PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION
Rotarians Thank Mark Smith and Welcome Earl Walker
July 12, 2005 – On July 12 Rotarians thanked President Mark Smith for his leadership and service to the club as he passed the gavel to new president, Earl Walker. Mark presented a summary of the highlights of his term before recognizing and thanking those individuals who had contributed so much.
Mark began his remarks by introducing his wife, Elaine, and expressing his gratitude for her support throughout his term of office. President Mark then listed some of the major accomplishments of the year such as our newly formed sister club in Brisbane, Australia, the many successful open houses hosted by and for club members, the single fund raiser to which he committed (and the associated challenges), and the sculpture intended for the Rotary fountain at Marion Square. Although the latter is not yet finished, he personally promised to see this effort through to completion.
Other important highlights that he went on to mention included the 5 Rotarians to join the Paul Harris Society, the 30 others who became Paul Harris Fellows, and the number of Citations awarded to The Rotary Club of Charleston including the recently received Membership Development and Extension Award.
Mark concluded his remarks by recognizing and thanking each of his board members. He then paused to extend his special thanks to Carroll Schweers, Amy Jenkins, Harold Arnold, Dan Ravenel, Lisa Thomas, and Andy Brack. Finally, Mark addressed the entire membership saying it had been an honor and a privilege to serve them. Mark then passed the Rotary charter and presidential pin to the club’s new president, Earl Walker. Every Rotarian present then rose to applaud thereby demonstrating their thanks and appreciation to Mark for his leadership, dedication and hard work.
It was then Earl Walker’s turn to take the podium as the new President of the Rotary Club of Charleston. He first thanked the club for their vote of confidence in his leadership and then made a few comments about his vision and goals for the coming year. Earl said that the Rotary theme of Renewal, Regeneration, and Rejuvenation would play a strong role in guiding his efforts toward continuous improvement of our great club. Specifically, he envisions increasing the level of active participation among members, along with working to encourage more young people to join our club while building a more diverse membership. His other objectives include finding new opportunities for outside service, fostering greater fellowship among members both personally and professionally, and finding a new project for club members to adopt.
A few innovations Rotarians will soon see include brief committee updates at the start of each meeting, immediate distribution of contact information for new members, committee selection at new member orientation and finally, equal division of monies collected weekly among the Rotary Fund, Charleston Rotary Fund, and the District’s Alzheimer’s (CART) fund.
As a fitting conclusion to this, his first official meeting, Earl asked Anita Zucker and Bruce Murdy to talk about two important principles familiar to every Rotarian. Anita Zucker gave a heartfelt talk about the phrase “service above self” and what it has meant in her life. Bruce Murdy ended the meeting by expressing his thoughts on the subject of the Rotarian Four-Way Test.
Submitted by Helen Harloe