About our Founder Hal A. Rogers
Hal Rogers Kin History
Harold Allin Rogers was born in London Ontario on January 3, 1899. Rogers moved to Hamilton Ontario to work for his father when he was appointed manager of the Standard Sanitary Co. Ltd. Soon after the move, in March 1916, at the age of 17, he enlisted with the 173rd Argyle and Sutherland Battalion. After further training in England, and anxious to get to the front lines, he transferred to the 54th Kootenay Battalion. He fought at Vimy Ridge, Lens, Hill 70 and Ypres, where his leadership skills in the field led to his promotion to the rank of corporal and a recommendation for a commission. Before it could be acted upon, he was gassed at the Paschendaele front (Ypres) and wounded at the Amiens front. After hospitalization in England, he returned home to Hamilton in January 1919.
Missing the camaraderie of army life, Rogers decided to join the local Rotary Club where his father was a member. Because a once fundamental rule of the Rotarians was to only have one member from each employment classification and as he worked as a salesman in the plumbing industry for his father, his application was rejected. Rogers decided to create a new club and, as a result of his initiative, a small group of like-minded men gathered for a dinner meeting on February 20, 1920, and formed what became known as the Kinsmen Club of Hamilton - Canada's first Kinsmen Club.
Rogers died on September 15, 1994, at the age of 95.
Rogers was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1946 to recognize his efforts as the chairman of Kinsmen's Milk for Britain wartime project which raised about $2.7 million (CAD) and sent 50 million quarts of milk to Britain.
In 1978, Rogers was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of his years of community service and founding of Kin Canada.
In 2004, he was voted number 22 on the list of "The Greatest Canadian" a program televised by the CBC.
