About Us

The original Rotary Club of Edmond was formed in 1938 by a group of men who called the small town of Edmond their home.  In 1986, when a handful of former Rotarians who had moved to Edmond realized that they wanted to pursue Rotary involvement but in a luncheon setting rather than meet in the evenings when the Rotary Club of Edmond had met for years. Others, including non-Rotarians, were recruited and with the help, support and sponsorship of the original Edmond Rotary Club (especially the then-Club President, Bill Cather), a provisional club was formed.

Somewhere in the provisional days, maybe due to Walt Stammer’s lack of singing ability, it became an unwritten but specific practice that there would be no songs sung as part of any opening ceremony. This tradition continues today aided by the lack of piano accompaniment and sustained by compliments of visiting Rotarians to this practice.

These early meetings “set the predicate” for our present fun-filled, wise-cracking (but warm) fellowship/ambiance. The name Edmond/Central came from UCO with the depiction of Central’s Old North Tower featured on our original club banner which was designed by charter member Lax Godhania.

The Charter Banquet was held January 23, 1987 with appropriate fan-fare, speeches and official “charges.” Twenty-eight men were inducted as charter members that day.

The club continued in growth until peaking over 100 members in the early years of the new century. In 2004, the Club was approached by the original Edmond club with the idea of merging with them. The Board of Directors agreed with the proposition and took it to a vote of the club in May, 2005. The motion was adopted by close to 95% approval and the clubs officially merged into the original club to keep the older charter date.  The last President of the Rotary Club of Edmond Central was Sam Vinall. The President Elect of the Club, Kelly Kay, was chosen to be the President of the newly merged Rotary Club of Edmond.