Shipyard Women’s Club Formed!
From a small group of five women sitting around a Mah Jongg table in early November, 2004, the concept of a Shipyard women’s club was beginning to form. Margaret Zabawa, the hostess, asked the players (Pat Foley Jacquelyn Hendricks, Marcy Wallis, Helen Xenakis) if they wanted to form a women’s club in our plantation to formulate interest groups, lend support to neighbors, and find mutually interesting things to do.
With teamwork, spirit, and help from the plantation in the form of printed up postcards for a mailing, the five women held an organizational meeting at the newly completed Beach Club at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 8th, 2005 (ironically International Women’s Day, a positive omen). 37 people showed up for the meeting, exceeding expectations. The second, third, and fourth meetings on March 22, April 12, and April 26 produced the name of the organization, acceptance of the By-laws, a questionnaire to find out interest groups, dues set at $10 per year, and a decision to meet the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month at 10:00 a.m. The consolidated information from the questionnaires indicated the overwhelming favorites were women’s health issues and gardening.
In May the interest groups were formed, with the Book Club and Water Aerobics receiving heavy support. Within five meetings the group was 51 strong (including two honorary members) and well under way to becoming an active club with growing membership. The first season concluded with a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party on May 26th, and we adjourned for the summer months, scheduled to begin the fall season Sept. 13th.
A very warm welcome to our twelve new members in September. Continued growth in members and interest groups has been quite impressive. As of our first October meeting, our membership total is 64, and we’re not quite six months old yet!
Update
On March 8, 2011 we celebrated our 6th anniversary. In the previous 6 years we have enlightened, entertained, and have established a circle of friends.
In 2010 we published our cookbook and raised enough money to make generous donations to charity. We have had guest speakers that covered subjects involving health, legan guidance, travel, history, gardening, fashion and art. There were trips and lunches shared with other members and we have grown. Interest groups have expanded to include a book club, out to lunch, a dine about, mah jongg, golf, a web site and more.
Members have given time and support to each other, friendships have been formed. Sadly along the way, we lost some friends, Marcy Wallis, a founding mother, Terri McLoughlin who wrote the words to our club song and Thelma Sidlowski. They remain members in perpetuity.
A seed of an idea, 6 years ago, has taken root. We are women in time, and we stand together looking forward, knowing that there is support and comradeship for all. We proudly call ourselves Shipyard Women’s Club.
Women InTime (click arrow above to hear the song)
WOMEN IN TIME
Lyrics by Theresa McLaughlin Shipyard Women’s Club September 2005
Music by Joan Maute, 2006
They heard the call from Mother Ocean
Turned to see who knew their name.
Heard it over busy workdays, over pressing duties too
Heard it o-ver, life’s fast game.
It stirred the hearts with gentle tugging,
Promised peace and days of sun,
Gentle Mother, gentle daughters, gentle sisters heard the call
And they answered one by one.
Women in Time. standing together
Part of a line extending forever
We are a–ll women in time
And each came by Mother Ocean,
Watched the tides both come and go.
Shared Her cycles in their bodies,
All Her power all Her calm
Lived each pulse of ebb and flow.
They shared the froth of bubbling laughter
Tasted salt in their own tears;
And the silent mists of many moods the tides both high and low
Cloaked them through the years.
Women in Time. standing together
Part of a line extending forever
We are a–ll women in time
From the sunrise to the tide pools,
Screeching gulls and shining shells
Like the driftwood so elusive always just beyond your hands,
Free to float on dip and swell.
All Her gifts within Her bounty
Gifts of love and peace and space.
All the answers neath the surface –hidden once now came in view
And each took up their place
Each retrieved them and received them
Waded in to find them all.
Now giving knows no limits there’s renewal every dawn
Mother’s daughters, after all.
Women in Time. standing together
Part of a line extending forever
We are al–ll women in time