Rotary values are my family values…
by John Settle
I’ve been very fortunate in my life, beginning with the parents that I was privileged to have. All we have to do these days is watch the evening news or any of the 24 hour news channels to realize that there are many people in the world who were not fortunate enough to have parents whose beliefs and actions demonstrated family values similar to the Rotary Four-Way Test.
My dad, Marshall Settle, was a Rotary member for more than 50 years and had accumulated more than 50 years of perfect attendance when he passed away February 6, 2006. He loved everything about Rotary and never missed an opportunity to talk to his family and friends about the benefits and accomplishments of Rotary.
Each year around this time, as the anniversary of his death approaches, I find myself remembering that event and my dad’s influence on my life before and after.
Dad spent most of his life in and around Anadarko and Chickasha Oklahoma where he worked and raised his family. He was an entrepreneur and started his first business, Settle Photography Studio, in Anadarko in the early 1950s.
A few years later, in the early 60s, he purchased a Farmers Insurance Group agency in Chickasha, and later expanded his insurance agency to include his becoming an investment broker with Waddell & Reed.
July 1974 marked the last of my dad‘s career changes when he became a member of the fourth estate by purchasing three Grady County Newspapers, The Chickasha Star, The Minco Minstrel, and the Tuttle Times. He loved newspapers and being a newspaper publisher.
Obviously, my dad had several different offices during his career. From my earliest memories of his office, I recall that the Rotary Four-Way Test was prominently displayed in each.
My recollections of my dad and his office included not only photos of my mom, brother and me, as well as the airplanes he had owned and flown, but also prominent displays of the Rotary Four-Way Test. Over the course of my life, I came to realize those displays were not merely decorations. They were in fact, Dad’s affirmation of how important the Rotary Four-Way Test was in his life. He not only prominently displayed the Rotary Four-Way Test in his office, but he exhibited it in every aspect of his life and in how he treated every customer, client and family member.
As I look around my office today, I see no less than three prominent displays of the Rotary Four-Way Test.
I hope I have displayed and continue to display the Rotary Four-Way Test in my life and career as successfully as my dad did during his.