Monrovia Rotarians Salute Pair for More than 50 Years of Service

A packed house of Rotary Club of Monrovia members gathered Tuesday at Caffe Opera to honor two men who have served the organization for more than 50 years.

Both Detro Sells and Herb Hezlep entered the South Myrtle Avenue restaurant with their families to rousing applause from their fellow Rotarians.

They were each given an award for their dedication to the Monrovia community.

"This is quite an honor for me," said Sells, who brought his three daughters and son-in-law.  "I enjoyed my close to 51 years in Rotary.  I learned a lot and I met a lot of great people."

Sells, who was inducted into the club in 1962, served as its president from 1982 to 1983. After coming to Monrovia from Indiana with his wife Bliss in 1949 he worked for Rotarian Neil Hunter at California Furniture in town.

After Hunter retired from the store, Sells and his wife opened Sells Furniture on Myrtle in 1960 and two years later, his boss sponsored his Rotary Club membership. Sells ran his furniture store until he retired in 1997 at age 75.

Herb Hezlep's father was a Rotary Club member.  Hezlep came to work for his dad's small hardware manufacturing company, Acme General Corp., in 1950. The company was based in Monrovia and later expanded to Canada and Europe.  Hezlep served as the company's executive vice president, president, and chairman of the board before retiring in 1988.

He joined Rotary in 1958 and served as president from 1964 to 1965.  He also was the district Group Study Exchange chair from 1967 to 1968, and the district conference chair in 1973.

Hezlep, who attended the ceremony with his wife Liz, spoke fondly of the Group Study Exchange program, which enabled him to travel to Perth, Australia at least 10 times, as well as to other countries.

"It turned out to be a marvelous experience," he said of the exchange program. "We got paired with the district in Perth, Australia. We made so many wonderful friends in Australia."

Steve Knight, who served as Rotary Club president after Sells, praised both men.

"His year as president was highly successful thanks to his hard work and dedicaton," Knight said of Sells.

Knight lauded Hezlep and his wife for their generosity is establishing the Herb Hezlep Endowed Fund, which helps support The Rotary Foundation.

"Herb Hezlep was another example of a dedicated Rotarian," Knight said.  "Herb and Liz generously opened their home to a lot of Rotary events."

Rotary Club President Alexander Blackburn, who also serves on the Monrovia City Council, said the pair were being recognized for not only their financial contributions and dedication of time to the community, but also for what their involvement in the organization has done to bolster its reputation.

"When you join Rotary, you enjoy an instant boost in credibility in the community," he said.  "We enjoy that credibility because of gentlemen like Detro Sells and Herb Hezlep."