Kiwanis Club Fiddler Citizen Service, Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Fellowship Awards Announced

Mary Wetteroff has never been one to back down from a challenge. The Kiwanis Club’s Bernard J. “Jimmy” Fiddler Citizen Service Award winner has done everything from raising bees to jumping out of an airplane two years ago. Wetteroff, who lives in Concord Village, is the mother of five boys, two of which she lost at young ages. Her husband of 47 years passed away in 2005.

Wetteroff said that jumping out of a plane was on her bucket list.

“It was one of the highlights of my life. I had always wanted to freefall,” she said. “I thought that would be so neat and at any rate I got an opportunity and I went for it.”

In addition to serving as the President of Byrne Electric Co., the family-run business, Mary also holds a part-time job working two days a week at Eckelkamp & Associates, a CPA firm. She has been a member of Assumption Catholic Church for more than four decades and has been involved with numerous church projects over the years, including the Christmas Sponsor-A-Family. Wetteroff  coordinates and organizes the delivery of thousands of gifts annually to St. Elizabeth Parish with Sponsor-A-Family.

Wetteroff also shows her love for the theater arts by volunteering as an usher at The Fox Theater, The Repertory Theater and previously at Stages.

“I enjoy it—I see a lot of different types of theater that I would never think to go to on my own and I like the variety,” she said.

In addition to her commitments to her church and the arts, Wetteroff is a member of the St. Louis County Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association, dedicating one evening a month to preparing meals for the Ronald McDonald House. 

“I think it’s the philosophy of life that I could overcome these sad points in my life and I want to be a happy person,” she said. “I like to keep busy. I get my three grandchildren off to school in the morning at 7 a.m. and then in the summer I take care of them.”

Wetteroff said that she is greatly and deeply honored to be nominated for the award and to be chosen.

“What I’ve done for Ronald McDonald and the golf tournament—I enjoy it so much. I don’t feel like it’s anything that I need to be rewarded for,” she said. “I was just flabbergasted.”

The Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Fellowship Award winner, Martha Henderson, started her career in 1978, studying genealogy. In 2001 she retired as the genealogy librarian for the Mid-Continent Public Library in Independence, Mo., where she helped build the genealogy library into one of the nation’s largest public genealogy collections. Henderson is the past president of the Missouri State Genealogical Association and past secretary of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. 

“I was always interested in history. In college I graduated with a degree in history. I then went to library school and got a degree in archives,” she said.

Following retirement, Henderson and her husband Orval moved to Crestwood to be closer to family and their three grandchildren.  She began her affiliation with the Rotary Club in Independence, and after retirement joined the Kirkwood Rotary Club, later transferring to the Crestwood-Sunset Hills Rotary Club in 2006.  Henderson has served on the Club’s Craft Fair Committee since 2007 and is currently the Club’s Assistant District Governor and District Historian for Rotary District 6060. 

“After I retired I’ve been working on my own genealogy and I’ve been to Scotland to research my roots there.”

Henderson gives a history moment of the Rotary Club at monthly meetings and said that she always believed in what Rotary does worldwide.

“They are an international organization, and one of the focuses is to eliminate Polio from the world,” she said. “This year India did not have any cases of Polio. We are almost there. Rotary sends out teams of volunteers who give the drops to the children so they don’t get Polio or spread it.”

Rotary also awards scholarships and money to several organizations such as Feed My People and Angel’s Arms.

“Every year we give out about $40,000 in the community,” Henderson said.

When it comes to her award, Henderson said that she appreciates the confidence that her fellow members have in her.

“I like to promote Rotary in the community and this is a good way to let people know about Rotary,” she said. “Mostly we do the work behind the scenes and we don’t often tout ourselves. This is a good way for people to know that Rotary is in the community.”