A stroke on Sept. 30 took Ray Fisher from us. Chris Camp lost a hard-fought battle with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer on Dec. 13. The next day the Rev. Ron Jordan passed away after a short fight against Covid. Last Friday Mark Bialik suffered a massive heart attack while doing what he loved – playing golf.
All four were members of the Rotary Club of Farragut – my club – and all were pillars of the club. Camp was our president in 2017-18. Fisher was a major supporter of our projects, a man who really brought the Mission of Hope into our world, a man who never met a stranger, an anchor on our club’s golf teams. Jordan brought to our club a lifetime of Christian ministry.
Mark Bialik
And then Mark Bialik. For 15 years he has been the coordinator of our Free Flu Shot Saturday project – a big job pulling together many moving parts to make it happen. He did it with grace, patience, organizational skill and passion.
To lose even one of these four was hard. But all four in a nine-month period has stunned our members.
Just eight days ago Bialik was at our meeting at Fox Den Country Club doing what he does best – strengthening the club. He sponsored our newest member, Ralph Henry, helping President Ed Jones with his induction. Bialik was the chair of our Family of Rotary Committee, which, ironically, is charged with the well being of our members. He was a member of the club’s board of directors. He was a professional civil engineer and president of GBS Engineering. He was only 61.
Part of my Rotary work is being a member of the Family of Rotary committee, helping Mark and handling member communications. Last Friday afternoon it was my job to email the news of his death to our 88 members. We became friends when we joined the club in a four-month period in 2005 and went through member orientation together. We became Rotary buddies, but we also became personal friends outside of Rotary.
Mark’s wife of 33 years, BJ Swinehart, said Mark was an organ donor and his wish was to be cremated. She has planned a Visitation Service at Click Funeral Home in Farragut on Friday, July 9, from 4 to 6 p.m.
Yesterday, we began the meeting with a minute of silence in Bialik’s memory and honor.
Rotary’s motto is “Service Above Self.” These four Rotarians lived that motto – every day. Our Rotary family misses each, and they will be part of us forever.
To explore membership in the Rotary Club of Farragut, call 865-659-3562. Tom King, a past president of Farragut Rotary, has served at newspapers in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and California and has been the editor of two newspapers.