Putnam Rotarian Mary Keely displays memorabilia from 168 countries that she collected while completing training to become Rotary district governor. She will represent the 28 local clubs across the southern portion of West Virginia.
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Putnam Rotarian Mary Keely displays memorabilia from 168 countries that she collected while completing training to become Rotary district governor. She will represent the 28 local clubs across the southern portion of West Virginia.
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by Evadna Bartlett
For the Daily Mail
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
PUTNAM COUNTY, W.Va. -- When July arrived, Putnam County resident Mary Keely had a new title and a laptop full of congratulatory e-mails, even one from India.
A former president of the Putnam County Rotary Club, Mary on July 1 became the first in the group's 15-year history to serve as governor of the Rotary's 28-club Southern West Virginia District 7550.
She's been preparing for the post for almost two years. It was at a governors' training session in San Diego that she met her Indian friend, one of the service organization's 531 district directors worldwide.
"Through this training program you really understand how international this organization is," Keely said from a Maine summer cottage where she and her husband, Bob, were staying after attending a three-and-a-half-day Rotary International Convention in Montreal.
It was Bob who sponsored his wife for membership in the Putnam County club. He has been at her side ever since she was recommended, interviewed and elected in 2007 for governorship of the 1,350-member District 7550.
"Bob was with me for each training event because the partners go through training as well," Mary said through e-mail.
"This has been a journey that we've shared all along the way and will continue to share throughout the upcoming year."
Among her goals for the district, which includes many Southern West Virginia communities where population has fallen, is assisting struggling clubs in their efforts to retain and even gain members. She also will focus on developing youth groups to harness what she sees as the energy and enthusiasm of secondary school and college-age students.
The couple planned to be back at their Hurricane area home this week but then will hit the road almost immediately.
"I have the luxury of being retired. My husband is retired. We can put more time in," said Mary, 63, who retired in 2001 from the Huntington Chapter of the American Red Cross.
Both Rotary International and the local club provide some support for her travel and expenses.
"My club has supported me in an amazing way," she said.
The members are proud that she has the position, said Mike Herron, club president.
"Rotarians in southern West Virginia will quickly discover what we have always known in Putnam County," Herron said in a statement. "Mary is an intelligent, articulate and effective leader who exemplifies the Rotary motto, 'Service Above Self,' with enthusiasm and good cheer."
The Putnam club organizes fundraisers, such as its annual golf tournament, to support its various projects. The Rotary helps support an orphanage and a school in Uganda as well as victims of the Haitian earthquake, among other local and international causes.
Mary was among the members who participated in packaging food relief for Haiti.
"We packaged over 5,000 meals that day," she reported.
A native of Ashland, Ky., and mother of three, Mary has a degree in business and accounting from Marshall University and worked in the field in both West Virginia and Florida.
Contact writer Evadna Bartlett at eva...@dailymail.com.