The program ended at seven-twenty-five, but it was after eight-thirty before most of the 132 Rotarians and guests left the Colony Club after the Rotary Club of Springfield's 100th Anniversary. 

 

 

Here's how the local media covered the festivities:

 

http://wwlp.com/2015/05/20/rotary-club-celebrates-100-years-of-service-above-self/  

 

 

 

 

The event became a celebration of the Club's past as well as its future promise and resembled a Rotarian reunion, with members traveling from near and far to be a part of it.  Current members met past members they had previously only known by name.  Sister Mary Caritas, retired Administrator of Mercy Medical Center and one of the first two women inducted into the Club in 1988, "held court" at a table with friends at the back of the dining room while honorees and other Rotarians packed the front. 

 

Sister Caritas was part of an eleven minute opening video in which she recalled being invited to join the Club by its President Dick Garvey of The Republican Newspapers.  She told WGBY's Jim Madigan that she was invited in part because they thought she wouldn't do too much harm to the Club, which brought laughter and applause from the audience.   The Club's first women president, Sue Lavoie, recently retired from the Eastern States Exposition, called out to her as she took the stage "when they made me president they thought I was a "safe" choice, too, Sister."  

Rotary in Springfield may be 100 years old, but the same month we celebrate the Club's Centennial one of its pillars, Jim Russell reaches the 50 year mark of service to the community through the Rotary Club of Springfield.  Congratulations Jim!