West Jax Rotary

Membership:

The year began with 116 Active, 18 Senior Active, and 6 Honorary Members. At the year end there were 117 Active, 21 Senior Active, and 7 Honorary Members.

Meeting Location:

The club settled into its new location for regular meetings, the Holiday Inn Commonwealth.

Executive Secretary:

After an extended period of voluntary service by Charter Member Jay McCranie, the leadership recognized the necessity for hiring an Executive Secretary because of the overwhelming amount of work required for operation of a club our size. Mrs. Joan Hollenbeck was hired to fill the
position.

Rotary Foundation:

Starting with twenty-two, the club ended the year with a total of forty Paul Harris Fellows.
Chairman Gordon Rainey put on a program during Foundation Month which encourages sustaining membership through automatic quarterly billing with dues. Julien Benjamin replaced Gordon for the last half of the year as Chairman. Our club was informed by the Foundation that we have reached the 4000% Plateau.

Honorarv Members:

Elected during the year were Dr. Earl Cooper, Dr. Al Franko, Clay Mort, Don Reed, Capt. Jack Austin USN, Capt. Jim Roy USN, Capt. Bernie Smith USN, Dr. H.D. “Bo” Cotton, and Rogers Hazelhurst, Sr.

Club Assembly:

This was held at the Florida Yacht Club on September 25, 1984 with Louis Gilbreath, District Governor, Rotary District 697, in attendance. Governor Louis reviewed our club’s planned activities for the year as presented by the leaders in each avenue of service.

Interact Club:

Under the committed leadership of Jim Lanier our sponsored club at Forrest High School was active and progressive in its service to the school. Interact members were sponsored by our club to attend a World Affairs seminar in Whitewater, Wisconsin.

Christmas Party:

This was one of the highlights of the year. As customary, the members of each of our families joined us for fellowship and fun of the Holiday Season at the Florida Yacht Club for luncheon and entertainment provided by the Ed White School Choral Group (35 voices). Of course, our member Jim Ferguson, the manager, saw to it that the food was great.

New Club Sponsorship:

Our club decided to sponsor a new Rotary Club with a breakfast meeting format in our area since there appears to be a great deal of interest by several members. The Board appointed Past Presidents Rod Porter, Irby Exley, and Frank Houser with Frank the chairman to pursue establishment of such a club.

Officer-of-the-Month:

Under the effective leadership of Chairman Bob Kidd, our club honors a Sheriff’s Department officer for outstanding service to the community. The honoree selected by superiors in the department is introduced at a regular meeting, his service lauded, and he is presented with a certificate and a United States Savings Bond.

Blood Bank Project:

Bob Gay led a blood bank account for the club in which forty-two volunteer donors participate.

Key Employee Luncheon:

A date in October was used for members to recognize these most important people in a meaningful way. The luncheon speaker stressed the value of supportive in-office relationships in motivating personnel towards excellence in work product.

American Cancer Society:

The members joined in the support of outstanding fellow member H. D. “Bo” Cotton in his personal fight against cancer. A special showing of the motion pictured of the life of “Bear” Bryant was dedicated to Bo and shown to him and his friends at the Normandy Mall Theater. Coach Bryant of the University of Alabama was a special hero to Bo, an alumnus. The club made a significant contribution to the Cancer Society in Bo’s name.

Foundation Group Exchange Program:

We were fortunate to have a visit from the group of young business people from Queensland, Australia. While in our area they stayed with Rotary families and arrangements were made for them to visit local operations of like businesses. We all enjoyed them greatly especially the “neck-tie exchange. ”

International Service:

The November issue of THE ROTARIAN magazine carried an article about this club’s donation of a diesel-electric generator to Radio Lumiere, a non-government station in Haiti. In addition a check for $2,000 was presented to Hospital Lumiere, where member and orthopedic surgeon, Jim Dyer, donates time and talents.

Brig Lecture Program:

This program continues under the direction of Jack Milne. Hayes Basford arranged with the Naval Air Station Brig to install a FOUR-WAY TEST sign in a conspicuous place there.

Four-Way Test:

Russ Walthour headed up a presentation of this tool so useful in decision making In the challenges of life to the students of Ed White High School by members of our club.

Spring Social:

On May 18 a fun filled barbecue and dance (including square) was held at Robert’s Ranch. This event with a western motif was expertly arranged by Tom Crabtree and Roy Turknett.

Rotary Charity Grant:

The funding for this was mostly from a fifty-dollar assessment per member to provide a $5000 award to the dePaul School for its work with hearing impaired students. Thirty possible recipients were evaluated by Wilbur Margol and his committee.

Youth Awards:

During April outstanding scholars nominated by the faculties of Lee, Ed White, Forrest, Paxon and Baldwin High Schools in the areas of art, athletics, business, music and science were presented to the club during regular meetings. Many parents and some sponsors were also guests of the club for the presentations of Certificates of Recognition. For the first time these presentations were parts of several meetings.

Scholarship:

Ms. Terry Kirkland was selected by Mark Frost’s Nursing Education Committee to continue to receive our Nursing Scholarship at F.C.C.J.

District Conference:

District governor Gilbreath hosted a most productive and enjoyable conference in his town Ocala. Our club was well represented by its officers and several members. Through the generosity of Jim Wilkerson an appropriately engraved Cross Pen and Pencil Set was presented as a door prize by our club. We were shown to be the tenth position out of the thirty-nine clubs in the district for a total of $45,680 in Paul Harris Fellowships.

Awards Banquet:

An evening reception, dinner and awards program was held at the Florida Yacht Club the evening of June 26th with spouses and guests. This was in lieu of the usual luncheon meeting that day. W. W. “Bill” Gay was presented with the Robert T. Shircliff Outstanding Rotarian Award, and the club’s leadership passed on to the new officers and directors.