Plattsburgh (Noon) Rotary Club Names three Paul Harris Fellows for 2025
Plattsburgh Rotarians Carol Arnold and Jackie Madison along with community member Starr Burke were recognized as Paul Harris Fellows by the Rotary Club of Plattsburgh on Wednesday, June 25! All three women have done amazing work within our community and are more than deserving of this special recognition.
The Paul Harris Fellow honor was named for the founder of Rotary. It is the highest honor a Rotary club can bestow on a person, either inside or outside the club and acknowledges "service above self," which that individual or organization has offered to their community, their nation or to the world.
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Carol Arnold – the oldest of ten children – is originally from Keeseville. After an illustrious career with DuPont, she retired around 2013 and moved back to the Plattsburgh area. This 1980 Lake Placid Olympic torch bearer stays healthy and busy with the local Rotary club since joining in October 2019. A volunteer member with JCEO, she freely offers her time to the Clinton Community College Alumni Board, Clinton County Historical Association and Museum, and is a docent at the Rockwell Kent Gallery at SUNY Plattsburgh.
Jacqueline Madison is the president of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association, which oversees the North Star Underground Railroad Museum. While sharing the stories of the Underground Railroad in the Lake Champlain region is important, her biggest contribution to the organization as the president was acquiring the building that houses the North Star Underground Railroad Museum in June 2019. Jackie is one of four individuals working on a book of the Underground Railroad in the Adirondack and North Country area, one of the authors is Dr. Neal Burdick, a great-great-grandson of Stephen Keese Smith. She retired from Pfizer/Wyeth in 2010 as a Principal Toxicology Information Specialist for Drug Safety and has degrees in Chemistry, Sanitary Engineer and Library and Information Management and served as the director of the Mooers Free Library from 2010 - 2015. Jackie is a Vietnam Veteran, spending most of her service in Nuremberg, Germany. In addition to being a Rotarian since joining the club in June 2012, she is a member of two national honor sororities – Delta Kappa Gamma and Phi Kappa Phi.
Starr Burke tries to stay out of the spotlight but does a lot for veterans and other members of the community. A native to Plattsburgh, Starr served for over nine years in the U.S. Air Force and is a Desert Storm non-Combat Veteran. After leaving the military, she worked for the Clinton County Department of Social Services and retired in 2020 after 27 years. For the past 10 years, she has been the County Chaplin and a member of the American Legion Post 1619. In 2021, Starr and The Veterans Services Agency launched the Clinton County Veterans Feeding Veterans Program. When funding for this ended, Starr found a way to move to a peer support model and this program continues today, serving 70-75 Veteran households. That same year, Starr began working for St. Alexander’s Church at the new St. Joseph’s Outreach Center in the Town of Plattsburgh – another hidden gem in our community for those in need of food, clothing, a safe space and many other resources. In her spare time, she is a Board member for NAMI-Champlain Valley, advisory board member for Clinton County Office for the Aging, a member of the Clinton County Joint Veterans Advisory Council, active in the faith-based community and was recently appointed as the Diocese of Ogdensburg’s representative to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Justice for Immigrants Committee.
Please join the Rotary Club of Plattsburgh in congratulating our newest Paul Harris Fellows - Starr Burke, Jackie Madison and Carol Arnold.
Pictured (L-R): Current club President Ed Kirby, Carol Arnold, Jackie Madison, Starr Burke, NYS Assemblyman Billy Jones, and incoming club President Betsy Vicencio.