In a parting gesture to his year as Brattleboro Rotary Club president, Chris Chapman recognized two local businessmen and fellow Rotarians with Paul Harris Fellow awards on July 5. Marcy Jones and Jerry Theberge were honored for their service and commitment to the club and the greater community.
 
A Vermont native who was raised in Grafton, Jones graduated from Bellows Falls Union High School and served in the Navy for four years. He earned a B.A. in sociology and an R.N. in nursing from Castleton State College, and his Doctor of Chiropractic and B.S. in human biology from Logan Chiropractic College. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of his chiropractic practice in Brattleboro. Voted "Chiropractor of the Year" by the Vermont Chiropractic Association in 1998, Jones has a long list of professional and community involvement, including the Vermont Chiropractic Association, the Vermont Board of Chiropractic Examination and Registration, the American Chiropractic Association, and the boards of the Brattleboro Savings & Loan, the Hilltop Montessori School, the Grafton School, and the Brattleboro Chamber of Commerce. He has been a Rotary member since 1982.

Theberge is a longtime Brattleboro dentist who has an office on High Street. A native of the Boston area, he graduated from Boston College and the Northwestern University Dental School. Theberge is a delegate for the Academy of General Dentistry and a member of the American Dental Association. In addition to being a Rotary member since 1992, Theberge is a corporator of Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and a board member of the Brattleboro Walk-In Clinic, where he started the dental services portion of the clinic. He has also volunteered his dental services during several humanitarian trips to El Salvador with other dentists and eye doctors. His community affiliations also include the Brattleboro Outing Club, the Brattleboro Country Club, the Elks, the Knights of Columbus, and the Appalachian Mountain Club.

Paul Harris was the founder of the first-ever Rotary Club in 1905 in Chicago, Illinois. In 1957, on the tenth anniversary of his death, the Paul Harris Fellow awards were established to commemorate the founder's vision of fellowship, service, and international goodwill. Recognition as a Paul Harris Fellow is one of the highest honors a Rotary Club can bestow. For each Paul Harris Fellow award, the Brattleboro Rotary Club contributed $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation.

The Brattleboro Rotary Club, founded in 1950, is an active community service club of about 90 members. It engages in community and human service projects locally and internationally. The club has weekly meetings at 12:15 p.m. Thursday at the Quality Inn and Conference Center on Putney Road in North Brattleboro.