Ortonville- The times they are a changin,? and the Ortonville Woman’s Club and the women in it are, too.
Six women from the club, established in 1905, reminisced on how views of women and their roles in society have changed over the years, as well as what the club has meant to them as it undergoes its own changes.
There are 17 members in the club, but only a third are gathered for lunch at the village home of Phyllis Parker. Many of the club members are now in their 80s, or even 90s. Parker is the youngest of the group, at 49, and the energy of the club, which at one time had more than 40 members, is waning.
‘We’ve tried to recruit younger women, but nowadays, women are working all the time,? said Parker.
‘The younger generation are not joiners? it’s not unique to our club, the same thing (decreasing membership) is happening to the Lions Club, the Kiwanis, the veterans groups,? said Barb Holling. ‘The younger generation are busy and preoccupied with other things.?
OWC began as an art club more than 110 years ago, in 1904. Five years later, it was a library club. The club was discontinued during World War I while women took on more responsibilities at home while their men were fighting, but returned at the end of the war and in 1922, just two years after women gained the right to vote, was officially named the Ortonville Woman’s Club. The group took steps to establish the Old Mill Museum in 1967, and also helped establish the area’s first library on Mill Street.
The club has been a force for change in the com-munity and now its members share their own personal experiences of changes they have observed regarding women.
Geraldine Pacer, 84, a 29-year member of the club, recalls that she worked as a carhop during high school and thought she would be a nurse after graduation? ‘Women were teachers or nurses then,? she said, but instead she did what many women of her time did? she married right out of high school and gave birth to her first child when she was 20 and then had three more children. Today she speaks proudly of a granddaughter who served 22 years in the Navy and is attending school to be a train engineer.
Carmen Mallory, 68, and OWC president, is 16 years younger than Pacer, but said when she was in high school, women were also expected to be engaged by the time they graduated. Mallory, however, was dealing with the stigma of being pregnant and unmarried. At 17, she dropped out of high school and was so depressed and ashamed of her pregnancy that she jumped off a bridge, but when she felt her baby move, she discovered strength and a new will to live. That child, Phyllis Parker, is now seated next to her.
Mallory smiles at her daughter.
‘I felt her move and I didn’t care about anything else,? she says simply. ‘All the hardships I’ve had in my life made me a strong woman.?
Mallory would go back to school, marry and have more children, but she would also struggle as a working woman. She took a job in a plastics factory in Rochester in her 20s and remembers that the owners expected female workers to get dressed up and go out with buyers who came in to the factory.
‘I told them, ‘I’m not a whore,?? said Mallory. ‘They fired me. The guy at the unemployment agency told me to wise up. He said, ‘What do you expect when women go to work???
Holling grew up in a family where she said boys were everything and girls were nothing, but she found a man who was loving and caring and allowed her to be herself.
‘I told my daughter, some day it will be a woman’s world’you have to go to school and get your education,? she said. ‘Some day you may be alone in life, don’t depend on a man.?
Crystal Haase, 74, notes that radical changes were taking place in the 50s and 60s, with more women going to college and birth control pills becoming readily available. She is troubled that women now may have taken freedoms too far.
‘What we fought for, it’s not what I expected of the girls today,? she said. ‘They don’t have respect for themselves.?
Bonnie Beltramo, 69, is also worried that motherhood has become a ‘devalued profession,? with women pressured to have a career and good kids, and daycare one of the lowest paid professions.
She defends the choice of women to stay home, just as she defends their right to work and be treated equally.
‘I had a young woman tell me, ‘I’m not a feminist,? and I told her that was because she didn’t grow up in a world where there was prejudice against women in the workplace,? Beltramo said. ‘Someone took care of that.?
As the times change, the women are glad to have the camaraderie of the club.
‘Everything is changing and it’s nice to have something consistent,? Haase said.
‘This is why the club is important,? Beltramo added. ‘We get together and support each other.?
The OWC hosts their Annual Scholarship Luncheon and Fashion Show at noon, May 7, at St. Anne Catholic Church. Tickets are $12. The show is a treasured long-time tradition that raises scholarship money for Brandon High School seniors, but this will be its final year. The OWC is relinquishing its status as a non-profit organization due to the amount of work involved and will revert to being a social club only.
Still, the club plans to continue to host a garage sale and donate funds of their own in continued charitable endeavors, including adopting an OCEF family at Christmas time. And of course, they will continue to meet at 1 p.m., the third Saturday of every month, enjoying each others? company.
For more information, call Carmen at 248-627-4542.