56 year member, John Chambers, relates how he came by a Rotary banner from Lovisa, Finland over fifty years ago:
Shortly, 1-2 years, after Kirsti and I married, She took me to Finland to show me her home town, parents etc. So one of the things I did was bring along a banner from our club and found out where and when their Rotary met. It was in a small restaurant with a meeting room connected to it. So I went to the meeting, which started out in Swedish, because the majority of the Lovisa population spoke Swedish instead of Finnish. When they asked for any visitors I stood up and reached into the inside pocket of my suit for the banner and as I drew it out the entire membership stood as one man as I handed the banner to their president. He, with great decor, handed me their banner and we shook hands and I was thereby welcomed into their club for the meeting.
I was so impressed by that spontaneous show of respect for the exchange
of banners I never forgot it.
John