EVENING STARS CELEBRATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY

World War II was newly over. The “boys” had come home to go to college or to get jobs. At this time some couples picked up where they had been before the war, others married and started families.
On February 29, 1952 a group of neighborhood ladies gathered at the home of Evyline Ferguson and her daughter, Patricia. They gathered to learn how to form their own “Home Ec” Club. Miss Dorothy Morehouse, the county home demonstration agent, explained the procedure for forming a new club.
The ladies had many decisions to make to form a new club. They all decided it would be an evening meeting. Then what should we call our club? The “Moonshiners”? Maybe “Old Trailers”? And the winner was…”Evening Stars”!
These ladies weren’t especially interested in the Korean War happenings or the upcoming Presidential Election. They wanted homemaking ideas. So, everyone met at Evyline’s home and Miss Morehouse (a MacArthur Drive resident) demonstrated how to broil hamburgers and pineapple on her new electric range! The ladies met again, this time at Elizabeth McCoy’s home, and finalized the clubs’ structure with the help of Louise May, president of the ABC Club.
From the beginning these ladies have taken on numerous projects. They have supported local and county 4-H clubs, provided food for food banks, clothing and supplies for the Babies’ Closet, and supported one another in times of joy or travail.
The Evening Stars enjoy taking trips together; include an annual trip to Chicago and in the summer to each other’s lake cottages, or maybe to Detroit, Toledo, or Canada.
“The membership names have changed many times over the years, as has the formal name of the club, but the sense of community has not,” stated Mildred Ferguson. ” We are like a miniature United Nations, our club roll has contained the names of members who have lived in or were from, Germany, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Malta, South Africa, Mexico, and Australia, as well as the United States.”
After having shared joys and griefs for fifty years, these ladies remain ever ready to continue their mission as stated in the club creed:
Homemaker’s Creed
We believe in the present and its opportunities,
In the future and its promises,
In everything that makes life large and lovely,
In the divine joy of living and helping others,
And so we endeavor to pass on to others,
That which has benefited us,
Striving to go onward and upward,
Reaching the pinnacle of economic perfection,
In improving, enlarging, and endearing,
The greatest institution in the world…
“The Home”.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Evening Stars or visiting their club, just give one of them a call.

 

Charter Members were: Mable Bode, Irmgard Dammeyer, Doris DeClercq, Evyline Ferguson, Patricia Ferguson, Laura Gutteboe, Margaret Houser, Elizabeth McCoy, Irene Stark, and Marie Carpenter.