District Governor Rob Uhl presenting Chris Paton with Paul Harris Fellow.
The Rotary Club of Junee’s changeover at the Junee Ex-Services Club, on Sunday saw the induction of two new members, Des Carmody a former Rotarian now back and Deb Slinger. The District Governor, Rob Uhl, was in attendance and she was delighted to induct two new members into the club.
In her welcoming outline she acknowledged both of these people will bring a different slant and perspective on ideas within the club. However, the District Governor had another important duty to perform and that was the bestowing of longtime Rotary member and community minded person, Chris Paton, as a Paul Harris Fellow.
This is the highest form of recognition a Rotary Club can bestow and it is presented to a Rotarian, or a member of the community, who has made an outstanding contribution to the community.
The culmination of all the fundraising throughout the year is a major aspect of the changeover with the presentation of donations from the club to various groups and organisations in the local area. These included the local high school, as well as the Year 12 charity NETS and Junee Public School, Junee Vietnam Veterans, Lilier Lodge, Country Hope, Pro Patria, Rural Outreach Counselling.
The SoDance group received a gift card from Bunnings to help after fire destroyed their premises in February. In addition to this President John Higginson presented the local supermarket management and staff with the RotaryVocational Award in recognition of vocational excellence.
The incoming President is John for a second year and Past District Governor John Egan inaugurated him with the collar and then he presented to the audience of members, partners and guests his Board for the incoming year 2025-2026.
Chris Paton moved to the Junee Shire in 2000 when he was working in financial planning and he got a job at the Correctional Centre and for a tree change. He was married and had four children. When in Sydney he joined the Prospect Morning Rotary Club and then joined the Junee club when he moved here. He continued working in finance in different places but ended up commuting to Canberra before retiring after COVID. He lives with his wife Deidre in Old Junee now.
Chris has been a tireless member and worker for the Junee Rotary Club and when commuting to Canberra he would still turn up to help at the monthly markets or do the gates at the rugby league senior games. He has been President more than once, last time from 2022-23 and 2023-24, at the same time doing the treasurer’s job, and is now treasurer.
If you are not sure about something to do with Rotary ask Chris and if he doesn’t know he will find the answer. There is seldom a time when Chris can’t help out with an activity. However, Chris is not just involved with the Rotary Club in Junee. He is also the treasurer of the Junee Community Centre, and treasurer of the Riverina Schoolboys Carnival. Chris loves cars and is treasurer of Gasworks Motorsport, Speedway Karts and Khanacross, Illabo Motor-port Park, Gasworks Vintage Speedway Club, the Gasworks Cart Club Inc. which is the incorporated administration entity for the Gasworks Vintage Speedway. So you can see Chris is av ery community minded person and treasurer of a num-er of organisations. He most certainly deserves the accolade of a Paul Harris Fellow. The Paul Harris Fellowship Award is one of the highest honours Rotary can bestow upon a person. Recipients are Rotarians and community professionals, recognised for their outstanding contributions, exemplifying the highest ideal in Rotary in placing “SERVICE ABOVE SELF.”
Chris himself told the Junee Independent he was very surprised to receive the award. “I wasn’t expecting that. I generally know what’s going on in the club because with those awards, the treasurer normally gets involved. They did that without me knowing.
“I was a bit surprised. You don’t expect these sorts of things. It’s not why you are doing Rotary.“Rotary is great on two levels. It does a lot internationally to help people with things like eradicating polio and looking after drinking water in places where there isn’t any of those sorts of things. I’m more focussed on what I can do at a local level, that’s why I like Junee Rotary because it focusses a lot on the local community and it makes a bit of a difference. It’s an organisation that makes a difference, and that’s what I like about it and particularly Junee, but we do some work internationally, we donate there a bit. It makes a difference.
“Rotary is more about the work that everybody does, not just one person.”
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