This is a special year for the Verdant Valley and Dorcas Women’s Institute as it celebrates 100 years, and is now the longest surviving chapter in Alberta.
February 19 is Founder Day for the Women’s Institute. It was on this day in 1897 that Adelaide Hunter Hoodless delivered a speech to wives of farmers in Ontario inspiring the birth of The Women’s Institute.
Fast-forward a few years and on May 12, 1912, women gathered at the newly built Verdant Valley School and formed a Homemaker’s Club. Two years later, the name was changed to the Verdant Valley Women’s Institute and history was made.
Charter members were President Mrs. C. Dayton, Vice President Mrs. John Brown, Secretary Treasurer Mrs. Willard Bixby, Mrs. J. Ewing, Mrs. A. Stephenson, Mrs. S.R. Sylvester, Mrs J. Rodseth, Mrs. Herman Morris and Mrs. E.R. Morley.
According to Geraldine Shadlock, who has been a member for 51 years, local lore said there would have been one more founding member however she was busy planting potatoes on the day of the founding meeting. She was there for the very next meeting.
Initially, the idea wasn’t warmly accepted; in fact it was downright revolutionary. According to a history of the club compiled by the branch, an excerpt from Mrs. Tim Brown’s handwritten account of life in Verdant Valley 1909-1915 shows there was some scepticism.
“I was a bit scared to join as I had heard some of the men discuss it at the post office. There was danger of broken up marriages and poor men turned into babysitters. The whole trend of society was towards Women’s Suffrage, which would be a menace as everyone knows that women would vote for the handsomest man regardless of politics,” she writes.
“I am glad the doleful prophesies did not come true; and we are proud of the women of our own valley to have been among the first to recognize a society that has become world wide and good enough for our beloved Queen.”
Service has been key from the beginning for the Verdant Valley Women’s Institute, in fact one of the group’s first contributions to the community was for a stove for the school. That service carried on through the years as they hosted numerous fundraisers and staged myriad events and volunteered time and funds to community groups and those in need.
The movement spread. Current President Percy Poland remembers the group having in the area of 30 members in past years and women’s institutes all over the area sprung up; from Delia to Verdant Valley, and individual communities within the valley.
Shadlock explains that in 1952 many of the original members had retired from the Verdant Valley area and had moved to Drumheller. This spurred the formation of a separate club called the Verdant Valley Dorcas Women’s Institute with a new group of women in the area.
In 1964 the two clubs applied to amalgamate and merged, both were able to keep their charters, and had 22 members combined.
Over the years other clubs have fallen by the wayside. By 1998 only the Verdant Valley and the Munson branches were the only ones left in the Hand Hills Constituency, so they joined the Kneehill Constituency.
This brand of service continues as the Women’s Institute is still active with 14 members and is the longest surviving club in the province.
Upon their centennial on May 12 the club is planning a celebration to mark the occasion. Plans are in the works for an open house at the Verdant Valley Community Centre, followed by a dinner and entertainment. They have also published a souvenir calendar. Watch for more on the upcoming celebration in coming issues of The Drumheller Mail.
