A small group of Norfolk businessmen, after learning about Rotary through business contacts elsewhere, met on Thursday evening, December 11, 1913, to learn how to start a club in Norfolk.  The small group -- Eugene L. Graves, Robert Johnston, Moe Levy, Ernest Meeks, and C.J. Mains -- assembled additional charter members on Saturday, January 17, 1914, and voted to form a permanent organization to be known as the Norfolk Rotary Club. 

The following officers were elected: T. Gray Coburn, President; Robert Johnston, Sr., Vice President; I.H. Bosman, Treasurer; C.J. Mains, Secretary; Edward R. Sutherland, Registrar and Statistician; and Ernest H. Meeks, Sergeant-At-Arms.  In addition to those elected officers and original organizers, other charter members included J. Frank Bell, P. Morgan Fussell, E.R. Gale, T.W. Kingsbury, Jacob H. Kraemer, George B. McGrath, O.B. McLean, H.O. Nichols, and J.E. Pearson.