Presidents of Rotary 1980-1989
John G. Fairbrook (2)
President Yakima Rotary Club 1980-1981
John Fairbrook is a descendent of a pioneer family that settled in the late 1860’s in an area they named Piety Flats on what is now Donald Road. John followed his father into the civil engineering field by attending the University of Washington and Columbia University. After serving in the Navy in WWII John returned to Yakima where he began his 65 years of teaching engineering courses at YVC. During that time, he also obtained his real estate broker’s and general contractor’s licenses while operating L.B. Andrews Co. Real Estate company. He had a great interest in developing residential property and home construction- occupying 11 of them, which kept the moving companies busy!
His second home was the YMCA where he was a lifelong member, serving on the board and 4 years as President. One of the first to make jogging popular he also exercised through hiking, swimming, tennis and championship handball with fellow Rotarian President, Ollie Nelson.
John’s avocations included years of extensive boating in the San Juan’s, playing the organ and baking breads, pies, rolls, anything with dough.
As Yakima Downtown Rotary’s President his theme was “The Spirit of ‘76” coinciding with Rotary International’s 76th year. That spirit locally included providing very much appreciated financial and manpower support to a struggling Yakima Neighborhood Health Services so it could grow to what it is today.
Robert Redman
President Yakima Rotary Club 1981-1982
Robert Ross (Bob) Redman was born in Yakima in 1928 and raised on a peach farm in the Yakima Valley. He received a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Washington in 1951 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law in 1956. His first job was as a “water boy“ for fruit pickers on his father’s ranch. He has said that his worst job ever was “thinning peaches” or thinning anything.
As a lineman on the Yakima High School football team in 1945, he rescued the Pirates against rival Sunnyside with a blocked punt when he fell on the ball in the end zone scoring the winning touchdown. Instead of going on to an illustrious football career however, he followed his inclination toward law and was eventually named a “Husky Alumni Legend “for his accomplishments in that field by the U. of W. Alumni Association. Bob had a very distinguished law career as a partner on the firm of Gavin, Robinson, Kendrick, Redman & Pratt between 1957 and 1993.
He was president of the Yakima Rotary Club in 1981-1982 and was involved in several community service organizations including the United Way, and the Yakima School District. Bob was on a number of professional boards and committees. He was president of the Yakima served County Bar Association and the Western States Bar Conference. In addition, he was very active in a number of other legal organizations and committees.
Bob and Harriet Johnson were married in October 1953 in her home town of Monroe, Michigan, and were the parents of two sons, Robert R. Redman Jr., and Bruce Clark Redman. Bob passed away September 6, 2021
Melvin (Mel) Lewis
President Yakima Rotary Club 1982-1983
Melvin Ray (Mel) Lewis joined the Yakima Rotary Club in 1960, served as its president in 1987-1988 and lived his life by the Rotary motto, Service Above Self. As an example, he served as president of the Yakima Chamber of Commerce and was on the boards of The Salvation Army, and the Y.M.C.A. He was also Vice-president of the Yakima Valley Community College Foundation and served on many other boards.
He was born in 1932 in Post Falls, Idaho. His family relocated to Yakima when he was twelve years old. Mel graduated from Yakima High School before attending Yakima Valley Community College and graduating from Central Washington University.
In 1959 he joined Everett Terrill in his insurance business in Yakima and eventually formed Terrill, Lewis and Wilkie Insurance Company which he managed from 1969 to 2000.
Mel Lewis died April 5, 2012 and was buried in Terrace Heights Memorial Park.
Warren Dean Starr
President Yakima Rotary Club1983-1984
Long-time educator, Warren Dean Starr was known to all simply as “Dean.” He was born in Springville, Utah in 1934 and died in Vancouver, Washington in 1999 at the age of 64. Following service in the Air Force, Dean received his BA and MA degrees from Washington State University and a PhD from the University of Idaho.
For many years he was the principal of A. C. Davis High School and later Superintendent of Schools in Yakima. Following his retirement from Yakima Schools, he served as president and General Manager of KYVE, Public Television in Yakima.
Dean was president of the Yakima Rotary Cub in 1983-1984 and served on more than a few community service organizations, including United Way, St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, and the Y.M.C.A. He was the recipient of numerous honors and awards for service to the community and the Yakima Valley.
Robert Reed
President Yakima Rotary Club 1984-1985
Robert (Bob) Reed was president of the Yakima Rotary Club in 1984-1985. He graduated from Yakima High School in 1940 and started his post-secondary education at Perry Tech before completing it several years later at Washington State University. His educational journey was interrupted by World War II when he enlisted in the Marines.
Bob was born July 24, 1922 in Yakima and died there on April, 17, 2015. During those 92 years, he had a varied career that began when he worked the family fruit orchards on land they had homesteaded. Over the years, he also worked as a cannery owner, apple packing plant owner, stock broker and investment advisor. For many years, he presented the noon stock report of radio station WKIT.
He joined Rotary in 1953, and remained a Rotarian the remainder of his life. He was also active in the Shrine and other religious and civic organizations. Bob enjoyed playing bridge, camping adventures, traveling to jazz festivals and visiting family and friends. He and Jean were the parents of four; two boys and two girls.
Marvin Sundquist
President Yakima Rotary Club 1985-1986
The Yakima Herald Republic described Marvin Sundquist in his obituary as a “titan of the state’s fruit industry and a well-known philanthropist.” Anyone who knew him would have agreed. They would have likely also added that he was a humble and modest man who cared deeply about his industry and his community
Marvin Fager (Marv) Sundquist was born April 9, 1926 in Yakima and died August 29, 2015 in the same place. He was the owner of Sundquist Fruit and Cold Storage and had an enormous impact on the Yakima Valley and the fruit industry in the state.
In addition to serving as president of the Yakima Rotary Club in 1985, he was on the boards of many civic and cultural organizations, including the Washington Horticultural Association, Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, the Yakima Valley Museum and the Yakima Salvation Army. A building at Yakima Valley College bears his name.
He loved the outdoors, rode his bicycle for miles upon miles and took lengthy hikes in the Cascades. Any time he and his hiking partners reached the summit of a peak he always pulled out his “victory apples” for all to enjoy.
Marv and his wife Pat (Holsinger) Sundquist financially supported the arts, education and culture of the valley. They both had a major impact on the community.
Donald McGuinness
President Yakima Rotary Club 1986-1987
Dr. Donald Lee McGuinness was born May 6, 1930 in Yakima where he graduated from Yakima High School in 1947 and went on to study pre-medicine at Stanford University while on a basketball scholarship. He then graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1955. After completing two years in the Army Medical Corps, he completed his residency at the University of Washington and Children’s Orthopedic Hospital in Seattle. He was in private pediatric practice in Yakima for 31 years.
Don was very involved in his community, serving on the boards of the Yakima Hearing and
Speech Center, the Greenway Foundation, City of Yakima Parks and Recreation Commission, the Capitol Theatre and was president of the Yakima Rotary Club in 1986-1987. In 1954 he married Marallyn Frame, and they were the parents of two sons and three daughters. He died in Yakima January 16, 1996.
Speech Center, the Greenway Foundation, City of Yakima Parks and Recreation Commission, the Capitol Theatre and was president of the Yakima Rotary Club in 1986-1987. In 1954 he married Marallyn Frame, and they were the parents of two sons and three daughters. He died in Yakima January 16, 1996.
William B. (Bill) Douglas
President Yakima Rotary Club 1987-1988
I graduated from Wapato High School, and my Father had an orchard in which we worked during the summers. I graduated from the University of Wash. and then received an MBA from Harvard Business School. I was the quarterback for the Huskies for three years and we went to the Rose Bowl my junior year, 1964. Upon graduating from Harvard, I joined Hans Skov (Hans was Rotary President in 1964-1965) taking over Yakima Cement Products and Yakima Asphalt Paving from Rainier Bank.
We were partners for 20 years and I bought Hans out, and then sold the business after another 20 years. In 1983 my brother and I started a fruit growing and packing business, named Douglas Fruit Co., and it still operates today.
My wife Sally, and I have four sons and an adopted Korean daughter and 13 grandchildren. I enjoy fly fishing, skiing, golf, tennis, reading, and especially spending time with our Family.
I have been involved with many associations: industry and otherwise, and helped the Yakima Valley Community Foundation get started in its early years. Sally and I have loved living and raising our Family in Yakima and I have thoroughly enjoyed my 50 years in Rotary.
Bill Douglas
Rick Pinnell
President Yakima Rotary Club 1988-1989
I was the second youngest (43) Rotary President in our history, and was the first Board President (6 years) of the Yakima Rotary Trust and one of the founders of the Trust. My father, George Pinnell was also president of Yakima Rotary in 1965. I am past board chair of the YMCA, Heritage University, and YMCA Trust.
My company, Pinnell Inc., primarily sold and serviced Copy Machines in south central Washington. We sold and serviced equipment as technology dictated. From mechanical cash register to scanner, fax machines, word processors, and telephone and voice mail systems. We had to know when to get into those businesses and when to get out as the technology changed rapidly from the latest to obsolete.
My hobbies through the years included skiing, hiking, and biking. My wife Mary Jo and I rode a Harley Davidson motorcycle all over the USA for 7 years. I retired at the age of 57 and today I am 74. I serve on the YMCA Trust and Heritage University boards. I still ski, bike, and play golf. We have a daughter Nicole, and 2 grandchildren Dalton and Jillian Gamble.
Howard Elofson
President Yakima Rotary Club 1989-1990
Howard William Elofson was born in Missoula, Montana on January 10, 1923. He grew up in Wenatchee, and graduated from Whitman College in 1944. After college, he enlisted in the United Sates Navy and was commanding officer of an Invasion Rocketship in the Pacific during the Second World War.
After the war, he graduated from Harvard Law school in 1949 and joined a law practice in Yakima. That same year Howard married Roberta Gash in Newport, Rhode Island, and they had four children.
He was president of the Yakima Rotary Club in 1989-1990 and was president of the Yakima Bar Association in 1974. He served as senior warden and lay reader at St. Michael’s Church and was a board member of Terrace Heights Memorial Park, Triumph Treatment Center and the Local Sierra Club. In his leisure time he climbed most of the major peaks in the Pacific Northwest, and was a fly fisherman.
Howard loved biking and at the age of 68 rode in the Seattle to Portland ride, traveled with the Tour de France, and bicycled virtually every day. Howard died January 21, 1997 in Yakima.