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Rotary in Hawaii
 Like over 90% of everything that comes to Hawaii,
Rotary arrived in Hawaii aboard the ship Lurline in 1915, just 10
years after the beginning of Rotary in Chicago. One of the benefits
of Rotary is fellowship and the Hawaii Rotary connection grew from
the social acquaintance between V.O. Lawrence, a member of the No.3
Rotary Club of Oakland, CA and James L. Coke, later Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court of the Territory of Hawaii. As they sailed
together from San Francisco to Hawaii, they talked about Rotary and
how to introduce Rotary to Hawaii.
Upon arrival in Honolulu, Justice Coke invited a
number of local professional and business men to meet with Lawrence
and himself at the old Commercial Club. After the objectives of
Rotary had been explained by Lawrence, the group decided to organize
the Rotary Club of Honolulu. The charter was dated July 1, 1915 and
twenty-eight members had the distinction of membership in the 170th
club admitted to Rotary which at that time had a total membership of
approximately 20,000 members.
In June 1920, Charles C. Graves, President of the
Rotary Club of Honolulu, made a trip to Hilo on the Big Island and
invited about twenty business men to dinner. As a result, an
application was made to Rotary for a charter. The request was
granted on December 1, 1920 and with 16 members, the Rotary Club of
Hilo became the second club in the Territory of Hawaii and 795th
in Rotary.
The Secretary of the Rotary Club of Honolulu, John
Caldwell, spent two years working on the formation of a third club
again on Oahu in the Wahiawa-Waialua area. He was assisted by Steven
Bowen of Wahiawa and on May 27, 1937 Club President Steven Bowen
received the charter for club no.4168, the Rotary Club of
Wahiawa-Waialua.
The Rotary Club of Kauai was admitted on August 23,
1937 as club no.4378 – John Caldwell along with fellow Rotary Club
of Honolulu members Wayne Stewart and Charles Loomis teamed up on
organizing this club and the charter President was W.P. Alexander.
The Rotary Club of Honolulu assisted with the
formation of the Rotary Club of Maui with David C. Rattery as its
first President, received their charter on November 4, 1937 as club
no.4478. Later, in 1950-51, the assignment of charter club numbers
was discontinued as the number of Rotary clubs swelled to over
7,000. Rotary was now represented on all four major islands in
Hawaii.
It was about this time that Rotarians in the
Territory of Hawaii petitioned for organization as a district; up
until now we were part of California District 104. At its January
1938 board meeting, Rotary International approved the split of
District 104 and all the clubs in Hawaii united under the new
designation as District 100. Wayne Stewart, past president of the
Rotary Club of Honolulu became the first District Governor for D100;
Rotary came of age in the Territory of Hawaii with only five clubs
and 231 members. In 1950, District 100 was re-designated as D150 and
again changed in 1950 to D500. The current designation as D5000
occurred in 1991.
The 6th club in the Territory of Hawaii –
the Rotary Club of Waikiki - was organized once again through the
efforts of a committee from the Rotary Club of Honolulu. Frank Cleve
was the charter president and the club held its first meeting at the
Green Lantern Restaurant on Kalakaua Avenue (later known as the
Wagon Wheel Restaurant).
One of the most significant events for District 500
was hosting the 60th International Rotary Convention in
May 1969. It was a colossal undertaking for the geographically
spread District and involved hundreds of Rotarians from throughout
the State. At that time, it was the 2nd largest
Convention held in the United States and attracted 14,684 attendees
from 66 countries. The President of Rotary International that year
was Kiyoshi Togasaki of Japan.
Credit for the award to Hawaii of the 1969 convention
should go to Morley Theaker of the Rotary Club of Honolulu; he was
instrumental in the effort to bring the convention to Hawaii and
after securing the support of local Rotarians, personally carried
the formal invitation to Chicago where he met with R.I. President
Carl Miller and convinced him of the ability of the Hawaii Rotarians
to host the event. Carl later moved to Hawaii and became a very
active member of the Rotary Club of Honolulu.
In 1990, the American Red Cross honored the Rotary
Clubs of Hawaii for outstanding community and public service,
presenting the District with its Humanitarian Award. This was the
first time that one international organization was honored by
another international organization with a national award here in
Hawaii.
One of the first to suggest the addition of the
keyway to the Rotary Wheel was Charles R. Frazier. The Rotary
International Board of Directors approved the addition of the keyway
in 1923. Without a keyway, a gear is just an idler spinning,
incapable of transmitting power.
As of July 2006, District 5000 has approximately
2,200 member Rotarians in 41 Clubs located on the four islands of
Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island. We are part of Zone 24 and
participate in the Far West PETS (presidents-elect training seminar)
with eight other districts from Zones 23 and 24.
(a large ‘mahalo’ to PDG Clarence McIntosh for his
invaluable assistance in providing the early history of Rotary in
our District)
RGHF
Member PDG Gary Siracusa
30 July 2006 Surfboard
From the
Ziegler Collection |
