District Governor's Message to DMAM
Aug 30, 2019
Rotary District Governor, Erna Morain
District Governor's Message to DMAM

Erna Morain was born in the Netherlands but embraces Iowa with a passion—enough to be named the Waukee Citizen of the Year in 2017 for all her community service. She is a living example

of Rotary’s 2019-20 theme “Rotary Connects the World”, and holds as friends, hundreds of Rotarians around the US and the world through her Rotary activities.

A successful commercial property realtor in Holland, Erna moved to the US in l983. She met her husband, Steve, through a business connection years later, and they married and moved to Waukee in 2004. Both are hands on volunteers in many organizations in the Des Moines area. Steve has retired as General Counsel of Farm Bureau and its insurance companies and stays busy working on boards of Des Moines University, the Iowa Law School Foundation, Insurance Hall of Fame and other organizations, and is a 40 year member of the Rotary Club of Des Moines. Erna and Steve share five adult children and two grandsons. They love traveling and have been all over the US and 27 foreign countries.

Erna is a graduate of the Waukee Leadership Institute. She also served on the Waukee Economic Development Corp and currently is on the Waukee Betterment Foundation. She has been a board member, Interim President, and Ambassador of the Year of the Waukee Chamber of Commerce.

Erna saves her greatest passion for Rotary. She joined the Waukee Club in 2006, served yearly as a board member and President in 2013-14. She served two years as an Assistant Governor before being nominated as District Governor. She takes special pride in serving as DG, since her father-in-law, Fred Morain, was a DG in the District in 1970-71. She also considers it a personal challenge to encourage more women to seek leadership in Rotary.

Erna and Steve are still pretty good athletes. They still find time in their schedules to ski, swim, hike, bike and walk. Erna once completed 15 straight RAGBRAIs. She and Steve hope to walk a mile or two in each Rotary city in the District on their Club visits this year to personally view each Club’s local projects.