The Munising Women’s Club, under the leadership of President Mildred Feldhusen, was organized in Munising on April 11, 1912, with 24 members. The club was formed for the purpose of promoting and advancing women as business owners and informed citizens.
In 1915, this group affiliated with the State Federation of Women. That June, the club purchased a drinking fountain for “people and animals” to be placed in a convenient location downtown.
Also in that year, the State Federation of Women’s Clubs Convention was held in Lansing. Attendees voted unanimously to endorse prohibition, women’s suffrage and to ask the U.S. Congress to pass the Susan B. Anthony Amendment to guarantee the right to vote to women across the nation.
By 1917, Munising claimed 95 members and two associate members on its rolls.
Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and a study session were required in each meeting. Some of the topics they delved into were public health, school sanitation, women in politics, child hygiene and America as a world power.
After three-fourths of a century in the making, election results on Nov. 5, 1918, granted Michigan women their voting rights.
A program from Dec. 8, 1943, documents that the club also took time away from its serious agenda and wartime worries for merriment by holding a Christmas party. Among the activities listed for the party were a cranberry guessing game, a handkerchief tying relay race (one wonders if each woman had to take a handkerchief from her purse, as this item would be hard to come up with today) and a skit titled “Christmas Makes the Heart Grow Fonder.” A visit from Santa Claus, the singing of carols and a Christmas meal were also listed.
By 1986 and 1987, the club counted 28 members, and meeting minutes show that they were trying to come up with new ways to increase membership and asked for input that could be used to make the club better for all.
The women sold pecans for $3.65 a bag to keep their coffers in the black, reporting in June that their checkbook balance was $341.67 and the savings account was at $477.41 after expenses from the Senior Girls’ Tea, which were $197.72.
Many women in Munising will remember attending the Senior Tea with their mothers, a rite of passage, complete with a speaker, musical selections and the formation of a reception line followed by refreshments.
An article from The Munising News mentions that a new focus of the club in 1987 was the presentation of a scholarship to a senior girl. The club also sponsored a Career Opportunity Workshop for seventh- and eighth-grade girls that year to encourage them to become interested in their future careers using several community resources as workshop leaders.
By 1990, circumstances for women were perhaps felt to be fully established, and it became more difficult to rally up interest for attending the once-a-month meeting and district and state events, resulting in the club disbanding.
Carol Verbunker, Marion Luckey and Ruth Snyder were active members and can be asked to share their memories, as did Ruth Lindquist, who shared with me her scrapbook of photos, newspaper articles and program events. Mary Jayne Hallifax and Amorette Miron were also members, both having recently passed away.
Perhaps the value and worth of the club can best be measured today by Allison Bowerman, the 1987 Senior Girl recipient of the first Business and Professional Women’s Club Scholarship, as she has well proven her dedicated service to our community through her second career choice as a mortician and business partner at Bowerman Funeral Home.
