Nome Rotary Club

History:
The first historical mention of a Nome Rotary Club appears in the Rotary International archives in Evanston, Illinois. A Nome club was the subject of a memo, written to RI's Charles M. Dyer by Emery F. Tobin, Secretary of the Ketchikan Rotary Club, on June 13, 1936. At the time, Ketchikan and Juneau were the only two Alaskan cities with Rotary clubs.

In 1945, Fairbanks Rotary Club President Frank Gray appointed a committee of C.J. Clasby, Al Polet and George Rayburn to "see about sponsoring a club at Nome." The Fairbanks club was only five years old at the time, having been sponsored by the Rotary Club of Juneau in 1940. The following year, on August 22, 1946, Nome applied for its charter as a Provisional Rotary Club. A report from District Governor Roy J. Fletcher of Centralia, Washington indicated that Bud Harper, owner of Nome Motor Company, was prime mover, with Andy Anderson of Lomen Commercial Company acting Secretary. The two "secured a list of 22 for the charter members."