Sometime in the late summer or early fall of the year 1982, Bill Bigler entered Citizens State Bank (now First Security Bank) located on the corner of Main Street and Highway 93 in Hamilton.  Bill noticed loan officer Larry Black wearing a Rotary International pin on his lapel and struck up a conversation with him.  They had never before met.  As it turns out, both Bill and Larry were past presidents of their respective Rotary Clubs in other states.  Both agreed that the Bitterroot Valley needed Rotary.  They agreed to work together to start the Rotary “wheel” turning to make this happen.  Two advertisements were placed in the Ravalli Republic to determine if there was any interest and six more men responded – Roy Belsche, Paul Benson, Bob Morgan, Ted Ingersol, Bud Herschfield, and Bill Lynch. Now there were 8 men who had a common goal – to charter a new Rotary Club in Hamilton.  All eight men had been presidents of their respective Rotary clubs and none had known each other.  Their only common interest was Rotary.  Five members of a Rotary club in Missoula agreed to assist Larry Black and the 7 others by sponsoring the new club and assisting them throughout the rather complicated process.  Rotary International required 20 members to start a new club. Therefore, the eight men needed to find 12 more sincere individuals who would commit to this project – one of whom was me.  An election of officers took place and Larry Black was elected to be the Charter President.  While these 19 men met for the election, Bill Bigler had to make a quick trip back to Minnesota.  The 19 remaining men decided that would be a good time to elect Bill as the club’s first Secretary.  The Rotary Club in Missoula that had sponsored the club organized a HUGE party which included Rotary District personnel and Rotarians from other Rotary clubs in Missoula and on Friday, December 3, 1982 our club was legally formed and the Hamilton Rotary Club was presented with our signed CHARTER and THE REST IS HISTORY!   - submitted by Doug McLaren, charter and current member of the Hamilton Rotary Club.