Arnold Rotary Club

– March 27, 1929

The first Nebraska Rotary Club to organize dated back to 1910, when a Lincoln club received the first charter.  The Lincoln club sponsored Kearney Rotary which was organized in 1918.  It later became the third Nebraska Club.  One of the early highlights for the Kearney club was a visit from Chief Justice William Taft, who later became President in 1941. The second Nebraska club to charter was the Hastings Noon club in 1919. The club was honored by the presence of Rotary’s Founding father Paul Harris who spoke at Kearney State College.

On the 27^th day of March in 1929, 24 charter members formed the Arnold Rotary Club.  Dr. Frank Burnham was the first president for the newly formed club.  Their organization meeting was held in one of the classrooms at Arnold High School.  The new members were accompanied by nineteen Broken Bow Rotary members.  The group was treated to a very nice dinner provided by the Home Economics class.

A week later, the Broken Bow Rotary Club hosted the Arnold Rotary members to a fine banquet at the new Arrow Hotel.  The new Arnold Rotary Club was also welcomed at the home of Dr. Frank Burnham (Rotary President) and his wife.  According to an article in the Sentinel, a wonderful meal was served in their spacious home, inviting all new Arnold Rotarians and spouses. Mrs. John (Grace) Priess opened with vocal and instrumental music and entertained the guests at the piano.  The Sentinel article went on to describe the amazing meal prepared for the Rotarians.  Grapefruit and Combination Salad, Mashed Potatoes, Roast Meat and Brown Gravy, Apple Pie, Cheese, Coffee, Mints, and baskets of salted nuts marked each place.  All guests were seated at one long table with Easter Lilies and green ferns adorning the table.  (The Frank Burnham home later became the Don Ambler residence and is now home to Aaron Olson.)

Presently, member Ken Wehrman has the honor of having the longest membership in Arnold Rotary – 58 Years (February 1964 to the fall of 2022).  He also has the honor of being the oldest Arnold Rotarian.

Arnold Rotary has had the good fortune to have several Arnold businesses welcome the club to their place of business in order to conduct Rotary meetings.  Some of the places the club has met in, include Marge’s Model Café (Kreative Edge Salon presently), AEDC, Cardinal Inn, Jim’s Bar, Horses & Harleys, and Arnold Exchange.

Presently, Arnold Rotary is in Rotary District 5630, which comprised over 1200 members in 2012.  Arnold Rotary has sponsored many Rotarians and non-Rotarians in local and overseas endeavors.  Ken Wehrman (1989-90) and Diane Finch (2002-03) have both served as Rotary District Governors.  Arnold Rotary has sponsored 26 exchange students from other countries and has also sponsored 10 Arnold Exchange Students to foreign countries.  Arnold Rotary has also sponsored 13 individuals who served as Group Study Exchange Members.  (Four of the sponsored adults were not Rotarians but served as great liaisons for our Rotary Club.)

The Exchange members and country they represented include:

• Lee Eastburn and Clay Mohr – Netherlands;
• Darrel Peters – Leader, India;
• Rick Peterson and Ken Pitkin – England;
• Bobbie Smith – Leader, Australia;
• Gerry Swingle – South Korea;
• Ken Wehrman – Leader, Netherlands;
• Berni Crow – South Korea;
• Diane Finch – Leader, Mexico;
• Greg Gasgoigne – France;
• Dave Pandorf – Philippines;
• Mary Becker – Leader, Russia.

Arnold Rotary also boasts a large number of 45 Paul Harris Fellows who are Non-Rotarians, and recognize the importance of their contribution.  Arnold Rotarian Ken Wehrman has the Rotary distinction of creating RYLA – Rotary Youth Leadership Award.  This program initiated by Ken has had an extremely successful run at sponsoring high school students at a week-long camp in Halsey.  It’s an honor to say that Arnold has sponsored around 100 students at this amazing camp.  I would not be surprised to see Arnold Rotary Club donate in some way toward rebuilding the camp at Halsey National Forest, that was destroyed by fire in 2022.

Arnold Rotary has a long list of contributions to our area and to the rest of the world, I will attempt to highlight some of the local contributions.  We are one of the most active clubs in District 5630, and in the past 25 years have exceeded $50,000 in contributions to Rotary Foundation.  The following list is just some of the local projects that Arnold Rotary Club has initiated or sponsored:

• providing a forum of weekly speakers,
• long-time Boy Scout/ Cub Scout sponsor,
• student of the semester sponsor,
• sponsor 4-Way Test contest for 5^th grade,
• sponsor youth soccer program,
• raising funds for the Civic Center and Rialto Theater,
• Pancake Feed,
• building a shelter, restroom/shower facility, and fishing pier at the Arnold Park along with supplying playground equipment,
• placed trash can in Koubek Gardens,
• planted trees at the ballpark,
• built and funded city tennis court in 1965,
• Historical Sign Project by Berni Crow – 42 signs completed and 18+ to go,
• supported Polio Plus,
• sponsored movies at the Rialto Theater,
• painted bleachers at the school,
• helped fund Arnold downtown beautification of the “Koubek Garden” lot,
• have donated and sponsored “Book Buddies” for elementary children at Arnold Public School.

The number of overseas projects matches or exceeds the local projects completed by Arnold Rotary.  Present Arnold Rotary members include Echo Pelster, Buzz Lohmiller, Melody and Irv Jennings, Brent and Laura Garrison, Becky Dailey, Ron Cool, Dell Cerny, Al Bishop, Roger Best, Mary Becker, Nicole Badgley, Kelli Blevins, Courtney Beshaler Evans, Kathy Schweitzer, and Berni Crow.

(Information supplied by local Rotarians, and some information for this marker was taken from the book, “One Hundred Years On The South Loup” by Norene Hall Mills.  Written and prepared by Berni Crow 2-3-23.)

 Original Charter Members:

• Jack Stewart,
• Glen Perkins,
• John Priess,
• John Jameson,
• Frank Koubek,
• U.A. Brown,
• Jud Schoenthal,
• Emil Benthack,
• Phil Houghton,
• Dr. Frank Burnham,
• Dr. Joseph Dunn,
• Dr. Glen Mahan,
• Frank Alexander,
• Hawley Wehrley,
• T.L. Jones,
• George Cunningham,
• Alva Worrell,
• Sinclair Lewis,
• Charlie Buck,
• Bob Harris,
• Otis Newkirk,
• Dewey Dunaway, and
• Leonard Steberg.

Past Arnold Rotary Presidents 

• 1929 – Dr. Frank Burnham,
• 1930 – Leonard Steburg,
• 1931 – R.E. Harris,
• 1932 – Dr. J.E. Dunn,
• 1933 – T.L. Jones,
• 1934 – C.S. Lucas,
• 1935 – C.H. Hare,
• 1936 – Charles Hart,
• 1937 – Herbert Johnson,
• 1938 – Lewis King,
• 1939 – Dr. Glen Mahan,
• 1940 – Emery Messersmith,
• 1941 – William Powell,
• 1942 – Jay Crosland,
• 1943 – Clarence Mills,
• 1944 – Rev. Earl Littrell,
• 1945 – John Dennis,
• 1946 – William Crosland,
• 1947 – Wayne Cunningham,
• 1948 – Robert May,
• 1949 – R.R. Brown,
• 1950 – Harry Lenhouts,
• 1951 – Carl Mattson,
• 1952 – Francis Hughes,
• 1953 – Ed Erickson,
• 1954 – Jack Welch,
• 1955 – Ralph Edminston,
• 1956 – Channing Lewis,
• 1957 – Roy E. Blixt,
• 1958 – Dr. R.J. Prendergast,
• 1959 – Robert Romans,
• 1960 – Darrell Peters,
• 1961 – Stanley Jensen,
• 1962 – Raymond Koubek,
• 1963 – Rev. Maurice Holt,
• 1964 – R.R. Brown,
• 1965 – Ken Wehrman,
• 1966 – Dwight Best,
• 1967 – Kenneth Holt,
• 1968 – Albert Fuller,
• 1969 – Jim Osborn,
• 1970 – Bert Fochtman,
• 1971 – Forrest Ferguson,
• 1972 – Leonard Croghan,
• 1973 – Bobbie Smith,
• 1974 – John Nelson,
• 1975 – Albert Fuller,
• 1976 – Pete Hagler,
• 1977 – Ron Cool,
• 1978 – Charlie Holt,
• 1979-80 – Darrell Peters,
• 1981 – Wayne Preston,
• 1982 – John McDonald,
• 1983 – Roger Bombeck,
• 1984 – Kenneth Snyder,
• 1985 – Ken Wehrman,
• 1986 – Del Cerny,
• 1987 – Charles Beshaler,
• 1988 – Rev. Gerald Schwarz,
• 1989 – Ron Cool,
• 1990 – Tiff Varney,
• 1991 – Jane Hornung,
• 1992 – Bobbie Smith,
• 1993 – Tami Koubek,
• 1994 – Diane Finch,
• 1995 – Pat Gale, 1
• 996 – Ron VanSkiver,
• 1997 – Rick Peterson, 1
• 998 – Mary Becker,
• 1999 – Lane Chesley,
• 2000 – Rev. Doug Smith,
• 2001 – Melanie Chesley,
• 2002 – Ron Cool,
• 2003 – Brian Koerwitz,
• 2004 – Diane Finch,
• 2005/2006 – Edwin Johnson,
• 2007 – Jane Hornung,
• 2008 – Kristin Gebhardt,
• 2009 – Dave Pandorf,
• 2010 – Al Bishop,
• 2011 – Melody Jennings,
• 2012 – Mary Becker,
• 2013 – Becky Dailey,
• 2014 – Berni Crow,
• 2015 / 2016 – Todd Thompson,
• 2017 / 2018 – Irv Jennings,
• 2019 / 2020 – Becky Dailey,
• 2021 – Irv Jennings,
• 2022 / 2023 – Ron Cool.