Club History

      The Staunton Rotary Club has a long and proud history. Organized by the Richmond, Virginia, club in February, 1920, the Staunton club received its charter in August, 1920. Our first president was Marshall J. Payne, M.D.. The original 23 members were leaders in local banking, legal, insurance, medical, newspaper, mercantile, and coal mine ownership circles.

     In its first decade the club took an active role in selling $90,000 in bonds to underwrite the construction of the Stonewall Jackson Hotel and in founding a tourism promotion organization for the Shenandoah Valley. The club operated a camp for boys on a farm and summer playground programs at Staunton parks. The club also played an important role in bringing Boy Scouting to Staunton and in promoting physical education in the city schools. In 1925, the Staunton Club took part in founding the Waynesboro Rotary Club.

     During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Staunton Rotary Club undertook nutrition programs for children and an adult education program to prepare people for better jobs. In 1930 the club began its signature Code of Ethics program for local high schools, thanks to two educator members, Dr. Charles K. Brown and Dr. Boyd H. Payne. The "Rotogram" weekly bulletin made its debut in 1938 and in 2007 shifted to an online publication.

     The  World War II years of the 1940s saw many younger members in active service overseas and older members leading many types of war relief work. The club took an active role in the Woodrow Wilson General Hospital for the Army in Fishersville (now the Rehabilitation Center).

     Membership reached 75 in 1950 and rose to 87 by 1954. In 1952, the Staunton club hosted the district converence at the Ingleside and Stonewall Jackson Hotels.

     In the early 1960s the club sponsored a highly successful antiques show for several years and began participation in Group Study Exchange programs. Youth programs were a special emphasis in this troubled decade. The active work with the Salvation Army Christmas kettles began in this period.

     The Club celebrated its 50th anniversary with a gala banquet in 1970 when Bob Holsinger was president. The club donated $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation to name its late member and former District Governor John K. Patterson its first Paul Harris Fellow. Tuesday luncheon programs of the 1970s reflected the troubled social and political issues of the era: Vietnam war, energy crisis, drug problems, Watergate scandal, and the Soviet Union. The annual Ladies Night and the annual picnic at Camp Shenandoah brought out the light side of the club. At the height of the nation's Bicentennial, former Navy Secretary and his wife, the actress Elizabeth Taylor, were guests of the club.

     In the 1980s the club kept abreast of new community organizations through its meetings. In 1984 the popular 50-50 Foundation drawing made its debut and the club contributed more than $20,000 to the Rotary Foundation that year. In 1985 the project that became Polio Plus began and was heartily embraced by the Staunton club. In 1986 the club sponsored the new Staunton-Augusta Rotary breakfast club. By 1988 the club achieved 100 percent participation in Polio Plus.In  April, 1988, the club inducted its first woman member.

     Although the club began the 1990s with 107 members, it has not been able to retain that high number. The outstanding WTON-Rotary Childrens Christmas Party continued as an important outreach feature of the decade, along with GSE programs, and a senior citizens dinner. In 1993, Cynthia Tyson took the gavel as first female president of the club.  The Vocational Service Award to distinguished community members and club members was inaugurated in 1992.

PAST PRESIDENTS 

1920-1921             M.J. Payne (D)

1921-1922             Gilpin Wilson Sr.(D)

1922-1923             Herbert Smith (D)

1923-1924             Clarke Worthington (D)

1924-1925             Campbell Pancake (D)

1925-1926             Roy Wonson (D)

1926-1927             Toby Moore (D)

1927-1928             J. Lewis Gibbs (D)

1928-1929             Albert Shultz (D)

1929-1930             Leroy Sutherland (D)

1930-1931             C.K. Brown (D)

1931-1932             Stuart Moffett (D)

1932-1933             E. Walton Opie (D)

1933-1934             Curtis P. Bowman (D)

1934-1935             George Powell (D)

1935-1936             Tate Sterrett (D)

1936-1937             Lyle Weller (D)

1937-1938             C. K. Morrison (D)

1938-1939             James Clarke (D)

1938-1939             F. C. Hamer (D)

1939-1940             John Wise (D)

1940-1941             Boyd H. Payne (D)

1941-1942             Ced Gran (D)

1941-1942             M. W. McNair (D)

1942-1943             R. Wallace Rosen (D)

1943-1944             Jos. E. Healy (D)

1944-1945             John A. Clem, III (D)

1945-1946             Ford M. Bissikumer (D)

1946-1947             T. G. Russell (D)

1947-1948             John R. Sawyer (D)

1948-1949             C. E. Dorsette (D)

1949-1950             Campbell Pancake, Jr. (D)

1949-1950             S. B. Smith (D)

1950-1951             Charles P. Blackley (D)

1951-1952             J. K. Patterson (D)

1952-1953             Thomas E. Hassett, Jr. (D)

1953-1954             Ralph Balch

1953-1954             Paul B. Henderson (D)

1954-1955             Hugh K. Cassell (D)

1955-1956             Stanley G. Eaton (D)

1956-1957             L. E. Barkhouser (D)

1957-1958             Richard M. Hamrick, Jr.

1958-1959             William L Wilson (D)

1959-1960             H. Gayle Boume (D)

1960-1961             H. Stuart Markham (D)

1961-1962             Desmond C. Wray

1962-1963             S. Gordon Stewart (D)

1963-1964             Ralph W. E. Aldhizer (D)

1964-1965             William H. Grim (D)

1965-1966             John T. Floyd (D)

1966-1967        Hierome L Opie, Jr. (D)

1967-1968         Cyrus G. Schwab (D)

 1968-1969         S. Wilson Sterrett (D)

1969-1970         Benham M. Black

1970-1971         Robert E. Holsinger (D)

1971-1972         John T. Trotter

1972-1973         Braxton Green

1973-1974         F. Freeman Jones (D)

1974-1975         James Sprunt (D)

1975-1976         Jerry Lambert

1976-1977         Evarts W. Opie (D)

1977-1978         James A. Armstrong (D)

1978-1979         Thomas Altizer

1979-1980         Stephen Cartwright

1980-1981         Donald McFall

1981-1982         Harry V. Boney (D)

1982-1983         Bruce Campbell (D)

1983-1984         Gene McCombs

1984-1985          John A. Clem, IV

1985-1986          Kenneth B. Frank (D)

1986-1987          James V. Love

1987-1988          Frank S. Wiggins (D)

1988-1989          Roy L. Sherrill, Jr. (D)

1989-1990          James S. Morrison

1990-1991          Edward G. Clymore

1991-1992          Thomas A. Davis

1992-1993          Travis J. Tysinger

1993-1994          Cynthia H. Tyson

1994-1995          Benjamin M. Brown

1995-1996          N. Douglas Noland, Jr.

1996-1997          Julian Q. Moffett

1997-1998          John A. Zinn, Jr.

1998-1999          Ruth Arnold

1999-2000          Edward D. Davis

2000-2001         Edward Kennedy (D)

2001-2002          Kathleen Tosco

2002-2003          Richard W. Smith (D)

2003-2004          W. Wayt Gibbs V

2004-2005          Halvor G. Aaslestad

2005-2006          H. C. Stuart Cochran

2006-2007          Lee A. Beam

2007-2008          David R. Metz

2008-2009          Nathanial E. Burress

2009-2010         C. Ronald Capps

2010-2011         Lynn Sisson

2011-2012         E. Hardy Dawkins

2012-2013        Ken Monroe

2013-2014        Judy Mosedale

2014-2015        Carl Lind

2015-2016        Carl Balderson

2016-2017        Tamara Ridenour