Destin Rotary inducts the first three women

It's no longer a man's world at Destin Rotary

By: Robin Brooks
Staff Writer
The Destin Log

The implied "no girls allowed" sign has been removed from the Destin Rotary Club as three women are a step away from becoming full members.

Sam Seevers, a longtime local resident and first-term member of the Destin City Council; Marcial Hull, executive director of the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation; and Jeanne Dailey, owner of Newman-Dailey Resort Properties, will add three more to the estimated 145,000 women Rotarians worldwide.

"I hope the guys don't mind us too much for breaking into the boys club," Dailey said jokingly. "How can I be anything but honored after being chosen to take part in something as breakthrough as this."

Although the three have attended meetings held by the Destin club, their offical induction will be Tuesday morning.

"I am very excited and ready to start working on whatever I can do to help," Seevers said after admitting she really didn't know much about the club when she was first approached. "Some of the things Rotary does is incredible. They give so much back to the community."

Hull is on the opposite end of the spectrum from Seevers: She has been a member of the South Walton Rotary Club for several years and said transferring her membership will be "bitter-sweet."

"The South Walton members are happy for me and think this is a good step for Rotary in this area," Hull said. "I am honored to be invited to join the Destin organization because the mission of the Rotary is to benefit all concerned." She lives in Destin.

Women were first allowed to join Rotary clubs on a chapter-by-chapter basis in 1987 because of a shift in society, according to Theresa Nissen, Rotary International's general manager of membership services.

Before that time, women were not in a position of leadership in the community. "In the late '80s as women began to take on more roles, it was then decided that women should not be excluded from the Rotary organization," Nissen said in a phone interview.

Now, six years later, why admit women to the Destin organization?

Destin Rotary Club president Todd Wilkinson said the timing was just right.

"When I became president, I made it clear that we would not deny anyone membership into our club based on gender. We were going to look at individual merit. We didn't go looking for women," Wilkinson said. "We were looking for people we thought would be good Rotarians."

This is an excerpt taken from the Saturday, January 8, 2005 edition of the Destin Log.

Published on Sunday, January 23, 2005