Our Club
BEGINNINGS OF THE LEAVENWORTH ROTARY CLUB
The effort to start a Rotary Club in Leavenworth was led by three men: Rod
Simpson, a semi-retired architect who lived at Lake Wenatchee and was a
member of the Cashmere Club, Lev Craven, the District Governor that year and
a member of the Wenatchee Club, and Dr. Ed Cadman, also a Wenatchee Club
member and a past District Governor who went on to become R.I. President in
1985-86.
In the winter of 1975 they started hosting informal lunches on Fridays at the
Edelweiss Restaurant. It’s now gone but for many years it was a fixture on the
corner of 9th & Front Streets. By spring they had the required twenty prospective
members needed to apply for a charter.
Some of the Charter members were Lee Lathrop, publisher of the Leavenworth
Echo, Father Joseph O’Grady, a Catholic priest who was director of the Camp
Field CYO Camp, now Sleeping Lady Resort, Tom Boyd, a local businessman.
John Rieke, owner of the “Wood Shop” toy store, John Esplund, operator of
the Danish Bakery, and Archie Marlin Sr, owner of the Alps candy shop in
Tumwater Canyon.
The last three gave rise to an interesting story Ed Cadman related. Soon after
he mailed the application material to the R.I. office in Evanston he received a
call from someone he knew there. He said the conversation went like this. “Ed,
is this a joke. I see on the list a candy maker, toy maker and a baker. Where
are the butcher and candlestick maker?” He had to explain that Leavenworth
was a real “tourist” town and that those individuals were real people with real
business.
It all worked out and the club had our charter night (July 28, 1975) at Camp Field with the
ceremony held in the chapel, now the Chapel Theater at Sleeping Lady.
Tom Boyd, Charter Member 1975
The effort to start a Rotary Club in Leavenworth was led by three men: Rod
Simpson, a semi-retired architect who lived at Lake Wenatchee and was a
member of the Cashmere Club, Lev Craven, the District Governor that year and
a member of the Wenatchee Club, and Dr. Ed Cadman, also a Wenatchee Club
member and a past District Governor who went on to become R.I. President in
1985-86.
In the winter of 1975 they started hosting informal lunches on Fridays at the
Edelweiss Restaurant. It’s now gone but for many years it was a fixture on the
corner of 9th & Front Streets. By spring they had the required twenty prospective
members needed to apply for a charter.
Some of the Charter members were Lee Lathrop, publisher of the Leavenworth
Echo, Father Joseph O’Grady, a Catholic priest who was director of the Camp
Field CYO Camp, now Sleeping Lady Resort, Tom Boyd, a local businessman.
John Rieke, owner of the “Wood Shop” toy store, John Esplund, operator of
the Danish Bakery, and Archie Marlin Sr, owner of the Alps candy shop in
Tumwater Canyon.
The last three gave rise to an interesting story Ed Cadman related. Soon after
he mailed the application material to the R.I. office in Evanston he received a
call from someone he knew there. He said the conversation went like this. “Ed,
is this a joke. I see on the list a candy maker, toy maker and a baker. Where
are the butcher and candlestick maker?” He had to explain that Leavenworth
was a real “tourist” town and that those individuals were real people with real
business.
It all worked out and the club had our charter night (July 28, 1975) at Camp Field with the
ceremony held in the chapel, now the Chapel Theater at Sleeping Lady.
Tom Boyd, Charter Member 1975