The Kiwanis Club of Petoskey
Before any comprehensive history of the Kiwanis organization in Petoskey can be completed, it is important
for the reader to understand what Kiwanis IS!
Kiwanis
is a worldwide service organization appealing to men and women who have the desire to become personally involved in making
their communities better places in which to live. As a group, these men and women achieve what individuals cannot do alone.
Working together, Kiwanians voluntarily share the challenge of community improvement and leadership, assuming personal responsibility
for humanitarian and civic projects that public authorities are not prepared to or able to perform. These projects are dominantly
local in nature. They include such activities as assistance to youth and the aging, conservation of natural resources, development
of community facilities and creation of international understanding and goodwill. Whatever their goals may be, Kiwanians are
motivated by a common desire to serve, and to achieve an appreciation of good fellowship.
Kiwanis is a service organization - not a social club, although enduring friendships are created
through the Kiwanis spirit of fellowship that comes from mutual effort devoted to great and useful ends.
Kiwanis is often a public forum - but never a political circle. Meeting
programs frequently provide platforms for the balanced, and impartial, presentation of public issues of interest to the members
- and the community.
Kiwanis makes its activities
known. It is not a secret society There are no private rituals. Public awareness of Kiwanis activities is sought because it
increases support for Kiwanis service efforts.
Kiwanis
fosters principles of good citizenship and human values - it does not prescribe a way of life for others.
And finally, the actions of each club are guided by the
needs of its own locality. Kiwanis does not impose programs upon its clubs or members.
Organization & Chartering
When the Kiwanis Club of Petoskey was organized in 1922,
it was the 23rd Kiwanis club in Michigan and the only Kiwanis club north of a line from Muskegon to Bay City. Think about
those traveling miles for interclubs or to make up meetings!
The
club was organized and the charter was issued on July 14, 1922. The Charter Night party was held on August 22, 1922, with
50 members on the roster. The first president and organizer was Karl Bowman, a member of the Kiwanis Club of Kalamazoo, who
moved here to operate a jewelry store on Howard Street. Petoskey was placed in a division with Grand Rapids and Muskegon.
Meetings were first held at the Petoskey (or Braun) Hotel in the 200
block of Howard Street. They were later moved to the Cushman House, a hotel which stood where Meyer Hardware is today. For
years, the meetings were at the Perry Hotel, later sold and known as the Perry-Davis Hotel, and now a part of the Stafford
Smith organization and named the Stafford Perry Hotel. For many summers, the club met at the Petoskey-Bay View Country Club
and later the Elks Club when the Perry was too busy to handle service clubs. Meetings were held for a short period at the
Park Garden Cafe. The club's meetings have now returned to Stafford's Bay View Inn.
The Petoskey club has been instrumental in sponsoring or assisting in the organizing of Kiwanis clubs
in Cheboygan, Rogers City, Charlevoix, Gaylord, Grayling, West Branch, Harbor Springs, Indian River, and Onaway. In 1975,
a second Kiwanis club was formed in Petoskey - the Kiwanis Club of Little Traverse Bay - which offers Kiwanians the opportunity
to meet for breakfast. While both subscribe to the same Objects, the two clubs offer variety in their projects, programs,
and meetings.
Camp Daggett
since 1926
From the starting days, Petoskey Kiwanians have been active in many areas of the community.
One of the early projects was Camp Daggett - first known as the Petoskey Boys Camp - in 1926. Later sessions were held for
girls. The club has provided buildings, funds
and has sent many boys and girls to the camp. One of the first projects was building a corduroy road and bridge through the
swampy part of the woods into the camp.
The club
built the first dining lodge and the kitchen. The lodge was built in three sections between 1927 and 1929. A Delco lighting
system and the present road were added in 1930, largely with funds raised by shows at the Hollywood Theater. The theater was
owned by D. Charles Levinson, the second president of the Kiwanis club and a former Petoskey mayor, who turned over all proceeds
from films to the club
Kiwanian H. Carl Spitler recalled
that on the days of the shows a parade was held through the main streets of Petoskey with a band leading and Kiwanians following,
wearing Kiwanis caps and carrying signs advertising the show.
Funds
to construct the stone fireplace in the dining lodge were raised by wives of Kiwanians with Mrs. Ora Porter serving as chairman.
They held card parties and solicited individual contributions, as well as providing funds of their own.
In more recent times, a Kiwanis cabin was built at Camp Daggett with
the labor being donated by members of the club. The late Walter J. MacMillan, for many years director of Camp Daggett, was
a Kiwanian. Members of the club continue to support the camp, helping with Spring clean-up, and serving on the camp's board
of directors.
Little League
Since Start
Petoskey Kiwanians played
a major part in not only bringing Little League to Petoskey, but in supporting it through the years. The club provided funds
to get it going and two members were directors of the original board of directors, others served as player agent and manager.
The club has sponsored a team every year since.
The
Kiwanis Club of Petoskey donated $3,000 and provided much of the manpower to develop what is known as Bates Field. Members
rolled up their sleeves and put in the fence around the field, erected the backstop and served in many other ways during the
building years.
Washington Street playground
was another Kiwanis project that required money and physical labor. Members cleared the field, some ran bulldozers, others
worked with axes or rakes and shovels to level and clear the area. Playground equipment was provided and a small ballfield
for youngsters. The project originated in the 1950's. Additional work and facilities were added to the playground and ballfield
in the 1970's.
Other
Projects for Youth
Kid's Day throughout
much of the 1950's and 1960's was a project carried out in cooperation with the Petoskey Outboard Cruising Club on Crooked
Lake. As many as 500 youngsters were bused to the POCC club grounds for boat rides, games, contests and all the hotdogs and
pop they could consume. Children from the Holy Childhood Indian Mission in Harbor Springs were also entertained in this fashion.
Kiwanians, with member Wilson J. McDonald, secretary-manager of the
chamber of commerce leading the way, were active in starting the Petoskey Winter Sports Club and Winter Sports Park.
A Boy Scout troop was sponsored in Kegomic by Kiwanians for many years.
The Petoskey club was the first sponsor of the Boy Scout Klondike Derby, first held at the Winter Sports Park in the 1950's.
Each participating patrol built a Klondike sled to carry their necessary equipment and patrols competed for ribbons in Boy
Scout skills tests. After a full day in the ice and snow, exhausted Scouts and Kiwanians ate chili, sloppyjoes and consumed
hot chocolate in the warming shanty.
Pediatric Project
In
1977, the Petoskey club provided $1,000 to go with funds provided by the Kiwanis of Michigan Foundation to establish a program
for pediatric patients at Northern Michigan Hospitals. The project was named the Herman H. Meyer Project in memory of a former
club president, lieutenant governor, and trustee of the Forney W. Clement Memorial Foundation - forerunner of the Kiwanis
of Michigan Foundation - which provided aid to children at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, and Mary Free
Bed Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Grand Rapids. The program here provides recreational equipment, books, toys and
games to brighten the stay of young patients. The project has expanded over the years and now provides for a full-time child-life
specialist in the pediatrics/neo-natal units. The Petoskey Kiwanis Foundation, another arm of the club, provides funds
for emergency or charitable cases and is financed by donations from Kiwanians and others. It is governed by a board of directors
of local Kiwanians, but does not use any of the regular Kiwanis Club funds.
Projects Since 1922
It is impossible to list all the many activities carried on here since 1922, but some of the memorable
projects include:
A Christmas party for needy youngsters.
In the early days, each Kiwanian was given the name of a family and the children in that family who faced a bleak Christmas.
The member was expected to provide gifts for the children and deliver them to the home before Christmas. Later, the club purchased
the gifts and members met for a few evenings to wrap them, and then deliver them the day before Christmas. The format was
changed to inviting needy youngsters to be guests at a club Christmas party where they ate turkey with all the trimmings and
received a gift from Santa. In recent years, a Christmas Shopping Spree has been organized for the youngsters. Kiwanians are
again given the name of a needy child. They arrange to pick up the child on a pre-arranged Saturday and transport them to
a local shopping center. The Kiwanis club provides funds for the children to purchase gifts for their parents/guardians and
siblings. Many times, Kiwanians are seen reaching for their own wallets to "help" the child with his/her purchase.
After wrapping the gifts, and a visit with Santa, the Kiwanians return the children to their homes.
Kiwanians have hosted a meeting with farmers and members were paired with farm
guests for a program of interest to both rural and urban people. Up until World War II, the club observed its meeting closest
to Memorial Day by having Civil War veterans as guests and many related their adventures.
New teachers were welcomed to the community for many years by being guests of Kiwanis
in September. The present Petoskey High School Awards Night was started as a Kiwanis project to honor the athletes of the
school. The club recognizes the scholastic abilities of students with an annual scholarship of $1,000. Needy school children have been provided with clothing, glasses, hot
lunches, vitamins and other needed articles over many years either from the Kiwanis Club or the Kiwanis Foundation. A student
loan fund was established to help college students.
Scholarships
have been provided to North Central Michigan College, to the Bay View School of Music, to Youth for Christ/Campus Life camping
activities, Future Farmers of America national conventions, Northern Michigan Christian Athletes, foreign student exchanges
and more.
Kiwanis has provided counselors for prisoners
at Camp Pellston Conservation Corrections Camp. They conducted drives to get reading material, playing cards and sports equipment
for the camp.
Operation-Identification was promoted
by Kiwanians. Working with law enforcement officials, Kiwanians marked household articles to help trace ownership in case
of theft. This was extended to the ski resorts, plagued by the theft of thousands and thousands of dollars of skis, with marking
skis so they could be traced if stolen.
For years,
Kiwanians have rung the bell at Christmas time for the Salvation Army and have helped raise thousands of dollars to go to
brighten the season for many less fortunate families.
Recognizing
the need to provide athletic competition for girls and well as boys, the Kiwanis Club initiated the Girls Relays in Petoskey.
The event grew and was later changed to a Co-ed Relays with the Petoskey club providing trophies and other awards as well
as timers and helpers. The club also started a 9th Grade Boys Basketball Tournament and set up a 9th Grade Girls Tournament.
How the Money is Raised
How has Kiwanis financed these and many other activities?
The first projects were the White Elephant Sale in the 1920's and movies at the Hollywood Theater. The late Al Dau ran the
White Elephant for many years in many different locations and he accepted only new merchandise at the first few sales. Later
this became impossible and Kiwanis had to buy a truck to haul everything from used stoves and beds to windows, doors and huge
maple blocks. Kiwanians cleaned out basements and attics all over the north and the sale was held each year for about half
a century. The advent of Garage Sales spelled doom for this form of fund raising. It was laid to rest in 1978.The White Elephant was the biggest money maker until the World Travel &
Adventures Series came along in 1951. This project continues to this day and has expanded with the introduction of a tabloid
advertising program which now raises the bulk of the funds for the club. In 1977, the first Perch Dinner was held and each
March since it has been a success, providing members get out and sell tickets. Other schemes have been tried with limited
success - a circus once. Just once! Watermelons, fire extinguishers, a coloring book - also once. Peanuts, several times,
on the streets, at football games, and at the fair. There have also been donkey basketball games and other promotions for
fun and sometimes profit. In 1996, the club embarked on a new fund raising project - the manufacturing and
installing of "house number" signs. With the coming of a 9-1-1 emergency dispatch system in Emmet, Charlevoix, and
Cheboygan Counties, a means of swiftly identifying rural residences became necessary. Kiwanians took on the project offering
an aluminum sign with reflectorized numbers on both sides mounted on a 6' metal post. Kiwanians in the Charlevoix and Cheboygan
clubs were invited to handle the installation of signs in their respective counties with part of the fees for the signs paid
to their clubs.
Worldwide
Service Project
In 1995, the Michigan
District of Kiwanis accepted the responsibility of a pilot project which would become Kiwanis International's first Worldwide
Service Project. The project has the goal of virtually eliminating the major cause of mental retardation in the world - Iodine
Deficiency Disorders. Each club in the District was asked to raise a total of $200 per member over a five-year period to fund
the project. For the Petoskey club, that translates to approximately $12,000 over the five-year time frame. Funds generated
by the 9-1-1 project along with donations from members and the community are being channeled to the project.
Club Presidents
The following have served as presidents of the Kiwanis Club of Petoskey:
1922-23 Karl Bowman; 1924 D. Charles Levinson; 1925
H. Carl Spitler; 1926 Lacy H. Sargent; 1927 Frank Jacobs; 1928 Charles J. Kruse; 1929 W. Ray
Barnes & Wilson J. McDonald; 1930 Edward Schebrat; 1931 Dr. Plinney Miller; 1932 Charles E. Garvin; 1933 Wesley H. Most;
1934 Glen C. Townsend; 1935 Dr. Raymond E. Todd; 1936 Zalman B. Fryman; 1937 John H. Perry; 1938 C. F. Curtis; 1939 Joseph
Scoggin; 1940 Alfred J. Dau; 1941 Dr. John Kelly; 1942 Quinton J. Stone; 1943 Donald H. Barnes; 1944 T. C. Curtis; 1945 Arnold
Wolgast; 1946 G. Arthur Hitchmough; 1947 William Ellis; 1948 Carl Rosenow; 1949 John S. Clark; 1950 Edward Mitten; 1951 Victor
Cannon; 1952 Dr. Thomas Turcott; 1953 Ernest Neumann; 1954 John Bellamy; 1955 Francis McDowell; 1956 Herman H. Meyer; 1957
Elmer Pfeiffer; 1958 Jim Doherty; 1959 Wilmer Moyer; 1960 Bentley Frederick; 1961 Elmer Carter; 1962 Norman Gibson; 1963 Al
Shankland; 1964 Fred Reusch; 1965 Rev. Dudley Burr; 1966 Richard Gorman; 1967 W. Richard Smith; 1968 N. Fletcher Johnson;
1969 (Jan-Sep) Oliver Aho; 1969-70 (Oct-Sep) Victor Cilke; 1970-71 Dr. Grant Born; 1971-72 Gordon Koteskey; 1972-73 Earl J.
Lawrence; 1973-74 James Gibson; 1974-75 K. C. Festerling; 1975-76 Robert Motley; 1976-77 Robert Doctor; 1977-78 Allan Yentz;
1978-79 Orval Cutshaw; 1979-80 Hugh Winnell; 1980-81 James Laffoon; 1981-82 Edward Collins; 1982-83 Robert Esford; 1983-84
Ken Winter; 1984-85 Jerry Martinchek; 1985-86 Charles W. Johnson; 1986-87 Rick Neumann; 1987-88 Frank Ronan; 1988-89 Fred
Sterns; 1989-90 William R. Day; 1990-91 Robert Engel; 1991-92 Michael D. Kuhna; 1992-93 Gary K. Hice; 1993-94 Greg Smith;
1994-95 N. Keith Demeuse; 1995-96 William R. Kanine; 1996-97 Barbara K. Kurtz; 1997-98 Julie K. LeValley; 1998-99 Reggie C.
Courliss; 1999-2000 David E. Farley; 2000-01 Christopher J. Fought; 2001-02 Kim Jones; 2002-03 Rex D Kibler; 2003-04 David
L. Jones; 2004-05 Ted Teller; 2005-06 Cindy Holman; 2006-07 Jill Ryan; 2007-08 Ken Horrom; 2008-09 Cameron Brunet-Koch; 2009-10
Ryan Bentley.
Individual
Honors
Several members of the Kiwanis
Club of Petoskey have been singled out for particular honors. Among them are recipients of the Kiwanis of Michigan Foundation's
Distinguished Kiwanian Award and the Kiwanis International Foundation's George F. Hixson Fellowship Award.
Recipients of the Distinguished Kiwanian Award include:
H. Carl Spitler
Herman H. Meyer
Arnold Wolgast
and,
David L. Meyer
Receiving the George F. Hixson Award
- with the funds earmarked for the I.D.D. Project are:
Robert H. Esford
Edward
R. Collins
David L. Meyer
Hank Barnett
Bill Day
Jan Jensen
Kim
Jones
and, Barb Kurtz
Secretaries of the Club
Eighteen men have served as secretary of the Kiwanis Club of Petoskey
since 1922 with David L. Meyer, the current secretary, having the longest stint-he's in his 42nd year.
And David is the son of the late Herman H. Meyer who filled the post
from 1951 through 1954 and again in 1968 until his death. Between terms, he served as a director, president and lieutenant
governor and for many years was active as a trustee and for a term, president of the Forney W. Clement Memorial Foundation.
Now known as the Kiwanis of Michigan Foundation, it provides funds to make the stay more pleasant for children who are patients
at Northern Michigan Hospitals in Petoskey, University of Michigan Hospital at Ann Arbor and the Mary Free Bed Hospital and
Rehabilitation Center in Grand Rapids. The project at the hospital in Petoskey is named in his honor-the Herman H. Meyer Project.
David is now the trustee of the Kiwanis of Michigan Foundation and serves
as the secretary and treasurer of the Foundation.
Henry
J. Beyerele was the charter secretary in 1922 and was followed by:
Dwight C. Cavanagh 1923; W. Ray Barnes 1924 to 1928; W. Curtis Keal 1928-1934; Wayne A. Smith 1934-1939; Donald
J. Barnes 1940; George N. Bacon 1941-1943; G. Arthur Hitchmough 1944-1945; Evan Price 1946; Willis A. Selden 1947-1948; Francis
I. McDowell 1949-1950; Herman H. Meyer 1951-1954; Norman E. Gibson 1955-1957; Richard M. Lawrence 1958-1962; H. Carl Spitler
1963-1966; John C. Luebke 1967; Herman H. Meyer 1968; David L. Meyer 1968 to ?
Lieutenant Governors
Ten Petoskey Kiwanians have served as lieutenant governors of the division: W.
Ray Barnes in 1927; H. Carl Spitler in 1935; John H. Perry in 1941; Alfred J. Dau in 1946; Zalman B. Fryman in 1951; Edward
W. Mitten in 1957; Herman H. Meyer in 1959; James Gibson in 1976-77; David L. Meyer in 1983-84; and Ross McLane in 1990-91.
Of these, Meyer is still active in the Petoskey
club. Of the rest, only Gibson and McLane are still alive.
