It was farewell to Harold Taylor and hello to incoming President John Irvine as Harold expressed his appreciation for the fine cooperation
he had received during his year and Jack presented Harold with a Past President diamond rotary pin. Dick Grace chaired a special program honoring Dean A. A. Potter on his 90th birthday (August 5). Karl
Kettelhut, who has known the Dean for the past 50 years, read excerpts from a Potter talk, "Essentials for Effective Leadership".
There was a birthday card signed by all Rotary members and letters of
congratulations, among them one from District Governor Charles Jones. Prof. Bob Eckles of the Purdue History Department gave an excellent review of the life of the Dean pointing out his interest and activity in many
careers which included teaching as his greatest love. "The world learned about Purdue through Potter, the teacher, inventor, public agent for Land Grant Colleges, administrator, founder of the Manhattan, Kansas Rotary
Club, dedicated Lafayette Rotarian and Greater Lafayette Citizen". The Club gave a $100 donation to the Purdue Scholarship Foundation in honor of Dean Potter's birthday.
Ethridge Baugh, former President
and former Secretary of the Lafayette Rotary Club, who had died the previous September, was honored by being made the Club's first Paul Harris Fellow. Numerous Club members raised the $1,000 needed to accomplish this
from contributions.
January 9, 1973 marked the beginning of our Birthday Table for those Rotarians having birthdays during the month with the urgent suggestion that each Rotarian donate at least 10~ for
each year of his age to the Rotary Scholarship Foundation. This first table brought in a total of $82.50.
Holm, Verplank, Thornton, Yegerlehner and Yoran made a trip to visit the Chicago Rotary Club and
the Rotary International offices.
The Club reached the 400% mark as a Foundation Club, meaning that the Club has now donated an average of $40.00 per member to the Rotary International Foundation. At
Salvation Army bell ringing, the Club collected over $2,000 for that organization.
The Stag party at Rotary Park, under the leadership of Ralph Morris and Larry Lane was deemed one of the best ever. A Ladies Night
Valentine Party held at Holiday Inn, North, under the chairmanship of Pete Putnam was a great success as was the Inter-city Ladies Night program in the Union Building with the Glee Club rendering a grand program. There
were 407 present and 17 Rotary Clubs were represented. There was a dinner for new members of the Club and their wives at Morris Bryant Inn with Harold Michael as the speaker. At the Scholarship-Citizenship Program
meeting, winners from six county schools were presented with plaques and a book of their choice for their library and John Hancock, Dean of Engineering, addressed the group. The Rotary-Glee Club Stag Party was deemed
the best ever.
Other outstanding programs included: Paul Nye, a member of a Group Study Exchange Team from District 654 to Australia in 1971 reported that they traveled throughout the country and stayed in the homes
of Rotarians. He felt their contacts were International Relations at its best. Prof. Geo. M. Palmer of Purdue told of the history and present status of aircraft powered by humans. "In 1962, a man-powered plane traveled
1000 yards, the record to date," said he. (Ed. note: In 1979, a man-powered plane "bicycled" across the English Channel.) Betsy Morris, daughter of Ralph, gave a most interesting report of her week as a member of the
Presidential Classroom, visiting many departments of government and attending Senate and House committee meetings. Fritz Cohen gave an illustrated report of his year in Hamburg, Germany, where he was director of a class
of 27 P. U. and I. U. students at the University of Hamburg.
"There is no poverty and the streets and parks are safe." Dr. J. J. Stockton, head of Purdue's Veterinary School, gave an excellent talk on animal disease
control and eradication. Herman Andre, President of the Indiana Taxpayers' Lobby, stressed the need for tax reform when he spoke at the Joint Rotary-Kiwanis Thanksgiving meeting.
There was an excellent slide-talk on
Paraguay by Rotary Foundation Fellow Elizabeth Salomoni at Purdue. In addition, Akira Yawaza, an exchange student from Japan, and Miku Coelho from Brazil, S.A., told of their countries and their enjoyment of living in
the U.S.A. for a year.
Dave Pfendler received the first Fred. L. Hovde Award for meritorious service to Rural Indiana.
Locally, the Lafayette and West Lafayette city councils adopted the name, "Sagamore Parkway"
for the rebuilt U.S. 52 Bypass around the cities. Sears Roebuck gave 4.69 acres of land for a riverside park later named Tapawingo Park. The 88-year-old Tippecanoe County courthouse was placed on the National Register
of Historic Places.
It was in the fall of 1972 that the "Watergate Caper" occurred in which five men were charged with attempting to electronically bug the Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Subsequent events finally led to the resignation of President Nixon in 1974. In November of 1972, Richard Nixon defeated George McGovern in the race for the Presidency. Early in 1973, a Vietnam cease-fire agreement was
signed. Fighting continued between the Vietnamese but all American troops were withdrawn and many U.S. prisoners of war were repatriated by March 29th. The dollar was devaluated for the second time in 14 months and
price controls were reinstated because of the unprecedented price increases and sudden shortages of commonplace food items.
