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Rotary of St. Thomas II Gets Ready for its 33rd Person of the Year Award

One of the island’s best kept secrets will become public knowledge Wednesday when Rotary Club of St. Thomas II announces the identity of its 33rd Person of the Year winner at a luncheon ceremony at Marriott’s Frenchman’s Reef Beach Resort.

The popular guessing game has been going on since 1981, when the club chose it’s first recipient, Wilbur "Bill" LaMotta. The identity of the recipient has become a guessing game enjoyed by no one more than selection Committee Chair Elliott MacIver Davis, who makes it his personal mission to be as closed-mouth as possible.

Not stepping out of character one bit, this week Davis said he was willing to reveal this year’s person upon pain of death, but the Source was unwilling to make that commitment.

That said, Davis allowed as to how this year’s recipient embodies all the qualities necessary to receive the coveted Don Quixote statuette, symbolic of the winner’s selfless dedication to the community.

The honoree is not necessarily selected on the basis of Quixote’s "quixotic qualities;" the recipient need not tilt at windmills literally, but he or she must reflect the knight’s generous idealism, his visionary qualities. The honoree must have demonstrated Quixote’s determination when flailing at those windmills in efforts for the good of the community.

The recipients come from all walks of life, ranging from doctors, politicians and entertainers to newspaper publishers and mothers to last year’s recipient, Scott Bradley, founder and director of My Brother’s Workshop, a program devoted to intervening in young men’s lives, with the goal of providing them with work ethic and the skill sets that are marketable in the modern economy.

Former recipients:

– 2012 Scott Bradley

– 2011 Diana White

– 2010 Therese Hodge

– 2009 Candia Petersen

– 2009 Steven van Beverhoudt

– 2007 Cecile deJongh

– 2006 Joe Aubain

– 2005 Suzanne Robinson

– 2004 Rodney Miller

– 2003 LaVerne Ragster

– 2002 Elliot "Mac" Davis

– 2001 Shaun A. Pennington

– 2000 John P. deJongh Jr.

– 1999 Randy Knight

– 1998 Nick Pourzal

– 1997 Lorraine Berry

– 1996 Vinnie Mohanani

– 1995 Juel T.R. Molloy

– 1994 Edward E. Thomas Sr.

– 1993 Leona Bryant

– 1992 Verne A. Hodge- 1991 Athniel "Addie" Ottley

– 1990 Dilsa Capdeville

– 1989 Ron de Lugo

– 1988 Irvin "Brownie" Brown

– 1987 Alexander A. Farrelly

– 1986 Dr. Alfred O. Heath-

-1985 Calvin Wheatley

– 1984 Costas Coulianos

– 1983 Dr. Roy L. Schneider

– 1982 Albert A. Aubain

– 1981 Wilbur "Bill" Lamotta

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