Abilene Southwest Rotary Club
“A Brief History”
The Abilene Southwest Rotary Club had an unusual beginning. A banker named Briggs Todd, who was a Past District Governor in the Dallas, Texas area, moved to Abilene to head up a new bank. Having been a Rotarian for many years, Briggs was proposed to the Abilene Rotary Club for membership. However, the banking classification was already filled, so his proposal was disapproved.
Briggs had made a good friend of Rotarian John C. Mayfield, and they, along with some others, decided that Abilene needed a new Rotary Club. They went about Abilene, getting a group of 30 Abilene leading businessmen to agree to be charter members. They also had one other person, who was an additional active member, for a total of 31.
On March 12, 1956 the club received its charter from Rotary International. Briggs Todd was elected as the first President. Since that time, the club has grown in membership to a high of 83 members, during the 1988 year, and today the membership is 66.
The club has started and continued many projects. Two of the principal ones are the Top Fifty Plus Banquet and the Dyess AFB Recognition Program.
The first Top Fifty Banquet was held on March 3, 1960, at the Windsor Hotel. Then President W.P. (Bill) Wright Jr., presented the idea to the club as a continuing program to be held annually. The purpose was to Honor those Fifty Outstanding High School Graduating Students, who had excelled in Academics and achieved the highest grades at Abilene High School. The banquet would feature a Named Speaker who would leave a lasting impression on the students and our community. The first speaker for the event was: Chester H. “Chet” Lauck. Mr. Lauck was a Vice president with the Continental Oil Company. He had also been part of the nationally known radio team of “Lum and Abner” which entertained radio fans for a period of twenty-five years. Since that time there have been speakers like; Paul Harvey, Werner von Braun, Bob Richards, Jules Bergman, Abby Van Buren, and Calvin Hill. In 1962, the club split up the 50 students between Abilene High and the new Cooper High Schools. Then in 1981, the club decided to include the Wylie High and Abilene Christian High Schools. Thus, the name: Top Fifty Plus. Last year in 2005, the club honored 62 students.
The other principal program the club is so proud of is the Dyess AFB Recognition Program. We began this program to honor the Dyess AFB Outstanding Performers in July 1974. Richard Buzard, the incoming president, attended a District Conference held in Wichita Falls, TX. At a regular Rotary Club meeting, during the conference, was a lone Airman of the Month from Sheppard Air Force Base. Richard felt that this type of recognition for our Dyess AFB military personnel would be appropriate for our club too. Since that time, we have honored the; Airman of the Month, Airman of the Quarter, NCO of the Quarter and other Outstanding Performers from Dyess AFB every three months. This has offered the airmen at Dyess an incentive to be the best. The honorees receive public recognition for their efforts and are introduced individually by the base commander who tells something of their backgrounds, their hobbies, their duties and their aspirations for the future. This event has contributed greatly to the good relations, between Dyess AFB and the Abilene Community, which are envied by many military communities.
There are many other projects that the club participates in to support the Abilene community, and the world. To list a few; the Abilene Volunteer Weatherization project, the Abilene State School Halloween Carnival, the Elementary School Reading program, Contributions to the Abilene Adult Day Care Center, Meals on Wheels, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cisco Jr. College and Texas State Technical College Scholarship Programs, Children of the Dump in Nicaragua and Books to Africa programs, plus many others. Since 1985, the Club members have contributed funds almost annually to Rotary International’s effort, in conjunction with the World Health Organization and UNICEF to stamp out Polio around the world. The goal was to eradicate Polio by the year 2005, and to this date, it has been 99% accomplished. There are still some case lingering in a few countries.
The Abilene Southwest Rotary Club has had women members since June 1988. Natalie Matthews, the daughter of one of Past President’s Walt Morton, served as our first woman president during the 2004-2005 Rotary Year. The club currently has eleven regular women members and two honorary. The future of the club looks bright. The membership is growing, projects for the community and the world are in progress and the club members practice the Rotary Motto “Service Above Self.”
