Notes From January 8, 2026 by Jake Munholland
It’s a Party!!!! The room was decorated with balloons and party favors to celebrate the 110th birthday of Rotary Wichita Falls. The dessert for the day was birthday cake.
President Cara rang the meeting to order at 12:05. David Hartman then started the meeting off with a thoughtful invocation. Benay played DJ for the song of the day, which was “God Bless America.” We greeted our fellow Rotarians with “Happy Birthday” and a handshake.
The guests for the week were Sarah Fidlar, James Cook, and Brad Rodgers. For the Sunshine report, President Cara let the group know that Carla Dowlen is out sick but wished she was healthy enough to attend. Please remember to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
Noros started off the brag bucket with a challenge to collect at least $110 for the club’s birthday. There were several brags. They helped raise $313 at today’s meeting!
After the brag session, President Cara invited Lance to come up to start off the Paul Harris Fellow presentations. He led off by acknowledging Lisa’s recent retirement and presented her with a Paul Harris medallion. He also took a moment to recognize all the outstanding women in our club. Additional Paul Harris pins were presented to Lance, Stacie, Noros, John Deason, Bob Hampton, Dr. David Spencer, “Spin”, Doug Kunkle, and David Adams. Thanks to everyone for their contributions to the Rotary Foundation. President Cara then challenged the club to have 100% of the members make some form of donation to the Rotary Foundation in the month of January as a birthday present to the club.
We had 2 red badge presentations by Jeff Spoeri as we welcomed Ann Arnold and Matthew Bailey into the Rotary Club of Wichita Falls.
Our presentation this week was a slideshow and commentary by President Cara to help us celebrate the 110th birthday of the club. She started off by recognizing some historical context of the year 1915 and the history of how Rotary has helped the world. The Rotary Club of Wichita Falls is in the top 5 for the oldest Rotary clubs still in existence. The club participated in a round of Rotary Trivia with correct answers being rewarded with Rotary swag. As part of her preparation for the celebration, she reached out to several of members to help understand what being a member of the Rotary Club of Wichita Falls has meant to them and what some of their favorite memories are from their time in the club. The overwhelming theme was the camaraderie and service opportunities that this club offers. The most recognized service was the flag program that our club operates. This fundraiser helps fund all of our donations to the other organizations that our club chooses to support. At the end of the celebration, President Cara had 10 members provide brief toasts and we all enjoyed some sparkling grape juice. Thanks to everyone who helped make the presentation possible. In a time when involvement in civic organizations is down across the globe, our club continues to hold strong because of our outstanding members!
President Cara closed the meeting at 1:05 with the Four Way Test and rang the bell. Then, we all gathered for group picture to help memorialize the occasion.