The San Bruno Rotary Club has a long tradition in the city of San Bruno and is one of its oldest organizations. Here is a recap of some of the highlights of the club’s first two years:
The first organizational meeting of the new San Bruno Rotary Club was at the home of Henry Nadelweise, 353 Euclid Ave., Monday evening, Feb. 3, 1947. For some time before this historical meeting, plans had been discussed and ideas formulated in the back room of “Doc” Knowlton’s San Bruno Drug Store. Twelve of the original 15 charter members were present at the first official meeting. By nomination, Nadelweise was elected chairman of the group and the first order of business was the election of officers, with Knowlton elected provisional president and thereby led the infant club though its first year and a half, until July 1, 1948.
Since at the time no other Rotary Club on the Peninsula met on Fridays, for the purpose of makeup’s it was decided by majority vote to meet on Fridays at 12:15, and that still holds true today.
On Feb. 11, District Governor Clarence Price attended the second organizational meeting and spoke on the fundamentals of Rotary and Rotary International. It was at that time that the office name, The San Bruno Rotary Club, was chosen. On April10, Charter Night was held at the Green Hills Country Club.
A capacity crowd attended the ceremonies, which included the presentation of the club’s Charter from Rotary International by District Governor Price, and presented to the club by its sponsor, the Burlingame Rotary Club, the flag, bell, gavel and banner.
The master of ceremonies was Perry Bygdness, president of the Burlingame club. Most of the other Rotary clubs on the Peninsula were represented. A fine roast beef dinner plus plenty of liquid refreshments was served. In June of that year, the Rotary International Convention was in San Francisco, and the San Bruno club acted as co-host with San Francisco. On August 1st, the “Sunshine Fund” officially was established. It provided a ready fund, apart from that allocated to annual projects, from which monies could be immediately made available for emergency purposes of a charitable nature upon approval of the Board of Directors.
On March 9, 1948, as the
club began its second year, RotaRIAns had their day at the original Uncle
Tom’s Cabin. It was a gala affair and a fine time was had by all. In some
cases it was the first time that the RotaRIAns had met each other, and in other
cases the time to renew old acquaintances.
By June 30, the club had
grown from 15 charter members to a total of 23 members during Knowlton’s
administration. On July 1, 1948, Henry Nadelweise became the club’s second
president at a dinner meeting at the California Golf Club. A prize was awarded
to the best waltzers, and Dave Kulberg and Rotary Ann Mrs. Frank Gilman had no
trouble at all in convincing the judges, walking away with the top honors.
The El Portal School for
crippled children came in for early recognition from the club. On Dec. 17, 1948,
the club visited the school and Santa Claus presented to the children a
radio-phonograph.
The club culminated its second year with a Christmas party Dec. 24 during its regular Friday’s meeting. The members from St. Nicl received the usual number of “gadgets” and gifts.
It went without saying the – and it still goes without saying today in 1980
– that everyone enjoyed themselves, for that was and still is one of the
ideals of Rotary Fellowship.