A golden tribute
The following excerpted article was published in The Brookings Daily Register on October 14, 1977. The Wednesday Club continued for another 15 years.
Wednesday Club commemorates 50 years
In a transitory age when people are moving frequently from one locality to another, it is a bit unusual that a farm neighborhood has been binding friendships for a period of more than 50 years. But such is the case with the group that calls themselves the Wednesday Club.
Wednesday Club was organized Aug. 26, 1927 at the country home of Mrs. G. D. Johnson with a membership of 23. The group had been together for several years as the Northview Extension Club and members wished to make it more of a social group, dropping the extension work.
The Club celebrated its 50th anniversary with a luncheon meeting Wednesday at the Staurolite Inn, honoring the three charter members who are still living, Margaret Keck, Etola Justice and Edna Holt. Mrs. Keck was unable to attend.
Reminiscing
Members reminisced about the events of the 50 years that brought many smiles and a few tears to their faces.
Mrs. Justice recalled teaching rural school east of Brookings, driving her horse and buggy in all kinds of weather. Mrs. Keck remembered teaching in District 1 schoolhouse, a one-room school, where many of the current members of the Club went to school.
The farm that Mrs. Keck lived on during the first years of her married life was later sold to the Wilcoxes and Gladys Wilcox, another member of the Wednesday Club, lived in the same house. A third member of the Club, Alma Sundal, lived in that house after she got married, and at the present time, a fourth member of the Club, Jane Sundal, who is married to Alma’s son, is living in the house. That same farmhouse holds memories shared by four members.
“It was 50 years ago when my mother went to assist at the birth of a baby at the next farm,” recalls Olga Larkin, another Club member. Now that lady, Edna Holt, is also a member of the Club.
Not just a social club
Activities of the Wednesday Club are not purely social. Each year they make a contribution to some “worthy cause” in the larger community. Some of their donations have gone to the milk fund, Salvation Army, Cancer Drive, Children’s Home in Sioux Falls, Abbott House in Mitchell, and others. One of their recent projects has been the support of the Brookings Guidance Center.
Birthdays of members are observed with gifts, usually homemade, and an exchange of ideas and sharing problems and events are also part of the activities of the Club. Jane Sundal said that when she brought her first baby girl to the club meeting, one of the members presented her with a hand-knit sweater. Later on, when that baby girl grew up and got married, club members gave a bridal shower for her.
Meetings are held the second Wednesday of the month. There is a family picnic every year and a special party at Christmas time. Gifts are homemade items, each with a special meaning for the giver and receiver.
There are meetings about politics, books, with a special interest in Laura Ingalls Wilder books and the recent biography of “Doc Peake” by Deanna Bonne. Dr. Peake has ministered to many of the members.
The Wednesday Club is rich in shared experiences and friendships, and according to the present members, they intend to keep going for another fifty years.