Paul Harris Sapphire
 

At our meeting on 23^rd of June , President Glenda Bryson had the pleasure of awarding a Paul Harris Sapphire to P.P Mary Engert. The following is part of her address on the occasion of the award:

“Rotarians often designate a Paul Harris Fellow as a tribute to a person whose life demonstrates a shared purpose with the objectives of the Rotary Foundation

Tonight, I would like to recognise the work of Mary Engert and present her with a Sapphire Paul Harris Fellow pin.

Before we celebrate, let me explain a little behind this decision.

Mary stepped up to the role of President in October 2018 after Paul chose to cease his tenure. Mary did not have the liberty of any preparation, nor was she aware of any of the projects and ideals that Paul had set for the Club in what would have been his year.  Her past experience as a President stepped in and with a strong Board, she was able to complete the year with dignity.

Throughout all of this, Mary was battling with her ‘eye condition’ and was gearing up to have experimental brain surgery that was thought would correct her eye condition.  She battled migraines and more while holding the reigns of this Club in her hand.

Mary also became my mentor, as I took on the role of President Elect.  It was known that we had had our differences before but it became quite clear why that was so.  We were extremely similar to each other – so it was a natural clash of the titons to start with.

Once those hurdles were jumped, we settled in to mentor / mentee role and when it was time to hand the reigns of the Club over to me, that relationship continued and does to this day.

Mary has also mentored other members of this Club in their Board roles, has helped with establishing some new protocols during my year, has made contact with just about every member of this club since COVID-19 restrictions come into play, has thought out of the box for a project that could be done during COVID-19 (coffees for the front line workers) and again all the while battling her own medical issues.

Brain surgery saw improvements in her ‘eye condition’ and she has and is dealing with the challenges that this entails.

She had driven Joe and Spike the rabbit absolutely MAD, but her focus has remained solid on the continued smooth operations of behind the scenes of this Club, under the title of Immediate Past President / Club Administration.I am a better person for your guidance Mary and I sincerely thank you.