What We Are About...
It has long been suggested that societies are in some sense are like the human body – if there is something systemically wrong it will manifest throughout. We believe in this analogy and we have over a hundred years of service to prove the point that a helping hand when needed can make the difference…
Our Community Involvement Program aims to bring people together to strengthen Henderson County through meaningful civic engagement and service learning opportunities. HWC projects are also designed to provide members with fellowship and fun. We are looking for new members and ways to make our world a little better, and we invite you to visit and share your ideas and talents with us!
It has long been suggested that societies are in some sense are like the human body – if there is something systemically wrong it will manifest throughout. We believe in this analogy and we have over a hundred years of service to prove the point that a helping hand when needed can make the difference…
Our Community Involvement Program aims to bring people together to strengthen Henderson County through meaningful civic engagement and service learning opportunities. HWC projects are also designed to provide members with fellowship and fun. We are looking for new members and ways to make our world a little better, and we invite you to visit and share your ideas and talents with us!
OUR LONG HISTORY
The Hendersonville Woman’s Club was founded in 1915, and to appreciate the historical significance of introducing the first all-women’s club into this area at that time, along with our continued place in building Henderson County, please join us for a little time-travel…
Imagine: over 100 years ago (1915) … Woodrow Wilson is just over 2 ½ years into his first-term as President; The RMS Lusitania is sunk on passage from NY to Britain; Babe Ruth hits his first career home run, while Jimmy Lavender of the Chicago Cubs pitches a no hitter against the New York Giants; The first mainstream movie with a nude actress scene is released “Inspiration”; In Detroit, MI the first STOP signs appear on roadways, and Kiwanis International is founded; Congress establishes The Rocky Mountain National Park; The Panama-Pacific International Exposition opened in San Francisco, and The House of Representatives rejects proposal to give women the right to vote (five years later on August 18th, 1920 the 19th Amendment is ratified). Many more historical events took place in 1915, and indeed from the 1880’s to the 1920‘s so much change was happening that historians have termed that period, The Progressive Era…
1915, Henderson County, NC… Five years before women could vote (ironically still within The Progressive Era, but with a light at the end of that tunnel!), is when our founder, Mrs. Claudia Holt-Oates (we lovingly laugh – “founder/instigator”), gathered together some of her friends – Mmes. E.W. Ewbank, Lila Barnwell, F.A. Ewbank, R.W. Kirk, M. Schenck, and Miss Carrie Burckmyer (and more) to speak with women across Henderson County about their everyday concerns. After many months and long hours, the women in our community were finally talking with each other about the challenges their families faced daily, plus their long-term wants, and fears. They talked about ways the County government could help with more subsistence programs – which meant mainly jobs, and they had ideas too, of how a community based woman’s club could help support other efforts such as continuing education for their children, medical clinics, and an arts program for everyone in the community – which they knew would instill values and create an identity for their children and their community.
They took up the challenge with their first roll-call on October 13, 1915, with an initial membership of just over 50 women. Their early years focused on local, state, federal and world issues that would impact life at home. Their numbers quickly grew to over 200 women within a single decade. They formed committees for education, community beautification projects, art shows, concerts, scholarships for continuing adult education, fellowship with hot meals for our Veteran’s at the old Oteen Army Hospital in Asheville (today it’s The Charles George VA Hospital), plus staffed and cooked for The Canteen during the war years (they sold a lot of bonds, too!). Assisted in forming the PTA, started the first school milk station which progressed to the present-day school cafeterias… And, we have another six (6) pages of single line items that the HWC started / supported over these past 103 years...
Henderson County Today: The heart of the HWC is the same because we have been in continuous service to the residents of Henderson County for all those years!
Recently, we gathered our present-day thoughts and historical records to construct the HWC Mission Statement: “Guided by over a century of service, the Hendersonville Woman’s Club continues to provide a platform for all women to advance the common good with a view toward the future where even small successes taken together are proof of the concept that every individual makes a difference in creating a better world…”
Thank you for taking the time to read about the Hendersonville Woman’s Club. It is our sincere wish that you might decide to share a bit more of your time and talents with us.
Membership of the HWC
HWC SUPPORTED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
The HWC donates funds, food, clothing and other resources to our following community nonprofit organizations:
In addition to our ongoing efforts, the HWC will respond in real time to specific needs when requested and we have the ability to do so. |
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
For over 100 years the Hendersonville Woman’s Club, Inc. has been a non-biased and non-political group of women in service to the residents of Henderson County, North Carolina. Membership in the HWC is open to women of all ages, background, race, sexual orientation, faith or political affiliations.
Membership Benefits and Information:
Year-round residency is not required. Participate when in town, and we will keep you updated (via email or social media) with all club information.
Our current meeting schedule is subject to change as our membership dictates, but we have meeting the second Tuesday of the each month, at 10:30am.
As is true of all who give of themselves to others, HWC members experience a deep sense of personal reward from their service.
Membership Benefits and Information:
- Social and networking opportunities
- Develop a program to benefit your community
- Hands-on volunteer opportunities
- Make new friends / reconnect with old ones
- Meeting presentations to keep you informed, empowered & inspired
- Nominal yearly membership dues
Year-round residency is not required. Participate when in town, and we will keep you updated (via email or social media) with all club information.
Our current meeting schedule is subject to change as our membership dictates, but we have meeting the second Tuesday of the each month, at 10:30am.
As is true of all who give of themselves to others, HWC members experience a deep sense of personal reward from their service.
Listing of all Hendersonville Woman’s Club Presidents:
- Mrs. E.W. Ewbank 1915-16
- Mrs. Michael Schenke 1916-17
- Mrs. E.W. Ewbank 1918-19
- Mrs. B.M. Colt 1920-21
- Mrs. R. Kirk 1922-23
- Mrs. F. Ewbank 1924-25
- Mrs. C.F. Rogers 1926-27
- Mrs. J.A. Rhodes 1927-28
- Mrs. George Wing 1928-29
- Mrs. O.A. Meyers 1930-32
- Mrs. J.S. Forrest 1932-34
- Mrs. Albert Durham 1935-36
- Mrs. H.W. Fuller 1937-38
- Mrs. E.J. Ford 1939-40
- Mrs. J. S. Forrest 1940-46
- Mrs. H.W. Fuller 1947-48
- Mrs. G.H. Love 1949-50
- Mrs. Pleda Jackson 1951-52
- Mrs. Hamilton Coleman 1953-54
- Mrs. Pleda Jackson 1955-56
- Mrs. Wade Britt 1957-58
- Mrs. S.M. Garren 1959-60
- Mrs. Carig Baker 1960-61
- Mrs. J.S. Forrest 1962-63
- Mrs. Hugh Bowden 1964-66
- Mrs. Charles Grimes 1967-68
- Mrs. Margaret Harte 1969-70
- Mrs. Guy Tart 1971-72
- Mrs. Bert Cantrell 1973-75
- Mrs. Lon Goodson 1975-76
- Mrs. Sam Padgett 1977-78
- Miss L. Sparrenberger 1979-80
- Mrs. Guy Tart 1980-81
- Mrs. C.M. King 1982-83
- Mrs. Charles Spencer 1984-85
- Mrs. Stanley Kamerick 1986-87
- Mrs. Daniel C. Nelson 1988-89
- Mrs. Margaret Mantel 1990-91
- Mrs. Stanley Kamerick 1992-93
- Mrs. Margaret Mantel 1994
- Mrs. Kenneth Nagel 1995
- Mrs. James Cannon 1996-97
- Mrs. Nicholas Magro 1998-99
- Mrs. James Cannon 2000
- Mrs. John Rosser 2001-02
- Mrs. Nicolas Magro 2003
- Mrs. Charles Bertini 2004-05
- Mrs. Sy Berg 2006
- Mrs. Nicholas Magro 2007-08
- Mrs. Ernest Wilson 2009-10
- Mrs. Nicholas Magro 2011-12
- Mrs. Ernest Wilson 2013-15
- Norah (Lyons) Schumacher 2016-17
- Jane Ward 2018 (January-July)
- Phi-Van Cherry 2018 (August) - 2020
HWC’s Collect Since 1915 By: Mary Stewart, Longmont Colorado
Keep us, Oh God, from pettiness, let us be large in thought, in word, in deed.
Let us be done with fault finding and leave off self-seeking.
May we put away all pretense and meet each other, face to face, with-out self-pity and without prejudice.
May we never be hasty in judgment and always generous.
Let us take time for all things; make us grow calm, serene, and gentle.
Teach us to put into action our better impulses – straight forward and unafraid.
Grant that we may realize it is the little things that create differences, that in the big things of life we are as one…
And, may we strive to touch and to know the great common human heart of us all…
And, Lord God, let us forget not – To be kind.
Keep us, Oh God, from pettiness, let us be large in thought, in word, in deed.
Let us be done with fault finding and leave off self-seeking.
May we put away all pretense and meet each other, face to face, with-out self-pity and without prejudice.
May we never be hasty in judgment and always generous.
Let us take time for all things; make us grow calm, serene, and gentle.
Teach us to put into action our better impulses – straight forward and unafraid.
Grant that we may realize it is the little things that create differences, that in the big things of life we are as one…
And, may we strive to touch and to know the great common human heart of us all…
And, Lord God, let us forget not – To be kind.