The 75th Anniversary and Beyond

Within our archives are letters written to members of the club in 1968, at which time College Club would celebrate its seventy-fifth anniversary. The allusion to the cook stove was reminiscent of the “nomadic” years when members carried a cook stove from place to place to prepare a luncheon. Libby Curtis, President in 1982, recalled that when she joined in 1959 lunches were seventy five cents (.75) and were prepared by the members. The average attendance was one hundred and ten members (110) at two meetings per month. Libby commented that she had never cleaned so much lettuce or buttered so many buns from Busken Bakery in her life!

Throughout our one-hundred and twenty-five-year history, the meetings of College Club have remained stable and have preserved their own individual pattern. We continue to enjoy not only the camaraderie of our members over lunch but thrive on interesting, informative and entertaining programs as did those women of long ago. One of the great blessings of this organization is the willingness of members to serve in many capacities. This cooperative spirit is essential to the well-being of College Club and one upon which we all depend.

In 1892, College Club members promoted an ongoing interest in the arts, education, social welfare, civic improvement and philanthropic endeavors among college alumnae. We follow in the footsteps of our founders as we continue those efforts today. The secret of accomplishing any task and engaging in new endeavors is as simple as getting started. It would seem appropriate as we complete this abbreviated history of College Club to remember the words of Longfellow, when he stated in his Psalm of Life:

Let us then be up and doing
With a heart for any fate
Still achieving, still pursuing 
Learn to labor, and to wait.