Ches Perry

Ches Perry was a librarian and a veteran of the Spanish-American War of 1898 in which he served as an officer in the National Guard, joined the Chicago club on 23 January 1908, and served on a number of committees. In 1910 as the chairman of the club’s Extension Committee he invited delegates of the sixteen existing clubs to meet at the Congress Hotel in Chicago to form a National Association of Rotary clubs. Perry became the General Secretary of the Association, initially on a part-time basis with a salary of $100.00 per month and $25.00 expense allowance and an office was rented at $50.00 per month. Ches Perry served Rotary as General Secretary until his retirement at the conclusion of the Toronto Convention on 30 June 1942. Perry initiated the name badge and the first Rotary magazine which was named “The National Rotarian” and later “The Rotarian” which he edited for 17 years.

At the second Convention of the National Association of Rotary Clubs, held in Portland, Oregon,…