2012 Rotarian of the Year

This marks the 38th anniversary of the Manhattan Rotary Club’s Rotarian of the Year award.  Bob Kruh, President, 1974-75 and his Board established the award to recognize a Rotarian who has given meritorious service in one or more of the 4 avenues of service.  “Dad” Weber, former dean of agriculture at K-State, received the first award in 1975 for his outstanding international service.  With the recognition goes a Paul Harris Fellowship.  If the member is already a Paul Harris Fellow, the individual may name another person to receive it.
Today it is my privilege to announce the 2012 recipient.  Some of you know that in past years I have tried to keep you guessing for a while and also to surprise the individual; occasionally, I have succeeded!
Let’s narrow down the list of potential honorees by eliminating the 24 current members who are already Rotarian of the Year.  We have had 41; twelve are deceased and 5 have either moved away or dropped their membership.  We can also eliminate those who are older than 75 and younger than 25.  Let’s narrow it a little more by telling you that our honoree has been a Rotarian for more than 5 but less than 20 years.  I don’t know exactly how many of you are left wondering if it is you!
• If you are a native Kansan, you’re not it!
• If you have graduated from K-State, that also disqualifies you
• If you were born north of the Mason Dixon Line, relax!
• If you came here from Texas, look out!!!
We have a number of members who moved here from Texas who could very well be honored today.  Allow me to give you the highlights of this person’s service to Rotary to see if you know the name:
• Helped organize and implement a Group Study Exchange visit
• Works closely with the Ambassadorial Scholarship program, helping to organize the application and interview process
• Chaired the Youth Committee and invigorated several of the youth activities of the club
• Co-chairs the International Committee, with responsibility for promoting and selecting recipients of the club’s international scholarships
• Last year, took on a leadership role in funding the club’s support for Help us Learn—Give us Hope, which resulted in a matching District grant
• Currently a member of the club’s Board of Directors
• Became a Paul Harris Fellow last year
Marvin Gould, please come out of hiding and join Rebecca to be recognized as the 2012 Rotarian of the Year!
I’m sure their daughter Ashley would have enjoyed the moment.
Rebecca joined our club in 2003 as the Director of Information Technology Assistance Center.  She is also a Professor in the Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics.   Born in Temple, Texas, Rebecca grew up in Houston and graduated from Sam Houston State University.  She earned her doctorate at Texas Women’s University and is a Registered Dietician.  She is a pioneer in distant learning education and has over 40 scholarly publications.