Carol McGrath to Head Pearl River Rotary

Carol McGrath will be installed as the next president of the Rotary Club of Pearl River, with her term officially beginning July 1.

McGrath's family gave her roots in Rockland County in general and more specifically in Pearl River. After a short time away, she returned to Pearl River as an adult, involving herself deeply in the community through her work in education and other venues.

McGrath’s grandfather owned a butcher shop in Haverstraw after emigrating from Italy.  Her parents are long-time Rockland County residents who moved to Pearl River when she was an infant. They selected that location because of its accessibility by train to New York City.  Her parents have been married for 60 years and now reside in Stony Point.

McGrath grew up in Pearl River and is a graduate of Pearl River High School.  She continued her education at Fordham University and earned a B.A. in English.  She said she was also very interested in journalism.

In the mid-1980’s, she started her career with a publishing position at Ziff Davis and then moved to Kidder Peabody as a research assistant. 

“I looked at people in the company who were in my position and where they were in five years,” McGrath said of her time at Kidder Peabody. 

That led her to reconsider her career path. She went back to Fordham and received an M.A. in Education in 1987.

It was at Fordham that she met her husband, Chuck, whom she married in 1986.  They moved to the Bronx, where she began a career in teaching.  Shortly thereafter, they determined that Pearl River would be an ideal place to start a family, so they bought her parents’ house and returned to Rockland County.

While on leave from teaching, McGrath had the first of her two sons, Sean, in 1989. He graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University last month. James arrived in 1992 and graduated from Pearl River High School last week.  In 1994 she decided that she wanted to continue her career and saw an opportunity that would redefine it.

The owner of the Tall Pines Nursery School in Pearl River was looking for a buyer and McGrath made a major life change and became a small business woman.  It was an exciting move that lasted for the next 14 years.

“(It meant) a lot of hard work and sometimes became a 24-7 job,” McGrath said. “It worked out very nicely,  I loved it.  We started a kindergarten enrichment program, which we scheduled to work with the Pearl River school district’s half-day of kindergarten.   My oldest son was in kindergarten at the time.

“I met so many wonderful people in the community and I used my desire to write to do newsletters for the school.” 

She was also active in children’s theater and used her writing skills to do adaptations of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Little Red Riding Hood.

In 2008, McGrath decided it was time to move on to something else.  She sold her school and started working with her husband in his title company assisting with bookkeeping and billing.  But she kept her connection with the nursery school. 

"I am still a substitute at Tall Pines,” McGrath said.

While at Tall Pines McGrath, she had met a local restaurant owner Steve Panteleakis, who was a past president of the Pearl River Rotary. 

“My daughter attended Carol’s school," Panteleakis said. "It was a warm, down to earth, wonderful place to leave your child.  I became friends with Carol and I asked her to join our club.”

It was Panteleakis who proposed McGrath for Rotary membership and she joined in 2004. 

“When she joined she knew many of the people in the education field and many people in the Pearl River community," Panteleakis said.

He knows that the position of president is a demanding job, but he believes she is an excellent fit for it.

“You have to be able to communicate and give a great amount of time," Panteleakis said. "It is a position where you are the head of an all volunteer organization and must be sensitive to people’s feelings." 

It certainly comes as no surprise that someone as organized and as goal-oriented as McGrath  has a definite action plan to put in place as July 1 approaches. 

"Tapping the talent at Rotary is a balance between fabulous organizers and members who are willing to be more hands-on,” McGrath said.

She wants to make certain to use the diverse talents of the organization to the greatest extent. 

Her specific goals include:

• Maintain and upgrade the club website.  Always keep it current with news, information about weekly meetings, and bulletins.
• Strengthen the relationship with the Rotaract Club at Dominican College.  This is Rotary’s program for college students.  She want to strive for better communication, understand their service projects and try to collaborate.  “I want us to work together. We also might be reaching out to other colleges and are considering possible international projects like Polio Plus.”
• Enhance the club’s public relations initiative.  “Do even more to get out the word about Rotary and what we do in the community..”
• A literacy service project which is still in its early stages. 

Outgoing club president Robert Simon is extremely optimistic about McGrath’s success in her new role. 

“I have had the pleasure of working with Carol for the past few years on the board of directors, also when she was club secretary and vice president," Simon said. "She is detail-oriented and well organized.  Her easy going demeanor and ability to get along with everyone will allow her to carry on the tradition of our club into the new Rotary year.  She and her family have lived in the community for a very long time and she has a wonderful reputation.”

“I hadn’t really thought about the possibility of being president," McGrath said. "But, I felt it was an honor at a great club.” 

It is quite clear that her sense of giving back to her community combined with hard work were lessons learned at an early age. 

“From my parents I got a sense of commitment.  My father said anything worth having in life, you have to work for.  That includes all aspects of life relationships and work.”