Our Program on Tuesday, November 5
th was Darel Leipold speaking about “Our Club in Past Days” and delivered in the form of a poem about the club’s beginnings, its founding members and the Excelsior Rotary in those early years. Our Club was founded in 1949. For Club historians the 1
st organizational meeting was held on Monday, April 19, 1949 in Superintendent Bill Neilson’s office with Mpls. #9 Club sponsors. Then on April 25
th 11 men signed the charter with 7 names added prior to submitting application to charter. The charter was issued on June 30, 1949 and the Charter Night and Dinner was held on August 22
nd at the Sampson House with 124 people in attendance. The new Excelsior Rotary started with 31 members. Darel’s fun poem listed many of the founders’ names and their business classifications. The first president was Ray Johnson (NSP) and the other charter mem
bers were the who’s who of the City of Excelsior. Along with Ray Johnson were Art Anderson (Finance), Vic Arnold (Clothing), Archie Cochrane (Const./boats), Joe Colihan (Amusement Park), Pat Cunningham (electrical Repair), O’Neil Grathwol (Lawyer), Norbert Grathwol (Liquor Retail), Ralph Kueken (NW Bell), Harold Larson (Principal), Maurice Leach (Retail Hardware), Bud Long (Accounting), Don Lyman (Retail Lumber), Anson Mase (Construction), Ray Mason (Auto Retail), Bill Nilsen (Education), Red Smith (Retail Shoes), and Howard Wendt (Dry Cleaning).following Darel’s poem he spoke about his connections with the founders and club members also added their stories about various early members of the club.