Civitan International History
Page 3

The following is reprinted from the Civitan International website

In the early years of Civitan International, growth was an important goal to Civitan leaders.  As the word of what Birmingham Civitans were accomplishing spread to other cities, the foundation group sent members to other cities to talk about Civitan and to form clubs.  Later, Civitan would form a network of field representatives to charter clubs in distant cities.

Civitan's first club outside of the United States was chartered in Geneva, Switzerland in 1922.  In May of 1925 the Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Civitan Club was chartered.  Both of these clubs failed to survive the depression years, but Canada came back strong in 1932, this time firmly established with the Toronto Civitan Club.

Civitan K.Y. Benson, a former president of the Birmingham Civitan Club, moved to Toronto because of his business.  He felt that when the time was right, he would get a club started there.  With the help of Major Frank M. Brown, one of Toronto's foremost citizens, they got a select group together to hear International Secretary Arthur Cundy tell the Civitan story.  The group went to work getting more prominent citizens together and they were finally ready for charter.

On January 25, 1932, Cundy again traveled to Toronto and presented them with Charter 264 at the King Edward Hotel.  Officers of the club included Frank M. Brown, president; K.Y. Benson, secretary-treasurer; and Fred Halls and A.J. Walker, vice-presidents.

Civitan was now in two nations - Canada and the United States.   In the following years, due to the high cost of maintaining clubs in foreign countries and worldwide conditions, Civitan would concentrate on Canada and the United States for growth.  It would take Civitan 37 years to venture outside North America, crossing the Atlantic to Norway.

"Now Under Four Flags" was the banner headline proclaiming the chartering of the Oslo, Norway and Monterrey, Mexico Civitan clubs in the October 1969 issue of the Civitan Magazine.  A group of men, interested in joining a major service club, had looked into various groups, deciding on Civitan.

Civitans attending the May 30 ceremonies in Oslo were International President Eddie Lunn of Nashville, Tennessee; Executive Administrator Rudolph T. Hubbard and John L. Badeau of Birmingham, Alabama and J.D. Blackburn of Kingsport, Tennessee.  They were accompanied by their spouses.  The Mother Club of Civitan International, Birmingham, Alabama, sponsored the Oslo Club.

A formal banquet with master of ceremonies Kai E. Roland, a former Civitan from Portland, Oregon, got the new club off to a good start.  Charter officers were Trygve Klinkenberg, president; Einar Barnes, vice-president; Otto Munthe-Kass Pay, secretary; and Anders Roland, treasurer.

The Monterrey, Mexico Club chartered June 20.  International President Eddie Lunn and International Vice President Bill Haehnel and their wives were greeted at the Monterrey Airport by an enthusiastic group of Texan and Mexican Civitans.

Texas District Governor Jack Blackmon presented the charter to Rev. Drew Wolcott, president of the new club.  Lunn installed the officers and Haehnel initiated members.  Officers were Wolcott, president; Bart Espinosa, Mario Serrano and Ramiro de la Garza, vice-presidents; Oscar Salinas, secretary; and Sergio Gardea, treasurer.

Norwegian Civitans went to work, growing not only in Norway, but adding other countries.  In January 1970, the Hanover, Germany Club chartered followed in just a few months by the Stockholm, Sweden Club in June.

In 1974, Atlanta, Georgia Civitan Howell Jordan, a career army officer and former Junior Civitan, was transferred from Fort MacPherson, Georgia to Seoul, Korea.  Before leaving for his new post, Georgia North District Governor-elect Dick Lang asked Jordan to establish a new Civitan club in Korea.

Jordan sought outstanding business and professional people and quickly connected with Dr. Young Seek Choue, an internationally known educator, author and president of Kyung Hee University.  The Seoul Civitan Club chartered in August 1974.

Officers of the club were assisted by American servicemen.   The charter officers were: Kim Dong Up, president; Joseph Len, vice-president; Ye In Su, secretary; and Chin Tae Chong, treasurer.

Yoshio Nishimoto, an executive with the Coca-Cola Company, was transferred from Atlanta, Georgia back to his native Japan.  While in Atlanta, Nishimoto was a member of the Sandy Springs Civitan Club.  In Japan, he went to work to build a club, and the Nippon Civitan Club chartered in June 1975.

The Nippon Civitan Club chartered with two experienced Civitans -- Nishimoto and Dr. Makoto Hara, a professor of economics at Tokyo Gaku Gei University.   Hara had taught at the University of North Carolina.

Civitan International President M.M. Richards attended the charter ceremonies.  Yoshio Nishimoto was the charter president of the new club.   Growth in the Orient would be slow, but steady, and clubs continue to charter with the elite in business and professional men and women.

In 1989, Bangladesh was added to the roster of Civitan nations.   Five clubs were chartered in and around the capital city of Dhaka, principally through the work of Towhid Hasan Kibria, who is general secretary of the area.

The year 1990 would see two additional nations -- Denmark and Hungary -- join the world of Civitan.

Denmark was the natural outgrowth of expansion by Civitan's European Division.  Saeby, Denmark chartered in April 1991 through the efforts of club builders Ingegjerd Birkeland, John Gunnar Gregerson and Vagn Sorensen.

Gyor and Tet, Hungary chartered on September 18 and 19, 1991, through the effort of one Civitan, Ferenc Relle, an Eastern Columbus member who had dreamed of seeing Civitan in his homeland for many years.  Relle is a past governor of the Ohio District.

It all started in Birmingham, Alabama but it is spreading around the world.  Civitan was the dream, the gift of our founders, to the world.  It is a rich heritage, a proud heritage for us to pass on, just as Shropshire and those early leaders passed it on to you and to me.
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