Our Club's History
Our club was officially chartered on January 28, 1978 through the efforts of Vern Thelen and Homer White, then President and President-Elect of the Antioch Illinois Rotary Club. Vern Thelen, who also served as the District Governor's Special Representative at the time, approached several people in the Fox Lake community and invited each person individually to an organizational meeting to measure the interest in starting the club.
Once started, a Charter Night was held on Tuesday, March 14, 1978 at the Holiday Inn in Mundelein, Illinois, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Antioch, Illinois. The evening included dinner and fellowship, entertainment from Mariachi Potosino, a group sing-a-long, the presentation and acceptance of the charter, the presentation of gifts from all the local Rotary clubs, and a speech from Ray Sonnenberg, the Past District Governor. The program from the night listed the club's first set of officers and directors (including Charles Kemp as President, Earl Keating as Vice President, and LeRoy Bast as Director Chairman Vocational Service) and all 34 Charter Members.
In its infancy, the driving force behind the club was Charles Kemp of the 2nd Federal Savings Bank. Considered the "George Washington" of our club, he served as the 1st President and was one of the most active members of the club until his passing.
Weekly meetings were initially held every Monday at 12 p.m. at the Fox Lake Country Club. Since then, the Rotary has met at such places as Holiday Park, the Old Waterfall off of Route 59, the 19th Hole, Dockers, Capo's Cove, Leisure Point, Black Bear, Moretti's, Sabatini's, El Puerto, and Zsa Zsa's Steakhouse. We now meet on the first and third Friday of every month at 12 noon at Rookies Sports Bar & Grill in Ingleside, IL.
Our early activities with the club included chicken and corn roasts at Fagan's Squaw Creek Resort, October fest dances at Holiday Park, and an annual golf outing. Our current activities include the Annual Chili-Cook-off, National Honor Society Spaghetti Dinner, and the Children's Christmas Party at Camp Duncan YMCA.