Club celebrates 90th anniversary

     Members of the Merry Makers Club celebrated their 90th anniversary with dinner at the Bread Basket in Manchester on Sept. 17. What began in 1928 as a meeting of neighborhood farm women to cook for threshers, bloomed into a social club. The club was formed for no particular reason other than to get acquainted with the neighbors, or prove an excuse for a half day of recreation, or an opportunity to catch up on the latest in the Extension Service, or simply to hear the newest area gossip.  With only 10 members that first year, the group originally met every two weeks, and then in the 1960s changed meetings to once a month. Some of the 21 members today, who range in age from 35-91, are related to charter members.  Several ladies have had three or four generations of the same family belong to the club, which originated in Boulder Township near Coggon, and today hosts members from Linn, Jones, and Delaware Counties. Over the years, 115 ladies have passed the secret initiation to belong to Merry Makers. Most members join for life. Several of the current members have attended meetings for over 60 years. These include Doris McEvoy of Ryan, JoAnn Price of Coggon, and Betty Lou Zumbach of Monticello. Marie LeClere of Coggon, who has since passed away, holds the record for belonging to Merry Makers for 71 years.

     Each year elections are held for president, vice president, and secretary/treasurer. Just like in the beginning, the president still brings the meeting to order, minutes are kept, and dues are paid. Dues were originally $0.05 per meeting and now in 2018 are $10 per year.   The monthly meetings are hosted in a member's home or the restaurant of their choice. Refreshments are served and usually include dessert and coffee.

     Each June, instead of a monthly meeting, they have what is referred to as “Ladies Day” and pile into several cars to go on a tour of an interesting attraction in the surrounding area. In the past few years this has included anything from the Broom and Basket shop in West Amana, Dan and Debbie's Creamery in Ely, The National Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, the new white water rafting park in Manchester, the Motor Mill near Elkader, and the New Melleray Abbey in Peosta. In July spouses and children are also invited to the club picnic, which is hosted in one of the member’s homes. Each December the Merry Makers Christmas Party is held at a local restaurant where gifts are exchanged, and Secret Sisters for the year are revealed.

     In this day and age, communication has been made much easier via cell phones, texting, Facebook, etc.  However, there is nothing quite the same as a friendly face-to-face conversation with your neighbor, sitting across the kitchen table over coffee and a piece of pie… just like it was in 1928.