History:

Paul Harris found himself in the crime-ridden city of Chicago in the early 1900s. Harris had lived in the New England area prior to his move to Chicago and found his new location quite different from that to which he had been accustomed.

Paul Harris soon found a friend whom he had much in common. The two men decided to lunch together on a regular basis. Soon, each man found other carefully chosen friends and business associates who were interested in meeting regularly.

A plan began to emerge. They would pack a lunch and meet at alternate offices on a rotational basis. Hence the name Rotary Club was born.

The concept has since developed into very definite guidelines, such as limited members from a given profession or line of business, thus enabling a free flow of varied ideas.

In the fall of 1959, Dr. Walt Sargent and Eugene Dumont were talking following groundbreaking of the Vine Street underpass. They discovered they both had Rotary backgrounds. Walt Sargent had joined Kent Rotary Club and Gene Dumont was a member of the Heights of Greater Cleveland Rotary.

When the two men decided to establish a Rotary Club in Willoughby, they contacted Tom Card who was District Governor at the time. Tom met with them and made it abundantly clear that this attempt had been made before with no success. Sargent and Dumont were not discouraged and pressed on.

Gene Dumont secured the necessary sponsorship from the Heights Club Committee chairman, Howard Ensign, who oversaw the process. Howard was in the insurance business with an associate, Herbert Moore, in the Willoughby area. Herb agreed to be Secretary of the charter group. (Due to obligations, Herb left the club after the first year.) After Herb’s death, an attempt was made to collect the records regarding the charter process and the minutes of meetings of the first year. Unfortunately, it was discovered that all records had been destroyed.

In the ensuing months, the fledging group was advised by Rotary International to meet with the leading business and professional people of the Willoughby-Eastlake, Mentor and Kirtland school districts. (This was the western segment of Lake County.) The numbers of men who agreed to meet each week began to increase and the charter group began to take shape. They met at the Intorcio Restaurant until the required number to obtain a charter was reached.

On March 21, 1961, the first official charter night was held. The charter members are documented by copies of that first program, and they remain in the files of some of the members. Regarding the charter members, the story of Joe Tulley and Mel Andrews emerges. Each man (Tulley and Andrews) was nominated, but the classification aspect of Rotary by-laws loomed large enough to create a snag. Both men were attorneys, albeit Tulley’s specialty was trial law and Andrews was civil. Permission was granted by Rotary International to install both men, one as a charter member and the other as the first non-charter member. At this point, a lively discussion ensued regarding who had been the first contacted for membership, the concept being that the first who was called would be the charter member. After much discussion, the final solution was reached with a toss of a coin. Mel Andres was installed as charter member and Joe Tulley as non-charter member. This process was a Willoughby Rotary “first.” Both men have been faithful members for more than 40 years!