Putney Fortnightly Club 1902-2021
The social club that lasted the longest in Putney was the Putney Fortnightly Club. This organization kept a regular schedule of meetings and fellowship for 119 years. We remaining eight members bid a fond farewell to our organization by spending the last of our treasury. Money went to the Putney Food shelf, a remembrance gift to a charity for a member who had died, and the rest toward lunch` for all at the Marina. Those ladies were Hildamarie Hendricks, Meg Harriman (both daughters of former members), Marty Whitney, Margaret Harlow, Ramona Lawrence, Carol Bryant, Lee Alden and Marion Daley. There are two honorary members: Sandy Famolare and Thera Hindmarsh.
When plans were being made to celebrate the 100th birthday of this club in 2002 the minutes of the club were researched. The minutes were housed in the Putney Historical Society. Notebooks of by-gone years were there.
We started by discovering that the Club held a celebration on their Golden Anniversary with a party held at Mrs. DeWolf’s home in January 1952. They honored the charter members. There was a birthday cake and women told of incidents in connection with their club membership. Yellow rosebuds were given to all the members.
In those days Putney Fortnightly Club activities were written up in the Reformer. The tradition of beginning the meeting with quotations continued as it does to this day. The program committee planned the schedule for the year and was responsible for putting together the program booklets for the members—copies of which are preserved in our storage box at the historical society.
In the1950’s some programs were :
- Putney artists and writers
- Music programs
- Indians
- Antiques
- Old cemeteries
- Post offices
- Post roads
Frequent contributions were listed in the treasurer’s books of
March of Dimes————-$2.00
Cancer fund——————$2.00
Association for the blind –$2.00
Use of the Federated Church for the Silver Tea—-$2.50
Putney Fortnightly Club’s most ambitious project was researching the history of Putney. Mrs. Darrow, Mrs. DeWolf, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Harlow, Mrs. Frost and Miss Braley made up the committee. It seemed quaint to use only last names and this was true in all the notes until the late 1980’s.
Five hundred copies of the book were printed at a cost of $1400 by a company in Ann Arbor Michigan. These histories sold. Many went to a number of states and over 30 libraries. There was a couple who came by and bought one to take to Putney, England. They sent a book about the history of the English Putney to our Fortnightly Club. By the mid-fifties the debt of financing and publishing was paid. It was noted by 1960 there were no more copies left except the one in the Club files.
In November 1953 $70.00 was borrowed from the Club’s savings account for the typing and printing “The People of Putney” — material gathered for the history, but too much to include in that one volume.
Putney celebrated its 200th anniversary and the Fortnightly Club prepared a report of those events to be kept with other papers in the town vault so that in 2053 residents will be able to find out what was done to commemorate the 200th.
Programs
In March 1954 they held a discussion on current events. Topics included a new disease of troops called Manchurian fever, McCarthyism, statehood for Alaska and Hawaii, Red China and Billy Graham.
Besides meetings at member’s homes, there were trips. Dublin and Chester foliage tours, Grafton and the cheese, Hogback Mt. Our members today continued this. We visited the Butterfly Museum in Deerfield, the Fort at #4 in Charlestown and a tour of Tom and Sally’s chocolate factory.
There is a monument or Fort marker that was erected by this organization in 1914. In 1938 the Club had the marker moved from the Great Meadows to the spot on River Road. In 1953 they asked Carl Stockwell to improve the looks of it. In 1964 we find Mrs. Ellwyn Miller fixing up the ground around it. In 1967 Mrs. Gassett and Hazel and Henry Phelps were appointed to look after it, which they did. In 2010 on Flag Day members drove there after a meeting and decorated the marker with American Flags and a basket of pansies.
Plantings – Benches – Beautification of Putney
In 1958 the club donated $50.00 for furniture for the teacher’s room in the new Central School. On the Clubs 60th anniversary in 1962 $60.00 was donated to Putney Public Library for the Katherine Booth Martenis Memorial Book fund, one dollar for each year of the Club. She was the daughter of Mrs. Booth who started the club.
In 1979, Mrs. Hegemann gave a report of the plantings around Central School, hardwood, conifers, flowering crabs and ivy planted in a judicious manner to relieve the harsh appearance of the cement block. It was noted that Laura Heller and Ken Pick assisted in this project.
That same year the Fortnightly Club purchased a flowering crab from the Putney Nursery for the lawn of the credit union. In fact, they were on a planting spree because the minutes of May 25, 1979 record 15 trees planted and their locations.
Next year in 1980 Mabel Gray wanted new buckets of geraniums around the town hall. This is the first time that first names used in the minutes. It was ”Rhona“ Hannum now and ”Flora“ Hendricks.
In 1983, azalea plants were placed in front of Central School as a Memorial for Ida Belle Hegemann In 1984, $25.00 was allocated for town hall window boxes and Mabel Gray, Betts Wallace and Dot Austin saw to that.
When Betty Scott died, a flowering crab was planted in front of the post office replacing the one that had died. In 1986, when Inez Harlow died the Club gave $25 to the Historical Society which she helped found.
Beautification of the library with a rhododendron bush marked the Fortnightly’s 85th anniversary.
In 1989, they bought a bench for the town hall. Betts Wallace offered to put preservative on it. In 2002, we placed another bench near the town hall with a plaque that marked our 100th anniversary. It was a special project that involved everyone in the decision making process of what to give the town that we could afford and to be an improvement.
The Fortnightly Club has done a lot – considering that the dues were only $3.00 per year!
Where did we get money to do these things? Accounts of every penny raised through Silver Teas, food sales, and our annual Tea Cup auction paid for these improvements. We were not a fund raising organization, so when donations are given it was primarily small amounts to local causes. Some treasurer in 1957 laboriously tallied up all the clubs giving to that point and it amounted to $175.00
There is an amusing account in the Feb 1979 minutes of a discussion over $14.16. What to do? Put it into two banks accounts or one? And which one would pay the most interest???
Spending money was never easy, not when you have many members with differing ideas. The purchase of a book was such a case. In early 1990, the Club decided to purchase a book for the Central School library. The decision of which book and how much to spend kept being put off. Finally, a full year later the book “Basketville” by Frank Wilson was purchased and Thera Hindmarsh delivered it to the library.
Honorary members were remembered at Christmas with candy or plants. For many years a collection of non-perishable food was made for the Community Food Shelf.
Every meeting started with quotations and ended with refreshments, sometimes described by the recording secretary in delicious and delectable terms. For example, in 1978 Betty Scott recorded this: “The afternoon closed with refreshments served by the hostesses, Mrs. Gray and Miss Page which was especially delicious, squash pie prepared by two excellent cooks. Who could ask for more?”
Christmas meetings many years were held at Sophie Miller’s whose reputation for setting an elegant table survives many years after her death. One member often serves fancy sandwiches with a smile and adds, “this is remembering Sophie.” Later Marion Daley asked to be the Christmas Tea hostess.
On December 12, 1986, Florence Holt then secretary wrote:
“As usual the hostesses provided an eye appealing array of goodies which we all enjoyed. We all left with our box of cookies and a Merry Christmas to all.
Membership
Membership used to be by invitation. That changed after our 100th birthday.
Prospective members were asked to join….and they usually did. Due to the fact that we met in members’ homes 20 has been the top number at any one time. Often as a member could no longer be an active participant, she became an honorary member, making room for another person to join.
You’ve heard that joke that goes like this “How many members of Fortnightly does it take to change a light bulb?
The answer: Change? What change? We never change!
But change we did!
For 98 years the program year began in late September and went through May. In 2002, we changed our meeting schedule to avoid Vermont‘s winter weather. Program year started in the spring and went through the hot summer, glorious fall, and ends with the December Christmas Tea – thus avoiding some of the slippery ice of January- February- March blizzards.
Through the decades travel programs have continued to be of interest as members came back from Europe, or Asia and shared pictures of their adventures overseas. Mrs. Hegemann and Mrs. William Darrow traveled to Greece. If they didn’t travel there they found speakers who did. Dr. John Wallace spoke on the Virgin Islands. Another on Nepal, someone on Iran. There were programs on flying saucers and one by Dr. Barbara Rainer on Cybernation 1966-67.
In 1980 David McCauley of the American Friends Service Committee gave a presentation and in 1981 Nancy Milligan spoke on the “Washington to Moscow Walk for Mutual Weapons Freeze”.
At the time of our decision to end this long time organization the question arose as to how we lasted so long? After all, we are not affiliated with a national organization, we are not a sorority, nor a religious group. There are no vows of loyalty or candle lighting initiation rites. We covered a wide range of political affiliations. Members rarely resigned. They left mostly by moving away or dying. And we were there at the Memorial service to say good-bye to this neighbor and friend.
We never had a lot of money. Maybe it’s because we came from varied backgrounds, we have formed an association of friendships, have a true caring for each other in times of ill health or such. We shared a keen interest in Putney. We have continued traditions established long ago by other women who lived here and were a vital part of this community, and of this we are proud.
Even though we have ended the Putney Fortnightly Club, we haven’t given up on visits, lunch out and occasional gatherings in our homes.
Marion Daley
Member since 1998