Hola Amigos / Friends of my Rotary Family:

Let me share some Rotary history that some of you might enjoy comparing with yours.

Hope to see many of you at our Montreal Convention.

Your Amigo in Mexico City,

Frank Devlyn

I remember going to talk at Rotary headquarters with the then President Hugh Archer about an upcoming trip I was going to make to the Soviet Union on business and pleasure with my family and I would like to have an update on Rotary progress in getting into that part of the world.  At that time President Hugh told me that he did not see Rotary going into the Soviet Union and he made it clear that any contacts I made would have to be on a personal nature and of course At No Cost To Rotary.

I will always remember that first visit to the then Soviet Union in a tour with Aeroflot with about 9 members of my Devlyn Family when it was quite economical during the Glasnost / Perestroika Period in June of 1989 where I was able to speak to high ranking government officials in about 14 different cities which are today about 5 different former Soviet Union countries.

I was able to arrange these visits thanks to arrangements by my personal friend Juan Jose Bremer the then Mexican Ambassador  to the Soviet Union.  He first arranged for me to see the famous Dr. Svyatoslav N. Fyodorov, a pioneering eye surgeon who invented Radial Keratotomy ( before laser surgery) who was one of the Soviet Union's first practicing capitalists who headed up 13 First Class Eye Clinics with the latest European equipment and later a politician who ran for president of Russia in 1996 who later died in a helicopter crash outside of Moscow in June 2000 when he was 72.  At that time Dr. Fyodorov only accepted to visit with persons when the government of a country made a request to schedule an appointment.  When we finished visiting his famous robotized eye clinics for Radial Keratotomy he ended up using some of our Mexican Intraocular lens and we also ended up being one of the persons to help make arrangements for Mexican Ophthalmologists to train at his famous clinics. 

Being with our Ambassador Bremer in Moscow I commented that I would like to visit with any government agency which might like to know about Rotary Clubs. 

Thanks to Ambassador Bremer he set me up with a visit to the office of the famous  Valentina Tereshkova the first woman cosmonaut to fly to outer space.  She headed up at that time the government agency dealing with Cultural Relations.  Her office arranged for me to visit their affiliate office or a high ranking government official in every one of the 14 cities I visited during my almost a month visit.  It was always the same procedure……..I arrived in a city and I called up the person who it had been arranged that I visit who were expecting me. It was always the same…a big black limousine came to pick me up and I was presented to a government leader with an interpreter for English.  We always had the usual introduction and we toasted with Vodka and I explained that my visit was on a personal note.   Invariably in almost every one of these visits with these high ranking government representative they would pull out a file which showed that over the years they had had the visits of many rank & file Rotarians who recommended the benefits of forming a Rotary Club in their city.  I would give some general concepts and basically that we were international and our ties with the U.N., etc.  I let them know that nothing could be done without the approval of the R.I. Board.  I will always remember that the older high ranking officials were having a hard time dealing with the fast changing scenario caused by Glasnost and Perestroika.  The younger officials usually were more open and elated to know about new changes coming about and Rotary seemed like one of interest.

My last visit was to the city of then Leningrad and now St. Petersburg.  I met a young man by the name of Andrei T. Ibragimov who was the I believe Finance Minister of that city representing the mayor. Andrei was a most enthusiastic person in wanting to start a Rotary Club right there and then.  I told him he could not do anything until there was a decision by the Board of R.I. and that they usually wanted to start with the capital cities of all countries. In our lengthy conversation he mentioned that he was going on a Ship where he headed up a Peace Mission to visit the capital cities of the Nordic Countries. I mentioned that we had Rotary Clubs in Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen where his Peace Ship was going to dock.  I made some calls to the presidents of the Rotary Clubs in these before mentioned cities and I later learned that they received Andrei royally and he was taken to visit their respective clubs.  Rotary started about 6 months later in Moscow and I was elated to know that Andrei during this same time played a vital role in the forming the following Rotary Club in St. Petersburg where he later was made their president.

Over the years I attended different Rotary Meeting in the USA or at Rotary Conventions headed up by Director Grant Wilkins who brought together Rotarians with an interest in the Soviet Union and I heard their respective Russia Soviet Union Rotary Stories.  I am always glad to see Rotarians from Russia and the former Soviet Union countries at our R.I. Conventions. I was glad to be invited as a Guest Speaker to the District 5010 District Conference held in Siberia in June of 2006 in Western Russia when Gayle Knepper was the district governor in a unique district then shared with Alaska and the Yukon and learn more of the many stories from Rotarians of how Rotary  had grown and was formed in so many Russian communities. I am glad to add my Rotary Story involving Russia and the Former Soviet Union Countries with that of many others who played a vital role in getting Rotary started in an important  vital part of the world. It is good to see how Rotary has prospered in Russia and many of the former Soviet Union countries.

On a personal note let me bring out that I have always used my contact with the Mexican Ambassadors to help promote Rotary in all the countries that I have had the opportunity to visit as many are personal friends and their advice is most valuable.  I received similar help years later in China from the Mexican Ambassador who explained how he felt we should go about setting up the first provisional Rotary Clubs in Beijing and Shanghai in the Rotary year 2000 / 200l when I was president of R.I.  The Mexican Ambassador Ley coincided with that given to the then President Nominee Bhichai Rattakul by his ambassador of Thailand to the Soviet Union.  It is my personal belief that it is beneficial to use our connections with Ambassadors in any country where we want to start up Rotary as well as to getting their help and advice on how to solve problems encountered by local Rotary Clubs in any country as most ambassadors have a good feeling toward Rotary.

Hope you and all copied find my Rotary Russia / Soviet Union story of interest.

Your Amigo / Friend in Mexico City 

Frank Devlyn

Past President of Rotary International

www.FrankDevlyn.org