Colleagues,
On December 16, 1925, fourteen Emmaus residents got together at the Broad Street Hotel and decided to organize a Rotary club—this at the suggestion of one Errol Peters, an Allentown Rotary club member, who would forever be known as the club’s Godfather. March 18, 1926 marked the first official meeting of the club when its charter was presented by District Governor Gilbert Palen. Thus began what would prove to be a meaningful experience for many hundreds of Rotarians over the years.
I have been asked to help lead the club’s efforts over the next few years in getting ready for what we hope will be a bang-up celebration. You may ask: why start now? Having recently served on the Borough of Emmaus’ 250thanniversary celebration committee, I can testify to the need to begin early. Such celebrations typically take place over many months before the actual big day itself arrives. That said, we will need to think about just what we might want to do going forward.
Several things immediately come to mind: First, a club assembly should be held soon, devoted to brainstorming among our members as to your ideas about what sorts of activities could well be included in the celebration.
Second, this would then lead to identifying volunteers to serve on an initial organizing committee. Using the Emmaus celebration planning as an example, there would undoubtedly be a myriad of subcommittees coming out of the woodwork later on as the club works out its approach.
Third, we must begin now identifying and documenting the club’s records and artifacts going all the way back to 1926. Indeed, Gary Rohrbach and I have begun doing just that. We spent several hours this past week in the basement of the Edward Jones offices on the Emmaus Triangle, going through lots of material, including old Trumpets, board minutes, committee reports, club fundraising activities, etc. It has been fascinating with several historical jewels popping up. But we are sure there must be other club records/artifacts out there in one or another location. If any of you either have something or know someone who does, let us know, so that we can collect it and store everything in one place.
Looking forward to 2026!
Roger Whitcomb