The Shepherdstown Rotary Club has honored two of its members, Maria Brown and Peter Smith with its highest award, the Paul Harris Award.
The award to Brown was presented at the club’s July 2 weekly breakfast meeting at Shepherdstown’s Bavarian Inn. Smith’s award was presented at the club’s June 11 breakfast at the Inn. The accompanying photo from Brown’s award ceremony shows her, center, with Smith to her immediate left. The others in the photo are, from left to right, Rotarians John Aldis, Dale Homan, and Welt Eifert.
The Rotary organization’s Paul Harris Award is named for the individual who founded Rotary International in 1905, Paul Percy Harris (1868-1947). The Shepherdstown Rotary Club periodically bestows this award on club and community members who exemplify the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self.” The club makes a $1,000 contribution from its own funds to the International Rotary organization’s charitable foundation on each awardee’s behalf.
Brown was recognized for her leadership in chairing the club’s International Relations Committee as well as her constant willingness to help with other club projects, her active involvement with her church, and the philanthropic activities of her family business, Brown’s Tire and Auto Center.
Smith was cited for his longtime chairmanship of the club’s Vocational Service Committee, his contributions to the club’s public relations activities, and his work on behalf of other local organizations and the town of Shepherdstown.
These are the last Paul Harris awards the club will bestow this year. In May, it presented three: one posthumously to Grant Smith, the longtime president of the Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle, and two others to club members Cheryl Groen and Sean Murtagh.
