The Trenton Rotary Club celebrated its 100th anniversary on Thursday night, March 9, with a meal and program at Cross Hall on the North Central Missouri College campus.
Decorations coordinated by Kim Washburn included Rotary flags collected and received by the club during its 100 years as well as table decorations in the Rotary colors of blue and gold. A table also featured notebooks of the club’s history, compiled by the late Ruth Walker and Dan Wilford as well as other Rotary memorabilia, including attendance pins and songbooks.
President-elect Jackie Soptic served as master of ceremonies and opened the event by leading those present in the Pledge to the U.S. flag. Dan Wilford gave the prayer.
Mrs. Soptic gave the welcome to those in attendance and recognized special guests, including District Governor Kent Shelman of Independence, who gave remarks about the club’s involvement in Rotary International activities and congratulated members on their accomplishments during its 100-year history. There were 19 former club presidents in attendance. Allan Seidel, who served as president in 1978-79, presented information about his time as president, including differences in Rotary then and now. He also shared a roster of members from 1976-77, which showed a membership of 60 individuals.
Also recognized were Bruce Constant, who has been a member of the club for 40 years; and Carlotta Gonzalvez, who is the club’s exchange student from Spain.
Diane Lowrey presented a history of the club, which was established during a meeting on March 6, 1923, and outlined the many activities in which the club has been involved over the years. Kim Washburn, who served as president during 2020-21, told about how the club weathered the global pandemic and came back even stronger by becoming a 100 percent Paul Harris Fellow Club as well as a 100 percent “Every Rotarian, Every Year” member participant.
Mrs. Soptic read memories shared by members of their time as Rotarians, including L.D. Gibson, Diane Lowrey, Dr. Jim Selby, Don Purkapile, and Doug Tye. Phil Hoffman shared information about his family’s participation in Rotary, including the 1927 international convention held in Belgium and attended by his great-great-grandfather, H.F. Hoffman.
Debbie Carman, a club member and director of the Trenton Area Chamber of Commerce, presented the club with a 100-year anniversary certificate from the chamber. Mrs. Soptic also read resolutions received from the Missouri Senate and Missouri House, recognizing the club’s centennial milestone.
A cake honoring the club’s 100th birthday and made by Crystal Whitaker was served and “Happy Birthday” to the club was sung. Brian Upton shared national and local trivia from 1923 in keeping with a Rotary meeting tradition. The group then repeated The Four Way Test to conclude the evening’s activities.
History of Trenton Rotary Club
The Trenton Rotary Club will be celebrating 100 years of “Service Above Self” with a special celebration on March 9 in the Cross Hall Coffee Shop on the NCMC campus. Members, guests, and Rotary dignitaries will be gathering to honor the club’s efforts to help make the world a better place, both locally and globally.
The Trenton Rotary Club was formed during a meeting on March 6, 1923, and received its charter during a ceremony on April 27, 1923, with 18 charter members receiving their certificates of membership. A banquet honoring the occasion was held in the Baptist Church with more than 100 Rotarians, their wives, and guests present.
D.C. McVay served as the club’s first president and since that time 98 members have served in that role. E. Cook and Steve Maxey are the only two presidents to serve two. The current president is Michael Ormsby. Trenton has also had two district governors – R. Leroy Miller in 1958-59 and Rev. A.L. Palmer in 1968-69. Trenton served as host to the district convention during Miller’s term in 1959.
The club has been very active during its 100 years of existence, spearheading or assisting with numerous projects to benefit the community and the surrounding area. In the early days, club members were responsible for making the first city street signs in the machine shop of Rotarian Charles Holmes, who also provided his shop to refurbish an Army vehicle used by the Trenton Fire Department. The shelter house near the World War memorial at Moberly Park was constructed by the Rotary Club, which has also provided playground equipment at Eastside Park for handicapped children as well as providing funds and labor to build portable stages used by the North Central Missouri Fair. Other local projects have included the construction of a storage area at Rissler Elementary School for Bright Futures Trenton, the installation of a recycling bin in conjunction with Easter’s Variety Store, co-sponsorship of a Kids Identification project with McDonald’s and the Trenton Police Department, a fifth and sixth-grade basketball tournament (in cooperation with the Kiwanis and Lions clubs) to benefit middle school athletics, hosting football tailgates to benefit high school football and band, sponsoring local students to attend Boys State and Freedom Forum, volunteering at the food pantry, ringing the bell at Christmas time for the Salvation Army and sponsoring the annual Missouri Day Festival Parade, organizing entries and providing judges.
The club holds a fish fry yearly to raise funds for contributions to Rotary International projects. These efforts, along with individual contributions made by members, have resulted in the club being designated a 100 percent Paul Harris Fellow Club, one of only 13 clubs in the 52-club 6040 Rotary District. Paul Harris was the founder of Rotary International and designation as a Paul Harris Fellow is given to individuals who support the ideals of Rotary. A $1,000 contribution is made to Rotary International in their honor.
The local club has been a supporter from Day 1 of the district’s “Shoes for Orphan Souls” project, working with Buckner International of Dallas, TX to provide shoes, socks, and shoe laces to children in need in foreign countries served by Buckner. In the past three years, the club has also included the Bright Futures Trenton shoe project in its efforts, helping to provide shoes for local youth as well. The eradication of Polio has been a top priority of Rotary International and the Trenton club has supported those efforts by raising $11,000 in two separate campaigns to help make the world polio-free.
The club has been a long-time participant in Rotary’s Student Exchange Program, hosting many high school students over the years from countries such as Spain, Mexico, Germany, South Africa, and Hungary, with local Rotarians and other families serving as host families. Trenton resident Amy Whitaker (now Currie) was sponsored by the local club in 199 to spend the school year in Mexico as a guest of the Heimsatz family, who has sent two of their children to live in Trenton as exchange students. Amy’s daughter, Sophia, is currently a Rotary Exchange student in Spain and another THS student, Ellis Gilham, spent a year in India as an exchange student during the 2015-16 school year.
As the club celebrates its centennial year of service, members intend to continue to render service to the community while maintaining the ideals of Rotary and assisting in district and international projects.
