Rotarian Norman Vincent Peale

Born in Bowersville, Ohio, USA, on May 31 1898, Norman Vincent Peale grew up helping support his family by delivering newspapers, working in a grocery store, and selling pots and pans door to door, but later was to become one of the most influential clergymen in the United States during the 20th-century.

He was educated at Ohio Wesleyan University and Boston University. He was a reporter on the Findlay, Ohio, Morning Republic prior to entering the ministry and went on to author some 40 books. Ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1922, Peale served as pastor at a succession of churches that included Berkeley, Rhode Island, Brooklyn, New York, and Syracuse, New York before changing his affiliation to the Dutch Reformed Church so that he could become pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. There he gained fame for his sermons on a positive approach to modern living, which were regularly broadcast, first on radio and later on television. The church had 600 members when he arrived to pastor in 1932; it had over 5,000 by the time he retired in 1984. In 1969 and 1970 he was president of the Reformed Church in America.

Peale confessed that as a youth he had "the worst inferiority complex of all," and developed his positive thinking/positive confession philosophy just to help himself. In 1937, Peale established a clinic with Freudian psychiatrist Dr. Smiley Blanton in the basement of the Marble Collegiate Church. 

The clinic which was described as having "a theoretical base that was Jungian, with a strong  evidence of neo- and post-Freudianism" grew to an operation with more than 20 psychiatric doctors and psychologically- trained "ministers," and in 1951 became known as the American Foundation for Religion and Psychiatry. In 1972, it merged with the Academy of Religion and Mental Health to form the Institutes of Religion and Health (IRH). To his death, Peale remained affiliated with the IRH as president of the board and chief fund raiser. Indeed, Peale pioneered the merger of theology and psychology which became known as Christian Psychology.

Peale applied Christianity to everyday problems and is the person who is most responsible for bringing psychology into the professing Church, blending its principles into a message of "positive thinking." Peale said, "through prayer you ... make use of the great factor within yourself, the deep subconscious mind ... [which Jesus called] the kingdom of God within you ... Positive thinking is just another term for faith." He also wrote, "Your unconscious mind ... [has a] power that turns wishes into realities when the wishes are strong enough."

His simple, optimistic, and dynamic sermons brought increasing numbers of parishioners and increasing fame to Peale. For 54 years Peale's weekly radio program, "The Art of Living," was broadcast on NBC. His sermons were mailed to 750,000 people a month. His life was subject of a 1964 movie entitled One Man's Way.

In 1945, Peale and his wife started Guideposts magazine; its circulation now tops 4.5 million, the largest of any religious magazine. Peale also published several best-selling books, including The Art of Living (1937), Confident Living (1948), The Power of Positive Thinking (1952), and This Incredible Century (1991).  His most popular book, The Power of Positive Thinking, has sold more than 20 million copies in 41 languages.

With his wife, Ruth, Peale founded the Foundation for Christian Living in 1945. He died on December 24, 1993, at 95. Ruth carries on the work they began.

Author, minister, motivational lecturer and tireless promoter of "The Power of Positive Thinking". Norman Vincent Peale was a member of the Rotary Club of New York, a true Champion of Positive Thinking

 

Rotarian Walt Disney

"Crowded classrooms and half-day sessions are a tragic waste of our greatest national resource - the minds of our children."
-- Rotarian Walt Disney

Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago Illinois but he spent most of his childhood in Marceline Missouri with his three brothers and sister.

Walt had very early interests in art, he would often sell drawings to neighbors to make extra money. He pursued his art career, by studying art and photography by going to McKinley High School in Chicago.  Walt began to love, and appreciate nature and wildlife, and family and community, which were a large part of agrarian living. Though his father could be quite stern, and often there was little money, Walt was encouraged by his mother, and older brother, Roy to pursue his talents.

During the fall of 1918, Disney attempted to enlist for military service. Rejected because he was under age, only sixteen years old at the time. Instead, Walt joined the Red Cross and was sent overseas to France, where he spent a year driving an ambulance and chauffeuring Red Cross officials. His ambulance was covered from stem to stern, not with stock camouflage, but with Disney cartoons.

Once Walt returned from France, he began to pursue a career in commercial art. He started a small company called Laugh-O-Grams, which eventually fell bankrupt. With his suitcase, and twenty dollars, Walt headed to Hollywood to start anew.

After making a success of his "Alice Comedies," Walt became a recognized Hollywood figure. On July 13, 1925, Walt married one of his first employees, Lillian Bounds, in Lewiston, Idaho. Later on they would be blessed with two daughters, Diane and Sharon .

In 1932, the production entitled Flowers and Trees(the first color cartoon) won Walt the first of his studio's Academy Awards. In 1937, he released The Old Mill, the first short subject to utilize the multi-plane camera technique.

On December 21, 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated musical feature, premiered at the Carthay Theater in Los Angeles. The film produced at the unheard cost of $1,499,000 during the depths of the Depression, the film is still considered one of the great feats and imperishable monuments of the motion picture industry. During the next five years, Walt Disney Studios completed other full-length animated classics such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi.

Walt Disney's dream of a clean, and organized amusement park, came true, as Disneyland Park opened in 1955. Walt also became a television pioneer, Disney began television production in 1954, and was among the first to present full-color programming with his Wonderful World of Color in 1961.

Walt Disney is a legend; a folk hero of the 20th century. His worldwide popularity was based upon the ideals which his name represents: imagination, optimism, creation, and self-made success in the American tradition. He brought us closer to the future, while telling us of the past.

Walt is a member of the Rotary Club of Palm Springs, California, U.S.A

RI District 9200 has often borrowed Disney's 'If you can
dream it, you can do it' slogan for their use.

 

MAT CAPARAS

President's Name M. A. T. Caparas
Presidential Year 1986-1987
Theme Rotary Brings Hope
Home Town (Manila, Philippines)

Mateo Armando Tengco Caparas was born on 28 December, 1923 at Cuyapo in the Philippines.
His father, a lawyer, eventually settled on the family farm in Moncardo in the province of Tarlac.
His education, after he finished his secondary schooling at Bulacan High School in 1940, was interrupted by the Second World War.

He graduated from the University of the Philippines' College of Law in 1949, and received his Master of Laws from the Harvard Law School in 1950.

He returned to Caloocan, the city adjoining Manila to the north, to specialise in labour-law practice and tax cases.
He joined the Rotary Club of Caloocan as a Charter Member in 1959 and became its President in 1962-63.
He has served as a District Governor in 1964-65, as a Director and Vice-President of Rotary International, and as a Trustee of the Rotary Foundation.

In 1980, after he transferred his law practice into Manila, he was invited to be a member of "the first Rotary club in Asia", Manila, chartered in 1919.

In 1985, Caparas, as RI President-elect, introduced the Rotary Community Corps program which was adopted by the RI Board of Directors in 1988.
The "RCC" was envisioned as an organization of community members who wish to improve the places where they live or work.
One of the first RCC projects witnessed by Caparas was a water well in Cagayan de Oro, in the big island of Mindanao, southern Philippines.
When the water started flowing, there were tears in the eyes of women in the community; they no longer had to carry water buckets up a hill to their homes!

Caparas is the First and Only Filipino to become President of Rotary International. His term of office was from 1986-87 with the Rotary theme: ROTARY BRINGS HOPE.

RCBH Blogs

Welcome to the Blogs of RC Batasan Hills