WELCOME TO THE HISTORY FILES OF THE LAKESHORE ROTARY CLUB!
(L > R) PDGs Terry Allen, Bill Galbreath, Dick Sammis, Bill Menser in 2009
The 4 PDGs of Lakeshore RC at our 35th Club Anniversary Celebration!
1974-4-23 CHARTER MEMBERS of the LAKESHORE ROTARY CLUB:
1 Charles "Chuck" Andrews* Food Sales - Retail
2 Roland Belanger* Minister - Protestant
3 Robert "Bob" Brohan* Custom Metal Fab
4 Harry Burleson Banking - AA
5 Wayne Coleman* Moving & Storage
6 William "Bill" Galbreath* Public School Admin
7 Russell "Russ" Hanson Special Machines Mfg
8 Ernest "Ernie" Jelinek Die Cast Mfg
9 Don "DT" Leitow* Auto Sales - Retail
10 Charles "Chuck" Lemacks* Industrial Construction
11 Anson Lovellette Data Processing
12 Don Matthews* Electric Light & Power
13 Robert "Bob" Mattox* Bookkeeping Service
14 Orland "Orlie" Mead* Electrical Contractor
15 William "Bill" Menser* Tool & Die Mfg
16 Thomas "Tom" Mollison Accounting
17 William "Bill" Newell Beverage Sales
18 Granville "Deacon" Nye* Gasoline Sales
19 Edgar "Ottsie" Ott* Insurance
20 Harold "Hal" Perry Banking
21 David "Dave" Rutlin Funeral Director
22 Fred Schmidt* Education
23 James "Jim" Schueneman Retail Clothing Sales
24 David "Dave" Siewert* Dentistry
25 Robert "Bob" Small Physician
26 Warren Van Osdal* Insurance - Auto
27 Gerald "Gerry" Wahl Chemical Product Sales
28 William "Bill" Weirick Vocational Education
* Deceased
CHARTER PRESIDENT
Bill Galbreath
April 23, 1974
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LAKESHORE CLUB CHARTER ~ APRIL 23, 1974
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HISTORY OF MEETING PLACES FOR LAKESHORE ROTARY CLUB:
1) 1974: McGraths (a couple of times)
2) 1974-75: First National Bank (now 1st Source) just north of Glenlord Rd. Harry Zick catered to the basement Meeting Rm.
3) 1975 till ?: Schuler’s on Red Arrow near I94 Exit 23.
4) Tosi’s for about 1 year while Schuler’s was being remodeled.
5) Back to Schuler’s on Red Arrow until they closed.
6) Park Inn, catered by the Fireside Inn, for about 3 years.
7) Five o’clock Sports Bar on Red Arrow July 2006 - August 2014.
8) First Church of God in Stevensville since August 2014.
9) Via ZOOM from 4/30/2020 during COVID-19 Pandemic till?
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The Legend of the Sopaipilla (1980s):
Rotarian Ken Webster was responsible for introducing the sopaipilla, also spelled sopapilla or sopaipas, to our Club and to the Berrien County Youth Fair. (A sopaipilla is supposed to be a kind of fried pastry, or quick bread.) With great fanfare, Lakeshore Rotary manned our first and only Sopaipilla Booth at the Youth Fair. Despite super-human efforts on behalf of all Rotarians involved, Sopaipillas received minimal acceptance by the Berrien County community. In fact, minimal acceptance would be a gross overstatement of fact. There were few, if any, actual confirmed sales of the supposedly edible items. Farm animals at the Fair were rumored to have moved to the downwind-end of their pens from the Sopaipilla Booth. Some Rotarians stored sopaipillas in their refrigerators or freezers, only to find they had a half-life of 320 years. The Club lost money, and hasn‘t had so much fun since.
By Dr. Fred Schmidt (1980s)
Major Projects of the Lakeshore Rotary Club 1974 - 2021:
- Senior Citizens Night (annual) at Lakeshore High School; started during our 1st year (1974) and still doing it till 2020 when COVID-19 required us to cancel it!
- We built a garage for one of our members (Deac Nye)
- We built baseball dugouts at Lakeshore High School
- Peace Essay Contest for area Middle Schools students (annually for many years)
- I-94 Exit 23 Highway Clean Up (annual)
- I-94 Tree Planting Project (50,000 Trees in 5 years)
- Sponsored a new Rotary Interact Club at Lakeshore & Bridgman High Schools
- Habitat for Humanity and the Jimmy Carter home building Blitz in 2005.
(Helped build 2 Rotary homes in Benton Harbor)
- The Jung Nature Preserve
- North Lake Park – Playground Equipment, maintenance and clean-up, picnic tables painting, grills and more (annual since 2003).
- Youth Baseball Association and the Soccer Group
- Lakeshore Excellence Association ($5,000 over 3 years)
- 13. LMC Scholarships
- School supplies and Equipment for BELIZE children.
- Polio Plus Program
- BioSand Water Filters (2004-2015 Project in the Dominican Republic)
- International Rotary High School Youth Exchange students (annual)
- Hosted 2 Russian Vocational Teams through PEP. (1990s)
- RYLA Leadership Camp—have sponsored students on yearly basis from 2 area high schools. (RYLA = Rotary Youth Leadership Awards)
- Lory’s Place (through the Art Auction)
- Raised $3,800 in one week for Life-Saving kidney operation for 8-year-old Johel Camacho in the Dominican Republic.
- Law Day co-hosted with the Berrien County Bar Association (2008 and 2009)
- Lest We Forget – ran Booth to help sell their merchandise and raise money for their project.
- Many Spaghetti Dinners & Pulled Pork Sandwich Drive-Through Fundraisers
- Winter-Wear Take-It or Leave-It Trees at 3 Food Stores Nov 24 thru Dec 31, 2020
- Help UMC in Stevensville distribute Food Truck bags to those in need every 3rd Wednesday of EACH month, beginning January 2021.
