The Conroe Rotary Club was chartered on August 24, 1932, by the Huntsville Rotary Club. In turn, the Conroe Club has worked to spread Rotary ideals by sponsoring the Tomball, Willis, The Woodlands, and Lake Conroe clubs.

The Conroe Rotary Club began with eighteen “founding fathers.” (See Exhibit A). At that time, the annual budget for the club was $5,000. The Club had many of the same programs our Club has today, focusing much of its attention on helping indigent members of the community with their medical and dental expenses.

Dental Program
The Conroe Rotary Club Dental Program was started soon after chartering. Founding member Dr. J.L. Hicks administered the program for roughly thirty years. In the early 1960’s, the program was turned over to Dr. Lloyd Dunaway to administer for the next ten years or so. During those years, the Dental Program worked with an operating budget of $1,000 to $1,200 per year.

During the1960’s, the Dental Program was strengthened financially by a lady named Minnie Perkins, who lived in Willis on Old Waverly Road. Mrs. Perkins heard of the work Dr. Hicks was doing for area children and left $10,000 in her will for the club. The Conroe Rotary Club invested this money and the interest from the CD went to fund the Dental Program. This program has expanded greatly to reach its current level, with an annual budget of approximately $10,000, and 12 to 15 area dentists serving as providers who discount their services approximately 50%.

Career Night
A major project for our club in the 1960’s and 70’s was Career Night, with the Rotary Club of Conroe furnishing speakers for general assemblies, and individual representatives for virtually every classification in the club, meeting with students in smaller groups to discuss career choices.

Dr. Dunaway recalls he was an eager young dentist at his first Career Fair,
when he encountered very little enthusiasm for the dental profession among the students assembled there. High school students at that time did not talk so much, and it was only at his insistence that he finally managed to prompt two questions from the small group before him. They were, “Do you have to get extra college to be a dentist?” and “How much money does an Orthodontist make?”

Recent Projects
More recent projects developed during the past 10 to 20 years include Christmas at Metropolitan Day Care, mentoring at Runyan Elementary and the blood drive. (See Exhibits B and C). Speakers at the Conroe Rotary Club are honored when the Club presents a children’s book to Runyan Elementary library in their name.

Piano Players
Long-time members of the Club recall Miss Ercelle Knight, who played the piano for the club’s singing for over 40 years. She was made a Paul Harris Fellow in 1984. Especially remembered are her special renditions of Christmas music each year. Ercelle really enjoyed playing for the group, and making the meetings something special.

Currently, the Club is honored to be accompanied by Ann Lee, widely known and accomplished music and choral director. The singing of the members has challenged her musical sensibilities for the last several years.

72 Years Later
During the past 72 years, the Club has been led by dynamic presidents (see Exhibit D). The Club is approaching its goal to honor each member as a Paul Harris Fellow (see Exhibit E). And, the Club has honored seven members to the District 5910 Roll of Fame: Richard Coyle, John Germany, Jr., Charles Harritt, Foster Madeley, Chester L. Rossi, Don Stocking and Virginia Stocker.

The Club has 30 standing committees, 13 board members, and approximately 75 active members. Its current combined annual budget is roughly $150,000.

Surely those original 17 members with $5,000 to work with would notice all the changes. But for all those families and individuals whose lives have been touched through the efforts of the Conroe Rotary Club, the concept of “Service Above Self” has not changed.

Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. In more than 160 countries worldwide, approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 30,000 Rotary clubs.

Rotary club membership represents a cross-section of the community's business and professional men and women. The world's Rotary clubs meet weekly and are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races, and creeds.

The main objective of Rotary is service — in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world. Rotarians develop community service projects that address many of today's most critical issues, such as children at risk, poverty and hunger, the environment, illiteracy, and violence. They also support programs for youth, educational opportunities and international exchanges for students, teachers, and other professionals, and vocational and career development. The Rotary motto is Service Above Self.

Although Rotary clubs develop autonomous service programs, all Rotarians worldwide are united in a campaign for the global eradication of polio. In the 1980s, Rotarians raised US$240 million to immunize the children of the world; by 2005, Rotary's centenary year and the target date for the certification of a polio-free world, the PolioPlus program will have contributed US$500 million to this cause. In addition, Rotary has provided an army of volunteers to promote and assist at national immunization days in polio-endemic countries around the world