Secretaries, Executive Secretaries & Executive Directors

Orpheus C. “O. C.” Soots

1919-1921

Club Secretary/Treasurer 1919-1921

When the Yakima Rotary club was chartered in 1919, Orpheus C. Soots was named Acting Secretary of the club. As regular meetings were held and the officers were elected, he was named permanent Secretary/Treasurer. Orpheus, usually called “O. C.” held that position for only the first two years of the club’s history.

Soots who was born in 1913 in Iowa was the Executive Secretary of the Yakima Commercial Club which was the predecessor of the Chamber of Commerce. In 1926, he left that position to become one of the lead members of the State Chamber of commerce in Seattle. He died in on July 1, 1954 in Seattle.

Reidar Rovig*
1921-1935 & 1936-1943

Secretary Yakima Rotary Club 1921-1935 and 1936-1943

Rovig stepped down from his job as club secretary in 1935-1936 when he served as club president, returning the following year.

His biography from Club President

President of the Yakima Rotary Club in 1936, Reidar Rovig was born in Norway in 1877 and immigrated to the United States as a young man. His family originally settled in Minnesota. In 1892, he began working for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. He remained with the railroad until 1910. He then migrated to Washington to begin a career in retail lumber, establishing the Rovig Lumber Company in North Yakima.

In 1920, Rovig was elected to one term as Mayor of Yakima, winning the election by only less than three hundred votes. As mayor he appointed a new police chief and ordered him to close down all forms of gambling in town. That included card rooms, punch boards, and dice boxes. Rovig was an early member of Rotary, serving as Secretary for over twenty years and club president in 1936.

He died in 1943 at the age of sixty-six and was buried in Terrace Heights.

Clarence Ernst
1935-1936 & 1943-1963
Secretary of Yakima Rotary Club

Clarence Ernst fist served as interim club secretary in 1935-1936 during Reidar Rovig’s year as club president. He then returned to serve as permanent secretary from 1943 to 1963. He continued as secretary in 1946-1947 when he was district Governor of District 103. During that year it appears that he attended all board meetings, wrote the weekly newsletter and filled all the duties of secretary. In the Tooter, it occasionally mentions that he was absent from the club meeting to visit another club. Even on those occasions, he still managed to write the next week’s Tooter.

His Biography from District Governor profiles

Clarence Ernst was born in Seattle in 1898, served in World War I, and returned to the University of Washington to graduate with a degree in Business Administration with the Class of 1920. During the summer of 1919, the Seattle YMCA recruited groups of high school boys to work in the Alaskan fish canneries. Ernst volunteered to lead one group of young men for a summer of work and this began a lifelong affiliation between Ernst and the YMCA. Following his graduation from the University of Washington, he was recruited to the job of Boy’s Work Secretary at the Yakima YMCA, and he was promoted to General Secretary in 1925. Married in 1921, he and his wife Josephine had one son. He remained in Yakima and retired from the “Y” in 1963.

Ernst, however, was not just a successful “Y” leader. He was the singles handball champion of Yakima, headed numerous community fund drives—including Community Chest (now United Way), and led the first People For People tour behind the Iron Curtain in 1961 under the auspices of the United States State Department.

He joined the Yakima Rotary Club in 1924, was elected club president in 1935, fulfilled the duties of club secretary from 1943 to 1963, and served as District Governor in 1945. In a 1964 Salute to Clarence Ernst in the Yakima Club Rotary newsletter, it was said …he was always ready to serve whenever he was needed…We salute Clarence Ernst—Mr. Rotary.

After retirement, Clarence and Josephine moved to California to be closer to their son. In California, he was active in the Burlingame Rotary Club. He died in California in December 1979.

Gordon Smith
1963-1964
Secretary of Yakima Rotary Club

Kenneth Gordon Smith (known as Gordon) founded Gordon Smith Advertising in 1932. That firm eventually evolved to become Smith, Phillips, DiPietro, and Gassling. Several partners in that firm were also Rotarians and two, Bob Phillips and Bob DiPietro Jr., eventually became club presidents. For two years, 1963 and 1964, Gordon served as Club Secretary.

He served in that role for two years between Clarence Ernst and Elwood “Woody” Miller. Both of whom eventually became District Governor.

He was married to Ruth Hazel Shriner and they 3 daughters: Norma Neal, Carol Yvonne, and Lois Katherine. Gordon was born in 1904 and died in 1996 at the age of 92.

Elwood “Woody” Miller
1964-1968
Secretary of Yakima Rotary Club

Elwood Miller, known to all as “Woody” served as Secretary of the Yakima Rotary Club during the years 1964-1968. He was President of the club in 1959-1960 and District Governor in 1974-1975.

His biography from District Governor profiles.

Woody Miller was born in Prosser, WA, on November 29, 1916, and passed away on May 28, 1992, in Yakima, WA. After attending Prosser schools and graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in transportation, he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy during WWII, and eventually retired from the Navy Reserves with the rank of Lt. Commander.

Following the war, he moved with his wife, Anne, to Yakima where he was employed by Bell Wyman Chrysler Dodge, and later owned Yakima Transfer and Storage. He joined the Yakima Rotary Club in 1951, was club president in 1959-60, and served as Governor of (then) District 506 in 1973-74. In 1977, he was awarded the District Citation for Meritorious Service.

Along with his Rotary service, Woody was an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Yakima, a long-time board member of the Salvation Army, and a member of the Board of Yakima Memorial Hospital. He is survived by three daughters, all married to Rotarians, and a grandson Rotarian.

Bert Broad
1968-1980
Club Secretary/Treasurer

His biography from Club President profiles.

Bert Broad and his wife Berdie arrived in Yakima in 1937 where they opened a book store which they operated until 1971. Bert was active in almost every phase of life in Yakima, serving as mayor from 1971 to 1975. He was president of the Yakima Rotary Club in 1945 and served as its secretary/treasurer from 1968 to 1980.

He was born October 19, 1907 in Grass Valley, California. Bert lived in Spokane for a time where on August 18, 1929 he married Berdie Acheson.

During his years in Yakima, he was president of the Yakima Valley Credit Bureau, the first president of the Better Business Bureau, and instrumental in establishing the downtown Yakima Mall. He was a leader in the rebuilding of the Capitol Theatre and active in organizing the Yakima Centennial events. As a long-time Presbyterian, he was a leader in the regional organization. Bert Broad died on August 4, 1987 in Yakima.

Bill Whitaker
1981-1997
Executive Secretary

Harry William Whitaker Jr., known to all as “Bill” was born in Yakima on May 22, 1917 and died on April 20 2009 in Bellevue, Washington. He graduated from Yakima High School and was a proud alum of Washington State University. In 1946, Bill married Virginia Epps in Athens, Georgia. Following the wedding they returned to Yakima where they settled to raise their four children.

Bill worked as a structural engineer for Valley Iron Works and Central Steel and Tank in Yakima. Following his retirement from that business in 1980, he took on the job of Executing Secretary of Yakima Rotary. A position he held until his final retirement in 1997.

Carolyn Flory
1998-present

*Reidar Rovig had a break in his service as club secretary in 1935-1936 when he served a club president.