One of many Fallon Rotary Club outreaches during the year is serving breakfast on Labor Day.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
For a century, the Fallon Rotary Club has been one of the major service organizations in Churchill County.
Founded in June 1925, the Fallon Rotary Club has weathered time with its members volunteering in all aspects of community outreach from raising money for community programs to helping fellow residents.
Now, the Fallon Rotary Club has reached its centennial and invites the community to the anniversary at the Fallon Convention Center on Saturday. The cocktail hour begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m.
The first organization meeting according to the Fallon Standard occurred 100 years ago this month with 50 members from Reno who attended the banquet establishing the latest club in Nevada. The dinner 100 years ago also began at 6:30 p.m. but at the Episcopal Guild Hall.
According to the various accounts, the prospective Fallon members met the visiting club members from Reno who rode the train to the small county seat. The Rev. Brewster Adams was one of the main speakers who attended the dinner.
The first officers elected to positions in the Fallon Rotary Club included Andrew Haight as president and R.L Douglass as vice president. Other officers included E.W. Blair as treasurer and George McCracken as secretary.
The Fallon Standard noted the seven directors: Haight, Douglass, Blair, George Coverston, Carl Dodge, Karl Vesper and M.H. Wallace.
The 35 members coming from Reno were a Who’s Who of the city’s leaders to include Dr. Walter E. Clark, president of the University of Nevada, and Sen. Tasker L. Oddie.
According to the local newspaper, “talks of all these visitors were declared by the Fallon charter members as most interesting and carrying with them considerable inspiration.”
Following the Fallon dinner, Haight and his wife left for Cleveland whereby the new Fallon club would have its first representation at an international convention.
Over the years and through the Great Depression and World War II, the Fallon Rotary Club has included a membership of educators, businessmen and elected officials such as county commissioners, councilmen and women, judges, mayors and newspaper editors and publishers.
During the past 30 years, the Fallon Rotary Club has been involved with many activities including parades, Relay for Life, food and clothing drives during Christmas, dictionary handouts to local students and clothing and supply drives for senior residents during the holidays. Every month, members also volunteer at Fallon Daily Bread.
For the past five years, the Rotarians have sponsored the annual pancake breakfast on Labor Day, hours before the parade winds its way through the city’s streets.
Over the years, the Rotarians meet weekly on Tuesdays for lunch at the Stockman’s. The Fallon Rotary Club invites speakers to tell about their projects or fundraisers or to tell of their endeavors within the area.
The newspaper articles collected by the Churchill County Museum during the past century have shown the weekly luncheon to be a favorite of local and state leaders, congressmen and U.S. senators.
NEED TO KNOW
The cost for the dinner is $50 and includes a first bar trip and door prize drawing. Proceeds benefit the Churchill County community
For ticket information, email, call or text Fallon Rotary President Darrell Hook: 530-598-6497 or dhehook@gmail.com.