In May 1919 several businessmen in Victoria, TX began organizing a Rotary Club.  It was chartered on June 1919 and be came an official Club of Rotary International on July 1, 1919.  The Victoria Rotary Club celebrated its Centennial on June 20, 2019.
 
As I reflected back on the amazing journey of our Rotary Club vis-à-vis mementos such as past bulletins, a piece of sheet music written for the club in 1919, photos and stacks of miscellaneous, I hoped to find a project that would secure our legacy for the next 100 years.  I realized that among my personal prized possessions, there is a Mickey Mouse watch my Dad gave me when I was 5, a grandfather clock that has been wound by the Caldwell clan for over 100 years and a cuckoo clock that hung in my grandmother’s house.  The significance of these timeless heirlooms, obviously, is they are all designed to keep track of time, yet they are timeless.
 
One day in November I was reading the Rotarian and stumbled on a post clock made for another Rotary Club.  It caught my eye and I approached our Club President, Neal Stevenson, about making that our centennial project.  We proceeded in the planning, selecting the entry to DeTar Hospital as the ideal location.  We introduced the project at the Centennial Party in June and invited our members to have their names cast in bronze at the base of the clock with a donation of $500 per line (25 characters including spaces).  We raised $17,000 that evening and are on our way to being able to purchase the clock.
 
We are extending an invitation to all Rotarians throughout the district to become part of this project.  If you would like to have your name on the clock, please send me an email, secretaryvrc@gmail.com. We can invoice you or charge your credit card. 
 
We also invite your club to consider having its name on the base of the clock with a $500 donation.  Of course, all donations of any size will be gratefully accepted.  Our goal is to have the clock in place for the Christmas season which requires the order be placed by September 1.  Visualize your great grandchildren seeing a clock with their ancestors embedded on the base.