Bob Newton Named Rotarian of  the Year

Bob Newton, a third generation Rotarian, is the 2001 holder of the annual Joe Bryan Rotarian of the Year award.

Newton 's selection was announced by Jim Rucker, the 2000 winner. The award is based on outstanding service to the Rotary ideals. He is the 24^th Greensboro Rotarian to receive the award.

Currently Bob serves as assistant district governor for Rotary District 7690.  He received the club's Four Avenues of Service Award in 1999-2000. He has been a member of the Rotary Club of Greensboro since 1987 and served as president in 1998-99.

On hand for the presentation were his parents and other family members.  His father and late grandfather were Rotarians: his grandfather, Len, in Lander, Wyoming , and his father Earnest, a charter member and president of the Lander, Wyoming , club. 

Bob is president of Moses Cone - Wesley Long Community Health Foundation in Greensboro , a position he has held since its inception in October 1997. Formerly he was the chief financial officer for Moses Cone Health System .

Prior to coming to Greensboro , he served at Charlotte Memorial Hospital and Medical Center as CFO and Duke University as associate controller. He served on active and reserve duty with the USAF prior to beginning his health care career on 1966.

He is married to the former Danna Gardner of Rocky Mount . Their combined family includes six children and 20 grandchildren.

The first recipient of the Joe Bryan Award was Tom Cochran, now in his 51^st year of perfect attendance. Other awardees were:

Montgomery Hill, Marvin Scaggs, Howard Wilkinson, Bill Noland, Carol Martin, Stuart Fountain, John Redmond, Paul Morgan, Glenn Lesley, Dale Whitefield, Bob Foxworth, Jim Melvin, Sam Troy, Steve Cobb, Lewis Ritchie, Bruce Stafford, Robert Kriegsman, Bob Sawyer, Florence Gatten, Craven Williams, Robin Tyler and Jim Rucker.

When Wade Phillips retired as secretary of the Rotary Club of Greensboro, officially he had served 12 years. Unofficially his service goes back 52 years.

He began getting Rotary ink on his hands long before he became an active member. His dad, the late Charlie Phillips, served as the club's executive secretary for 33 years. Wade became his dad's "private Rotary secretary" about 1948 when he began helping maintain the club's books.

As executive secretary Charlie Phillips kept up with attendance, keep financial records, correspondence wrote checks and served as sergeant at-arms. Wade assisted for several years until the club hired an executive secretary.

He was a youngster, 10 or 12 years old, when he attended his first Rotary meeting. It was the club's Christmas party. His retirement last June marked 12 years as secretary.

That service capped many years of Rotary leadership. He joined Greensboro Rotary Club in 1957. He was on the board of directors and assisted his dad as secretary before he moved to the Winston-Salem in 1967. He became a member of the Winston-Salem club. He was elected secretary in 1969 and president in 1976.

He was elected governor of Rotary district 7690 in 1979 and served in 1982-83. He returned to the Greensboro Club in 1981. That was the time when there was no executive secretary and the "district governors did it all," he said. The district covered 18 counties. The Boy Scout movement was the focal point of raising funds which were funneled to local groups.

In 1981Wade ended a 35-year career with Home Federal Savings and First Home Federal when he took early retirement. Since then he has taught real estate courses at Guilford Tech.

Wade was graduated from Greensboro Senior High School and from the UNC Chapel Hill. He served in US Navy in Saipan and Guam areas in 1945-46. He was recalled to duty in 1951-53 for duty with the Seventh Fleet in the Korean War.

Wade continues to see the Rotary Club of Greensboro as the civic home to Greensboro's "movers and shakers." Its "continuing expansion has meant a greater variety of members. The club's international concern is growing along with its giving."