The first regular meeting was held at Y.M.C.A. on Tuesday noon, April 7, 1925, with a 100% attendance.
Plans were made to hold Charter Night on May 5th at the Masonic Hall with the ladies invited, and guests from Rotary Clubs in this area and district.
In the meantime, however, Camden really became a cog in the wheel and was well represented at their first district convention which was held in Portland on April 22, 23, 24.
President Allen, with Secretary Lord, were in attendance, accompanied by Dr. A. F. Green, A.V. Elmore, Kendall Hopkins and John Taylor to represent this newest club.
In 1925 there were 2004 clubs, with 160,000 members in twenty-eight countries. Today, the latest figures show 11,137 clubs, an estimated membership of 517,500 Rotarians, located in some 127 countries. New clubs since July 1961 number 137
so it continues to grow
geographically.
The records indicate that "Charter Night" was a great success with over 125 members, ladies and guests present.
A letter of congratulations was received from the Rotary Club of Naples, Italy.
Even today the family ties are still within the clubs as we have two sons and one grandson of our original Charter members. - Franklin, son of Kendall - David, son of the late J. Hugh Montgomery - Willard Wight, grandson of the late Pearl G. Willey and whose firm, P.G. Willey & Co., Willard is still operating and carrying on for his future sons. We know that during the lull in the fuel business through the summer months that Willard often regulates his business to the background when he dons his cap as harbor master in his faithful service to the summer clientele and visiting yachtsman.
So, you can see that Rotary has been perpetuated in the generations that have followed our founders here in Camden.
A quote from our Camden Herald of April 9, 1925, gives the heading in large print, and I quote: "CAMDEN AGAIN GOES ON MAP, WHEN ROTARY CLUB IS FORMED".
Another progressive step was taken Friday night, April 3rd, when 22 business and professional men with special guests from Rockland and Waterville, Maine met at Green Gables.
Camden is surely going ahead these days. So far this year it has taken on the Town Manager form of government (the first town in the state to do so); it has voted $80,000 for its schools and will have a new school building equal to, if not better than that of any town of its size in the state". (This is in reference to the Knowlton Street Elementary School brick building, now known as the Mary E. Taylor School, having been dedicated a few years back to the memory of one of our most popular elementary school principals of some 34 years.)
The latest step which is a sign of progress, not only in civic affairs, but also in the business world, took place last Friday night when a Rotary club was formed and the town took its place in an organization that is not only National but International."
Such was the beginning of your Rotary Club and this brief review was primarily for the newer members in the form of a wee bit of history and reflection.
Yet, the real purpose and hope was to possibly stimulate additional interest in the club and in recognition of all its many potential values to the individual, as well as the community. So often we are prone to take things too much for granted, and we slip into a rut, to the extent that sometimes we wonder if we really appreciate Rotary and all it stands for or are we content to become just a luncheon club with little or no concern in putting our own shoulders to the WHEEL and truly helping our President and other officers of this club and the organization in general move forward with the years?
This is not intended to appear as a scolding or lecture for your speaker has been as guilty as any
but we are all over twenty-one and at various times we have come into this club as a new member with, I am Sure, enthusiasm and anticipation. I have been a member since 1929, served as Sergeant-at-Arms, also as Secretary in 1930, and the seventh President in 1931. Yet we all have accepted the privileges and honors and enjoyed the title of being a fellow Rotarian, but as the newness wears off and the years creep by and age moves along ever with us, apathy for the program may likewise lull our thinking into false feeling of not being needed.
It is well for us to pause and appraise our own Rotary-ship of State, take count of stock, if you will, and see if in our own minds we really measure up to all that we hoped to be when we first became a member.
May I quickly quote from the April issue of Rotarian magazine.
"The Rotary Ideal of Service, and its avowed dedication to the advancement of international understanding, make it a vital and essential force in these times when destructive counter-forces are rampant.
Inherent in the Rotary ideal is the dignity and liberty of the individual. Therefore, the perpetuation and strengthening of that ideal is incumbent upon the individual Rotarian.
The effectiveness of ROTARY is not institutional, and it is not given form through corporate expressions. It is achieved only in the measure that each member of each Rotary club takes personal, vigorous, and constructive action to promote the principles necessary for the existence of ROTARY, and for the preservation of a free society--Justice, truth, sanctity of the pledged word, and respect for human rights."
This is but a portion quoted here from a statement that was adopted by the Board of Directors of Rotary International at its meeting in January 1962. (See Page 23 of the Rotarian for April if interested in full text, also Board action, page 89).
Sure, I know many say, and will continue to say, "Thats old stuff, like waving a flag when we were young. The same old story, or weve heard it all before." Gentlemen, the founders of Rotary were filled with a desire to create new found friendships, to build for the world a better understanding first here in America, and it spread until it has become internationally sought after. This ideal of Paul Harris, our founder, has grown to mean so much in the far corners of this world today that I dont believe you or I should belittle or downgrade this important movement by saying its OLD STUFF.
What we do here in Camden may not reverberate around the world and in spite of what our Sea Breeze editor tells us, "Give me a neat types report and Ill get you into heaven." What we say or do may never be known in the annals of Rotary, but who cares, for here there are avenues of service and acres of diamonds and opportunities within our own little community and area that we can do to help, aid and assist in the promotion of the same ideals of our forefathers in Rotary ahead of us. This can be of the utmost importance to our way of life even here at Camden-by-the-Sea, in the area that we call home, where we work, live and play and raise our families.
So rise up, fellow Rotarians, and lets take a deeper and more lasting look at ROTARY for 1962.
Written by A.B. Bert Stevenson 7th President of Camden Rotary 1931-32
This is the accurate account of the founding of the Camden Rotary Club - sponsor Rockland - by a person who was present at its founding. Waterville did play a part at the installation at request of R.I. The idea that it was the sponsor - as some propose is not correct.
