Stewart bestowed Breakfast Rotary honor

Stewart was presented the award at the Breakfast Rotary’s officer installation banquet. This award is conferred annually to a person in the community who exhibits Rotary’s ideal of ‘service above self.’

The recipient is selected by the club’s past presidents, who donate a Paul Harris Fellowship to the Rotary Foundation in the recipient’s honor. Additionally, the recipient is named an honorary member of McMinnville Breakfast Rotary.

Presenting the award to Stewart was Robert Newman, the club’s 2005-2006 past president. Newman recalled Stewart’s many roles of service over the past 50 years.

Stewart Plaza Pharmacy, operated by Stewart, has been an important and successful family business in McMinnville since 1966. Although starting and running a business is certainly a full-time endeavor, Stewart managed to serve our community in many other roles as well.

He served five terms on McMinnville’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen, and was vice mayor for three terms. He was chairman of the city’s Safety Department, chairman of the Water and Sewer Department, and served two seven-year terms on the Board of Directors of Warren County General Hospital.

Deeply committed to his church, Central Church of Christ, he serves as an elder and Sunday School teacher. He visits the sick in the hospital, speaks at many funerals and weddings, and has served as an itinerant minister.

He has been married to his wife, Jo, for 56 years and together they have raised six children and are proud grandparents and great-grandparents.

Newman expressed his respect and admiration for Stewart as a role model for future generations, as a person of high integrity as a successful businessman, as a devoted church member, as a husband and father, and as a community leader.