Every small town in America is likely to have a few organizations made up of members willing to give of their free time to improve that community. There have been 110 clubs organized in Tyrone since 1857.
The Women’s Club of Tyrone is a service club and is celebrating its 60th birthday this year, 2014. It was known as the Junior Women’s Club when it was organized in May of 1954 under the sponsorship of the Junior Service League, and was federated to “promote friendliness, to support the civic and social interest of the community, to arouse interest in all things pertaining to the advancement and betterment of the community, and to promote the progress and the work of the Pennsylvania Federation of Women’s Clubs.”
The original 15 members and their advisor, Mrs. Richard Stever, quickly grew the membership to 35. They drew up by-laws, elected officers, and took on various community projects. Their first project was to set up and operate a gift cart in the Tyrone Hospital, a new facility at the time. This was promptly followed by the December 1955 opening of the Gift Shop, which is still in operation within the hospital today. In April 1955, the club, in cooperation with the Junior Service League, held the Spring Dance which became an annual event supporting the Tyrone Hospital.
The club at this time also held birthday parties and an annual Christmas party for the Blair County Children’s Home in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania. These parties continued until the late 1960s. Each year the club also provided teas and bingo games for Epworth Manor.
In 1955, the club presented its first Outstanding Vocalist Award. This award is still given today, but is known as the Betty Simpson Scholarship Award. Mrs. Simpson was the 1st president of the club and a local educator.
The Women’s Club of Tyrone
In 1960, the “Junior” was dropped from the official name of the club, and it became The Women’s Club of Tyrone. In the 1960s and ’70s, the members did the hands-on work of refurbishing the meeting rooms of the Tyrone YMCA and assisted with its Building Fund drive. Other projects have included planters, flower/spruce barrels, scenic green areas, recycling containers, benches and restored street lamps in the downtown park area, and support for the Main Street plan.
The Bicentennial project of the club covered two years and was focused on the town’s schools. A significant activity was the preparation of displays and demonstrations of crafts of the colonial period, a community spoon dinner featuring an authentic colonial menu served by costumed club members.
Today
The Women’s Club uses funds from two major fundraisers: a quilt raffle at DelGrosso’s Harvestfest and the sale of homemade peanut butter Easter eggs to provide professional maintenance by C & L Lawn Care for Tyrone’s scenic green areas. The members now do hands-on work in partnership with Tyrone Rotary and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy to plant and care for two major flowerbeds in Tyrone.
They also use these fundraisers to benefit numerous area groups such as the Tyrone-Snyder Public Library, United Way, Tyrone Food Bank, Salvation Army, local fire companies, Grandview Cemetery, Cancer Society, Joshua House, Community Players, Renaissance Club, Family Services of Blair County, and the Community Picnic.
The present day membership of fewer than 20 members is still very active and proud of the work they do for the community of Tyrone. Even the membership was surprised to realize that in 2012-13 they had raised $22,000 and returned it to the community of Tyrone.
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