LYNN HAVEN — Ninety years of life experience has taught Jayne Sears how to roll with the changes. That’s what she had to do along the way to being announced Lynn Haven Rotary Club’s Rotarian of the Year in June.
“Women are doing great things in Rotary,” Sears said.
That was not always the case.
Sears remembers a phone call she received 22 years ago from a Rotarian asking if she would consider joining the formerly male-only organization. Sears co-owned Nervig Travel at the time with her husband, Jack, and was well-known in the business community. Sears said she was familiar with — and admired — the Rotary’s work, but was put off by the organization’s discriminatory history.
The invitation to join didn’t set well when the caller implied the local club was looking for a couple of well-seasoned business women to be token members.
“I said, ‘No, I’m not going to do it’,” Sears recalled.
Rotary International was founded in 1905 as a private, male-only organization by Chicago attorney Paul P. Harris, who invited business leaders and professionals to unite in support of humanitarian projects in their respective communities and around the world.
The organization thrived over the decades and had drawn more interest as women became more successful in the workplace. The Rotary was renowned for its mission of mentorship and community service, making it very appealing to professional women.
But Rotary International vehemently turned women away and infamously fought the U.S. Supreme Court during the mid-1980s to remain a private, male-only organization. In 1987, the court ruled Rotary could no longer exclude women from membership through gender-based qualification.
The Lynn Haven Rotary Club sought to add female members a few years later.
When Sears was approached a second time for membership, she reconsidered. The Rotary ended up recruiting Sears and another woman, a CPA.
“What I realized that women had been missing is being able to mingle with top business people,” Sears said. “I thought if it’s going to help other women get in, I’ll do it.”
WWII vet
Joining Rotary wasn’t Sears’ first dance with policies that were rigid toward women.
Sears, who is originally from Madison, Wis., served in the Navy during WWII from 1942 to 1945. She was a trained paratrooper, but said women were not allowed to jump from the aircraft under a military policy based on the bogus belief that doing so would cause breast cancer.
The misguided policy confined Sears to office work, but she was not bitter.
“The best thing I ever did was be in the military,” she said.
Sears said that time in her life proved to be valuable when she started training with George Nervig, the original owner of Nervig Travel, in 1974.
“I didn’t know anything about running a travel business, but I knew how to run an office,” she said.
Sears and her husband, Jack, bought the agency from Nervig two years later and found their niche booking group travel to Alaska, China, the Mediterranean and other places around the globe.
Today, it is Panama City’s longest-operating travel agency.
In addition to being a successful career and family woman, Sears is glad she decided to join ranks with other business leaders in Lynn Haven to use their clout to be a force for positive social change. The Rotary is actively involved in fundraising for nonprofits and organizing charitable events.
To Sears, being named Rotarian of the Year for her service is just icing on the cake. The 90-year-old feels her success in life can be attributed to embracing opportunities and having the courage to walk through doors life has opened to her, especially in times of adversity.
“I’ve had a good life,” she said.