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Thanks To Our Contributors

Arnold's Antiques Albertsons American Restaurant Supply Co. Baby's Breath Garden Circle Chapman Produce Edenbrook GFWC Tallahassee Junior Woman's Club Gordon Halleck Party Staffers Home Depot Kinko's The Party Line Publix Supermarket Tallahassee Nurseries Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Winn-Dixie--Mahan Drive Winn-Dixie--Timberlane Road

Table Settings Compliments Of Pat Giglio, chair

Jo Bevis Anne Core-Michaels Myra Blanchard Mary Michell Melanie Boone Jean R.Murray Lila Eubanks Charlene Bevis-Reese Pat Giglio Helen Salter Dody Littlejohn Kristin Skagfield Jesse Lovano-Kerr Eleanor Smith Reba Maner Mable Walters Beulah McGlon Bobbie Woodham

The Committees

Chair Jean Hurt

Co-Chair Jessie Lovano-Kerr

Decorating / Set-Up Melanie Boone, co-chair Jean Rich Murray, co-chair Helen Salter Kristin Skagfield Mary Farrell Midred Day Eleanor Smith Pat Giglio

Food Assistants Reba Maner Miriam Means Grace Seckel Ann Boyd Mildred Day

Food Servers Ellen West, chair Marlene Jones Candi Aubin Jennifer Craig Ranae Ranell Linda England Brunetta Pfander JoAnn Fletcher Terri Hewitt Safer Ellent Hyatt David Campbell Shelia West

Table Design Pat Giglio

Publicity Jessie Lovano-Kerr, chair Charlene Bevis-Reese Melanie Boone Eleanor Smith Mary Mitchell

Ticket Sales Mary Mitchell, chair Mable Walters Melanie Boone Eleanor Smith Marlene Jones Grace Seckel Nell Sewell

Charlene Bevis-Reese

Members of the Club

Program Assistants Jean Rich Murray Helen Salter Ivan Johnson

Program / Printing Beth Lee

The Clubhouse of the Woman's Club of Tallahassee, a stately structure at the entrance of Los Robles, is an historical landmark that has been the site of many civic. social, educational and entertainment events for 73years. Plans are underway for a complete restoration, a renaissance, to preserve the clubhouse and to commemorate the centennail of the formationn of the Woman's Club in 2003. To accomplish this huge undertaking, proposals for grants have been submitted to the Florida Board of Historic Preservation and fundraisers are planned to meet the matches required for these grants

The Woman's Club is actually 97years old! In 1903, six women meet at the Leon Hotel, today the site of the Federal Court House, to form Woman's Club of Tallahassee: Miss Anna S. Chaires, Mrs.T.M. Shkelford, Mrs.George Davis, Mrs.Howard Gamble, Mrs.Charles Cay and Mrs. A.L.Randolph. Chaires was selected as the first president. Almost immediately, their influence was felt in the community. Shorter after their formation, the Woman's Club persuaded the city officials to screen the city market, place sidewalks on Monroe Street, improve the railroad station, plant trees and keep the cemetery in order. It became obvious the community service was their overall mission.

Education was a high priority. The Woman's Club canvassed every property owner in the district and succeeded in calling and carrying on an election to raise taxes to build a high school - Leon High School. They nominated Trustees for their fund every year to ensure the success of the project. In 1910,Leon High School was built. Today we know this building as the Columns, home of the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce.

By the 1920's, the Woman's Club felt the need for a clubhouse and looked for suitable sites. With the advent of the automobile, it was possible to consider sites out in the country. One of these sites was in Los Robles, then known as "The Oaks", the first suburb, owned and developed by Lomblah and Thornton. These developers gave the Woman's Club two of the lots on which the Clubhouse stands today. Completed on April 19, 1926, the Clubhouse has been used as a civic, social and entertainment center since.

During World War II, the Woman's Club shared their clubhouse with the American Red Cross, which was use for sewing and making surgical dressings, garments and whatever else was needed. Other community projects in the 1940's included donating 500 packets of garden seed to the County Demonstration Agent to distribute throughout the county and the donation of 114 pairs of adult shoes to the needy, 31 pairs of shoes and socks for childred. They also raised $1000 for an ongoing shoe purchase account.

When driving toward the Capitol on Apalachee Parkway, the viewer is drawn to the beauty of the landscaping. This is another project that involved the Woman's Club. In 1960, under the presidency of Jo Bevis, the Woman's Club in cooperation with Malcolm Johnson, then editor of the Tallahassee Democrat, worked to obtain donated plants for the beautification of the then new Apalachee Parkway approach to the Capitol. A coupon was published daily in the paper for donors to complete and return for the plants they wished to pledge with their contributions. The State Road Departent provided a crew to assist in the planting. Concurrently, members of the Woman's Club worked with WMEN Radio City for whom they wrote copy sold advertising and did the announcing as a moneymaking project.

Many community projects too numerous to list were undertaken by the Woman's Club in the decades that followed. However, several should be mentioned. Old docuents, stored and almost forgotten by the state of Florida in the Old Jail, were retrieved by several Club members who spent countless hours sorting and identifying each of the documents. Some of these documents originated in the 1820's! Aother project involved the Club's participation on the Bank Restoration Committee for the restoration of the Union Bank Building

in 1980-82. The Bank, one of the oldest buildings of its kind, was restored by a legislative appropriation matched by other funds raised by the Union Restoration Committee of the city.

Currently, the Woman's Club provides the free use of the clubhouse as well as monetary dontations for fund raising activities for such organizations as the March of Dimes, the Mother's March Walkathon (for research on birth defects), and the Leon County Chapter of American Cancer Society. They provide scholarships for the woman over 30 returning to school, a scholarship annually to a high school student to attend the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Conference and have purchased two Signature Seats in the Turner Auditorium at Tallahassee Community College for art student scholarships. They support the Hacienda Girls' Rach in Titusville and the Boys Anchor House by providing birthday cards and gifts. Also, they provide funds, baskets of food, clothing and toys for ten families with chronically ill members, part of the Community Improvement Project and the Florida Departent of Health. Donations are made to the Habitat for Humanity, the Boys Choir of Tallahassee, Dr. Woody Smith's medical mission in Haiti, and a Peace Corps mission in Kolnia, Pohnpei, Philippines.

With 97 years of continual service to the community, the Woman's Club of Tallahassee looks forward to celebrating its 100th anniversary in three years with their clubhouse restored by then to its original beauty, ready to continue its role as the center of civic, social and entertainment events in Tallahassee.