Many people were honored with awards or plaques at the Brundidge Rotary Club’s banquet Thursday, but perhaps none of the presentations was as emotional as the one to Rue Botts, widow of the late Douglas Botts.

The late Botts was a longtime member of the club who passed away in August.

Harry Sanders presented Rue Botts with a plaque to honor her husband’s years of dedication and service to the Rotary Club.

“Douglas Botts was the symbol of the club for many years,” said outgoing Rotary Club president Harry Sanders. “It was a very tragic loss.”

Earl Franks, a Troy Rotary Club member who was on hand, agreed.

“He epitomized everything Rotary Club was all about,” Franks said.

However, it wasn’t just Botts’ dedication to Rotary that praised. Bobby Hood spoke about Botts’ willingness to help others.

“He was a person who loved to give a helping hand,” Hood said. “Doug was a wonderful man. You could count on Doug Botts.”

Rue Botts took the opportunity to deliver a message to the club when she received the honorary plaque.

“Doug always loved Rotary and he always loved all of you, so keep up the good work and don’t let him down,” Botts said.

That was not all of the business at the banquet, however, as Sanders formally inducted the 2009-2010 president of the club, Jason Trahan.

Trahan said he already has goals for the club in mind.

“One thing I really want to work on is membership and bringing in new members,” Trahan said. “We have some downtime in between projects, so I want to focus on starting some new, smaller projects.”

Trahan also emphasized the responsibility of the club to secure its future.

“Our new saying for this year is ‘The future of Rotary is in our hands,’” Trahan said.