January 8, 1942 Diary

Thursday 8th Day - 357 Days to Follow

Warmer today.

Letter from Mass.

I went to club with Burkes, at Johnsons.

Eleven there.  Mable Kirkmeyer as visitor.

Dad and Don to Rehwalts for a pig [and] saw Alice Campion, bot brooder for $10.

Temperature 4 [degrees] above this P.M.  NE wind this evening.

Club met with Glayds Johnson

Started on skirts.  Those taking Mrs. Agnes Kenter, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Thames, Miss Baker, Helen A. two, Athelda Burke, Gladyes J., 

Fred and Mae Atherton, Francis Hill - from Oklahoma arrived at 8o'clock at Hills.

The letter from Mass. indicates that Margie got a letter from her eldest son Ken, who worked for MIT.  He had a degree in entomology from Colorado State University.  More on him and his family later.

Margie's very last line refers to the Aunt (Mae Atherton) and brother (Francis) of her daughter-in-law, Florence (Hill) Arbuthnot.  Francis was a cattlemen in Oklahoma and did not move to Colorado when the rest of the family moved to Niwot.  Every year at this time, Francis brought cattle Denver to be shown and sold at the annual Stock Show.  He always stopped by to see his sisters, Florence and Marjorie Knaus on these trips.

Francis M. Hill in January 14, 1956, at the home of his sister Florence Arbuthnot.
Francis is holding his niece, Donlyn Arbuthnot - author of this blog.
Boulder, Colorado

Batchelder Neighbors Club

The club that Margie refers to is the Batchelder Neighbors Club (BNC), a club for the women who lived in the Batchelder School District area.  This club began in 1941 and met for 50 years.  There were 17 founding members including:  Margie Arbuthnot, Una Albert (Margie's daughter), Helen Anderson (later Bloom then Berryman), Elsie Baker, Mable Brown, Ethelda Burke, Carrie Burke Scott, Myrna Dodd, Lettie Ereckson, Daulton Ereckson, Lucille Jones, Ethel Johnson, Gladys Johnson Martin, Jennie Keuter, Agnes Keuter, Eileen Nelson, Grace Thorn.

The club met on alternate Thursdays and had a President, V. President, Sec-Treasurer, a publications chairman and a program chairman.  I don't have the names of who filled these offices in 1942.  The order of business for their meetings was:

Salute to the American Flag,

Patriotic Song,

Roll Call

Minutes of the last meeting

Unfinished business

Bills and Communications

Adjournment

The source for this information is a little booklet that Helen Anderson put together that covers meetings from March 5, 1942 to Dec 10, 1942.  

Basis for this meeting came from a book published in 1929 titled:  A Manual for Club Women, by Anna Steese Richardson - Director of the Good Citizenship Bureau of the Women's Home Companion.  Published by Smith and Corona Typerwriters Inc, New York, NY.

There is no indication how the club came to own this book, but it is preserved along with the club accounts book.

I wish to thank Helen Anderson Berryman's nephew,  Ernie Anderson, who gave to me a box and scrapbook filled with the spiral notebooks and other information that his Aunt had collected and neatly organized about this club.  He entrusted this to me to "do something with it."  This year is my opportunity to do so.  As Margie makes reference to the club in her diary, I shall be taking notes from these documents on what occurred on these dates.  Unfortunately, those notes don't begin until March 5, 1942.  Until then, let's recognize the 50th Anniversary party that these women gathered to celebrate.  I'm sure Margie was there in spirit.

July 31, 1991
50th Anniversary celebration of the Batchelder Neighbors Club
Original Founding Members.
L to R Una Albert, Gladyas (Johnson) Martin, ?, ?, Helen (Anderson) Berryman

Members and guests of the Batchelder Neighbors Club
50th Anniversary Party - July 31, 1991

Photographer unknown.  Taken at the home of Helen Raben

Those in attendance at the NBC 50th Anniversary Party were:

Helen Berryman

Gladys Martin

Hazel Van Cleave

Edith Hornby

Lorrnia Lydin

Sharon Lydin Ruby

Ruth Charlosen

Edris Heldt

Ruth Heldt

Dorothy Zimmerman

Ethelda Thorne

Helen Axelson

Carol Burke Dale

   & son Kelly

Helen Aldrich

Edna Maul (Daughtea)

Florence Arbuthnot (Margie's daughter-in-law)

Helen M. Raber (Hostess)

Una Albert (Daughter of Margie Arbuthnot)

Marjorie (Arbuthnot Campion) Hawn  (Daughter of Margie Arbuthnot)

LaVern M. Johnson*

Pearl Williams 

*Special thanks to LaVern Johnson for helping me to identify some of these guests.
LaVern, you are always such a joy to work with.