The Early Years:
The Kiwanis Club of Cary was founded by the hard work of several men. Attempts were made in the late 1960′s to form a club, but the efforts did not bear fruit. The initial impetus was concentrated on obtaining members from the faculty of North Carolina State University rather than on obtaining members in several different positions from the community as a whole.
In 1970, John A. Brock, Jr. moved to Cary from Duxbury, Massachusetts. He had been a member of Kiwanis since December 1956 and had obtained the names of Kiwanis Clubs in the Raleigh area. He attended a meeting of one of the clubs and met Mr. I.H. “Vick” Vickery from the Henderson, NC club. Vick was Governor of the Carolinas District during the 1969-70 administrative year. John also met some Cary men who were interested in forming a Kiwanis Club in Cary.
After obtaining the signatures of a few men interested in being Charter Members of a Kiwanis Club, John and Vick met with various businesses in the community and obtained the 25 signatures needed to form a new Kiwanis Club. Since Vick’s club was in Henderson, approximately 60 miles away, the Kiwanis Club of Raleigh became our sponsoring club. However, “Vick” is referred to as the “father of the Cary Kiwanis Club.”
Thus, on June 3, 1971, Kiwanis International granted the Kiwanis club of Cary a charter. Our legal name is “Kiwanis Club of Cary, Inc.”; however, we are commonly referred to as the “Cary Kiwanis Club.” The usual Kiwanis International formalities were followed and a charter presentation night was held on August 28, 1971. The Charter Members were:
Bond, Harold
Briggs, Charles L.
Brock, John A., Jr.
Comer, Louis H.
Davis, Robert G.
Duke, Harvey L.
Erwin, Arthur “Pat”
Fulp, James F., Jr.
Garmon, William H.
Healan, David E.
Lynn, Daniel C.
MacIlroy, Alan P.
May, John D.
Pinkston, Robert H.
Proctor, Dalton R.
Robinson, Denver D.
Rogers, Larry D.
Self, Robert E. “Ed”
Servis, Johnnie N.
Stephenson, Thomas C.
Stevens, John A.
Thomas, Robert R.
Walters, Joseph H.
Westbrook, Curtis
White, Robert K.
