The Rotary Club of North Shore was chartered in 1958. The Governor of Rotary District 589 that year was Mr. Tom Dyal of Bay City. He asked Pasadena Rotarian Ellis Bareis to look into forming a club in the North Shore area. Mr. Bareis approached Tom Middleton, a Rotarian with the Galena Park Rotary Club, to undertake the project. Under the leadership of Tom Middleton, the first meeting of the provisional club was in April of 1958 and the first meeting of the chartered club was held on August 22, 1958, when 13 original members formed the club. Of this original group of 13, one member remains a member of the club today, B. J. Westbrook. The founder Tom Middleton remained a member of the club until he moved from Houston in 1999.
The new club met for the first ten years at Holy Trinity Methodist Church. Throughout its history, the club has paid for its operation through dues to its members and raises money for Charitable Projects. An early community activity involved the Scouting Program. A Scout Hut was built in the North Shore area with Rotary funds and Rotary participation. The first college scholarship program began in 1966 with a $300 scholarship. This level of support remained until the Fish Fry generated additional funds, allowing increased financial support. Fund raising in the early years was from pancake suppers, which raised a few hundred dollars. In 1967 the club attempted to have a large fund raising event, an Arabian horse show. This event was not financially successful. Pancake suppers and raffles became the method of fund raising until 1976. This year, President Billy Mayo started what now has become a tradition in the North Shore area, the annual Catfish Fry / Crawfish Boil. This event catapulted the North Shore Rotary Club from being a small club with small ambitions, into quiet a large club with larger ambitions. Membership had grown to 40 members before the advent of the fish fry. After the fish fry, membership quickly doubled and is now approximately 115 members. The money from the club's fish fry has also expanded the role of North Shore Rotary in the community. The table below illustrates this involvement by showing the cumulative investments.
