Generations of men have banded together for more than 100 years to serve their communities through the Rotary Club.
The simple idea was put into action by the late Paul Harris, a Chicago attorney who had a vision and became the founder of the Rotary Club. The first Rotary Club of Chicago began on the 23rd of February 1905, so professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships. Harris and five other men started the club based on an idea that Harris had been developing for five years – that men in business could be and should be personal friends. The name Rotary was simply the original plan of the club – for the members to meet in rotation at their various places of business.
Over time, Rotary’s reach and vision gradually extended to humanitarian service. Members have a long track record of addressing challenges in their communities and around the world.
“Whatever Rotary may mean to us, to the world it will be known by the results it achieves,” Harris once said.
In 1958, the late Indianola Rotarian John Hough and his wife, Ann Gladys Hough, documented the club’s history up to that point in time. Here are some highlights of the Indianola history that the Houghs put together.
The club came to Indianola in the spring of 1923 and was admitted to Rotary International on May 11, 1923, as part of district number 16. There were 24 Rotary Clubs in District 16 that encompassed Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. There were six in the Magnolia State including Aberdeen, Clarksdale, Cleveland, Columbus, Greenville and Greenwood. Belzoni was admitted as the last club in that same year.
The Rotary Club began meeting first in the American Legion and the Pitts Hotel. There were a few meetings at Sid Hogin’s Restaurant and later the Craig Hotel. But the Rotary Club found a permanent home at Newman Hall, in the First United Methodist Church and has met there ever since.
The first officers for Indianola included Arthur B. Clark Sr. as president, Forrest G. Cooper as vice president, Walton Gresham as secretary and treasurer and Richard Davidson as sergeant-at-arms. With the 23 original founding members, the club struggled somewhat to find its footing but continued to meet while setting the foundation for a century of success in Indianola.
The club traveled to Canada in June of 1924 to the Rotary Convention held in Toronto. Thirty members of the Indianola club took a train all the way there and back and the club won the grand attendance trophy of their district during the convention. While there the members distributed 10,000 copies of the Sunflower County, Mississippi brochure created by Dick Golling and financed by M.D. Gilmer of Gilmer Grocery Company. The brochure was quite popular with the Toronto Imperial Police and others. John McClendon actually promised anyone who moved there 40 acres and a mule. At least one convert was made when Wesley J. Clarke read the brochure and came to Indianola to work for the Gilmer Grocery Store and later his “sweetheart” came and they married at the Presbyterian manse.
The club has taken on and continues to take on projects that encourage and help the local community. Though they have not sought any reward for their work, the outstanding deeds have been rewarded over time.
In 1945, the club was visited by the governor of District 204, Dr. Lawrence T. Lowery, who presented the club with the President’s Award as best club in the district. The award was the direct result of one man – W.R. French. Mr. French had published “The Spoke and Page,” a weekly newsletter to all men and women from the community who were serving in the Armed Forces. There were 234 editions of the four-page newsletter sent out weekly to 820 people for four-and-a-half years. In total there were 140,400 letters consisting of 561,600 pages. There is now a display in the Indianola branch of the Sunflower County Library of Mr. French’s work.
In addition to the newsletters, members of the Indianola Rotary Club were active in war loan campaigns. A report on July 1, 1944, showed that Rotarians had purchased a total of $171,856 in war bonds during the preceding year in addition to their regular monthly purchases. The six clubs in Sunflower County purchased $500,000 worth of bonds.
In 1934-35, the provincial motto was put in place by then Rotary Club President W.W. Lockard. The “Yes, what can I do?” Not “Yes, but.” That spirited motto still drives the club through each of its tasks today.
In 1924, the club began its sponsorship of Boy Scouts by creating the Sunflower River Council. This leadership helped thousands of Boy Scouts in the south Delta area. The late Leslie Fletcher became scoutmaster in the late 1950s and helped lead more than 200 scouts to their Eagle Scout rank. There have been many more previous to and since Fletcher’s retirement as scoutmaster.
The Flood of 1927 displaced thousands of folks across Mississippi and the Indianola Rotary Club took it upon themselves to help out. Then-President Teacher Tanner took on the “tedious task of feeding the 600 refugees.” They partnered with the American Legion and “accomplished with marvelous efficiency.”
In 1945, the club was gifted a private swimming pool owned by Mr. and Mrs. B.P. Failing. The Rotary Club operated and maintained it as a non-profit enterprise and opened the pool each summer. Swimming lessons were taught in addition to open swim times. When interest and memberships for the pool declined it was ultimately decided to close the pool.
With the acumen, “deeds speak louder than words,” the Indianola Rotary Club “adopted” cadets from the Greenville Air Force Base in 1954. The idea was to help entertain the men and women who hailed from Holland, France, Norway, Algeria, Denmark, Nicaragua, Belgium and many other countries. They were Sunday guests in the home of Rotarians sharing a meal and family life.
The club took a hand in helping the Future Farmers of America program by inaugurating the 1951 Pig Program. The program was continued for several years as a financial profit to a “number of boys.”
In 1936, the Indianola Club sponsored the organization of the Inverness Rotary Club that continues to this day. It was reported in Mr. Hough’s book that in 1958 there were already several second-generation Rotarians – Jack Allen, Robert Barnett, Arthur Clark Jr., Leslie Fletcher, W.W. Gresham Jr., Seymour Johnson, Morris Lewis III, Rupert Lyon, Hubert Middleton Jr., William Mitchell Pitts and Neal Rogers. There are now several third-generation members as sons of those members have joined.
Walton Gresham, who joined in 1972, relayed at a recent meeting that he and Art Clark and Root Lyon were the first third-generation members.
Many Indianola Rotarians have helped lead the local government as Hough pointed out in 1958 that the mayor and four of the five members of the Board of Aldermen were all Rotarians. Their leadership influence was also felt through the School Board, Library Board, Hospital Board and various Chamber of Commerce projects.
For each weekly meeting, the ladies of the Indianola First United Methodist Church come together to plan, prepare and feed the members. Hough noted “their unfailing response to all of needs and their wonderful good humor in the face of any emergency have endeared them to us – one and all – ladies, we adore you and we feel we could not exist without you!”
One city beautification project took place under the leadership of the late Farmer Hamilton in the 1950s. Forty trees were planted along U.S. Highway 82 as part of the City Beautification program.
Reaching and attaining and maintaining 100% attendance is quite an honor for all Rotarians. Many have stretches of 50-year perfect attendance — though many are creative in their making their quota. While on vacations across the US and the world, Rotary members find local clubs to meet with and make friends across the world. And Indianola has hosted Rotarians from around the world as well who were dedicated to keeping their attendance record perfect.
Last year Allen Silverblatt and Richard Noble were honored
as 50-year members and each was originally brought in by Frank Crosthwait. Walton Gresham is now in his 51st year with the club. Silverblatt recently covered the “recent” history of the club over the past 50 years.
The club sponsored the Minnie Cox Park swimming pool and they funded and gave out memberships for decades until membership dwindled and the club decided to quit. The John Hough Scholarship was established at both Mississippi Delta Community College and Piney Woods. Hough also helped start the Indianola Animal Shelter with a $25,000 gift. And Mr. Hough began the tradition of the “Question of the Week.”
A Wild Card Committee was created and headed up by Henry Paris for many years and the committee developed events that were community-wide. The club used to have an annual bingo event that raised money for local schools.
“That was always a lot of fun and easy to do and we used to have an attendance contest and we put 10 weeks of football pics in it. The winner got a trip to the Sugar Bowl. And there were other attendance contests where we had teams,” said Noble.
One of the more recent projects was funding the body cameras for the Indianola Police Department.
Each Rotarian, in addition to the motto, has a creed to live up to on a daily basis “of the things we think, say or do.”
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Indianola Rotary Club — 100 years of meeting and serving the Delta and preparing for the next 100 years.
