Emeritus Award

On June 18, 2009, the Club awarded its first Emeritus Status members.

The emeritus title originates from the Latin emereri (meaning: earn one's discharge by service) and is often used in distinguished academic fields.  In bestowing this title, we acknowledge and respect the two parts of the concept:

 

1) honor for service

2) continuation of belonging

 

The inspiration for this status is reflected in the inaugural class – each member has been both visionary in his leadership and dedicated in his service. In granting this new status, we confirm that, although they may not be with us on a regular basis, their exemplary service merits their always being an esteemed part of our organization.

 

It is my pleasure to pay tribute to our first-named Emeritus Rotarian, Harvey Grotrian.

 

 

 

 

 

“On behalf of the members of our Rotary Club, I would like to take this opportunity to convey our sincere sentiments to Rotarian Harvey Grotrian… We are very glad that Ann Arbor Club has bestowed Rotarian Harvey with Emeritus status to honor him for his yeomen service rendered to your club and the community at large.”

 

And with that, let me reintroduce a true gentleman, and a Paul Harris Fellow, Emeritus Rotarian Harvey Grotrian. [Remarks by Len Stenger, June 18, 2009]

 

Jim Lester lives by Gandhi’s motto, “be the change that you want to see in the world,” or perhaps better, “be the change that you want to see in Rotary.” Jim joined Rotary in 1963. In 1985, he and then president, John Rosemergy, had the vision to invest for the future by establishing the Ann Arbor Rotary Endowment. Through the years, interest from our Endowment supports projects and scholarships in the community every year. Jim also helped identify and solicit Rotary members who would contribute a Rotary Scholarship of $25,000 toward the $1 million dollar endowment goal. We are deeply grateful to Jim, who served as the treasurer of both the Endowment and the Club for over 27 years. He and his wife, Betty, also take a great deal of pride in the annual awards of the Jim and Betty Lester STRIVE Scholarship.

Jerry Hodge

It gives us great pleasure to acknowledge the many years of fine service of Rotarian Gerald P. Hodge. Jerry, as many of you know, is widely known for his medical and biological drawings. His artwork has appeared in hundreds of journals and books, and he has received several best-of-show awards for his art. 

 

 

Bob is known to us and to the wider Ann Arbor community in several capacities: as a Rotarian since 1964, which means Bob is one of our more senior members, and as significant contributor to the Ann Arbor musical scene, and as an honored member of the Pioneer High School Musical Department and its faculty.

 

Bob served as our Club’s president during the 1977-78 years; he was a member of the Club's Music Committee and an outstanding accompanist for the Rotary Club' chorus during our Wednesday meetings. Bob was honored for his service to the Club with the Distinguished Service Award and was named an honorary Paul Harris Fellow in 1993. Bob's love for Rotary extends through his family; his daughter, Carolyn, is the immediate past President of the Rotary Club in Bloomington, Minnesota. On a more personal note, Bob, along with John Rosemergy, was my sponsor when I joined the Rotary Club. Bob has served our Club well.

 

Bob's role in enhancing the musical scene in Ann Arbor is noted by his ten years as the conductor of the Youth for Understanding Chorale, an organization of high school music students who visit European and South American countries to encourage and support student exchange programs. This group holds reunions biannually, and at their latest reunion, there were over 170 former and current members in attendance. Their affection for Bob could hardly be expressed in words alone. WOW! What the expression of appreciation must have meant to Bob. Additionally, Bob has conducted the community's sing-along of Handel's Messiah for over 20 years. Bob also organized the Plymouth Oratorio Society and was its conductor for over 20 years. Another example of Bob's role in the local musical scene is his leadership as choir director at Bethlehem Church of Christ, Zion Lutheran Church, and the First United Methodist Church. Ann Arbor sings well when Bob is the conductor.

 

Several of us - Bob Albritton, Joan Knoertzer, Chuck Ritter and I - know Bob well as a fellow members of the Pioneer High School faculty. He retired in1984 after 34 years of excellence in teaching. He was one of the original members of the popular and successful Humanities program and was given a John Hay Fellowship in the Humanities to study music in Brazil. During his years as president of the Club, the Humanities Team members and the Pioneer principal had to adjust Bob's schedule so he could attend Rotary meetings on Wednesday. No music lectures for Bob that day! Bob's choruses and choirs participated in many local and state music competitions, and as a result, Bob and his students were well-known and respected by his peers throughout the state.

 

We Rotarians know what Bob has meant to two of his students, Ken Westerman and Rich Ingram, who are conductors at Pioneer and Huron High Schools respectively and who are, incidentally, honorary Paul Harris Fellows. They are fine choral conductors and teachers and their musical groups are well-known throughout Michigan and aboard. By hearing their students perform so well annually in December and May, we have first hand evidence of what Bob's legacy is and will be. Many thanks, Robert Pratt! [Remarks by Milo White, Oct. 7, 2009]

 

 George Cress has been an active member of this club since 1963, when he was sponsored for membership by Tom Dickinson. In the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s, this club pushed regular attendance and community service. George fulfilled these requirements with gusto, and he is a Paul Harris Fellow. His service included serving on our Membership Committee, and acting as General Campaign Chairman and also Chair of the Board of the Washtenaw United Way. George recruited and sponsored or co-sponsored a number of our Rotarians, including Duane Renken, Dale Berry, Bernie Bedell, Mary Hays and Mike Nold. He and his lovely wife, Connie, have three children and four grandchildren, all living in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. 

 

The name George Cress is synonymous with Ann Arbor Trust Company. It was founded by his father and mentor, Earl Cress, whose tests of George far outnumbered our Four Way Test. As its CEO, he led it from a pure trust company to a full service commercial bank, and it was under his leadership until he retired in June 1997. Soon after taking early retirement from the bank, he continued his community service and took on the duty of president of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation and, of course, it flourished under his leadership. 

 

George chuckles when he sees an image of Jack Lousma, Ann Arbor’s astronaut, floating in space. George said he more readily recognized Lousma upside down because for three years at Ann Arbor High School, George was the center and Lousma the quarterback of its football team. During those three years they never experienced a loss. George, you have been a winner ever since! And you have always placed “Service Above Self.”  [Remarks by Mike Nold, Dec. 16, 2009]

 

H. Dean Millard  It is a great pleasure for me to be part of our Rotary Club’s new tradition of recognizing and honoring our senior members who are not able to attend our weekly meetings. Our board of directors last year developed this new category of membership, Emeritus member, and to date has awarded that status to seven of our senior members. Today we will add one more member to that honored group, H. Dean Millard.

 

 

After returning from duty, he chose not to re-enlist but to apply for the new GI bill. He came to Ann Arbor and took a 6 week refresher course at Rackham for veterans which taught them how to study. Dean went to Flint Junior College for one year and then transferred to U of M. After a year and a half, he applied to dental school at the suggestion of his hometown dentist. He received his acceptance to the University of Michigan School of Dentistry for the Fall of 1948 while he was on his honeymoon with Dolly on whom he had a crush since the seventh grade. At the end of Dental School, Dean was invited by Dr. Donald Kerr to stay on at the school and teach dentistry. Dean became a graduate student in Periodontics.  He proceeded to earn the first-ever degree granted in Oral Diagnosis. When Dr. Kerr established the School’s Department of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology, Dean became its chairman.

 

Dean, along with other faculty members, became involved in Project Hope, a ship- based charitable organization dedicated to medical and dental education. He had a tour of duty on the ship while docked in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka). He also traveled to Ethiopia with Project Hope to evaluate a site in Asmara. He got me involved in Project Hope, and I spent a year with my family in Egypt.

 

Dean was coauthor of the universally-accepted textbook on oral diagnosis. The book went through 8 revisions. It was so popular that even at a 50 cent a copy royalty, he was able to use it to pay their first daughter’s college tuition. Dean retired as department chairman from the Dental School in 1989. But he used his retirement to further the field of oral diagnosis and oral medicine by organizing three World Workshops. Each of these produced a book in the latest research and trends on the subject.

And last, Rotary. Dean joined in 1978 and became president for the 1986-1987 year. When asked if he would be president, he said only if Bill Stegath would remain as the program chair, and Bill did. Dean is responsible for my joining Rotary and also Jed Jacobson, who was the club secretary until his job took him out of the area. And, of course and importantly, Dean was a long serving member of the Rotary bowling team.

 

Dean is joined today by his son Tom. I’m pleased to present our latest emeritus member, Herbert Dean Millard. [Remarks by Wayne Colquitt, Feb. 17, 2010]