The Hart Rotary Club, originally chartered on Nov. 13, 1940, and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Shelby (established in 1938), celebrated their 85th anniversary in 2025. Despite their “age” they show no signs of slowing down. In fact, they celebrated their 85th anniversary with a Casino Night fundraiser and very soon they will be completing a brick fundraiser for a firepit to be installed as part of the new Hart City Streetscape.
The Hart Rotary Club charter event was held at the Stevens Hotel in Hart on Nov. 27, 1940, with more than 200 Rotarians in attendance, including the entire Shelby club, who gifted the Hart club a bronze bell that is still in use today.
Charter officers of the club included Gayle Joslin as president, Earl C. Pugsley as vice-president, Robert O’Connor as secretary/treasurer, Claude Stover as sergeant-at-arms, and B. J. VanderWall as board member. Other members of the newly formed club included Frank Bagley, Fred. M. Clark, Charles House Flint, Stewart Roche, Wellington Stevens, Edson Billington, Dalton Corliss, Newell Gale, George W. Powers, Bert Stevens, Harry Zimmerman, George W. Burton, Keith Dayharsh, Henry Stevens and James Summers.
“Rotary used to be a dinner club,” Hart Rotarian Walt Urick recalls. “When I was in high school, I can remember them meeting at Katie’s Kitchen on the corner of West Main and State Street. Later I remember them meeting in the upstairs of the Pink Elephant. Members had tried to get me to join, but evening meetings were difficult. In 1969, they switched to lunch meetings at Walker’s Restaurant. They picked up six new people, and I was one of them. Rotary used to be all men. Then in 1988, Rotary allowed women to join. Hart Elementary Schools Principal Christine Jensen and Hart UMC Pastor Rev. Laurie Haller, were the first two women who joined our club.”
According to Rotary.org, the main objective of Rotary is "service" in the community, the workplace and around the world. Rotary clubs are nonpolitical, nonreligious and open to all cultures, races and creeds.
In the past 85 years, literally hundreds of Hart citizens have become members for the purpose of uniting as community leaders, learning more about their community and finding ways to make a difference here and around the world.
Hart Rotarians have been instrumental in helping and developing area youth through essay contests, leadership camps, college scholarships, student exchange programs, scout programs, crossing guard recognition, Junior Rotarians, business tours and child advocacy. They have provided numerous school athletic facility improvements, sponsored school fun fairs and brought the first and second Pirate’s Paradise playground project to life at the Spitler Elementary School.
Some of the club’s most successful community projects included their annual Mexican Fiesta held in downtown Hart during the 1950s and 60s, attracting national and international attention; providing finances for a bathhouse at the former community swimming area on East Main (1960); and the construction and maintenance of an ice skating rink behind what is now the Hart Library (1965-1999).
“The skating rink was probably our most intensive project,” Urick said. “We had to flood it, clean it and man it. The weather was so problematic. Our best winter was the year we went 42 straight days (with) good skating ice.”
The club is also proud of its work with other municipalities and community organizations. In the late 1960s, the club worked with the Hart City Council, the local Jaycees, the local Chamber of Commerce and the Hart Township Board for the purpose of developing a Recreation Committee for youth of the Hart area.
Other community involvement has included everything from participation in the annual National Asparagus Festival parades and raising funds to pay for Hart’s July 4th fireworks displays to paving sidewalks at Grace Youth Camp (now Grace Adventures) and fundraising for the construction of the Hart Area Public Library.
Presently they are charter members of the MDOT’s Adopt-a-Highway program and regularly participate in the Hart Lake Clean-Up Day, Feeding America food truck distributions and downtown Hart events. They also recognize Hart High School Students of the Month, as well as sponsor TEAM golf outings and the Hart Performing Arts Series.
In 1984 the club was pleased to institute their annual “Citizen of the Year” award recognizing a non-Rotarian resident who exemplifies the Rotary’s tradition of “Service Above Self” motto.
Former Citizen of the Year recipients in alphabetical order include Tom Altland, Delores Bauer, Wilmer Carlson, Jeff Clark, Crossing Guards, Crystal Valley Care Fund, Bob & Carol Dodds, Paul Erickson, Bill Field, Verla Frick, Stacie Hegg, Dick Huntington, Paul Inglis, Ed Johnson, Tom Kirk, Pete LundBorg, Garry McKeen, Gordon Merten, John Merten, Flossie Meyers, Joel Mikkelson, Stan Rickard, Russ Robbins, Les Schaner, Louise Stevens, Jane Thocher, Bill Wells and Bev Wood.
Since 1986, the Hart Rotary bestowed the honor of “Paul Harris Fellow” on a club member who has shown a long-term commitment to the club and its service programs. Along with the recognition, the club donates $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation in honor of the awardee. The award is named after Paul P. Harris, who was an attorney in Chicago and founded Rotary in 1905.
Former Paul Harris Fellow honorees in alphabetical order include Thomas Altland, Michele Amstutz, Dale Barker, Scott Beal, Bill Bluhm, Mary Ann Bush, John Carlson, Cal Crimp, Vivian Dorman, Billie K. Fitz, Gayle Forner, Dennis Gale, Erwin Gale, Lyle Gale, Mike Greeley, Chris Griffin, William Hanna, Ann Hardy, Robert Hasse, Bill Hegg, Charles Hegg, Christine Jensen, Heather Jimison, Mike Jonassen, Ben Lester, Joan Lundborg, MarySue Mahan, Brian Monton, Stephanie Moore, Peter Moss, Ingrid Pearson, Kathleen Premer, Kathleen Rash, Lowell Rinker Thomas Schmidt, Julie Springstead, Nancy Sterk, Bill Stevens, Thomas Stevens, Jerry Thorne, Walt Urick, Beverly Wood, Malcolm Wood and Steve Young.
Hart Rotary membership is open to all business and professional leaders in the Hart area. As a Rotarian, members pay quarterly dues and are expected to attend weekly meetings, with the goal of meeting at least 50 percent attendance for the year, as well as participate in as many club projects as possible.
No matter what, all Rotarians embrace a simple code of ethics that they recite at the end of each meeting, “First, is it the truth? Second, is it fair to all concerned? Third, will it build good will and better friendships? Fourth, will it be beneficial to all concerned?”
These questions have guided the Hart Rotary for the past 85 years and will do so well into the future.
The Oceana Echo wishes to extend its congratulations to the Hart Rotary as they go forward into their 86th year. We also extend our thanks to the Shelby Rotary for sponsoring them and for what both organizations have accomplished for Oceana County and beyond.
Postscript: For more information about Hart Rotary or their Brick fundraiser, please email hartrotary@gmail.com, or visit the club’s Facebook page at Hart Rotary Club 2779. Please note, the brick fundraiser ordering deadline has been extended to Monday, May 25. If interested, please submit orders and payment of $150 per engraved brick to The Hart Rotary, P. O. Box 702, Hart, MI 49420.
