treasurer
Fred Joy
Secretary
Harry Jennings
Editor
Gene Lindquist
Historian
Allen Heidbreder

Directors
By Baldridge
Lionel Garcia
John Hoff
Roy Pezoldt
Al Ligrani
Marvin Matthews
Jim Wyatt
Chuck Jacobson


The history for the Rotary Club of Space Center (Houston), Texas, U.S.A. has been compiled from previously written histories and chronologies which can be found in the Welcome section of the Home Page. For the most part, the wording of these previously written histories have been used verbatim except for the insertion of additional information found elsewhere, obvious errors, and annotations by Historian 2009.

The history file contained very few documents. There was 22 Board meeting
minutes, 29 letters and the program regarding the tenth year anniversary of the Club, and no financial documents. There were 9 out a possible 46 newsletters, Blastoffs, assuming that one was issued every Club meeting day. The Club Programs and Special Events listing noted 21 programs. The Blastoffs were legal size written on front and back in various colors such as pink, orange, and blue. The Club met at the Nassau Bay Resort Hotel.

The only budget information is on the second page of the September 19, 1974 Blastoff and the following letters: letters
1,  2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The available information states $5,000 went to service projects and $1,000 to The Rotary International. Based on the 1978 Shrimporee Report, the amount of funds raised from the Shrimp Boil was approximately $7,400. The amount of monies made from fund raisers since the first recorded fundraiser in 1968 was $23,106.

The
July 1, 1975 Semi Annual Report of Club Membership noted a membership of 122 with 2 Honorary members. The Club's Roster is based on the July 1, 1975 Semiannual Report of Club Membership. Six previous presidents were on the membership roster.

The avenues of services committee members can be viewed by clicking on
Committee Members.

The Board of Directors established the Sergeant at Arms position as an elected office on
March 12, 1975 effective July 1, 1975.

The big events for the year was the ten year anniversary dinner party and the first Shrimp Boil (Shrimporee). Pictures of the planning meetings and of the day of the Shrimporee can be viewed by clicking on photo gallery.

The following information was taken from a previously written History by Walt Wicker. This was billed as an outstanding fun and fund raising project, and indeed it was, with membership participation beyond all expectations. Local merchants and individuals were most generous in donating auction items. DYHYSBTY (Do You Have Your Shrimp Boil Tickets Yet) badges appeared. The auction committee did not have a lot of hope until Mr. McCree with McCree Ford heard about the event. He was a member of the Dickinson Rotary Club and he wanted to shake his club into action so he donated a used car. This woke the committee up and we learned the sky was the limit. We went to Norman Frede and Chuck Miller, and they donated used cars. Both Norman and Chuck have continued to do this every year. Their contributions have been enormous.

The auction items that sell are sometimes hard to understand, but some of the items that do sell well are popular dolls, stuffed animals (the larger the better), golf clubs, shotguns, cars, paintings, jewelry, video games and bicycles. Small-dollar items and gift certificates are very difficult to sell at reasonable prices, and often are not worth the time expended. We have had several auctioneers over the years, but Harris County Commissioner Jim Fonteno has by far been the best. Judge Steven Phelps has long been Jim’s assistant and has made a large contribution. The giving of their time and talent has meant a great deal to the success of the auction.

Approximately 3,000 dinners were served and the net profit was $7,000. Thus, by any standard of measurement, the event was a huge success and destined to become the club's annual fund raising project.

The principal
beneficiary for the year was the Clear Lake City Emergency Medical Corp, with the remaining anticipated profits to other current beneficiaries as follows: American Field Service, Boy Scouts of America, Earth Awareness Foundation, NASA Little League, Freeman Memorial Library, Bay Area YMCA, American Legion Auxiliary (Girls State), Clear Creek Art League Scholarship and Harris County Youth Village. The Medical Corp received $3,500 for a high dome ambulance cover. There was no evidence of the drug awareness program except for the Earth Awareness Foundation mentioned above. This would have been the seventh year of the program the drug awareness program.

A
letter dated February 20, 1974 by Marvin Matthews gives a brief overview of the Shrimp Boil and the committee assignments.

The committee to plan the ten year anniversary was established on March 20, 1974 with Don Kirk, Dick Allen, and Martin Gracey as members.

Space Center's Tenth Anniversary (
Program) was celebrated during a dinner held in the Lakewood Yacht Club October 5. Dr. Alfred Neumann presided as Master of Ceremonies and one of his remarks of interest was that the club had started with 35 charter members, 328 have been inducted, and 208 members have been lost, with a present roster of 120 (Historian 2009: 124 in accordance with a newspaper article about the tenth anniversary) members. The turnover has been largely due to membership being from a transient aerospace industry personnel rather than lack of interest in Rotary. Eleven of the original 35 charter members were in attendance. A picture of Dr. Neumann when he became a member of the Club October 15, 1973.

Special honored guests included Ellis R. Bareiss, founder of the Space Center Club. Presently he resides in Austin, Texas, is a member of South Austin Club, and has a perfect attendance record of 28 years Ivan E. Brown, first President of Space Center, served two terms - 1964 & 1966 - and presently resides in Jackson, Tennessee. George Shoultz was guest speaker and is a past District Governor. Other Past District Governors present and introduced were Wayne Holland, Ed House, and Ernest Upham.

Ten year Perfect Attendance Awards were given to Dick Allen, Frank Morgan, and Gene Lindquist. Announcement of Paul Harris Fellow awards to two of our club members was the surprise for the evening. The Board was commended in their selection of Martin Gracey and Harry Jennings. (Note by Historian 2009: The Rotary Foundation listing of Paul Harris Fellows does not list Gracey). Martin received his award for 10 years of outstanding contributions in club service and his many civic endeavors. Harry received his for 9 years as Secretary for the club.

Letters and articles associated with the tenth anniversary are listed below.
(1) A
note dated September 12 from Gene Lindquist to Ellis (probably Bariess)
(2) A
letter dated September 23, 1974 from Brown to Ellis (probably Bariess)
(3) A
letter dated March 5, 1975 from unknown to Dick
(4)
Article 1 and article 2  

Attendance of meetings before Christmas and New Years is minimal and guest speakers are difficult to obtain. The last two meetings in 1974 were declared holidays by the club, but the District Office vetoed the proceedings. December 30, 1974, was billed as a fellowship songfest. The Program Committee provided a champagne luncheon. The sparkling stuff produced a variety of toasts, including Martin Gracey in Gaelic, Al Neumann in German, and Lionel Garcia in Spanish. Rev. Dean Woodruff read an unusual horoscope for several of the members present.

Floyd Boze was featured with an article and a picture in the February, 1975 issue of the Rotarian and the November 28, 1974 Blastoff. Floyd Boze won the 1974 Rotary International Golfing Tournament held at St. Andrew's Golf Course, Scotland with the best individual net score in the 0-12 handicap division.

There were one 
Paul Harris Fellow named bringing the total for the Club to three.

The 66th Rotary International Convention was held June 8-12,1975 in Montreal PQ, Canada. There were 12,975 in attendance. President Elect Donald Maclyn Kirk represented the Club.

District 589 Conference was held at the Astroworld Hotel in Houston, Texas May 2-4, 1975.

Rotary year 1974-75 was placed in the archives in July 2009.
















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