PROSPECT — Linda Griffin of Griffin Insurance is more than just a business owner. She also serves as district governor for Rotary District 7280, of which Butler County is a part.

Griffin worked for years at Griffin Insurance for her father, Francis Griffin. She got her insurance license in 1977 and bought the agency from her father in 1982.

In 1988, Griffin’s father asked her to join the Portersville-Prospect Rotary Club, making her one of the first three women asked to be in the club.

“I felt as a business owner, I should give back to the community,” said Linda Griffin.

After several years in the Rotary, she expressed interest in a higher role. In 1997, she became an assistant district governor. The position was started by Rotary International to help the district governor keep in touch with the clubs and help prepare potential candidates to become district governors.

Griffin’s current one-year term as district governor runs until the end of June 2005.

Griffin describes the role of district governor as “…a promoter and a cheerleader to the public and to the clubs.”

“The club is where things get done,” she said. “The district is administrative.”

District 7280 has 45 clubs, all of which Griffin is required to visit. As a result, she has eaten at more than 45 Rotary breakfasts, luncheons and dinners.

She enjoys the trips, saying they help her connect to the individual clubs. She gives presentations, meets with club officers and sometimes participates in club projects.

To Griffin, the best part of Rotary is the fellowship. Businessmen and women gather with a common goal: to serve the needs of the community.

Her favorite project is the Portersville-Prospect Chicken Bar-B-Que. That project allows club-community interaction. She noted public presence is important to the club since Rotarians work to help the community.

Griffin is a Paul Harris Fellow, which means she has donated $1,000 or more out of her own pocket to Rotary.

She stresses that Rotarians are not the only ones who can become Paul Harris Fellows. Rotary International accepts all contributions.

However, awards are not that important to Griffin.

“Rotary is not about awards,” Griffin said. “It is about service.”

This year, part of her role as district governor will be to attend celebrations in the district for the Rotary Centennial.

On Feb. 23, Griffin will spend time with the Cranberry Sunrise Rotary, then travel to Erie and Hermitage with fellow Rotarians for a daylong celebration.

There are five celebrations happening in the district that day, making it impossible for Griffin to attend all of them. She will travel to other parts of the district the next day for celebrations.

Griffin is married to Robert Alexander, and has two children, Francis and Katherine Friend, and two stepchildren, Melissa Sheets and Robert Alexander III. She also has three grandchildren, Cailey, Chelsey, and Michael.

Griffin is a member and past president of the Prospect Women’s Community Club, whose main project is the Prospect Library.

She is also a member of the National Federation of Independent Business Owners, where she served as chairwoman from 1995 to 1996, Insurance Agents and Brokers, where she served on the board and several committees; and the Rotary RV Fellowship, a group of Rotarians who own recreational vehicles and go on trips occasionally.

As a member of the Presbyterian Church of Prospect, she is in the choir and is a Sunday school teacher.

In her spare time, she enjoys spending time in her RV, reading and gardening.