Doug and Marie Slater with Rotary WA district governor Patricia Schraven. Photo: Chloe Sipeki
Doug Slater and his wife Marie have spent 60 years giving back to the Esperance community as members of the Rotary Club of Esperance.
The current Rotarians recently gathered to celebrate the Slater’s milestone and to look back on the significant ways the two had served the Esperance during those six decades.
Current club president Tom Campbell said Rotary projects from back in the day were very different from projects in 2025.
One of the first Mr Slater had been a part of was raising money to build a new swimming pool in 1975.
“Rotary donated $10,000 to the committee working towards building the public swimming pool,” Mr Campbell said.
“The pool officially opened in September of 1976.”
As time progressed, Mr Campbell said the Slaters played a big part in the Rotary Club’s exchange program, hosting twelve students from all over the world.
“Marie was very involved with all our exchange students and kept in touch with them,” Mr Campbell said.
“Over a forty-plus year period, letters were exchanged with every exchange student regularly.
“Letters were later replaced with emails.”
Other projects the Slaters contributed to included the donation of a prostate testing machine to the hospital, building a scenic wall path, starting a Probus club, fundraising for the nursing home and building three units on Randell Street.
In 1999, the Slaters took a trip to the USA where Mr Slater was inducted as the district governor.
The 2024-2025 Rotary WA district governor Patricia Schraven attended the event to congratulate Slaters on their years of service and to present Mr Slater with a letter from the Rotary International President Stephanie Urchick.
“The Rotary Club of Esperance has been an outstanding club for a very long time, and it is thanks to the people like Doug and obviously the rest of the members that make it that way,” Ms Schraven said.
Mr Slater said he had fond memories of the past 60 years as a Rotarian, especially of spending time with other club members.
“We put a hot water system in the showers at Lucky Bay as a club project,” he said.
“The ranger on the day said, ‘why don’t you come out for Easter?”
“So, we went out as a club and that continued for about 10 years or more. Every Easter we took over Lucky Bay caravan park.”
“We’d sit around the campfire singing songs and drinking red wine.”
He thanked all his fellow Rotarians for coming to celebrate him and his wife.
“It’s been a great period of time and both Marie and I have really enjoyed it,” he said.
Photos: Supplied.
