Remembering Rotary with Rye Mausert..

bennington vermontList of Articles

February, 2008
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Rye joined Rotary in 1972, the same year that Jim Ross came into the club. Rye and Jim worked on the Car Show together. They did the first flea market the year the car show went back to the airport, '74 or '5. They sold 40 spaces. The flea market is up to 830 spaces now.

One of Rye's fondest memories is when the show was at the Bijur field. They were setting up five or six hundred spaces. It rained the whole week they were setting up. Thursday, the whole field was turning to mud. At five am Friday morning while it was still dark, Mike Williams, Jim, Bob Congdon, and Rye met. All of them told Mike that he had to call off the show because it was pouring rain. “Mike said the show will go on because if not we would have to give back all the money."Mike was not about to send any money back.

Another fond memory of Rye's is when Tom Steffen was President Elect. Rye had gotten to work early when he heard Tom stomping up the two flights of stairs to Rye's office. Tom came blazing into the office, threw a couple of swear words at Rye and said, "The least you could do, Rye Mausert, when you call a director's meeting is to show up."

The discussion about women coming into the club started a year or two before Rotary International made the decision that within certain countries Rotary had to be open for female membership. "The funny part of that was the discussion. Some of the older members were saying at the time, "Our wives are going to get uncomfortable if we are having lunch with women. I started chuckling. They said what's so funny. I said I want you to look around at these men. Considering that most of them are old and ugly what do you think the women will be like? Why should wives be nervous?"

Rye does feel that when women came into Rotary, it was one of the best things that could have happened to Rotary. Membership was starting to dwindle and women led to a real surge in membership that was extremely helpful.

Rye's first contact with Rotary was in 1953. It was shortly after Rotary was organized in Bennington. He was a teenager. Rotary met in St. Peter's church. Rye went down as part of a choral group and sang one time for the Rotarian's lunch. "All the so-called fathers of the community belonged to Rotary."

Bob Congdon brought Rye into Rotary. He knew where Rye was in terms of community service. Rye feels that the younger generation doesn't have the same feeling for service.

Still even in the early days of Rotary, Rye remembers a Saturday work party where Rotarians were to paint and repair the Bennington Resource Center and he, Ted Bird and Oakley T. Frost were the only ones who showed up.

However, there were Rotarians like Jim Ross. No Rotarian could compare to Jim. Jim used to make Rye feel badly even though he didn't mean to, but Rye knew how much Jim did and no one could match him.

In the early 80s, the club was running 85 to 100 members. They met in the large room in the country club. "We were in the big room and how things change. That room was packed full of smoke. I remember coming in late one day and there was literally a cloud of cigarette smoke hanging in there"

One thing that bothers Rye about Rotary is that it doesn't have good P.R. They have always seemed to hide their light. Even Polio Plus seems like a well kept secret.

For Rye what makes Rotary special is community service. As a Rotarian, Rye has certainly done more than his share of work for the community.