BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF BURNEY

We owe a great deal of thanks to our sponsor, the Rotary Club of Redding for their patience, time, effort, guidance and determination to help us form the Rotary Club of Burney.

My first introduction to Rotary was an eye appointment with Dr. Rush Bloget in the fall of 1971. At that time he told me that he had talked with Lt. Phil Eoff for his opinion and asked me what I felt the chances would be to organize a Rotary Club in Burney.

The Redding Club had made a comprehensive survey and study of our area in 1970 and 1971. I did some checking with people I knew but was not encouraged due to the large membership in the Lions Club and the formation of the Business and Professional Men's Club of Burney.

A letter from Dr. Bloget on November 17, 1971, stated that due to this new service club he decided to defer further action for the time being. Things were quiescent until the first week in June 1973, when Dr. Bloget and Bill Nystrom set up a luncheon meeting for several of us to again get the wheels rolling for a Rotary Club in Burney.

We were given various pamphlets on Rotary to give to our potential members whenever we could get together. We again met for lunch with Bill Nystrom at the Burney Bowl on July 13 and worked on classifications and possible members that would fit into these listed classifications. This same group met again on August 24 and covered new ideas that we could incorporate in our approach to new potential members.

For the next few months we received many letters and telephone calls with great hints and suggestions from Dr. Bloget and Bill Nystrom. In the meantime our small nucleus of potential members. the Rev. Don Smith, Ron Telford, Woody Ford, John Ospital, Jim Wheeler, David Klasson, Delmar Howell, Kenneth Preston and myself were making contacts with local business and professional men to get their interest and desire to form a Rotary Club in Burney.

Our same group met several times for lunch the next few months and invited potential members as guests to get acquainted with us and the object of Rotary. We now felt that our group should organize a going and growing group. Our next move was weekly meetings which started on Wednesday noon, November 28, 1973, at the Sportsman Club.

We had guest speakers, prospective members, visiting Rotarians and friends attending these noon luncheon meetings. We did not do much over the holidays, but by the first week in January our drive was on its way. Joining us were Cam Hughes, Bill Baldwin, Ron Mosher, Irv Toler, Jim Hamlin and Ben Kerns.

A letter to Don Smith on February 21, 1974, from Dr. Bloget set a meeting for March 13, 1974, along with Bill Nystrom, Dick Green and Ray Montgomery to meet our newest group to join us. It was now up to us to make the final push and get over the top. Dr. Bloget wrote to Don Snmith on April 15, 1974, asking us to make a date for our charter night as soon as possible after July 1.

By April 24, 1974, we had 15 paid members and the other five members indicating their desire to join were Fred Petrides, Keith White, Les Whitehead, Allan Jones and Dave Clima. Our goal of 20 charter members had been accomplished and our organizational meeting was scheduled for May 1, 1974. Officers elected were James Wheeler, president; Don Smith, vice-president; Cam Hughes, secretary; John Ospital, treasurer; with directors Earl Brandeberry, James Hamlin, Delmar Howell, Kenneth Preston and Keith White.

We continued our weekly meetings and made our list of Charter Members on the official application to mail to the District Governor on May 15, 1974. Our meetings for the balance of May and all of June and until our Charter Night of July 13, 1974, were conducted in the same manner as a regular Rotary Club.

President Jim Wheeler had many letters and phone calls from the Redding Club as well as instructions from the District Officers. On June 28, 1974, invitations to attend our Charter Night were mailed to 45 clubs in District 516 by president Jim Wheeler.

(Written in 1974 by Brandy Brandeberry)