Rotary Club of White Sands

 

 

Chartered May 12, 1977. Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Alamogordo, New Mexico. The charter banquet was held June 23, 1977 at the Holloman Air Force Base Officers Club, and the charter address was given by District Governor-Elect Vincent Ward. The charter was presented by District Governor F.C. Williamson and accepted by charter president Robert M. Doughty, II.

 

The club started with 25 charter members and our first new member, Steven F. Crowley, MD, who for technical reasons could not be a charter member – there were already three health-care related charter members. The club grew rapidly, achieving a membership of 41 within the first year.

 

Richard A. Boss – Secretary            Paul G. Light

Bassett M. Bryant, Jr.                  Norman D. Lindley, MD –Past President

Edgar L. Buck - Director              Charles K. Moore

Robert M. Doughty, II – President  Raymond V. Reyes, Jr.+

Richard H. Hackett – Treasurer       Larry A. Soelig +

Harry J. Hazelby +                      Rodney D. Swafford –Director

Michael Hickey, MD +                  Orric Keith Wells +

Jerry Holder – Director                  Robert E. White, DDS –Vice President

John C. Humig                            Nate Claassen

Michael J. Jacobs                         Olin D. Hammack, Jr.

Stanley G. Langham                   William L. Uphouse

William E. LaNoue                       H.G. O’Dell +

Kenneth Lester                           Ronald L. Bailey

 

+deceased  

 

First New Member: Steven F. Crowley, MD                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

 

            Youth Exchange

 

Since we hosted our first exchange student in 1979 we have had exchange students from every continent, except Antarctica. The countries include Australia (2), Austria, Brazil (2), Denmark (2), Ecuador, Germany, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, South Africa and Venezuela.

 

We have sponsored five outbound students, as follows:

 

Pam Cerny studied in Holland in 1985 – 1986. Afterward she attended the University of New Mexico and received her BA in business. She then received her MA in business at Texas Tech. She is now employed by Swatcha, an electronics resourcing firm in Plano, Texas. She helps conduct seminars in the 12^th Federal Reserve District in Texas, dealing with banking laws.

 

Jessamin Berg studied in France for one year, 2003 – 2004.

 

Ashley Gottula studied in Germany for one year, 2005 – 2006.

 

Troy Atwood studied in Germany for one year, 2006 - 2007.

 

Shannon Simpson studied in Argentina for one year, 2006 - 2007.

 

            RYLA

 

            We have sponsored young men at Camp RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) for approximately 25 years with only a few exceptions, and young women since the more recent inception of their program.  From 1993 until 2011             we sponsored an outstanding high school junior as Junior Rotarian of the Month during the school year. The Junior Rotarian of the Year was recognized at the end of the school year, along with a cash award. The program was                   discontinued because of the question of liability with an adult transporting a minor to the meeting.

               

            Sponsored the Alamogordo High School Interact Club.

 

               

                Ambassadorial scholar – Polly Walker, 1995-1996, studied at the University of Queensland, Australia, and stayed     on as a faculty member of that university doing research for Australian Peace and Conflict Studies. In                         January, 2005 she was invited to the island of Tulag in the Solomon Islands where she conducted training workshops for    the chiefs of that island. She states that her Ambassadorial scholarship was “pivotal for my career.”                       She is now back in the States and is on the faculty of a school in Pennsylvania.

 

                Group Study Exchange – In 1982, the past president of our club, Roger Rhoton, led a group to Norway. One of the    group members, Joe Chambers, became a member of this club and eventually club president.

 

Humanitarian Grants Programs –

 

Other Accomplishments-

 

 

 

For several years we sponsored the local Special Olympics, and furnished the officials, helpers and “huggers” for the event, which included track and field as well as swimming. Physical examinations for the local participants were done each year by a member of the club, Norman Lindley, MD

                               

                        The Club has an annual golf tournament as a fund raiser. An additional tournament was co-sponsored with the Rotary Club of Tularosa in 2002 to generate funds for a project for Tularosa and Alamogordo by which underprivileged school children could obtain emergency dental care. No dentists were available in town to provide services to patients whose care was paid by Medicaid, and many of the children in this category required interim emergency care until they could travel to Las Cruces to obtain services.

 

Another fund raiser that was slightly controversial was a “Casino Night” that was the first event held in the Civic Center, now the Sergeant Willie Estrada Memorial Civic Center (named in memory of the uncle of former White Sands Rotary member Cecilia (Estrada) Ashe.) Admission was charged and various businesses donated prizes. Various gambling events were held – poker, blackjack, roulette, etc., and instead of chips tickets were given to the winners. Later a face value was assigned to these tickets so they could be used to buy the donated prizes at auction. This proved to be very successful.

 

 

For several years the club “adopted a mile” of highway that was cleaned twice a year by club members and other volunteers. Later we changed our area of interest to the 10^th Street medians between White Sands Boulevard and the Relief Route.

 

Club outreach- In 1986, we developed a sister-club relationship with the Rotary Club of Cuauhtémoc as the result of our assistance in funding the school in the colónia. Out of this arose the sister city relationship between Alamogordo, New Mexico and Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, Mexico.         

 

Club president, David Gottula visited China in 2004 as part of a special Rotary outreach program sponsored by the Rotary Club of Santa Maria, California. This was part of a project among several United States Rotary clubs to oversee the construction of an orphanage.

 

The first Bi-District Conference with Districts 552 and 411 of Northern Mexico (later 5520 and 4110) was held in El Paso, in 1977. The entire membership of our club attended all or part of the conference.

 

Several members attended a session in El Paso, Texas for RI President Carlos Canseco in 1985. Members also attended the conference in El Paso in 2004 at which RI President Jonathan Majiyagbe was in attendance.

 

Norman Lindley attended the centennial International convention in Chicago in 2005, and placed an envelope with a letter from centennial club president, Lee Ann Nichols along with the group picture of the club members, a club banner and an at that time up-to-date version of this brief club history in a 100 year time capsule.

 

                                Since being chartered the club has donated $213,839 to the Foundation.

                                Paul Harris Fellows now in the club 31 (of 40 members)

                                Total multiple awards credited to present members 85

                                Total awards since 1977 - 209

 

          

                               

     *White Sands Club member             **Member of Alamogordo Rotary Club         ***Former member, past president

 

Rotary International Service Award for Professional excellence (One of only ten clubs in District 5520 to give this award.) Awarded to CMSgt Michael Espiritu,2004 (non-member) for his work as sponsor of the Air Force Junior ROTC program at Alamogordo High School, making it the number-one program in New Mexico.

 

Outstanding Club, District 5520 –    2001-2002

                                    2002-2003

 

RI Presidential Citation-                    2002-2003

                                                             2003-2004

                                                             2010-2011

                                                             2012-2013

                                                             2014-2015

 

First Female Rotarians in District 5520 – July 9, 1987

              Barbara McDonald (First female club president, assistant governor, still a member - 2017)

              Diana Hamilton

              Betsy Well

 

              Roger Rhoton            1981-1982

              Barbara McDonald      1993-1994, 1996-1997, 2004-2005

              Bart Garrison             2001-2004

              Laura Bregler             2004

              Ed Carr                      2006-2007

 

Lieutenant District Governor-  Bart Garrison       2004-2005