Changes in Leadership at Hershey Rotary as 17 Past Presidents Pass the Gavel
Paul Harris envisioned that meetings of his newly conceived Rotary Club would rotate among the offices and business locations of its members to ensure interaction and familiarity with their many different professions. Our Club does rotate to a few locations each year; but to keep new ideas and perspectives alive, we rotate our officers regularly, as in every year. This provides for individual impact to occur as the main purpose of Rotary is still achieved. It is a lot like playing jazz; all the notes are eventually hit, but there is room for some variation as each incumbent says and does things differently!
This was well illustrated last week during our Club’s annual changing of the officers. During the Club Assembly, every prior Club President in attendance participated in a pooignant passing of the gavel. As the senior former President on hand, Dick Hann led off with very inspirational comments on the great significance of Rotary to him; he was then followed by a series of heartfelt and reflective words as the gavel moved along the line to Ken Bowers, Tom Davis, Jack Bogrette, Dale Achenbach, Frank Paris, Ray Cameron, John May, Kirk Sponaugle, Chip Bayer, Kendra Mohr, Susan Cort, Ray Delo, Steve Ginter, Diane Paul, Mike Kinney, Clem Gilpin, and finally to Paul Thompson. What a lineup of professionalism and service! The Club has been well served for decades, and continues to carry out the mission of Rotary with great energy and results.