A history rich in service
The Rotary Club of Butler PM has been instrumental in shaping how Butler and the surrounding communities have grown and evolved in its 100+1 years of putting “Service Above Self.”
“I'm proud of the work Butler Rotary has done in Butler, and I'm proud to be a member,” said Dennis Baglier, a 19-year member of the club and owner of Baglier Buick GMC.
Known for its fight against polio, the Rotary has always addressed the needs of the community. Among its many local contributions are the Rotary Turkey Roundup to feed the hungry, raising funds to support literacy efforts, continuing to care for the community's youth by building picnic shelters at local parks, funding scholarships, distributing dictionaries and supporting antibullying programs.
Around the world, Butler Rotary has sent aid to Sri Lanka, supported doctors in Peru and participated in exchange programs with Rotary Clubs in South Africa.
“My experiences (abroad) with Rotary helped me gain an understanding of the meaning of Rotary and how important it is to the world,” said member Ron Fodor, retired district manager of the Butler County Conservation District.
The Rotary Club of Butler PM practices fellowship through service to create meaningful connections and lifelong friendships in the club and the community.
Butler Rotary members literally welcome every visitor and resident to Butler. The club donated and installed new welcome signs into the city.
Placed on the major arteries leading into town under the direction of Baglier, they are maintained by Rotary members.
“The old welcome signs were literally falling down,” Baglier said. “Allegheny Power donated the poles and helped to build and install them.”
Founded in Chicago, the Rotary organization was 15 years old when the Butler Rotary Club was chartered.Arthur G. Pierce, vice president of the Pittsburgh Rotary Club and manager for Cutler Hammer Manufacturing Co., began organizing the Butler club in the winter of 1919. The Rotary district governor appointed Pierce as a special representative to organize the Butler club.A few short weeks later, on Jan. 19, 1920, the first meeting was called to order at the Willard Hotel with 25 men present. This first meeting took place on a Monday. Butler Rotary continues to meet on Mondays, the first and third of the month, at the Butler YWCA, 120 W. Cunningham St.The new charter brought two Butler County communities and Rotary members from Allegheny County together when the delegates from Pittsburgh traveled to Butler on March 8, 1920, for Charter Night.The Rotary's history is entwined with that of the country. Members used a special car on the Harmony Line beginning in Pittsburgh and traveling to Butler for the presentation of the charter by Edwin C. May, governor of the Sixth Rotary District. The Harmony Line was a daily trolley service from the Butler area to the Pittsburgh region that operated from 1908 to 1931.
The Butler Rotary family has grown since it first started in 1920.“There are a total of 13 clubs in the Butler Rotary family tree today,” said Leslie Osche, Butler Rotary president and Butler County commissioners chairwoman. Osche will turn over the leadership of the club to Tom Edwards, a financial adviser with Hefren-Tillotson, during the Friday anniversary celebration at The Atrium in Prospect.Included are the Kittanning, Ellwood City, Zelienople, Slippery Rock, Chicora and Rich-Mar clubs. The Parker and East Brady clubs merged in the 1990s and the Butler AM Rotary Club was chartered in 1997.Additional clubs have sprung from these clubs, including the Evans City, Cranberry and Cranberry Township Sunrise clubs. There is also a club emerging out of Saxonburg not yet chartered.Rotary is about bringing together people of many vocations and promoting those vocations. Club “Classification Talks” help explain vocations and jobs and how members carry out their work with the highest ethical standards. Clubs help Rotarians live out “Service Above Self.”“I get a lot of satisfaction out of Rotary's motto and the fellowship that we have,” said Jim Ferguson, the club's treasurer and a 22-year member who is retired after a career in workforce development.
In 1989, Rotary International changed its bylaws to include women.The first woman, Linda (Harvey) Burkley, entered the Butler club in 1990. She was director of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce.Others joining in the early 1990s were Marilyn Albert of the Butler County Children's Center and Kathryn Helfer of Hays & Hartzell Realty.By the year 2000, there were up to 17 women in the club. Today the club is composed of almost 50% women.Karen Diehl of Diehl Accounting was the first female president of Butler Rotary.The Butler PM Rotary women brought the focus on literacy in the area by supporting the schools and libraries with fundraising to educate and inform youth and adults.
Rotary International is a global organization. Its clubs unite dedicated people to exchange ideas, build relationships and take action.Clubs are organized by district, and each district has a district governor.“District 7280 includes Erie to Cranberry and from St. Marys to the Ohio line,” said Millie Pinkerton, former Butler Rotary president and wife of longtime member and former county commissioner, the late Dale Pinkerton.The Butler Rotary Club has contributed four district governors to the Rotary International Organization. Nominations for district governor are not made by individuals, but by Rotary clubs.Qualifications for district governor are:Be a member in good standing of a club in the district.Have served as club president for a full term.Complete seven years of Rotary membership before taking office as governor.Show knowledge of the qualifications, duties and responsibilities of the governor.Fred Stover was the first district governor for District 7280. He served from 1923 to 1924. Stover was a prominent Butler coal operator and civic leader. He was the first president of the Butler Rotary and served two terms.Stover was a former national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, one of the organizers and a charter member of the Butler Rotary Club, and served for nine years as a director of the Butler Chamber of Commerce. Stover died in 1947.Kenneth A. Christy was district governor from 1963 to 1964. He served as the Butler Rotary president from 1959 to 1960. He became a member of the Butler Rotary Club in March 1953.Christy was a hairstylist who achieved international recognition with his signature “Christy Natural Wave.” It was a patented and franchised haircut process that he taught at various places around the world.A love of golf and Christy's friendship with Peter Jackson of Dundee, Scotland, led to the International Golfing Fellowship and the U.S. Golfing Fellowship. What began as a friendly competition over a porridge bowl is now an annual international gathering of Rotarians.John Chiprean was district governor from 1969 to 1970. Known as “Mr. Butler” because of his devotion to the town, Chiprean started his career at Miller's Shoes in 1907 and took over as owner in 1934.He was an active Rotary member with his wife, Carol Keller. Chiprean died in 1995. His son James “Jimmy” Chiprean Sr. took over the family business and continues to operate on Butler's Main Street.A. Dale Pinkerton was district governor from 1995 to 1996. He served as the Butler Rotary president from 1991 to 1992 and served a second term from 2015 to 2016.After a long career in management with Goodyear, he purchased a Goodyear store in Butler and remained in Butler until his death in 2020.“Everything he did, he did for other people,” Millie Pinkerton said about her husband. “That's what a leader should do.”Pinkerton was a beloved member of the Butler Rotary and dedicated his considerable sales skills to Rotary fundraising efforts. He founded the Rotary Turkey Roundup, fundraised for an American doctor working in Peru, and supported fellow Rotarians in their vocations.He embodied “Service Above Self.” He was known for saying “keep smiling” and “have a fantastic day.”Along with its membership, the organization also earned accolades.Butler PM Rotary was awarded the Club Service Award and Best Club in the district under Pinkerton's leadership in the 1990s.“Projects like the Rotary Turkey Roundup and Peru excursion occurred in the 1990s,” Osche said.
The Rotary Foundation became a Hallmark of Rotary International in the 1950s.In 1957, the Butler club was a 100% contributor, with all of its members contributing at least $10 each to the Rotary Foundation. That tradition continues today.“The club is a 100% Paul Harris Fellow Club,” Ferguson said. “This means that every member has contributed at least $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation.”Since its inception, the Butler club has contributed more than $325,000 to the Rotary International Foundation. The foundation funds humanitarian efforts and programs across the globe: most notably, the eradication of polio in almost every country in the world.The Butler club has its own 501(c)(3) entity called the Butler Rotary Foundation.“The Butler Rotary Foundation allows funds to be solicited for special programs selected by Butler Rotary members,” Ferguson said.The Butler Rotary Foundation has supported ongoing programs, such as the Rotary Turkey Roundup. Additionally, funding has been used to improve local parks and playgrounds. Club members chose to fund relief efforts in Sri Lanka in 2004 and sent needed supplies to Peru in 1998.“What we make this year,” Millie Pinkerton said of the turkey roundup, “will be used next year.”In 2019, the Butler PM Rotary told the Eagle its contribution to the Turkey Roundup provided donations to 17 food banks, and church meal service programs that help needy families.
