The Rotary Club of Ellicottville experienced a successful wrap-up for this past year.
Area Governor, Paula Fidurko attended our final meeting of the year on June 20th with 16 members and a prospective new member in attendance. She praised the membership for how far we have come collectively in re-grouping (we were down to 8 members in 2022 and finished this year off at 21 or 25 – depending on final dues payments). She applauded our great strides in the number of members, volunteers as Friends of Rotary, scholarships, fund-raising, etc.
Ellicottville introduces their new officers for the 2024-202 Rotary year.President: John Weismantel
President-elect: Carol Fisher 2024-25
President-nominee: Deborah Yves-Pelletier 2025-26
Secretary: Mary Fox
Treasurer: Anne Rothrock
Sergeant-at-Arms: Tom Opsahl
- Carol Fisher
President John Weismantel will enter his third consecutive year and fifth of the past seven as President of the Rotary Club of Ellicottville. John joined the Rotary Club in 2015 after retiring from Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation where he spent 31 years in various positions including sales, training, marketing, account management, and trade relations. In addition to serving as President, he was the Assistant Governor for Area 15 comprising Cattaraugus County and the Rotary Clubs of Olean and Ellicottville, from 2019 to 2023. John Was born and raised in nearby Springville. He graduated from Purdue University in 1979, with a BS in Pre-medicine. After being hired by Novartis and living in various locations throughout the Midwestern, Southeastern and Northeastern U.S., he moved back to Western NY in 2001, where he spent his last 14 years with Novartis as the District Sales Manager for Upstate NY. His “Rotary Moment,” or the event that prompted his motivation to join Rotary came in 2009, when he donated a round of golf at the Springville Country Club to the Rotary Club of Ellicottville for their auction at the Tuscan Moon event held at Holiday Valley. Later that year, as he was leaving a local restaurant, the current President of Rotary stopped him on his way out to tell him that the proceeds from his donation provided a Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, as well as Christmas presents for a single mother battling breast cancer. Upon hearing this, he decided that this was the type of Club he wanted to join when his work career would allow him to do so.
President-Elect Carol Fisher was born in Sloan, NY in 1943. She grew up with the sense of “service above self” which she learned from her father, Walter Panek, who served 18 years in the military prior to and during WWII. After the war, Walter started both the American Legion and the Boy scouts of America in their family basement, even writing a letter to President Eisenhower asking for help in obtaining a building for the Legionnaires. Carol proudly proclaims that she was an honorary Legionnaire and boy scout as she was growing up! An older student, Carol completed three plus years of college in her late 40’s before running out of money. She has always been involved in social and community issues, in particular, in educating people about death and the dying process, becoming an End-of-Life Doula two years ago.
Secretary Mary Fox was born in Orchard Park. A Fredonia graduate, Mary taught in Kenmore/Town of Tonawanda, then West Seneca schools before coming to Ellicottville in 1969 with her then husband, Jack Murphy, to open the Barn Restaurant. She divorced, raised her two sons then remarried in 1980 to Les Fox, of the original founding Fox family in Ellicottville, creating in Mary an avid desire to explore all things historical. This interest led to a book on Ellicottville’s history which she is compiling. Mary and Les, a 23-year Air Force Veteran, moved to Florida in 2018. She returned to Ellicottville in 2022, after her husband’s passing. "I joined Rotary because I wanted to belong to a group of people that are community minded and like to do events that benefit the local and greater community. I have worked with other Rotary members, in many ways such as organizing basket raffles, selling hot dogs, and being secretary of the Ellicottville Rotary Club. I like the Rotary because it is like a social club with a purpose to help others. The Club has grown and done a lot of good in the year since I joined. It has made my life much richer with the close friendships I have made with many members." z
Treasurer Anne Rothrock was born and raised in Rochester, NY, but has family roots in the Ellicottville area dating back to 1818. Anne and her husband Dave have lived in Great Valley since 2009 and enjoy traveling and hiking with their two dogs when they aren’t busy renovating their 1870s home. As a wildlife biologist with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Anne works on wildlife management and conservation programs throughout Western New York. Anne joined Rotary in 2022 and enjoys working with others to help our community and environment, while developing relationships and having some fun along the way!
Sergeant-at-Arms Tom Opsahl: a recently retired dentist from the state of Vermont, Tom practiced all phases of general dentistry for forty years, with the same two business partners for over twenty-five years.Tom and his wife Michelle chose to move to western NY two years ago, to be nearer to two of their three children and four grandchildren (ages 4 to 10) in the greater Clarence, NY area. Their other son lives in Underhill VT with his husband. Getting the best of both worlds, they enjoy sharing time with grandchildren locally, while their sons provide an ongoing encouragement to visit VT. They chose Ellicottville to continue their passion for skiing and enjoy meeting new friends at both resorts. In addition, they enjoy the outdoors in all seasons, including hiking, biking, stand up paddleboarding, gardening, and landscaping.
“Why I joined Rotary: moving to a new community, I wanted to contribute and become involved as soon as possible. Rotary was searching for new members and my dad was a Rotarian all his adult life, so I knew of the service and integrity of the organization. I also was the recipient of a Rotary Scholarship upon graduation from high school, so time to return the investment!”