From left to right: Mary Jo Lennon, Anne Beyer, Whitley Ward, and Renee Horton
Courtesy of the Elizabethtown Rotary Club
ELIZABETHTOWN — The Elizabethtown Rotary Club recently honored Mary Jo Lennon and Whitley Ward as Paul Harris Fellows.
The Paul Harris Award is presented to Rotary members who contribute monetarily, as well as voluntarily serve the Elizabethtown Rotary Club.
A Paul Harris Fellow is well-known as an individual who has contributed at least $1,000 to the Rotary International Foundation.
Alternatively, many clubs provide recognition for outstanding service by contributing their own Rotary points in the name of a fellow Rotary member. Gifts may also be made in the name of a Rotarian in order to bestow upon them the honor of becoming a Paul Harris Fellow. A well-known instance of this was in 1978 when Ida LeTulle Taylor was made the 25,000th Paul Harris Fellow following a donation to the Foundation by her husband as a gift for their 34th wedding anniversary.
Mary Jo Lennon is the treasurer for the Elizabethtown Rotary Club, and Whitley Ward is a past president and currently serves as the public relations chair. Additionally, Mary Jo and Whitley both serve on the scholarship committee, fundraising committee, and service committee for the Elizabethtown Rotary Club.
According to the Rotary Club, Mary Jo and Whitley were presented this award “for exceptional service to the Elizabethtown Rotary Club and its members.”
Whitley and Mary Jo join over one million Paul Harris Fellows, some of which are non-Rotarians. At the International Assembly in 1979, incoming Rotary International President James Bomar challenged each Rotary Club to make one non-Rotarian a Paul Harris Fellow. The Rotary Club of Pikesville, Maryland accepted the challenge and made a donation in the name of Mother Teresa the following year. Pearl Bailey, a notable entertainer, also became a Paul Harris Fellow through a joint effort of the Rotary Clubs in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Other notable Paul Harris Fellows include U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. astronaut James Lovell, and UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar. Jonas Salk, developer of the Polio vaccine, was also made a Fellow.
Congratulations to Mary Jo Lennon and Whitley Ward on their well-deserved achievement.