Chartered June 12, 1945
According to the remaining records that have survived the years, the "men folk of Prattsburgh" were given the chance to see a Rotary Club in action on April 23, 1945 by the Naples Rotary Club. This first gathering was held in the Prattsburgh Presbyterian Church. This meeting, or conception of Rotary, must have went well as it was announced in the "Naples Grapevine" that the naples Rotary Club were proud parents of a healthy young club named "The Prattsburgh Rotary Club". The attendants and statistics of this birth is as follows:
Officients:
Harry Otto, Governor's Representative
Charles "Cog" Standish, President of the Naples Rotary Club
Bat Boys, Towel Holders and Roustabouts:
Doc Lyon, Jim Reed, Al Jenkins, Emil Stoll and Jim Long
Imported Specialists:
Kenneth Oberle, Governor, District 171.
Bob Turnbull, PDG, 1928-1929 (Bath)
Weight of the strapping Club: 28 Charter Members
Officers:
President - Charles Clark
Vice President - George Farley
Secretary - Warren McConnell
Treasurer - George Simmons
Directors - Vincent DeZetter, Jack Lewis and Otis Davis
Viewing dates and meeting time of the new club were listed to be at the Prattsburgh Presbyterian Church on Tuesday at noon.
There has been some confusion as to when the Prattsburgh Rotary Club was chartered. Rotary International has it as being May 26, 1945. According to the Naples Grapevine and a newspaper article the club was chartered on June 12, 1945. Prattsburgh's charter number is 5999. It isn't known what they used for a bell on the charter night, probably Naples's bell as it wasn't presented to Prattsburgh until June 20, 1945.
Everyone always wants to know their "roots" so here is Prattsburgh's "roots". Prattsburgh Rotary is an only child of the Naples Rotary Club. Things ended there as Prattsburgh Rotary had no off-spring. Prattsburgh's grandparent is the Canandaigua Rotary Club. Canandaigua had 6 children - Gorham, Bloomfield, Honeoye Falls, Red jacket, Victor-Farmington and naples. Our great, grandparent is Elmira. Elmira had a total of 10 children. It's quite a family.
Pictured above are the Prattsburgh Rotary members present at the 50th Anniversary celebration on June 12, 1995 at the Tally Ho Restaurant in Kanona, NY.
Front row - left to right: Fred Lewis, Bruce
Densmore, Rick Kelley (President), George DeRue, Bill Hutcheon, Charles Babcock
and Paul Williams.
Back row - left to right: Leon "Red" Parker
(former Rotarian and Charter member), John Filkins, Doug Schroeder, Shirley
Shaver, J. Harold McConnell (Secretary), Francis Hall, Kirk Carpenter (Charter
Member) - hiding behind Bill Hutcheon, Howard Selleck, Wayne Dinehart
(Treasurer) and Kenneth Parks.
Absent: Harold Blohm, David Hall (Vice
President) and Glenn Lambertz.
The meeting places for Prattsburgh Rotary have been:
Prattsburgh Rotary's initial club bulletins or newsletters were named "Potato Chips".