FayroTales

The Newsletter of The Rotary Club of Fayetteville
Charter Issued March, 1921
Editor: Nancy Hendricks

1921 - 2001 Our 80th Year!

Guests Today: Sgt at Arms PHYLLIS JOHNSON welcomed visiting Rotarians Steve Trolinger of Bentonville & Bud Baldwin of Springdale. JIM HUFFMAN's guest today was Don Moore from Community Blood Center; STAN JOHNSON's guest was Garver engineer Chris Parton; THAD KELLY's guest was Valentine daughter Lissa; REBECCA GARNER's guest was Valentine daughter Jordan; LARRY LONG's guest was Valentine wife Nancy, and President CHUCK's guest was Valentine "better half" Barbara. Welcome visiting Rotarians, Valentines and guests!

Announcements: JIM FOSTER reminds us of the Adopt-a-Highway cleanup on Saturday, February 16, at 9:27 a.m. Meet at Root School, weather permitting (with Feb 23 as a back-up date) … Remember the PETS training for new officers and Board members on February 22-23 …GLENN SOWDER reported on the great Bowling for Kids outing which raised almost $500 for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Thanks, GLENN, for your hard work and another successful GLENN SOWDER Production! … SPENCER ALBRIGHT noted that 6 people have requested proposal forms for new members and he invites us to keep 'em coming … Remember to sign up today if you will be attending next week's meeting with Governor Huckabee at the Town Center … DALE OLIVER invites us to the Computer Users Group meeting at the Jones Center; see DALE for more information … An expansive President CHUCK asked club members to remember that "half the people you know are below average."

New Member: Judge KIM SMITH presented an eloquent summation asking us to welcome attorney RICK WOODS as our newest member (Noting our plethora of attorneys, President CHUCK said, "Remember - it's only 99% of lawyers that give the other 1% a bad name")

Today's Program: Rotarian of the Month JACK BUTT ("Mr. Romantic") brought us today's International Understanding program with a Latin flair - former DHS Director Ray Scott (substituting for Dr. Ruth.) Ray, a terrific amateur photographer whose work has been published by the National Geographic, brought some compelling slides and insightful narrative about today's Cuba. He recently visited there ("legally!") as part of a photographic cultural exchange program. His beautiful slides of Cuba gave us a look at the island nation which is so near, yet so far away. Thanks for a great program!

Here's the Fayetteville Rotary Club History Vignette for the month of January
brought to us by ROY ROM and the Club History Committee

In late 1943, the club's meeting location was moved back to the Washington Hotel. Club membership was 75.

The club's generosity in having guests to dinner began to place serious stresses on the budget. For example, on January 1, 1946, all 65 members of the Razorback football team, the entire coaching staff, all cheerleaders and the Queens were Club guests. By 1955, Club Secretary Charlie Cross began to receive complaints that members were eating in the hotel coffee shop, yet getting attendance credit. Cross' reply was that the dining room was not big enough to seat everyone.
There were also complaints of meeting interruptions because of phone call paging. Club membership was now almost 100.

The 1955 annual June Ladies Night and Officer Installation meeting was held at the Uark Bowl, which was of sufficient size and had air conditioning. John Shoemaker, retiring Club President was honored for having the unique if not only Rotary classification, Dean of Women Students. Since this was Rotary's 50th anniversary year, 20 members were honored for perfect attendance and presented with the golden hog; current club member KEN BALLENGER was a recipient.

The club moved its meetings permanently to the Uark Bowl in June, 1956. The meal, priced at $1.00, was prepared and served by the ladies of a local church. Since a sales tax came into effect, members were billed 50 cents twice a year to cover the cost. By 1962, discontent over the meals, service and facilities reached a point where members accused the Board of "dragging their feet" regarding the question: 'Where shall we eat?'

On March 15, 1962, a day of decision, the matter was settled by ballot vote with the Board asking the membership to accept the result in a spirit of "faith, hope and charity." The Mountain Inn got 55 votes; the Uark Bowl 38, and the Holiday Inn 19.
The last meeting at the Uark Bowl, on May 31, 1962, was a father-daughter affair with 53 daughters, grand-daughters and great-grand-daughters present. On June 7, 1962, the club returned again to the Mountain Inn, which promised to alternate in serving five kinds of meat - but never meat loaf! - and Police would not tag Rotarians' cars parked on city lots during the meetings. Meal cost was $1.50 plus tax.

Present and voting at the aforesaid meeting were current members CARL YATES, BILL UNDERWOOD, HENRY MEENAN and KEN BALLENGER.

Your Club History Committee: ROY ROM, LOREN HEIPLE, NANCY HENDRICKS, HENRY MEENAN, BOBBY NEW, BARBARA PRICHARD, JIM STEWART

WHERE TO MAKE UP MEETINGS:

Bentonville Wed. Noon Ramada Inn
Berryville Tues. Noon Community Hall
Eureka Spgs Wed. 7 a.m. Inn of the Ozarks
Fay-Northside Tues. Noon Hilton Hotel
Fort Smith Wed. Noon Taliano's
Ft Smith-S.Side Tues. Noon Ramada Inn
Harrison Thur Noon McClintocks

The Club Secretary has a complete listing of all Rotary
Clubs., or they are available on the Rotary Website!