Ken Gricus recently received a special award honoring his 52 years as a Rockland Rotarian, with 50 years of Perfect Attendance.

Gricus joined Rockland Rotary in 1972 at the invite of Ed Thompson. He was 35 years old and among the youngest of the club’s members. At that time, Rev. William Robbins was the president and Rotary was a suit-and-tie association made up of professional men.

Attendance was essential. If you missed three weeks of meetings in a row, you had in effect signed your resignation.

Over the years, Gricus was on various committees, spent 9 years on the Board of Directors, and became president in 1985. During his presidential year, he was sent to the Rotary International Convention in Las Vegas. His wife, Mary, a Rotary Ann, accompanied him. This convention was the one that voted to extinguish Polio by Rotary International’s 100th anniversary in 2005. Just three years later at the Philadelphia Convention, Rotary had raised the money to take on Polio, pertussis, red measles and more.

During Gricus' presidential year (‘85-’86), Rockland Rotary earned the Rotary Attendance Award for the entire District. The club had approximately 125 members, took the Salvation Army Bell Ringing Award from other service clubs like Kiwanis; the Masons; a women’s group, Zonta; and others.

Most recently, he has had the privilege of being Rockland Rotary’s chaplain and instituting the weekly “Rotary Minute”. He is the club’s Rotary International Foundation chairperson.

Ken and Mary generously contributed to the “All-Aboard Inclusive Playground” located at MacDonald Park. Although no one currently in the club was a Rotarian when Gricus joined, Ken states, “Rotary has been a lot more than a club to me, it is a way of life. All of the Rockland Rotarians have been like family, and I’m so grateful.”