Chatham Woman’s Club At 93: Not Your Mother’s Woman’s Club

by Debra Lawless

            At a recent meeting of the Chatham Woman’s Club there is not a hat to be seen.

            Yet many of the archival newspaper clippings of the club show women in hats pouring tea and presiding over tables set with lace cloths, finger sandwiches and petits fours, somehow conveying an idea of, well, leisure and frivolity.

            The club women are anything but frivolous. In 2006 these Chatham women devoted 15,533 hours to volunteer work.

            On this day the club, which is 93 years old, is gathering for the first time in the Chatham Community Center after over four decades meeting in the First Congregational Church. A beautiful table of food with a centerpiece by Marty Koblish is set for a light lunch.

            “That’s one thing we’re definitely doing the same as we did in 1915—cutting the crusts off the sandwiches,” club President Regina McDowell jokes.

            In 1915, when 45 women formed the club in Chatham, then a town with a population of 1,667, women would not have the right to vote for another five years. Yet after a century that fomented profound changes in women’s lives and ended with most women in the workforce, the Chatham Woman’s Club is more vigorous than ever with 195 members. It’s the largest club in Massachusetts.

            “The women of our club today for the most part worked outside the home. Most have not lived in Chatham all of their lives, and have traveled widely,” McDowell says. “They worked very hard and now in retirement, they still have energy. They appreciate this wonderful community and contribute to it through volunteer work.”

            The General Federation of Women’s Clubs, a non-denominational women’s volunteer service organization, was founded in 1890 and is based in Washington, D.C. It boasts members in all 50 states and 12 countries. In its early years the club fought exploitive child labor practices. In 1915, as the Chatham women organized, the national club was supporting legislation for an eight-hour workday, workplace safety and inspection, and workmen’s compensation.

            As clubwomen slowly filter into the large room on the second floor of the Community Center, Meg Cimini and Sharon Oudemool sign them in at the registration desk. Margaret Stenberg, in charge of this month’s food committee, is presiding over the urns of coffee and tea. The club’s practice is to follow a half hour of food and socializing with a 30-minute business meeting and a 30-minute speaker. Today Evelyn Nostrand is going to speak on “Curling: The Newest Winter Olympic Sport.”

            At 12:30 p.m. sharp the 85 women present take seats and McDowell leads the Pledge of Allegiance. She calls Evelyn Helides up to receive her 50-year gold pin as the audience claps enthusiastically. Helides says what she treasures most about the club are the friendships she forms “with a whole lot of women I’d not ordinarily meet. We have a friendship that’s very enduring.”

            The stated purpose of the women who met at the home of Florence O’Neil in 1915 was “to broaden and strengthen the moral, social and intellectual life of its members and to be through them a power for good in the community.” Mrs. George Gigger, wife of the town doctor, was the club’s first president.

            One of the good works the club is noted for is sponsoring, in 1925, an article on the town warrant to create a town dump. In 1927 the group sponsored the first community Christmas tree. That same year it founded the Edith Harding Scholarship Fund. During the Depression the club forfeited refreshments and dues dropped to $2 from $3. In WWII it sponsored evenings of dances and cards for servicemen at the Wayside Inn. Clearly, the public was wrong in thinking, at one time, of the clubs as “really card groups made up of wealthy social matrons,” as an article on the national federation website titled “Hats, Gloves, and Bags Are Still Part of Our Tradition” puts it.

            A 1964 article illustrates a moment when the president of the national federation tried to stem the tides of change. Under the headline “Home is Best, Mothers Told,” she suggests that young mothers should stay home until the children reach high school or at least junior high age.

            “We’re different today in that we are more philanthropic, perhaps have the means to be more so, but we are similar in wanting to effect positive change in the community,” says First Vice President Alayne Tsigas. “Also we’re similar in forging friendships.”

            “Friendship is the key here,” says Ways and Means Chairwoman Judi Clifford. “It’s just a wonderful way of meeting new people.”

            In the 21^st century, the club’s good works continue. Next month is Armed Services month, when the club raises money for veterans and those hospitalized at Brockton Veterans Hospital. Scholarships remain a part of the club’s work. The club has given out 25 scholarships to local students since 2002.

            “We have fun working together,” Tsigas says.

            Linda Brownell is one of 39 new members who joined the club last year. As a woman in her 50s, she’s one of the youngest members. “The speakers are wonderful,” she says. “They’re so interesting.”

            “It’s not your mother’s women’s club anymore,” Finance Chairwoman Joanna Schurmann says.

            For more information, visit the club’s website at www.chathamwomansclub.org.