Glen Kinross: a thorough gentleman

Usha and I met Heather and Glen Kinross in March-April 1978 at the Rotary International Assembly in Boca Raton, Florida, US, as we both were Group Discussion Leaders. Next year, we again met in the same role at the same place. I became RI director for 1981–83 and Glen became RI director for 1982–84. For RI President-elect Bill Skelton, Glen became the vice-president and chairman of the executive committee of the Board of Directors. Through the Rotary platform, we became close friends, visiting RI conventions, a remarkable one being the Rome convention, where Clem Renouf was the RI President. We met at RI Assemblies as well.

In 1997, when Glen was the RI President-elect, we met at the Glasgow Convention in Scotland where the Rotary Peace Center programme was presented. Then I was the Chairman of The Rotary Foundation and Luis Giay was RI President. One of the universities selected for the centre was University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. On every visit there, I always met Glen and his family.

On January 10, 1998, Glen came to Chandigarh accompanied by his wife Heather. He sadly lost her in October 1998, following heart surgery. Also present were PRIP Clem Renouf and his wife Firth and PRID T D Griley who served as RI director when I was RI president; they had come specially for this occasion. They came by train, and we had booked two coaches for them. They stayed at the Punjab Raj Bhavan and came to our home for lunch which was served in our lawn. District governor was Ramesh Bhargava and our (RC Chandigarh) club president was Sunil Khera.

Having known I K Gujral, former Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union and the Union Minister of External Affairs, I had asked him to host the Council on Legislation in Delhi in 1998. On January 12, we again met in New Delhi at the luncheon hosted by the then Prime Minister Gujral, for President Glen. Rotary’s CoL in Delhi was the first ever held in India. PRIP Ray Klinginsmith was the chairman of CoL and Glen’s aide was John C Carrick.

In December 2010, Glen again came to Chandigarh as the RI President’s representative and addressed the district conference, which was attended by then Union Minister of HR and Telecom Kapil Sibal, Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia and editor-in-chief of The Tribune Raj Chengappa. The then DG Madhukar Malhotra had got in touch with the RI President’s office formally requesting to appoint Glen as RI. President Ray Klinginsmith’s representative to the discon.

Whenever Usha and I visited Australia, we always visited his home, with our very close friend for five decades Clem Renouf. At their home, we had a vegetarian breakfast. For lunch and dinner, we all used to go to an Indian restaurant for food. We also attended the club meeting of RC Hamilton, Brisbane, and met some Indian Rotary members of his club. We also talked about cricket matches between India and Australia.

In 1990, I visited the Peace Park in Canberra, Australia, where the Peace Monument was established by Rotary. When Glen came to Chandigarh, he saw the Peace Monument at Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh.

In March 1992, we travelled to Australia to visit the home of RI Treasurer-Director Kevin Hardes. We drove to Brisbane, the home of my mentor Sir Clem Renouf and my friend Glen Kinross. They had organised a meeting for our visit. We met at the Rotary Indianapolis Convention in 1998, the Rotary Singapore Convention in 1999, the RI Institute, Brisbane, in 2003 and at the Rotary Convention Brisbane.

In March 2008, I visited Australia to attend a conference organised by Rotary Club of Forster, New South Wales. My aide for the conference was PDG John Boag from my year as RI President in 1991–92 who later became RI Director during 2012–14. There we stayed at Glen’s home in Brisbane and went together to attend the conference. We also visited Clem’s home, I met his wife Firth, who had a collection of theme pins of all RI Presidents. She said, “Raja, I don’t have yours.” I immediately gave one to her.

I will always remember Glen Kinross as a thorough gentleman. Usha and I will miss him. His name remains synonymous with superior quality, innovation and achievement.

The writer is a past President of Rotary International