The Gloucester Rotary Club has been putting service above self for half a century. The club will celebrate its 50th anniversary tonight with a party for members at the Gloucester Main Street Preservation Trust office in Main Street Center, Gloucester.

Charter member Bob Marble, who is currently in charge of public relations for the club, said the Gloucester Rotary Club has a long record of community and international service that has touched the lives of thousands of people, locally and abroad.

Chartered by Rotary International in 1962 with 21 members, Marble said the club roster now hovers at nearly double that. Since its inception, the Gloucester club has sponsored the formation of the Gloucester Point and Mathews Rotary clubs.

According to Marble, the current Gloucester club is not the first for the community. The original club was organized in 1933, but was forced to surrender its charter a decade later when wartime gasoline rationing made it impossible for members in widel...