The Founder's Wish for Rotary:  Page 210 THIS ROTARIAN AGE: "Rotary International has been extremely fortunate in its selection of presidents. It would be impossible for the writer to over-express his appreciation of their joint and several contributions to the movement; it would be impossible for him to over-estimate their loyalty, their devotion, the sacrificial spirit which they have so frequently made manifest. He wishes that it might be permitted him to write the stories of their various administrations, but to do so would be to write the history of the movement and would require several volumes. The writer has no doubt that it will be accomplished in the course of time." 

Paul P. Harris,

page 210 from "This Rotarian Age"  1935

(in 2010 honorary membership in RGHF was voted posthumously)

 “It's such a pleasure to be here this morning, and to be receiving this honor from all of you. I am of course a very proud member of the Rotary Global History Fellowship, and when I was planning my remarks for this morning I wanted to do justice to the occasion with some appropriate historical references. So I was thinking a bit about what is probably the most famous line out there having to do with history: that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

But then it occurred to me that in Rotary, perhaps it might be the other way around—that those who forget our history will not get the chance

to repeat it, or at least, to repeat its success.”

Kalyan Banerjee,

RI President 11/12

(At the RGHF 2011 annual meeting.

He is a member of RGHF)

"I believe that knowledge of history is vital in developing the type of tolerance advocated by our founder, Paul Harris, and it is through such tolerance that Rotary effectively promotes international understanding, goodwill, and peace."

July 2010,

Ray Klinginsmith

President 10/11 ,

(in a July 2010 letter to RGHF,

(Past President Ray is an RGHF Member)

Greetings, I would like to thank all who have been involved in this important work of providing encouragement and information to Rotarians and their Clubs. In my opinion, in this electronic age, this is a very valuable resource. I offer my congratulations and sincere appreciation to all who have been involved and

I urge you to keep up your good work.

Sincerely,

Wilf Wilkinson,

President 2007/08 

(Past President Wilf is an RGHF Member)