The Lima Rotary Club said goodbye to President Demi and welcomed President Russ at the Changing of the Guard.
The 2024-2025 Rotary year closed with a funny and heartfelt Changing of the Guard. President Demi thanked everyone for being a presence in her life and in our club. "As my year as president comes to a close, I do want to take a moment to reflect on what's been a quiet yet meaningful chapter in our club's journey. While we faced some challenges in the way of membership, we have remained financially strong and we continue to thrive. I'm proud of the steady foundation we've maintained and I'm excited for the fresh energy and ideas being brought forward by our board and our incoming president, Russ Decker. Serving as president of this Rotary Club has been a true honor and privilege. I am deeply thankful for the support and the friendships and the dedication from each of you."
President Demi was roasted by Tim Sielschott and Sophia Loser who likened her to Wednesday Adams and said that she not only knows where the bodies are buried, she runs the crematorium (Demi is a funeral director at Chiles-Laman.).
President Russ told us he has a lot of plans for the coming year including new membership incentives and the construction of a Rotary pavilion at Safety City, and he announced that the Lima Rotary Club will be hosting the District 6600 4-Way Test Speech Contest in April. He will give more details at Monday's meeting.
The club also honored its senior members:
- 61 Years PP Chuck Leidy
- 54 Years Bob Komminsk
- 53 Years Chuck Butts
- 50 Years PP Dick Schroeder
- 50 Years PP Bill Timmermeister
- 49 Years PP David Steiner
- 49 Years PP Fred Seelenbinder
- 46 Years Larry Webb
- 43 Years Frank Guagenti
- 43 Years Phil Trueblood
- 42 Years Carl Berger
- 42 Years Jeff Tracy
Congratulations for your decades of service to our club!
We also presented our annual Avenues of Service Awards to:
- Rex Perry Club Service Award - Jeff Unterbrink
- John Rudolph Community Service Award - Carl Berger
- Goodnight International Service Award - Keith Horner
- Henry Wemmer Vocational Service Award - Elizabeth Brown-Ellis
- Peter Hulsken Youth Service - Sophia Loser
Outgoing club board members Jeff Unterbrink, Tim Stanford and Lesley Fry, and outgoing foundation board member Jennifer Mason were thanked for their service.
Incoming club board members Beth Seibert, Berlin Carroll and Chip Bullock were introduced, as were the new foundation board members: Scott Cockerell, Josh Unterbrink and David Trinko.
We also thanked Tracey Regula for serving as club treasurer and welcomed Jason Bice as the new treasurer.
We also thanked Tracey Regula for serving as club treasurer and welcomed Jason Bice as the new treasurer.
A big thank you to Mary Elmquist-Lane for organizing such a fun meeting and to Jeff Fitzgerald for emceeing. We appreciate all you do for the club!
