Watertown Rotary Members from Past and Present Gather to Celebrate 100th Anniversary

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The Rotary Club of Watertown celebrated 100 years with a dinner on June 24. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

WALTHAM — For a century, the Rotary Club of Watertown has been coming together to make the community a better place, and put service above self.

The Club has a variety of events, including hosting the Senior Citizen Cook Out for more than 30 years, awarding scholarships to Watertown High School students, and hosting the Dancing With the Stars event.

Watertown Rotarians from as far back as the 1980s joined current active members on June 24 to celebrate the Club’s 100th anniversary at an event held at Stazione di Federale in Waltham.

Longtime Rotarian, and emcee for the evening, Paul DerBoghosian said that Watertown’s club was founded 25 years after the first Rotary Club was founded when Paul Harris brought a group of people together in Chicago to make their community and our world a better place together.

“That became the ideal of rotary which today is known as Service Above Self. It wasn’t just a motto, it was a way of life,” DerBorghosian said. “As for our Club, it was chartered on January, 20, 1925. Our past 100 years of dedication, service and impact is not just a milestone – it literally is a legacy.”

Watertown Rotarians gathered to celebrate the Club’s 100th anniversary. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

DerBoghosian said he believes Rotary’s mission remains an important one.

“Tonight, we celebrate not only 100 years, but who we are today a diverse global family of 1.4 million strong, with 46,000 clubs worldwide. We are innovators, problem solvers, mentors, change makers,” DerBoghosian said. “Amazingly, even after 100 years, Rotary today is more relevant than at any time. In an age that so often feels divided, we stand for unity in a time of challenge, we stand for action, we still show up, we still serve. We still believe that’s really important in the Rotary world.”

Current President Alex Rosin was introduced to the Club by fellow Rotarian Ed Sugrue, when both were working at Eastern Bank. Rosin said the celebration was for both the past and the future of Watertown Rotary, which was not always certain.

“The Club’s gone through a lot of changes over the years. We are not the same Club we were before. And I think it’s very fitting at this event to kind of honor the past and where we came from, but also look forward to the future,” he said. “You know, COVID was difficult for most organizations around, and we were not spared with that. I remember quite a few conversations where we were really having conversations about what we would do if the Club was no longer here.”

A few people stepped up after the Pandemic, Rosin said, to keep the tradition going.

“I want to give special mention to Kim (Severino), who was president for two years,” Rosin said. “She came on board and jumped into the role immediately, right away. And I think what a couple of three weeks in, she became president, and really was able to bring in new members.”

Former Watertown Rotary President Paul DerBoghosian emceed the 100th Anniversary Celebration. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

Some of the new members include incoming President Christian Dallas, president-elect Philip Gordon, and current Club Executives Raphael Hirsch, Diane DiMascio Cinar, and Massimo Zeppa.

During the celebration, Dallas was sworn in for 2025-26.

“I do want to take the time to thank and congratulate everyone here which has been a part of the legacy of this Club here in Watertown, I would just like to say that I’m only starting to get understanding for the amount of work that goes into really making a difference and being a part of this Club,” Dallas said. “And a lot of that work is done during early mornings, late evenings, weekends, lunch breaks, vacations. It’s typically not during the convenient times when you gotta show up and show out and get done what you need to in order to make a difference. So I think a lot of times the work of the Club can go unnoticed.”

State Rep. Steve Owens presented a House of Representatives resolution on behalf of himself and State Rep. John Lawn. State Sen. Will Brownsberger presented a plaque from Rotary International recognizing Watertown’s 100 years of Watertown Rotary.

Memories of Rotary

Several past-presidents of Watertown Rotary joined the celebration including Charlie Morash (1983), Patricia Stenson (1993), Curtis Whitney, Bill Urqhart, Martin Greene (1997), Ed Sugrue, John Nealon (1998), Dan D’Amico (1999), Paul DerBoghosian (2002), Anna Glover (2004), Kim Severino (2022 and 2023).

Morash said he was the oldest former Rotary President at the celebration, but noted that the oldest living former president is John Airasian.

Memorabilia from decades past of the Rotary Club of Watertown were on display. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

Stenson became Watertown Rotary’s first female President in 1993. She recalls some of the projects completed during her presidency, including purchasing concrete trash barrels for Watertown Square, and a project at a time when there was concern about child abductions where parents could get their children fingerprinted by the Watertown Police. She commemorated these memories in a book full of pictures, newspaper clippings, and other memorabilia which she brought to the celebration.

“I have two of them. I only brought one,” she said. “These are all the programs I did when I was president — the Children’s Theatre and Trees for Watertown and Girl Scouts and that was the first Senior Citizen Cookout. That was awesome.”

She added: “Rotary has done so many good things. I feel bad that it’s kind of gone down from what it used to be, but hopefully it’ll go back. Yeah, and I think this is a good event and a good way to do it. So many people that came today that haven’t been to Rotary in years and years.”

Greene joined in 1988 after joining his older brother Malcolm at the optometry practice in town.

“He was a member, and I had to follow him into the Rotary. It turned out that we were in it together for a number of years, and then Mal dropped out. And you know, it’s funny, I was talking to my mom, and I said, ‘Mom, I don’t know about this, you know, Mal has always been a joiner, and I’m, like, more of a loner.’ And she’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s true,”” Greene said. “And, you know, he never went up the chairs like I did. So I actually ended up being even more crazily involved than he had ever done.”

Former Rotary President Anna Glover leads the prayer at the Club’s 100th Anniversary Celebration. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

When asked about Watertown Rotary turning 100, Glover said: “That’s a big deal. That’s why I had the cake and everything,” she said, referring to the meeting in January marking the actual 100th anniversary.

She recalled attending the Rotary International Conference in 2005 along with DerBoghosian along with 40,000 other Rotarians.

“I was president during the Rotary International Centennial,” Glover said. “That was a big honor. I also went to the conference in New Orleans.”

Many recalled how they became president.

“I remember all those lunches where we took people out and tried to convince them to be president,” Greene said. “Those were a lot of fun.”

Rotary President Alex Chivas, right, pins incoming President Christian Dallas. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

DerBoghosian said he excused himself to use the restroom and when he returned the board informed him he had been elected president.

D’Amico said he didn’t know how to say no to becoming president when he was taken out to lunch by fellow Rotarians. He thanked some of the newer leaders for their work post Pandemic.

“We really thank Kim and Alex and Christian and everybody else calling and kind of making sure that the Club is going another 100 years if we can,” he said.

Dallas concluded his acceptance speech with a poem.

The Rotary Club of Watertown.

What more can I say?

We wear several different hats, depending on the day

From volunteer events and donations to Watertown High

To weeding our rotary as cars pass by

Do any of us get paid? No, it’s all volunteer

That’s how we’ve been doing it for all 100 years

In support of the community, We’ll be there to answer

We could be a chef, a cleaner or even a dancer

Thank you all for coming, enjoy the food, enjoy the booze

I hope to see you all next Tuesday for lunch at Donohue’s

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