DELBERT A. RABY - 1992-1993 – District Governor 5130
FROM THE DISTRICT 5130 "GOLDEN BOOK" OF DG HISTORY
Del Raby was proposed for District Governor by the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise. Chartered in 1986 this was a smaller, relatively young club but one whose members were full of Rotary enthusiasm. Del was involved in Rotary for 31 years and had seized as president of the Mountain View club of District 517 in 1983-84. His work led him to live, in several localities so he belonged to six Rotary clubs- Fontana, Alhambra, San Marino, Mountain View, Mendocino and Santa Rosa Sunrise. His career as a Boy Scout executive kept him committed to the welfare of youth. Other contributions to his community included the Santa Rosa Symphony Committee and service as docent at the California Museum of Art. He and his wife Harriett are both Paul Harris Fellows and share a hobby of weaving. Other hobbies included golf and archaeology.
Del’s visits to district clubs was identified by his George Washington hat and a fascinating electronic device which demonstrated the meshing of Rotary wheels around the world.The District Assembly to prepare club officers for the new year was held at the Luther Burbank complex in Santa Rosa April 24/25 1992 and was well attended. The keynote speaker was Dr. David Benson president of California State University Sonoma. The Assembly was chaired by Gary Doolittle, Santa Rosa Sunrise, and Buck Phillips, West Santa Rosa.
The President of Rotary International for the year was Clifford Dochterman of the North Stockton Club — well known to Rotarians of District 5130. The theme, for Cliff's year was "Real Happiness is Helping Others", which Del communicated to district clubs. His monthly newsletter was called 'The Rotary Sunrise" - "OnIy the Brightest of Thoughts". There were 2,486 Rotarians in the district at the end of his year.
It was reported that again the RYLA camp at Westminster Woods in June was a success, 59 students from 31 district Rotary clubs participated in the gathering.
The Healdsburg club set up a program to teach young children about drugs and how they affect their bodies - "My body is Healthy". The program was featured in the Rotary publication "Your Community News" of February 1993. The Napa club had a BBQ fundraiser and awarded four $500 checks for Teacher Recognition. Petaluma Valley sponsored a Sports Card Show. Mendocino held its annual Art Auction. North Napa featured a Cribbage Tournament. Sebastopol sponsored the Billy Barty Golf Tournament and Petaluma held its fall fundraiser "Autumn Food and Beer Fest". The Calistoga club provided an opportunity for students and business leaders to meet together. Clearlake developed a similar program to assist young people as they enter the work world. The Calistoga club decided to sponsor a Boy Scout troop.
A group study team from the district visited Germany's District 1810. The team was led by Fred Wulff of the Petaluma club. Group members represented the clubs in the Santa Rosa area. Santa Rosa, West Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Windsor and Clearlake. The Rotary Youth Exchange program, led by Roger Coate, was very active with 22 clubs sponsoring students. The year started with 15 students here representing 10 countries with 21 scheduled to start during the year.
In support of the World Community Service program the Ukiah club joined the South Ukiah club in sending equipment to a school for the deaf in India. West Santa Rosa helped to send various supplies to Radio for Peace in Costa Rica. The Eureka club shipped books and encyclopedias to children in Belize. Arcata worked with a club in India to provide equipment and staffing for a low cost health clinic. Mad River helped to provide medical supplies to combat a Peru cholera epidemic. Santa Rosa East sent dental equipment to San Jose Del Cabo Mexico. Santa Rosa East worked with the Jakarta, Indonesia club to help provide equipment and materials for cataract surgery. Petaluma and Petaluma Valley worked with a club in Zihuatanejo, Mexico to equip a firehouse.
The four Santa Rosa clubs in an organization called the Santa Rosa Quad Club worked to reduce truancy in Santa Rosa schools. The Second District 5130 speech contest was conducted.
Clubs were encouraged to contribute to the support of disaster relief programs after hurricane Andrew and Iniki struck Florida and Hawaii.
The Eureka and Santa Rosa clubs joined in supporting youth athletics by once more conducting high school All-star Basketball games. There were games between the club members, senior boys and senior girls. The Lakeport club sponsored its annual Easter egg hunt for which 150 dozen eggs were distributed.
Two outstanding Rotary Foundation Dinners were conducted in November –one in Eureka at the Eureka Inn and one in Napa at the Silverado Country Club. Jim Gupton of the Southwest Eureka club and Jeff Redmond of Arcata chaired the northern meeting while Steve Bardessono of Napa and Herk Swaney of Santa Rosa East directed the southern gathering. 600 people attended the two dinners which raised $104,663 for the Foundation.
It was reported that Interact was alive and well in the district. Five new clubs have been chartered within the last three years. This year saw the 30th birthday of Interact with 7,500 clubs in 101 countries with over 165,000 young people.
It was reported that the last case of paralytic polio in the Western Hemisphere was reported in Junin, Peru on August 23, 1991 — a milestone in the history of Polioplus.
John Strong of the Rotary Club of Petaluma Valley was selected as the District Governor Designate for the year 1994-95.
District Governor Duane Blackwill's District Assembly was held April 17 at Mendocino College in Ukiah. Co-chairmen were Borue O'Brien of Petaluma and Joe Madrigal of Ukiah. 275 Rotarians and guests from 35 clubs attended the meeting.
The District Conference was conducted May 14-16 at the Red Lion Hotel in Rohnert Park. It was chaired by Kent Seegmiller of the Santa Rosa Sunrise club and Larry Bello of the Santa Rosa club. The R.I. President's Special Representative was Basil Marhofer of Kansas. A feature of the conference was a" Brag-O-Ree" area where clubs had the opportunity to show off displays of their various service projects. Finals of the student speech contest were held during the conference.
The International Convention was held in Melbourne, Australia.
As his year ended Del was pleased to note that service to youth was prominent in the district as 19 clubs sponsored Interact Clubs; 21 were involved in youth athletics; 22 hosted youth exchange students; 25 were involved in national youth programs; 26 participated in the speech contest; 29 are sending students to RYLA; 30 conducted vocational events for youth; 36 presented scholarships; 37 have projects involving schools. Beyond those there were a wide variety of other community and international service projects that identified the year as an outstanding year of Rotary service.