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KLINGINSMITH ELECTED RI PRESIDENT 2010-2011
By Joseph Derr

Ray Klinginsmith, of the Rotary Club of Kirksville, Missouri, USA,
was elected as president of Rotary International for 2010-11
by delegates during the fourth plenary session at the 2009 RI
Convention in Birmingham, England.

Klinginsmith thanked the audience, saying that his election
completed a long Rotary journey of nearly 50 years that began
with a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship.

Thank you for permitting me to complete a circle in my Rotary
life. It was 25 years ago, in this very building, that the delegates
of the 1984 convention elected me as an RI director,. said
Klinginsmith. .That election in 1984 permitted me to become
the youngest director on the RI Board as a result of my early
exposure to Rotary as a college student, because I was a Rotary
Scholar.

Klinginsmith said that when the RI Convention is convened in
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, in 2011, it will be the 50th
anniversary of his month long trip that lasted a lifetime..
Awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Cape Town,
Klinginsmith said he was the first student from his community to
study abroad. He told the audience how he embarked on his
journey on a ship that sailed from New Orleans to Cape Town,
where he made friends and was first exposed to the transformative
power of Rotary.
.I had the good fortune to travel 16,000 miles in Africa and to
visit 35 Rotary clubs in four different countries, and therefore, I
am pleased to stand here today as a product of The Rotary
Foundation,. Klinginsmith said.

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