The First Fifty Years

By Dr. John C. Fisher (1977)

My Dear Rotarian;

Many things have happened since Washington celebrated his last birthday.
Oswego Rotary was born at Chicago last week and was granted Charter No. 2526.
Now for the christening.

Thursday, April 21st, has been selected for our coming out party.
Dick Wheeler and I have been receiving loads of literature and Rotary dope
and it may be necessary to call some kind of meeting soon to digest some of it.
Frankly we don't know much more about this thing now than we did at the beginning.
We will need lots of help from every member of the club. It looks like a big party
on the twenty-first so keep the date open and come prepared to be inoculated with
the Rotary bacteria.

  And on April 21, 1927, in the presence of 264 visiting Rotarians from 15 clubs, 22 members of Oswego Rotary with Charles Riley as president and Richard Wheeler as secretary celebrated the presentation of the club charter. President Murray Bartlett of Hobart College officiated as toastmaster, and State Assemblyman Joe Hanley, Governor of then-District 27, spoke inspiringly on the ideals of Rotary.

  From its beginning the ideal of "Service Above Self" has characterized Oswego Rotary. At the second regular meeting, May 3, the club members initiated their many years of service to local Boy Scouts with a pledge of $250. Within the next year or two the club joined with Fulton to help build Adirondack lean-to's at Camp 12 Pines, and in later years the club sponsored Scout and Explorer Troop 7. At Christmas of the first year, and for several ensuing years, the club paid for materials used by high school girls to make dresses for Oswego's two homes for children. In 1930, at Christmas time, the club bought fifty pairs of shoes for needy school children. Notable among its other varied service activities over the years have been the raising of funds for college scholarships and loans, local band activities, foreign student exchange programs, and for hospital and YMCA drives (Did you know that there is a Rotary Room at the "Y" which in past years was kept in good repair by our members?).

  Thousands of dollars have been raised by tending booths, ringing bells, collecting papers, bottles and auction-bound "useables" and by selling tickets to plays, films, circuses and concerts. Dentists, physicians, lawyers, business men and educators have all taken on the universal task of working for community projects.

  Another characteristic of Oswego Rotary has been our acceptance of the Rotary ideal of world understanding. Since 1953, when a French youngster by the name of Michel (Mike) Lasfarques came to Oswego and captured the hearts of our families, the Rotary Foundation has been a part of our club. We have helped sponsor dozens of young men and women from all parts of the world, including Germany, Wales, Finland, India, Japan and Norway. In 1960, largely under the direction of Paul Hiser, we began to sponsor the foreign education of Oswego youngsters. Ross Ferlito, our first student, studied in Florence. Our second, Anne Mohnkern, Monty's daughter, studied in London, and over the next three years spoke of her experiences to over 15,000 Rotarians in 60 clubs in the United States, England, Greece, Italy and Switzerland. Since that time our club has led all others in this district in sending local students overseas.

  In our fifty years we have visited all continents, dozens of foreign clubs from Canada to the Far East, and we have shared those experiences on our return. We have hosted nearly 100 speakers and guests from at least 60 foreign lands, many of them not usually well known. Syria, Nigeria, Lebanon, Thailand, Malaya, Kenya, Iran, Indonesia. Some of our visitors have been illustrious. William de Cook Buning, Netherlands, R.I. Chairman of International Service (November 1923); District Governor Oskar Thorlakkson, Iceland (May 1949); Tehyi Hsieh, former Ambassador under Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek (April 1963); Mr. R. J. Bareham, Australia's Assistant Commissioner of Trade (October 1963). In March 1934, Ralph Densen spoke of his experience as a member of Admiral Byrd's 1928 expedition to the South Pole. At one of our earliest meetings, July 31, 1928, the club could. and did. boast of the presence of a major, a colonel, a general, a Member of British Parliament, a delegation of Canadian yachtsmen, and a Russian quartet to provide the singing entertainment.

  But the best singing has been our own. Oswego Rotary Singers, known for its first two years as the Oswego Community Chorus, was suggested to the club by Charlie Riley at an October 1935 meeting. He proposed that we sponsor a male chorus from all walks of life, and was soon joined in his efforts by Webb Cooper, Nelson Hall and Jim Lally. Jim directed the chorus, and Richard Schuler, a no-longer-active charter member, served as accompanist. The first of fourteen annual concerts which eventually raised over $4,000 for scholarships and loans took place March 27, 1936, in Robinson Auditorium. During the lifespan of this extremely popular group sixty-seven concerts were given at district conferences, at the Masonic Auditorium in Rochester, in several schools there, and at the local college. In 1939 several of the members traveled to the New York World's Fair to sing with 3800 men from 190 choruses. It was a hardy group. In December 1936, under the expert guidance of Dynamite Gould, the chorus braved the raging elements and presented a brilliant performance before Geneva Rotary, which promptly invited them to return.

  Like the country itself, however, Oswego Rotary has had its lean times. On February 2, 1932, the treasury balance was 17 cents . . . . with bills outstanding.  And on February 20, 1933, at the height of the depression, we decided to cut the frills and reduce the cost of lunch from 85 cents to 75 cents.

  Attendance was also a problem in our early years. In the first two decades, in fact, it was a source of anguish. In July 1942 it was announced that of 1800 Rotary clubs with 25-49 members, Oswego ranked 1799. . . .that's from the top. . . . in attendance during the previous eleven month. Our average was 52.52 percent! Our first 100%  meeting did not occur until February 6, 1945, under President John W. O'Connor, who was himself an annual 100 percenter. Films of the Normandy invasion were shown at that meeting, making it a double "D-Day."

  By 1947 our attendance record had climbed to the top of the district. In 1947-48, during Jim Lally's presidency, there were two 100% meetings and only three below 90%. That record stood until 1955-56, in Doc Boyd's presidency, when three 100% meetings were achieved.

  Among the hundreds of Oswego Rotarians whose service has been exemplary are several who have a special place in our hearts. Our co-founder, Charlie Riley, was president for the club's first three years and spent the remainder of his life in active service performing a variety of tasks, many of them growing out of his own fertile imagination. Charlie Goldstein, Sr., came to us in 1934 with an eleven-year perfect attendance record from Geneva Rotary. He, too, helped found Oswego Rotary, for Geneva was our sponsoring club and Charlie was D.G. Joe Hanley's official representative. At his passing in September 1951 he had held nearly every important post in the club, and had nearly twenty-nine years of perfect attendance, a record matched this year by his son, Charlie, Jr. Charlie, Jr. is not only present District governor, he is also our only Paul Harris Fellow (Remember when Monty Mohnkern initiated that fund August 1974 with a 10 cent donation?).  Charlie is Oswego Rotary's third district governor. Others were John W. O'Connor (1949-50) and Tom Beard (1959-60). P.D.G. Jack had 30 years of perfect attendance in Owego and Oswego at the time of his death.

  The first fifty years have been good years, and on this anniversary we are filled with good memories. We wonder if Charlie Riley and Dick Wheeler knew then what we know now . . . during the next fifty years we and those who follow us will be compelled to enrich this community with the spirit of "Service Above Self."