Sharpsburg butcher Dom Perrotte started sweeping sawdust from the floor in a cousin’s meat market before he was a teen.
“I wiped the glass display cases and washed the platters for a lot of years before I went into business on my own,” said Perrotte, who owned a Main Street market for 38 years.
The Korean War veteran never shied away from hard work or commitment.
At 93, Perrotte was honored for both qualities by the Sharpsburg-Aspinwall Rotary for 50 years in the service club — with perfect attendance.
“I never missed a meeting,” he said, nonchalantly. “I had to do a lot of make-ups, but that’s what you do when you are a part of something.”
A make-up allows a member who misses a meeting to maintain perfect attendance by making up the meeting at a neighboring club.
Rotarians honored Perrotte on June 30 during their weekly meeting at Walnut Grill in The Waterworks. He received a special pin that few others have earned.
“I don’t know if we have had any other Rotarians in our club that hit the 50-year mark for perfect attendance,” said longtime member John Arch. “I am sure that is a rarity around the world.”
Rotary International is a humanitarian service organization with 1.4 million members.
Founded in 1926, the Sharpsburg-Aspinwall Rotary Club works to provide outreach to local residents in ways that include playground fundraisers, book donations, medical supplies and, most recently, funnel cake Fridays in Sharpsburg’s Kennedy Park.
In past years, Rotary clubs encouraged perfect attendance because they wanted members to remain active.
But that tradition has gone by the wayside.
“They don’t require the make-ups anymore, but I continued it because I wanted to make 50 years,” said Perrotte, who joined the Rotary in 1972 and previously served as club president.
A borough native, Perrotte was born on Fifth Street and grew up with lots of family in the borough.
“I had everyone working at the store with me,” he said. “My uncle, children, sister-in-law. I knew all the people in town, and it was nice talking to them every day.
“At one time when I was young, Sharpsburg was like a shopping center. There were so many people on the street, it was amazing.”
After serving as an Army corporal from 1951-53 in Korea, Perrotte returned home and resumed work in the butcher business.
He was recruited to join the Rotary, and he figured, “Why not? They do good things.”
At that time, the local Rotary club also encompassed Etna and boasted dozens of members. It now has about just 11, but they are a faithful bunch who meet each Thursday at noon.
Through the years, members have hosted bingo at the VA hospital in O’Hara, volunteered at Aspinwall Meals on Wheels, sponsored youth athletic teams and donated substantially to the Sharpsburg Community Library.
They erected and maintain Little Free Libraries in several locations in Sharpsburg. People can borrow a book from the little pantries or leave one for others to read.
“A few years ago, we collected walkers, which we pressure-washed clean, wrapped in protective wrap and shipped to the nation of Georgia where people had no wheelchairs or canes,” Arch said.
For years, Rotary’s global project was to abolish polio. Clubs raised and spent several billion dollars on the effort.
“We do a lot,” Perrotte said.
Now retired, he enjoys the camaraderie that the Rotary offers.
“I made a lot of friends,” he said. “It’s about doing things for other people. Giving instead of taking.”
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