From the Editor: Rotary pays tribute to Felterman's contributions

Lots of people got pats on the back Thursday night at the Morgan City Rotary Club’s annual banquet.
Katherine Theriot, a newly minted Berwick High graduate, was there to be recognized as the Rotary Scholarship’s 2016 recipient.
Cherie Hidalgo Laiche was honored as the outgoing president as she passed the gavel to incoming President Bob Harrison.
Diane Irwin was the target of several jokes about her height. Irwin was barely visible over the seated banquet-goers as she went to the dais to accept the Rotarian of the Year Award. Jokes or not, Irwin seems to be the Rotarian whom other Rotarians want to work on their projects.
The centerpiece honor was a double one: Rotary’s Citizen of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement Award. Those plaudits went to Fulton C. “Butch” Felterman Jr. Among his claims to fame is his in-depth knowledge of, according to information collected by the Rotary Club, the history of local aviation, the Shrimp & Petroleum Festival, Patterson, shrimping, boating and offshore oil development.
He was a big part of the reason there’s a Louisiana State Museum Patterson, previously known as the Wedell-Williams Memorial Aviation Museum of Louisiana. He was the museum foundation’s chairman 1975-91.
And he and his wife of 62 years, Sylvia, created the charitable Felterman Foundation.
Felterman commissioned and financed the Bob Greenwood mural depicting Hattie Watts, a descendant of slaves, who devoted her life to education and whose name is now the name of the Patterson elementary school where the mural resides.
Also:
—Butch and Sylvia Felterman received the Community Foundation St. Mary Citizens of the Year Award for 2015.
—Felterman received the Historic Preservation Medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution.
—He received the Louisiana Association of Museums Elizabeth McLundie Bolton Award.
—He received the Volunteer Activist Award from McDonell United Methodist Children’s Services for outstanding volunteer services in civic affairs, religion, education, humanities, preservation and the arts.
—He is a Louisiana economic development ambassador.
The Rotary made a $1,000 donation in Felterman’s name to the Rotary Foundation.
Bill Decker is managing editor of The Daily Review. Reach him at bdecker@daily-review.com or 985-384-8370. His Twitter handle is @BlllDeckerMC.