Presidents of Rotary 2000-2009
Bill Wheeler
President Yakima Rotary Club 2000-2001
I grew up in the Philadelphia area and graduated from the Episcopal Academy. Following that, I attended Dartmouth College and graduated in 1956 with a BA in economics.
My first job after college was with the American Brake Shoe Company, later named Abex Corp. I sold brake shoes, freight car wheels etc. to the railroads and was fortunate to be transferred to San Francisco in 1958. After 11 years there I joined Hurst Airheart, a disc Brake manufacturer and the brake system designer and manufacturer of the BAY AREA RAPID SYSTEM. All that was fun because I am a real car enthusiast and the brakes we made were for all forms of racing.
After 7 years there I was recruited to Yakima to become the president of Decoto Aircraft, designer and manufacturer of aerospace hydraulics components. After a wonderful 23 years there with business with Boeing and all the aircraft manufacturers, I retired. The business grew from $8 million to $80 million during that time and as an acquisition by Dowty Aerospace of England. it was renamed Dowty Decoto and then Dowty Aerospace Yakima.
I have four children, Bill Jr, Betsy, Douglas and Heather. My partner Bette Taylor and I have been together for the past 29 years. Retirement is greatly enhanced with a cabin on Lake Chelan.
Bill passed away December 30, 2020
Michael Murphy
President Yakima Rotary Club 2001-2002
Dr. Michael (Mike) Murphy was born at Fort Lewis, Washington in 1941 and moved to the Yakima Valley in 1973. He received his undergraduate degree and medical training at the University of Washington. He also did medical training at Los Angeles City Hospital and the University of Iowa. He was in practice in Yakima and participated in numerous professional boards and Associations.
Mike was very involved in the Boy Scouts of America and traveled the world with the organization to encourage youth to commit to a life of quality and service. He served on numerous regional and national Scouting boards and received two of Scouting’s highest awards. He joined Rotary in 1976 and was president of the Yakima Rotary club in 2001-2002.
Mike and his wife Diane were the parents of a son and a daughter. He died at the age of seventy on June 25, 2012.
Deborah Krautwurm
President of Yakima Rotary Club 2002-2003
Deborah (Deb) Krautwurm was the first woman to be president of the Yakima Rotary Club, serving in 2002-2003. She was born November 8, 1953 in Yakima and died way too young on August 15, 2011. She graduated from Eisenhower High School and attended Washington State University.
She began her career in the insurance industry with a local company that eventually became Wells Fargo Insurance Services. She served both private and commercial accounts.
Deb’s devotion to Rotary was paramount in her life. In addition to serving as club president, she was on the Board of the Yakima Rotary Trust and was instrumental in establishing the Rotary Trust College Scholarship program. That organization administers the $20 million bequest previously made to Yakima Rotary
Deb had an engaging personality with a continuous twinkle in her eye. Beside Rotary, her passions were golf and her two Scottish Terriers, Isabel and Piper.
Scott Gregory Wagner
President Yakima Rotary Club 2003-2004
Scott Wagner says that he is “not just a member of his Rotary Club…but a Rotarian!” He was born in Yakima June 4, 1957 and graduated from A. C. Davis High School in 1975. He then graduated from Central Washington University with a degree in Business Administration in 1979. Scott joined the Yakima Rotary Club in 1982 where he was the third generation of his family to do so. His father, Mel Wagner was also club president in 1973-1974. Scott purchased the family business, M. G. Wagner Co. Inc. from his father in 1994.
He was a member of the board of the Yakima Rotary Trust from 1998-2002 and was both a Trust Fellow and a Paul Harris Fellow. His other community activities include being active in the United Way and campaign chair in 1995, a Trustee of Memorial Hospital (now Virginia Mason Memorial) from 2008-2019, and its board chair in 2016-2018.
Scott is married to Joy Lynn and they are the parents of one daughter, Madison, who was born in 1997. He is an avid golfer, instrument-rated private pilot, farmer, rancher, horseman, hunter, fisherman, and community advocate.
Darrell Blue
President Yakima Rotary Club 2004-2005
Darrell Blue was born in Decatur, Illinois and raised in that state. He graduated from the University of Illinois with Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Journalism and Communications. His more than 50-year career in television broadcasting began while a student at the University.
For more than 20 years he was the operations manager of a TV station in Champaign, Illinois. During those years, he also taught part-time as an Assistant Professor of Communications at the University of Illinois.
After leaving Illinois, he worked for three years as station manager of a TV station in Spokane, Washington, and concluded his career as Vice President and General Manager of two television stations in Yakima and Kennewick, Washington, retiring in 2009.
He joined the Yakima Rotary club in 1987 and was its president in 2004-2005, the centennial year of Rotary. He served as District Governor of District 5060 in 2013-2014.
He was a member of a number of community boards, including, Memorial Hospital Foundation, The Capitol Theatre, The Yakima Symphony, The United Way, and Yakima County Development Association. He was a member of the Washington State Association of Broadcasters and served as president in 1995-1996.
His wife Margaret (Peg) Blue is an honorary member of Yakima Rotary. They both have served in many local, state and national professional and civic organizations and are the parents of four and grandparents of six.
Paul Larson
President Yakima Rotary Club 2005-2006
Paul Larson was the sixth of seven children and was born in Tacoma, Washington. He received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and his law degree from the Gonzaga School of Law.
He and Kristina Simonson were married June 19, 1971 and are the parents of three; Kristin, Philip and Erika. The family moved to Yakima in 1976 to start Paul’s law practice which is now the firm of Larson, Berg & Perkins. Note that his partner Jim Berg is also a past president of Yakima Rotary. Paul joined Rotary in 1986 and has held a number of committee assignments including Auction Chair and Youth Exchange Chair. He was club president in 2005-2006.
He has been active in the community holding a number of chair positions on service organizations such as the Y.M.C.A., Yakima Schools Foundation, Yakima Valley Community Foundation, Junior Achievement, and Providence/Yakima Medical Center Board.
Paul has been a frequent author and lecturer for various Bar Association programs and was Chair of Business Law Section, President of Young Lawyers Section of the Bar Association.
He says he was an “active tennis player until my body gave out,” and loves to spend time on his boat fishing in Alaska, British Columbia and Washington with family and friends.
Stan Martinkus
President Yakima Rotary Club 2006-2007
I attended the University of Washington and received a BA from the School of Business. After two years in the Army, I returned to Seattle and the University of Washington MBA program graduating in 1974. After that I then worked for Price Waterhouse & Co in Seattle for five years becoming a CPA. My wife Pam and I then moved back to Yakima in 1979 and in 1983 we purchased Western Materials with my partner Bill Douglas. I have been President of Western Materials since that time. Bill Douglas was also president of the Yakima Rotary club in 1987-1988.
I have served on a number of community boards: Memorial Hospital Board for 20 years with 3 years as chairman of the Board, the Memorial Foundation, United Way, and the Rotary Trust. I joined the Yakima Rotary Club in 1982 and was president of the club in 2006-2007. I have also served on a number of national industry boards.
I have been married to my wife Pam for 50 years and we have three grown children and 7 grandsons all currently living in Yakima. My hobbies include skiing, hunting, fishing and golf.
Jim Berg
President Yakima Rotary Club 2007-2008
May 20, 2020
GREETINGS:
It is, indeed, a curious endeavor to craft a brief biography intended to be received by persons not only unborn when I pass, but probably persons whose parents and grandparents were also unborn when I passed. 100 years is a long time. Notwithstanding that circumstance, for what it is worth here is my story.
At this writing, I am 68 years old. My wife, Anne McCormick Berg, and I have been married for nearly 47 years. We both graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle, and I graduated from Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon. We have two children – Charlie (41) who lives in Seattle, Washington, and Peter (37) who lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Both are married, and we have one grandchild – Nell Francis Berg. Anne and I moved to Yakima in 1977, shortly after I completed law school. At that time, we knew virtually no-one, but in the ensuing years we embraced the community and it embraced us. Yakima will always be home for us.
My career has been the practice of law. I am what is known as a trial attorney, although few litigated disputes actually go to trial anymore. Most settle outside the court room. Nevertheless, most of my practice has headed in that direction and I have tried enough cases well enough to gain induction as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. Practicing law is a bit like landscaping a home. If you do it long enough, do it well enough, and keep up the maintenance, after a few decades’ things look pretty good. I hope to practice full time for a few more years and then retire to devote more time to fly fishing, snow skiing and bird hunting (although I already spend a good bit of time in those pursuits).
My community involvement has been steady. I served on the boards of Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, Downtown Yakima Rotary, Yakima Rotary Trust, Washington Defense Trial Lawyers, Provident Industries, St. Elizabeth Medical Center, and I currently am a board member of the Virginia Mason Health System, in Seattle. I also served as President of five of those boards. The highlight of that community history has been Rotary. My year as Rotary President – 2007-2008 – was one of the best of my life. I loved every minute I was able to stand before the Downtown Yakima Rotary Club – attempting to bring direction, humor and optimism to the members. I am aware of no better organization in the world.
I sincerely hope that when you read this statement and the statements of my friends and fellow Rotary Presidents, the state of the World and this nation is positive.
Best Wishes!
Jim Berg
Greg Luring
President Yakima Rotary Club 2008-2009
Greg Luring grew up in a small community in Ohio and Graduated from Ohio State University. When at OSU he was in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps and when he graduated was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. He was selected to serve on nuclear submarines and was stationed in Connecticut, Virginia and eventually in Bangor, Washington. After leaving the Navy, he and his wife became the owners of a McDonalds Restaurant and that business eventually grew to more than a dozen stores.
Greg met his wife Jan while at Ohio State University and the couple were the parents of two daughters. Greg joined Rotary in 1981 and Jan became one of the first women members of Rotary in Yakima when she joined Yakima Sunrise Club in 1989. Greg was president of the Yakima Rotary club in 2008-2009 and was District Governor in 2015-2016. He has served the Yakima community on various boards and was one of the founders of the Yakima Rotary Trust once serving as its president.
Craig Mendenhall
President Yakima Rotary Club 2009-2010
Hello, my name is Craig Mendenhall and I was president of “The Finest Rotary Club in America” in 2009-2010.
I was born and reared in Yakima, attending Roosevelt, Franklin, and Eisenhower schools, and graduated from the University of Puget Sound.
In 1975 (age 25) together with two other Rotarians, we established BBM Financial Services. Initially, we were a life and group medical insurance agency. We subsequently added TPA (third party administrator) services for employer-sponsored retirement and self-funded medical programs. Presently, our activities center around administering retirement plans and providing mutual funds for these plans.
Jan and I have two daughters and our eldest daughter was a Rotary exchange student to Sweden following high school.
My civic activities include serving on the Boards of Yakima Valley Red Cross, Central Washington Blood Services, Provident Industries, Yakima Greenway Foundation, United Way, United Way Foundation, Signal Health, Memorial Hospital, Yakima Rotary Trust, and Advisory Board of a Bank. Many of these I served as president.
As I am penning these notes, I am soon to be 70 and Jan and I have been married for 39 years.