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The Albemarle Rotary Club selects one member each year as the club’s Rotarian of the Year.
A committee made up of past recipients of the award is tasked with deciding on the recipient.
A Rotarian of the Year should fully exhibit the ideals of Rotary as prescribed by the Four Way Test, The Object of Rotary and the Rotary Vision statement.
This year’s recipient is Louisa Jane Hartsell.
Hartsell is a regular attendee of both meetings and service projects. She has not only participated in Rotary service projects but worked to create, develop and manage the Race to Remember for the past three years. This includes seeking sponsors and organizing each part of this project.
Over these three years, the Race to Remember has raised around $40,000 for the Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust (CART) Fund.
Beyond Rotary, Hartsell has appeared on Stanly County’s version of “Dancing with the Stars,” raising funds for Butterfly House, has worked with Habitat for Humanity, and has served with the Stanly County Chamber of Commerce.
She is a current board member for the Cabarrus Arts Council and has served as chair of the Rowan/Cabarrus Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
She and her committee, along with many walkers, raise more than $70,000 each year for the Alzheimer’s Association through the Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Kannapolis.
She is a graduate of Meredith College and her profession is funeral director.
As a Rotary member since 2017, she has done something that no other current member has done. She raised funds to help end polio by climbing over Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. She’s an outdoor enthusiast and promotes healthy living through diet and Jazzercise.
Beyond these past activities, Hartsell has agreed to be the Albemarle Rotary Club’s president beginning in July 2026.
At the meeting on Dec. 19, current Albemarle Rotary Club President Jay Almond expressed his thanks to Hartsell for always putting “service above self.”