Presidents of Rotary 1970-1979
Don W. McNeice
President Yakima rotary Club 1970
Don McNeice was born in 1917 in Yakima and graduated from Yakima High School in 1937. He then joined his brother and father in the family business, Yakima Stamp Works.
In 1941 he joined the Navy and shortly before leaving on tour, married Gertrude Haas. Following his discharge in 1945, he returned to Yakima as an active member of the community.
He was President of Yakima Rotary in 1970, a Life Member of Elks, and a member of the First Presbyterian church. He served for five years as a member of the Yakima City Council and was a board member of the Marketing Device Association. He enjoyed golf, electronics, inventing, and time with family and friends. Don died December 16, 1994, in Yakima.
Roderick G. MacKintosh
President Yakima Rotary Club 1971
Roderick Grant MacKintosh was born in Yakima in 1919 and lived his entire life in the Yakima Valley. After graduating from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University in 1943, he returned to Yakima to join his father’s veterinary practice. Rod and his father Dr. Peter MacKintosh were both presidents of the Yakima Rotary Club.
He was an avid skier and was particularly proud of earning four varsity letters in that sport in college. He was a founding member of the Yakima Valley Ski Club. Rod was very proud of his Scottish heritage and enjoyed playing his bagpipes. Any money he earned playing the pipes at weddings and funerals he donated to the Yakima Rotary Vision project. Rod died August 17, 2013 at the age of 93.
Oliver “Ollie” Nelson
President Yakima Rotary 1972-1973
Oliver “Ollie” Nelson was born in Red Wing, Minnesota in 1927 and attended George William College (a YMCA school) in Chicago. Ollie began his career with the YMCA in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Fargo, North Dakota before moving to Yakima in 1963 to become the Executive Director of the Yakima YMCA, a position he held for 25 years until his retirement in 1988.
He joined the Yakima Rotary Club in 1963 and was club president in 1972-73. He was also the first District Governor of newly-formed District 5060 in 1991-1992.
Ollie was extremely active in community affairs, serving as Chair of the Yakima Hearing & Speech Center (which was founded by the Yakima Rotary Club), The Yakima Sunfair Parade and much more.
Ollie met his wife Ann on a bike outing in Chicago in 1948. The two had never met before, but they began their life-long partnership and marriage that has included bicycling from Yakima to Indiana on a two-seater to Ann’s 50th high school reunion. He was a multiple Paul Harris Fellow. A colleague and friend once said “that what distinguishes his leadership is the “Ollieness” in Ollie – hard to describe but easily felt by the lives he has touched.”
Melvin Wagner
President Yakima Rotary Club 1973-1974
Melvin Gregory (Mel) Wagner was born October 8, 1928, in Elk River, Idaho, and the family moved to the Yakima Valley in the early 1930’s. A few years later, his father started the M. G. Wagner Roofing Company. Mel would eventually take over the management of the company and continued in that role during his working life.
In 1951, he married Loretta Davis and they were the parents of two children, one of which (Scott) also became a president of Rotary. Mel joined the Yakima
Rotary Club in 1962 and was president in1973-1974.
He was very involved in his community serving on many boards and committees. They included The Greenway, Wellness House, KYVE-TV, The Salvation Army, Camp Primetime, The Yakima Chamber of Commerce and the United Way. He also supported the Union Gospel Mission, the Yakima Centennial Committee, and was on the Yakima School Board.
Mel enjoyed all sports but was an avid player of handball and Racquetball. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and served as an elder for over 60 years. Mel died at the age of 90 on January 3, 2019.
Lex Maxwell died in Yakima in 2007 and was buried at Calvary Cemetery.
Robert W. Strausz
President Yakima Rotary Club 1974-1975
Robert W. (Bob) Strausz was born in Yakima, August 19, 1922 where he graduated from Yakima High School before attending Washington State University. He graduated in 1947 with a Bachelor’s Degree. He was a member of the United States Marines, serving during both World War II and the Korean War. Until his retirement he was an orchardist in Yakima.
In addition to being a graduate of Washington State University he served on the WSU Board of Regents from 1973 to 1977. Bob was president of the Yakima Rotary club in 1974. Following his retirement in 1994, he and his wife Francine moved to Friday Harbor where they lived until his death in 2003.
Henry Harlow Skinner Jr.
President Yakima Rotary Club 1975
Henry Harlow “Hal” Skinner followed his father’s footsteps in both his career and as president of the Yakima Rotary Club. He was club president in 1975 and had an impressive 50-year record of perfect attendance. Dr. Skinner was a graduate of the Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Following a 23-year career in general surgery he became a physician and medical consultant for the State of Washington, retiring in 1987.
He was called to U. S. Army for two years of active duty in 1946 and later served in the Army Reserve, attaining the rank of Colonel in 1970. He loved hunting, fishing and being outdoors with his friend.
Hal had a quick wit and a gift for spelling and grammar, as well as attention to detail. He read the Yakima Herald-Republic daily, mailing clippings with meticulous grammatical corrections to the local editor.
He died February 17, 2009, to be followed in a few short weeks by his wife Mary.
Edgar (Ed) Johnson
President Yakima Rotary Club 1976-1977
F. Edgar (Ed) Johnson was born on December 23, 1912 in Magrath, Alberta Canada. At the age of 10, he moved with his family to Yakima, Washington; where he spent the remainder of his life. He was extremely active in the LDS Church, where he had several leadership positions including Branch President, Bishop, High Council, and Stake President.
Married in 1934, he first entered the fruit business with J. M. Perry and C. M. Holtzinger. In 1948 he became a partner in a fruit processing brokerage, and became full owner after a fire destroyed the plant in Sunnyside in the early 1950s; the firm then became known as Johnson Fruit & Cold Storage until he retired in 1986.
He was noted for his love of his community, church, worldwide travel, a family that eventually reached 25 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren before his death, and Rotary. He was President of the Yakima Rotary Club in 1976-77, District Governor in 1980-81, and other leadership offices in the organization. Having suffered a heart attack in 1968, he also was a charter member of CAPRI, the special exercise program at the YMCA for heart attack survivors.
He passed away on September 12, 1996, in Yakima.
Richard “Dick” Marble
President Yakima Rotary Club 1977-1978
Dick was born in 1922 and raised in Seattle. He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Business Administration majoring in wholesaling and transportation. In 1946 he moved to Yakima with his parents and brother to help his dad establish an apple orchard. After his marriage to his wife Louise Sinclair in 1948, he joined her father and grandfather in a family business, Yakima Hardware Company in 1950.
He spent his entire career in the distribution business, retiring in 1989. In his early days at Yakima Hardware, he got to know the first President of Yakima Rotary, W. A. Bell. Bell was a long-time president of the business.
Marble joined Yakima Rotary in 1961. He served as President in 1977-78. At the time of this biography (April 2020), he is the oldest living past President in the club. He has always enjoyed the comradery of Rotary and through the club he made many friends over the years. He is the only Rotarian to know Yakima Rotary's first President, W. A. Bell and Yakima Rotary's President in its 100th year, Eric Silvers!
Some of the other organizations that Marble has been involved in over the years are the Chamber of Commerce, where he was President, the YMCA and United Way. He also served as the national president of the wholesale hardware industry trade group.
He and Louise have three children, seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
His passion since he was a boy has always revolved around boats and the waters of Washington, British Columbia and Alaska. He has cruised from Seattle to Alaska five times over his boating career. He also circumnavigated Vancouver Island twice.
Robert Henry (Bob) Phillips
President Yakima Rotary Club 1978-1979
Bob Phillips was born in Wenatchee, Washington and raised in Naches where his parents worked for the School District. After high school he completed two years at Yakima Valley Junior College before receiving a degree in Advertising/Communications from Whitworth college.
He was a long-time partner in Smith, Phillips, DiPietro Advertising Agency in Yakima, helping to lead it to becoming one of the largest agencies in Eastern Washington. He received many honors recognizing his leadership in the Advertising business. In 1997 Bob was honored with the Silver Medal given by the American Advertising Federation and the Yakima Advertising Federation for his years of service as a leader in the industry.
Bob was a member of the Yakima Rotary club for 45 years, serving as president in 1978-1979. He was also a member of the board of the Yakima Chamber of Commerce and a founding member of the Yakima Advertising Federation. He served on numerous other community boards, including New Vision and the United Way. In 2003 he received the prestigious “Pillars of the Community” Award from Yakima Valley Community College, honoring distinguished Alumni. Bob Phillips died January 8, 2009.
Walter Robinson Jr.
President Yakima Rotary Club 1979-1980
Walter Jesse Robinson Jr., was born on a cattle ranch near Pomeroy, Washington on May 15, 1911. He practiced law in Yakima Washington for more than 53 years, with the exception of the five years of active duty in the U. S. Army. In 1946 he and John Gavin formed the firm of Gavin & Robinson and he remained there until his retirement. At the time of his retirement, he was a lieutenant colonel retired in the Army’s legal branch.
Walter and his wife Katheryn (Boston) Robinson were the parents of three children. He was a long-time member of the Yakima Rotary Club and its president in 1979-1980. He died December 4, 2003, and was buried a Terrace Heights Memorial Park.