South Fairmont Rotary Club celebrates its 35th birthday with visit from retired members
Jan. 26—FAIRMONT — It was December 1987, and Fairmont's Rotarians needed room to grow.
A group of a few dozen members of the Fairmont Rotary Club fractured off to charter the South Fairmont Rotary Club. Wednesday morning at Fairmont's Sayboy Restaurant, a few of those founding members returned to look back on an eventful 35 years.
One of the leading founders of the South Fairmont Rotary is local businessman and developer Aaron Hawkins who has been involved in Marion County for most of his life. Hawkins served as the first president of the group in 1987 and opened the way for the future leaders within the community.
"This is wonderful and I'm appreciative of you all are inviting us back," Hawkins said to the guests. "When we start looking back at our founding it was a long time ago it really was, but it was a great time."
The original Fairmont Rotary Club had grown to a good size and was looking at the possibility of creating a second group to better serve the community.
In December 1987 the new group held its first unofficial meeting. Then, in January 1988, the South Fairmont Rotary was officially chartered.
According to Hawkins, in 1987, the Fairmont Rotary was "shy about accepting women" into its ranks, so Hawkins and his other charter members opened the door for women to take their place as community leaders alongside men.
The South Fairmont Rotary has 27 charter members, six of which were women. Those six were the first female charter members of any Rotary Club in the state of West Virginia.
Another of the group's founding members, Butch Phillips, also visited Wednesday morning. He said the women who joined the club are the reason for many of the group's successes.
"Looking around the room today, I can see that this group has continued to support the idea of female inclusion and leadership," Phillips said. "The experience in my 79 years tells me that if you want something done, find a good woman to help you."
Phillips was a leader behind the Celebration of Lights in Morris Park put on by the South Fairmont Rotary, a tradition that has continued throughout the years in support of the Tygart Valley United Way's Annual Campaign.
What started as 35 displays in the park has grown to over 500, raising over $500,000 for the United Way in its history.
Phillips and Hawkins are retired from Rotary Club, but there are still four of the founding charter members active in the club, Dixie Yann, Bud Ford, Cecily Enos and current Club President Nick Fantasia.
Fantasia credited much of his status in Marion County to the leadership and opportunities provided by both Phillips and Hawkins.
"The leadership that these two gentlemen provided day in and day out for this community, they didn't realize it while they were doing it," Fantasia said. "I joined the East Side Business Association because Butch brought me in. I ended up on the chamber [of commerce] board because Aaron brought be in.
"There were so many organizations that these gentlemen were the cornerstone of. They really are the foundation of how we should present ourselves to others."
Reach David Kirk at 304-367-2522 or by email at dkirk@timeswv.com.
