Our Humble Beginning*
A group of men in the newly developing areaof
North La Mesa began their interest in Kiwanis through a discussionof
the needs for community service and the social and economicdevelopment
of their community. The quiet soft-spoken Lake MurrayKiwanis Club's
moving force and organizer was the club's firstpresident Vic Root.
Vic was a supervising accountant for San DiegoTrust and Savings
Bank in their San Diego headquarters. He hadbeen a Kiwanis Club
member in New York. There had been discussionfor months about
a method to organize the community and Vic Roothad an idea: develop
a Kiwanis Club.
With everyone's understanding, Vic called a meeting on Thursdayevening
February 2, 1961 at the Girl's Cottage of La Mesa. A smallgroup
of interested men attended the meeting and Vic presentedthe Kiwanis
International's booklet, "New Club Building Information."Following
the meeting, a petition was signed and submitted toKiwanis International
for a charter application for the City ofLa Mesa. There was considerable
discussion about the club nameand many of the new area developers
lobbied for the club to nameitself after local property investments,
but Vic Root had a viewfrom his backyard of the lake, held fast,
and won. We became theLake Murray Kiwanis!
The club builders had the support of the La Mesa Kiwanis Club.They
had just celebrated their own twentieth anniversary. TheLa Mesa
Kiwanis Club had been chartered February 22, 1940 underthe sponsorship
of the National City and East San Diego KiwanisClubs. The original
Kiwanis Club in the county was the San DiegoKiwanis Club chartered
in 1920. At the second planning meeting,on February 20, the planning
group agreed to meet regularly onMonday evenings at Lawton's Restaurant.
By the evening of March20, there were seventeen prospective members
committed to thenew club, quickly approaching Kiwanis International's
charterrequirement of twenty-five members. At the April 10 meeting,
thirty-eightpeople were in attendance, twenty-one representing
the new nucleusfor the Lake Murray club. At the meeting, the La
Mesa club membersconducted a fine session and the eleven dollars
in fines beganthe Lake Murray Kiwanis Club treasury. The Lake
Murray KiwanisClub was chartered May 1, 1961 and the first regular
meeting washeld May 11, 1961 at the Flying Hills Country Club
(later renamedFletcher Hills Country Club), a converted military
barracks atGillespie Field, now the site of the industrial park.
CharterNight was Thursday night June 15, 1961, at the Stardust
Hotelin Mission Valley. To conclude a successful year, the club
heldits first anniversary dinner May 19, 1962, at the Fletcher
HillsCountry Club.
* Excerpt from Saturday is Lake Murray Kiwanisby
Dean Leptich
Past Presidents
1961-62: Vic Root
1962-63: William Sinclair
1963-64: John Cain
1964-65: Max Way
1965-66: Harold Ashman
1966-67: Forrest Sterling
1967-68: Charlie Westermier
1968-69: Frank Tannehill
1969-70: Jurek Preiss
1970-71: Sam Pedler III
1971-72: Chuck Jensen
1972-73: James Hinck
1973-74: Larry Fletcher
1974-75: Norm Sattler
1975-76: Carl Pugliese
1976-77: Jay Adams
1977-78: John Tilko, Jr.
1978-79: Chad Brucker
1979-80: Gary Montoya
1980-81: Paul O'Neal
1981-82: Lee Moore
1982-83: Keith Collard
1983-84: Rick Matthews
1984-85: Bob Kennedy
1985-86: Tom Vildibill
1986-87: Jim Nuñez
1987-88: Bill Burns
1988-89: John Berry
1989-90: Matt Lupo
1990-91: Al Treadwell
1991-92: Len Thomas
1992-93: Bob Vildibill
1993-94: Bob Rojas
1994-95: Elliott Kahn
1995-96: Bob Sennett
1996-97: John Watt
1997-98: Bill White
1998-99: Dean Leptich
1999-2000: Roy Elliott
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