When colorful Ted Rowe took over the Presidency of the Kent Rotary Club in 1952–53 he promised a year of enlightening programs, a year of action and a greater commitment to the ideals of Rotary. Ted Rowe was a self made industrialist who perfected and patented rubber gaskets and fittings for industrial pipe. His business had grown from his garage to a large manufacturing plant in Kent. His imagination helped change the Kent Rotary club during his year as president. That plant today is near the underpass on SR59 towards Ravenna that bears the name “Sorbothane”.During the year, Larry Woodell and Bert Fageol were appointed to assist donor, Burt Spellman, in establishing and improving Comfort Spellman camp, named for his daughter. It is located just west of Twin Lakes and was intended to improve the life for handicapped citizens, especially children.
The growing business of transportation provided programs dealing with air traffic by the manager of the recently built Akron-Canton Airport. Ray Robinson, weatherman based at the airport, discussed how weather affects transportation and communities. Progress on the St. Lawrence Seaway was reported by executives of both the M.A. Hanna Company and Republic Steel Company. The engineer for the Ohio Turnpike explained how the turnpike was being built and what it would do for northern Ohio. Other business conditions produced programs on the Taft-Hartley Act. And James Lincoln, well known industrialist from the Lincoln Electric Company in Cleveland spoke on the future of business and a program on profit sharing, a new idea that was catching on. He wrote a book on “Incentive Management”.
A. J. Garcia of the Goodyear Atomic Corporation came to talk, but of even more interest was a first hand account of watching the detonation of an atomic bomb on the Nevada desert by KSU scientist, Gerald Chapman.
This was a time of rising prices as noted by our Rotarian lunches being increased from
$1.25 to $1.35
Such is the history of inflation!
Jim Myers
A. J. Garcia of the Goodyear Atomic Corporation came to talk, but of even more interest was a first hand account of watching the detonation of an atomic bomb on the Nevada desert by KSU scientist, Gerald Chapman.
This was a time of rising prices as noted by our Rotarian lunches being increased from
$1.25 to $1.35
Such is the history of inflation!
Jim Myers
