Rotary Tribute to Bill McGauley

St. Andrew's United Church

February 27, 2007

On behalf of Rotary and the members of the Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie North it is a privilege to give a brief overview of Bill's commitment to Rotary and to tell of his wonderful contributions as a Charter member and as a friend to each one of us.

Bill was approached and recruited by his next door neighbour and friend, Fred Wilson, in 1970. He began his Rotary journey as Vice-President to Jim Barr who left the sponsoring Sault Club to be Charter President in 1971.

Each Rotary year from July 1st to the following June 30^th Rotary International's president chooses a theme. This year the theme is "Lead the Way". As we look back over Bill's involvement in Rotary there can be little doubt that this permeated his actions of "Service Above Self", Rotary's motto, throughout the years.

In his year as President, 1971-1972, he literally raided the P Patch with a sales campaign of fertilizer. Truckloads! A natural event for this man who loved nature, and helping things and Rotarians to grow. Quoting the last paragraph from the Millennium Moments booklet we published in 2000, with past presidents recalling their term in office, Bill states "I think that it was during and perhaps because of the fertilizer sales that we developed a propensity for fellowship and fun in the club, which has continued to this day."

It was also in this year that he stated our major project was the hosting of a foreign exchange student, Paulo Trevisan from Brazil, providing credit to fellow Charter member Bruce Dewhirst for introducing the Youth Exchange program to the club, which also carries on until this day. He was pleased that granddaughter Jennifer Avery recently participated on a one-year exchange in Brazil.

In 1976-1977 Bill was honoured as Rotarian of the Year.

Rotary North continually focused on youth in the community. An idea germinated which led Bill in October of 1980 to conceive of the idea of holding a Rotary Youth Leadership Conference. The seeds were sewn and a committee was struck. A year and a half later in May 1982, fifty-four students representing all local and area high schools were in attendance at the first Thursday night to Sunday noon conference at Salzburger Hof Resort at Batchawana. Led by dedicated Rotarians, the students were introduced to four outstanding speakers and were encouraged to develop their skills in a challenging, recreational and motivational environment. The venue has since changed twice but Bill's dream of helping young people look towards and contribute to their future has continued for a quarter of a century.

In 1983 the club presented Bill with a Paul Harris Fellow Award. In 1998 and subsequently in 2000 Bill bestowed the same honour on his daughter Marion and his wife Reta, respectively.

In 1985 once again, this time inspired by an article in the Rotarian magazine, he picked up on the idea of encouraging students in grade eight to strive for and be recognized for academic achievement. Positive affirmation would help in the transition from elementary to high school. Thus began the annual awarding of Certificates of Academic Excellence to the top ten percent of each grade eight class, a certificate to the most improved student in each class and the publication of the top twenty percent students' names in the Sault Star on June 30^th. Follow up letters of congratulation were mailed to each of the students signed by our club president, with further encouragement to excel.

A later addition included honouring the valedictorians of each of the high schools. They are invited to a Rotary meeting to meet one another and be recognized by our members. A keynote speaker presents a topic of interest that day. A commemorative plaque of the newspaper ad containing their photos is subsequently given to each one.

This program of Academic Excellence as it is called requires much effort and consistent values. Bill laid the guidelines and stressed the importance of not deviating from them. There have been some changes brought about by streaming and de-streaming in the school system but the focus has been to strive for excellence.

Bill got the ball rolling on these major projects and in his wisdom as teacher and mentor stayed in the background and watched them evolve.

The importance of perfect attendance was high on Bill's participation in Rotary. In thirty-six years this not only applied at our meetings, or make-up meetings at other clubs in the required time frame, but also at social events and functions. Bill and Reta enjoyed the corn roasts, the progressive dinners, presidents' nights and youth exchange functions, each adding to the fun and fellowship of being in Rotary. Since Reta's passing we were pleased that he shared these occasions with his good friend Margery.

The highlight of his recent years in Rotary came about when Rotary International reached one hundred years of age. The anniversary date was February 23, 2005. The theme for Rotary's Centennial year was "Celebrate". In true fashion Bill put his pen to paper and wrote a commemorative song to sing in honour of the occasion. It included the Rotary dream to have polio eradicated by 2005. We are only ninety nine percent there. Unfortunate to say there are places in small pockets of our world, where political or unfounded religious reasons have put up stumbling blocks of resistance.

His gift to Rotary of "Celebrate" to the tune of Tannenbaum had its' debut at our club. True to his fashion he made us sing it over and over again until we got it right. It was sung at the Marconi Club at the February 23^rd Centennial Party. It was circulated throughout District 6290 and was part of Centennial District Governor Dave Seabrook's District Conference, which we hosted here in the Sault. It is to be included in the next printing of Rotary International's song book.

Then an interesting thing happened. Kathy Smith a regular visiting Rotarian from Ohio who summers here and over the years became a kindred spirit of Bill, set the Rotary Wheel in motion to have Bill (accompanied by Bob and Marion) attend their District Conference in Ohio and lead the singing of "Celebrate". Bill was thrilled and brought back videos to share with our club.

I like to remember Bill as we chatted briefly before a meeting began, or while sitting at the same table and he would say, by the way have you heard this one, and proceed to impart some humour or knowledge of importance to the day. It included a smile and a little chuckle.

My favourite one included the fact that his roots were in the vicinity of Blind River. He began: "Did you hear about the two Frenchmen who met each other on the street in downtown Blind River. It was about 40 below. They were carrying on a great conversation in French waving their hands about as Frenchmen do. The one guy stopped and said to the other. Do you mind if we switch to English and put our hands in our pockets?"

Rotary was 102 years on the day that you left us, Bill! You were 92! What a contribution you made to Rotary, to your fellow Rotarians and to all the young people who have shared in the programs you initiated, as one who has "Lead the Way" while being a member of North Sault Rotary. We will remember, but truly miss you!