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Remembering Rotary with Bob Matteson..
October, 2008
Bob joined the club in 1968 or 1969. He had recently returned to Bennington and he wanted to reintroduce himself to the community and he felt that Rotary was a useful community organization.
The Club was a smaller group then and entirely male. When women were proposed, there were some members who thought it would change the nature of the meetings. Some felt that the integration of Rotary would lead to an increase in the divorce rate in the community. This never happened.
Bob remembers working on the project of constructing bus shelters for school children. Remnants of them are still around. He also remembers participating in the car show which was a much smaller event with somewhat less organizational structure.
When he was President of the club in the 1970s, he concluded that it was not sensible to be just a male organization. One had to have a recommendation to enroll women. The motion was defeated by one vote. Later this was revoked.
Rotary has changed over the years since originally, it was an organization of business leaders with just one person representing a particular business. Rotary has become more diverse with people from different segments of the community. Bob feels that it is important that we maintain the cross-sectional nature of the club in terms of different vocations.
Bob has always enjoyed the interchange of ideas among the members. He also liked speaking to the club as he has done recently about his boyhood in Vermont. Bob feels that it is a considerable feat that Rotary has avoided becoming highly political. Bob notes that since he has continued his membership for forty years, Rotary has been a satisfying experience for him where he can keep in touch with people who are friends.
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