Eason Russell was recognized for his 40-year dedication to the community service organization, alongside Richard Meisner who was honoured for the 50-plus years he’s given to the club.

“It came to my attention that we missed Richard’s 50-year [anniversary] now by almost two years,” club secretary Mark Latreille told THE EQUITY ahead of the event, admitting the club had originally forgotten to honour the milestone moment.

When he checked to confirm the exact month of the anniversary, he realized club member Russell was also due for a service recognition, him for 40 years, so the club had local wood carver Chris McCuen inscribe two plaques for the occasion.

“We are going to recognise two gentlemen who epitomize what it means to be a rotarian,” Latreille said before awarding the two longtime members with the specially inscribed plaques Monday evening.

Up until COVID-19, the club would meet every Monday evening. For Meisner, this means he’s attended over 2,000 club meetings since he was invited to join in 1973.

“The 50 years, that’s not quite common,” said Russell about Meisner’s achievement.

“I’m proud to be a rotarian,” Meisner said after accepting the award. “[I] do what I can for the community, and just help out a bit.”

Russell, who joined the club in 1985, wore a lanyard decorated with pins he has received from the Rotary’s district general, who would visit each Rotary location and give unique pins to the members each year. His lanyard was almost full, with only about a four-inch gap still with room for new additions.

Russell said he believes it’s important for the community to have the organization. He said the club’s dedication to the Pontiac hospital, including the $45,000 it raised for the hospital’s expansion, was among the community support efforts to which he is most proud to have contributed.

“It’s wonderful we’ve been able to stay active over the years. We have never had a real large membership, but we always managed to stay around 18-20 members [ . . . ] Hopefully younger ones keep coming in,” he said.

“I think it’s needed more now than it was then.”

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