Paramus Rotary Club

Nineteen seventy-six was the Bi-Centennial Year of our Country and it was the theme of the year in the District and at the District Conference held at Lancaster Pennsylvania. The Rotary International President in 1975-76 was Ernesto Imbassahy DeMello from Brazil and his theme was "To Dignify the Human Being". The International Convention was held at New Orleans, Louisiana.

The major events of the year all were accompanied by rainy weather and DG Ray became known as "Rainy Ray" and the first lady as "Bad Weather Betty". The annual football game was at the Rutgers Stadium in a torrential downfall. The District boat ride was also on the night of a heavy down pour. The President's ball held at West Paterson, and chaired by Alfie Lockwood and Harold Clark of the Pompton Lakes Club, also was on a rainy night and the rain prevailed for most of the District Conference held at Host Farms in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The rain at the Conference ended up to be a mixed blessing in that while the golf tournament had to be cancelled, the Conference plenary sessions were attended en masse by the over 200 Rotarians of the 650 attendees at the family orientated Conference. The Conference chairmen were Gerry Garofalow and Dave Sayles and the Ridgefield Park Club. Over 60 members of the 80 member host Paramus Club maintained as they had done the year before in Bermuda a home hospitality suite that was open late into the night and at all of the non event times of the Conference.

Precedent was somewhat broken that year, as both the District Secretary, Walter Behnke, and the Chief of Staff, Arthur Fowler, was both from the Paramus Club.

John Hartman of the Wyckoff Club served as the Treasurer, and Vincent McCorry of the Cliffside Park Club served as the Assistant Chief of Staff. The staff was somewhat smaller than the present day staffs and the meetings were held in part at the home of the Governor. The year end staff event occurred on another day where it rained most of the day prior to the event and the large number of Wells children proceeded to take more than their average amount of showers. This resulted in an overflowing septic situation, which necessitated the moving of the cookout and barbeque to the adjacent yard of Walter Behnke, the District Secretary.

One of the highlights of the year was the receiving of the team of the Group Study Exchange team from India which was chaired by PDG Ira Mitchell, and co chaired by Bill Hanna of the Paterson Club, who also served as the leader of the team that traveled to India as the second part of the exchange held the following Rotary year. Rotary International Scholars under the Rotary Foundation program attended the Stevens Institute and Farleigh Dickerson University during the year.

Rotary Foundation giving was given a special emphasis during the year and the annual giving increased from $3000 the previous year to over $40,000 and the number of Paul Harris Fellows increased from 11 to over 30. This trend continued in the years that followed and District #749, as it was know then, became a consistent supporter of the Rotary Foundation, which it remains at this time.

The Walter Head Foundation, founded in 1966 by Nick Laganella, of the Paramus Club and PDG Ira Mitchell, also received a special emphasis during the year.

In general it was a good Rotary year for the over 2100 members of the District at that time. The immediate PDG, Carmine Torsiello, who subsequently served as the Governor for most of the following year with the death of Jack Epple, played a big role during the year.

Questions or looking for more information please contact district7490rotary@gmail.com

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