Noon Rotary Club dedicates pavilion at City Park pool

By BRITTANY FHOLER 
Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove Noon Rotary Club and the city of Copperas Cove held a dedication ceremony for the new pavilion installed at the City Park Pool Saturday morning. 
The Rotary Club donated three pavilions to be installed in the city’s parks and dedicated them to three individuals. The pavilion located at the City Park Pool is dedicated to Woody Shemwell. Shemwell, at 96 years old, is the Noon Rotary Club’s oldest member and has been a member longer than any other. 
“Nobody in our club is more deserving to have his name on a pavilion than that gentleman right there,” Norman Mitchell, club president, said as he pointed towards Shemwell. “So Woody, we’re honored that your name is going to be here forever. Long after you’re gone, it’s still going to be here, brother, and we’re so happy, and we’re so honored to have you in our club, and we appreciate you and love you so much, sir.”
The second pavilion at City Park, located near the entrance, is dedicated to Bill Worrell, who Mitchell said embodies everything about Rotary. 
The third pavilion, near the playground at South Park, is dedicated to April Fitzgerald, who is the first female president and first female member of the Noon Rotary Club. Fitzgerald also runs the club’s foundation, which raises money for the club. 
Mitchell referred to Shemwell, Fitzgerald and Worrell as examples for fellow Rotarians to follow. 
“These are the kind of people that we as Rotarians strive to be, and I just pray to God that one day when I’m 96 years old, I’ll still be in the club, still making a difference, still doing something, and I know that all the rest of my brothers and sisters in Rotary feel the same way,” Mitchell said. 
Joe Dyer, Recreation Superintendent with Parks and Recreation, said that when deciding where to place the pavilions, the city looked at where they would get the most use from the public. 
Since the City Park pool opened for the summer on Memorial Day weekend, Dyer said that people have been giving positive feedback on the pavilion and the shade it provides. 
 “This pavilion has added so much,” Dyer said. “Look how many people are sitting under it right now.”
The pavilion added approximately 80 square feet of useable and shaded space, with four tables for seating underneath the pavilion. 
The Rotary Club paid for pavilions while the city of Copperas Cove covered the cost of the slab of concrete the pavilions are on and the installation. 
The Rotary Club’s primary fundraising project is through planting 3’ x 5’ American flags in residents’ yards on Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day and Patriot’s Day (9/11), plus the removal of the flag after the holiday, for just $50 per year.