Rotary Club of Las Cruces names Paul Harris Fellows

The Rotary Club of Las Cruces has named nine individuals as Paul Harris Fellows.

The award is named after Rotary’s founder, Paul Harris. It honors club members who have made significant contributions to their communities and/or who have provided $1,000 for the Rotary Foundation for Rotary International’s efforts to help achieve world peace.

Six Paul Harris Fellows were named at the club’s June 16 meeting. Three additional fellows were presented June 30 by Rotary District Governor Sunny Kellerman.

The six honored at the Rotary Club meeting were:

Larry Allen, who has had a distinguished career as a business leader and is an active supporter of charitable fund-raising. He is a second-generation Rotarian and a member of the NMSU Foundation Board. Allen received an honorary doctorate from NMSU. 

Pamela Angell is CEO of St. Luke’s Health Care Clinic/Amador Health Center and for 10 years was executive director of Mesilla Valley Community of Hope. Angell’s service has most recently included working to alleviate the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Cynthia R. Garrett and Billy G. Garrett have had very distinguished careers with the National Park Service (Cynthia was director of the Statue of Liberty National Park and Billy was deputy general superintendent of the Gateway National Recreation Area).  Billy Garrett served for eight years as a Doña Ana County commissioner and Cynthia Garrett has been a significant leader in the creation of the Taylor-Mesilla Historic Property.

Joe P. Montoya has had a distinguished career with the U.S. Marine Corps. After retiring from the Marines, Montoya was a Mesilla Valley 911 dispatcher and served for 20 years with the U.S. Postal Service. He is commandant of the county Marine Corps League and has played an active role in the league’s work with the local Toys for Tots campaign. 

Paola Sherwood, who earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and a bachelor’s in geography at NMSU, has worked for public and private companies using her skills with geographic information systems. Sherwood has most recently been an operations engineer with Lockheed Martin Corporation and became an active volunteer for the Las Cruces Toys for Tots campaign beginning in 2019.  She buys and collects toys, organizes and trains volunteers and helps the campaign as a warehouse manager. 

The Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Committee is comprised of Bill Harty (chair), Dinus Briggs, Wanda Mattiace and Charles Tharp.

Kellerman presented Paul Harris Plus awards to retired physician Dr. Barry Fisher, the incoming Las Cruces Rotary Club president; financial adviser James Gerwels, the club’s outgoing president; and architect Ted Shelton, an active member of the club’s board of directors.

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