Everett W. Hill: Peace was his project

The special section on Rotary International's centennial in last week's Leader brought back memories of special Rotarians who have been associated with the Polson Rotary Club over the years.

The local club is unusual for many reasons, one of which that it has produced three District Governors — the late Dr. W.D. (Bill) Copeland, Gem Mercer and Ken Sandon. The late Ole Belland served as a district governor before he moved to Polson. And the late Everett W. Hill, was president of Rotary International in the mid-1920s, long before he came to Polson.

It's Everett Hill and his dedication to principles of Rotary I want to talk about here. He and his wife Cleo lived on the showpiece property near the Polson Country Club's "old nine" and now owned by Lee Enterprises.

He was a widely published poet and author and an inspiring speaker. In 1961 the Polson Rotarians honored him at a memorable banquet at The Ranch. Testimonials to his effectiveness in Rotary came from around the world.

Five years later, after composing the poem "Now Is the Time," he recalled that special night and remarks he had made then and summarized them in a letter.

You can feel his intensity in his beliefs in Rotary principles from the tone of remarks excerpted from the letter:

"I, for one, am tired of waiting for governments to stop wars. The power of fear is evident in failure to act; so if peace is to come, it must be through the demand of the people of all nations, and it must begin with us in America. We must let our elected representatives know how we feel and demand that something shall be done to end all wars.

"Foreign policy must not and cannot be partisan, but all people should unite on the thought of peace and continued peace regardless of politics.

"Let us do some individual thinking and not be misled by falseness and lack of action of those who have it in their power to stop wars. Let's stop playing a game of 'Cops and Robbers.'

"If every newspaper, every magazine, every bulletin, every bit of advertising were devoted to promoting peace it would change the thought of man whose duty is to stop all wars. If every church would lend its effort toward peace; if every organization would take peace; if every home would pray for peace, and if every individual gave voice for peace, we would have peace.

"The rulers of the world cannot defeat the rising demand for peace? If so, let's get it!"

Now is the time:

There is no time to wait and play when nations are flame;

There is not time for mere excuse for each must take the blame;

There is no time for idle talk when swords of war are drawn,

We must assume the fault is ours when human rights are gone.

There is no time to sit and wish that right will soon prevail;

There is no time to sit and fret when effort seem to fail;

Now is the time to lift our voice demanding wars must cease,

And see that hatred, envy, greed must all give way to peace.

Hill closed his letter saying, "this is close to my heart, and I intend using what power I may have by voice or by pen to try and bring about a cessation of wars around the world … and it must be a honorable peace, a fair peace, and an honest peace, no matter the cost of time and effort and thought, yes, and money."

Everett was in his 80s when he and Cleo left Polson to spend what time they had remaining in the Missouri Ozarks. Unfortunately, he didn't have that much time left.

Tradition is hard to break and the dark side human nature is slow to change. Several wars and senseless massacres have occurred since Everett was here.

The results of ideals he expressed so eloquently and worked for so hard have yet to come about.

But Rotary has continued to grow. It now has 1,214,127 members of 32,176 clubs in 166 nations. If Everett Hill's spirit and example were felt within each of those clubs and their members, world peace might have a chance yet.