In 1916, Percival Herbert Coates, an Englishman working for a British owned railway, was a permanent resident in Montevideo, Uruguay. That year he went to the Methodist General Conference in Chicago where he was a guest at one of the weekly meetings of the Rotary Club of Chicago. An American lawyer, Richard Momsen, who was serving as U.S. Consul General in Rio de Janeiro, also attended the same Rotary meeting. There they met the legendary Ches Perry, who served as secretary and organizer of the International Association of Rotary Clubs, today, known as Rotary International. Momsen and Coates were very enthusiastic about what they saw and what was said about Rotary by Ches Perry. Returning to South America, they competed to see who would win the race to start the first club in their respective country
In 1918 Coates succeeded when Montevideo RC held its initial meeting to become the first club in South America. In Brazil , at the same time, Momsen met some friends to discuss his project. However they were not enthusiastic about the…
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