When posing another trivia contest question at this summer's Installation Banquet, Len Ealey showed a copy of a beautiful painting of an outdoor scene asking which Rotarian had painted it.  The answer: Arlene Meyer.

 

"I had an aunt who was a mute and quite an artist," Arlene told me.  "In grade school I was always drawing and in high school I was offered a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago.  But my mom was a widow and couldn't afford the additional costs for me to go there.  She felt I should develop some regular talents like typing and shorthand so I never went."  When Arlene's late husband Stan was sick, she took up painting again, copying the box covers of various jigsaw puzzles "for fun."  She enjoyed doing that and considered it her "therapy" as she dealt with Stan's illness.  Obviously, Arlene retained her artistic talents. 

 

Born and raised in Chicago, Arlene attended local schools.  "I was a minority," she recalls.  "My friends were African-American and Puerto Rican."  Such was the life living downtown.  Her first husband, Mark Heine, worked for KMart and Kresge.  He was transferred to the Pekin KMart and they relocated here in 1968.  Soon Arlene was asked to work part-time at Pekin's World Wide Travel.  It was located in the Herget Service Center on Capitol (a place that no longer exists).  While there, she attended TWA's "Breach Academy" in 1973 to learn more about the travel business.  That same year she purchased the business and eventually relocated in the former Fred Soady home at 506 Broadway.  Over the next 40 years she built the business from two female associates to six.  Then last year, Arlene decided it was time to retire.

 

On  November 7th, she will celebrate 25 years as a Pekin Rotarian.  Invited by her pastor, late-Rotarian Dave Goodell, she and Lynn Glover became our club's first female Rotarians in 1990.  She served as club treasurer for three years and one year as vice-president before becoming our president in 1999-2000.  In 2001, she was named our first female Paul Harris Fellow--a distinction she is very proud of.  Her tenure as club president was a personal growth experience.  "I gained a lot," she said.  "I took on a lot of responsibility.  And, serving as president gave me the confidence to lead."

 

In asking her any other thoughts about the club that she has been a big part of, she shared that she always tries to sit with new people.  "I also enjoy the  Newsletter and learn a lot from it.  Good News is great too!"  She then confessed that she's about to become a great grandma--an honor she will be acknowledging as her own "Good News."

 

Arlene Heine-Meyer is a club trail-blazer with a history of contribution to the club that now spans a quarter century.  She has much to be proud of.  That pride is matched by those of us who have watched her gladly serve and become a cherished part of our club.

Gary Gillis