Susan Reed and Mary Coyle

By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — It was a scant 20 years ago that two mild-mannered professional women — one a real estate appraiser and the other a librarian — became trailblazers as the city’s first female Rotary Club members.

By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — It was a scant 20 years ago that two mild-mannered professional women — one a real estate appraiser and the other a librarian — became trailblazers as the city’s first female Rotary Club members.
Yet, as Mary Coyle and Susan Reed look back on their two decades of involvement in the former “men’s only” civic group, they say they have thoroughly enjoyed their involvement and hold no grudges against against those early businessmen who didn’t conform to the co-ed concept.
Mary Coyle, a longtime real estate appraiser with the family-owned Coyle Appraisal, said she was invited to join the all-male Pawtucket Rotary Club by insurance agent John Lynch in 1988. The Providence Rotary Club had begun admitting women a few years earlier, said Coyle, and some forward-thinking local businessmen thought Pawtucket should follow suit.
Soon after, Susan Reed, Library Director of the Pawtucket Public Library, was also proposed for membership, and the two women embarked on what would turn out to be long journey of goodwill as well as personal friendship.
Despite the long-overdue nod to equality, Coyle noted wryly that, “There were people who quit over it.”
Indeed, Coyle’s sponsor, John Lynch, said that the topic of allowing women to join was a hotly debated topic for a few years before his proposal was taken seriously. “I used to get find a dollar per week just for bringing it up,” said Lynch, who is now retired from the organization. “It was a different time. There was a sense of it being “our club,” a men’s club, and there were some who didn’t want to see it change,” Lynch said.
However, noted Lynch, once the female membership became established, it didn’t take long for local business and professional women to take up the Rotary’s cause and motto: “Service Above Self.”
“Women realized how great an organization it was, and many have gone on to become president,” he added.
Both Coyle and Reed have held the highest office in the Pawtucket Rotary. Despite their longevity, the two women say that are as comitted as ever to the local chapter and its activities. Both are always encouraging business people of both sexes, but especially women, to join. “We’d like to see some younger women, some new faces, join,” Coyle said.
Coyle and Reed were eventually joined by Janice O’Donnell, director of the then-Pawtucket-based Children’s Museum. “For awhile, it was hard, Coyle said. “For years, it was just the three of us.”
In the earliest days, a few other professional women tested out the club, but many wound up feeling “like they were in a roomful of men,” said Coyle. By contrast, in she and Reed’s professional capacities, they knew most of the male club members and felt comfortable working with them.
For a long time now, the equal-opportunity Pawtucket Rotary has functioned as one big, happy family. Members meet weekly at St. Paul’s church hall, where they have lunch and a featured speaker. “It’s just wonderful. From the guest speakers, I learn a lot about what’s happening in the community. Sometimes we sing, and there’s just a lot of fellowship. You come back invigorated,” she said.
Reed added that with club’s weekly meeting schedule, “You get to know everybody in Pawtucket. You’re in constant contact with people in the community.” The club seeks out members from different business “classifications” so there is a mix of people from the community.
According to its website, Rotary is a worldwide organization of more than 1.2 million business, professional and community leaders. There are over 32,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Rotary’s main objective is service--in the community, in the workplace, and throuhgout the world.
Every year, the Pawtucket Rotary holds an annual fund raising event as well as several smaller trips and functions. All of the proceeds go to local charitable causes. This year, the Rotary is holding a raffle with $100 tickets, and a Red Sox fan’s dream prize - a weekend stay at a luxury hotel in Boston with a pair of tickets to two Red  Sox games.
On a larger scope, the club helps support Rotary International’s global causes, such as a clean water program and the eradication of polio.
In a fitting tribute to the 20th anniversary of women in the Pawtucket Rotary, the current president is a woman: Maureen Donnelly of Gateway Healthcare.