Rutherford Rotary Club

The temporary loss for the year by the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company was Rotary's gain as Governor Joe was able to receive a quasi leave from his duties at the company to serve as our Governor.

The International President was Rollie Klarich, from Finland and his theme was "Take Time to Serve". It was a most fitting theme for Rotarians, and Governor Joe made our District staff and past officers very conscious of the theme as he used the time theme in all of the gifts of appreciation of clocks and watches he presented to these members of our District during the year. The International Convention was held in San Paulo, Brazil that year and the theme was continued at this wonderful location.

Our District Conference for this year has been referred to as the "miracle Conference" in that a few days before the Conference was scheduled to commence, Governor Joe, Conference chairman John Hartman, and travel coordinator Jack Rosen were faced with a general strike at the scheduled Conference location in Bermuda. In what had to be a miracle, they were able to reschedule air flights and other plans for the Conference and locate the Conference at Freeport in the Bahamas. They were also able to have 500 of the original 600 registrants who had signed up to go to Bermuda to retain their reservations, and the result was a truly outstanding Conference. As Governor Joe expressed, the success of the Conference was the result of Rotarians at their best.

The year started with the attendance of a large delegation of members from our District to the annual New York Vocational Assembly held at the New York Hilton. This was the last event held in New York as the New York City Club announced their decision to discontinue future assemblies. It was from the observations by Governor Joe and others that New Jersey was providing most of the attendees to the assemblies, combined with the announcement by the New York City club of their intention to end their program, that motivated Carmine Torsiello of our District and members of District 7470 to start planning a New Jersey Vocational Assembly. District 7470 hosted the first Vocational Assembly and our District hosted the event the following year. The host continues to alternate to this day. This event has continued to be scheduled for the past 22 years and has continued to be a highlight of the New Jersey Rotary year.

Governor Joe had Art Scialla as his District Secretary, Herm Krahenbuhl as his Chief Rep, and Bob Dalzell as his Treasurer. The annual District football game was held at West Point, and the annual Fair Lawn sponsored Interclub meeting was held at Paramus. The President's Ball was held at the Birchwood Manor.

District clubs and members continued support for the Rotary Foundation and the Walter Head Foundation, and for the youth activities of the District. One added activity for the District this year was the attendance at a District soccer game at the Giant Stadium with the Cosmos as one of the teams playing in the game.

Probably, the most noteworthy innovation of the year was the decision by Governor Joe to sell advertising for the yearly directory to offset the costs of the directory and to

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

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