The First 25 Years, 1986 – 2012

[This text originally appeared in the 25-year celebration program.]

The Hilton Head Plantation Women’s Club was founded in the summer of 1986.  Six women answered the call for volunteers to organize the Club:  Dorothy DeTorre, Jo Ann Dikeos, Louise Gault, Olive Sue Linkletter, Laura Turner, and Anne Werner.  Anne Werner served as chairman during this period.  The first meeting, an elegant tea, was held on September 9, 1986 with 250 in attendance.  There were 328 members by the end of the year.

The purpose of the Women’s Club is to bring women of the Plantation together in the spirit of fund and friendship.  The Plantation was smaller when the club was created.  Most people had moved from another place with their families living elsewhere.  The Club created an atmosphere to make new friends.

We have had many dedicated Presidents over the years.  Please take note of their hard work which assures the continuation of this Club.  

Meetings are held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month from August through May.  After a brief business meeting an informative and/or entertaining program is presented.  Programs over the years have been amazing and remembered well.  Some notable examples are:

• Presidents, Politics and Personalities:  Wally McNamee, Newsweek Photographer, slide show with narration;
• Emma Kelly, the “Lady with 1,000 Songs”: Was the first speaker, paid a small fee, and she wowed the women with her piano skills and southern charm’
• Dancing with the Stars:  Michelle Lombardo, Design to Shine, with beautiful costumes and ballroom dancing at its finest;
• Thrift Shop Fashion Show:  Slightly used and mostly fun finds from the St. Francis Thrift Shop.

The Club soon started to initiate activity groups.  The first two, which sparked the interest of the members, were two book clubs which they named  “Carousel” and Plantation Readers” and a bridge group, Rusty Bridge”.

Wouldn’t the founding ladies be surprised to see that the book activity club now has grown to ten groups named:  Between the Sheets, Bookworms, Carousel, Cliff Notes, Literary Ladies, Mind Readers, Neighborhood, Page Turners, Plantation Readers, Relaxed Readers?  They need a club chair to keep them all organized.

Can you imagine how many books have been read and discussed, and how much food and snacks have been shared together?  Maybe we could enter the total accumulation in the Guinness Book of Records.

Starting approximately 1988 the first activity bridge group called “Rusty Bridge” was held at the Country Club.  After many bridge games and friendships formed over the bridge table, Bonnie Haroff and Nancy Graham started Marathon Bridge in October 1995.  It still is going strong!  Partnerships play 9 games a year with prizes and a luncheon at the end of the year.  How many Club members have taken a series of 8 bridge lessons from Bonnie Haroff?  I’ll bet many, many members have and some not once, but twice or more!

In 1989, Vice President Jaon Israel had a meeting regarding a potential “travel club”.  Joyce Cream and Bonnie Haroff agreed to co-chair this club.  Hence, the beginning of the activity club:  Island Hoppers.  At first, only day trips were planned to: Melrose Club at Daufuskie Island, Local Art Galleries, Beaufort Inn & Cooking Tours, and Savannah’s Historic District.  Perhaps some of our initial members can tell us about the Mystery Tours.  Well, we are wondering where you went and how you organized!

The first Island Hopper overnight trip, led by Carlene Ingarozza and Diane Wattay, was to The Biltmore in Asheville in November 1998.  Looking back, we wonder if they knew what a precedent they set.  Over the year, Island Hoppers has had many dedicated chairmen and committees who planned many fabulous trips.  There were endless mailings and lugging snack foods, water and occasionally wine.  Lots of laughs, smelly bathrooms, stops on highways, and mixed up reservations have made it fun for all!  Who would have thought that Nancy Graham would have chaired this group for 11 years with Barbara Clark serving as treasurer for 8 years?  What would a trip be like if a certain  person did not lead the group singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” near the holidays?  Especially when half of us do not remember our part?  Joyce Wilfore has taken numerous pictures on trips and has created many photo albums – what a history!

It would be hard to select the best Island Hopper trips.  But a few are remembered as outstanding:

• Epcot’s International Flower & Garden Festival with the Cirque du Soleil’s show in Orlando, FL;
• The Windows of Christmas with the musical “Chicago” in Charlotte, NC and staying at the Marriott adjacent to the South Park Mall for shopping;
• Callaway Gardens in GA, touring the Butterfly House, the gardens and the Little White House (President Roosevelt’s summer cottage).

Avid Gardeners, our first garden group, was formed in 1987.  It was an extremely active club within the Women’s Club, but later branched out as an independent group in May 1990.  What a fabulous show entitled “Mystical Garden” they had at the Plantation House in April 2012.

Hence, a new garden activity club was formed in November 1990, named Green Thumbers.  These ladies enjoy learning, adventures, friendly discussions, interesting speakers and demonstrations.  Somehow they never get their thumbs dirty and are known to be very fun loving.  You must attend some of their meetings and participate in their great friendships.  Many wonderful projects like planting the red, white and blue flowers around the HHP flag pole, making Christmas wreaths for the Preston, and making center pieces and table decorations for the Carolina House are examples of the generosity of this club.  We all noticed the tree in the island near the Plantation House loaded with food for the birds for winter.  Nice touch ladies!

The Out to Lunch Bunch activity appears to have begun in 1991.  The chairs planned a luncheon once a month at different restaurant locations.  The communicated menu selections and prices to members.   The ladies enjoyed an occasional glass of wine and the camaraderie of each other’s company in a gracious setting.   Such an atmosphere enabled lots of friendly chatter and laughs, and there were door prizes for all.

A small group of ladies headed by Nancy Graham and Shirlee Stone formed a group with culinary interests in 1999.  Their first meeting was held in Shirlee Stone’s living room to discuss the properties of flour.  The group continued to meet in homes for teas and small luncheons and gradually moved to restaurants like Charlie’s Crab for cooking demonstrations.  Thus, the beginning of another activity group:  Culinary Cut-Ups.

Culinary Cut-Ups’ meetings were held 4 to 6 times a year with demonstrations, educational speakers and restaurant tours.  Some of the best loved events were held in the Plantation House with a chef demonstrating a recipe and members enjoying a tasting.  An outgrowth of this club was Progressive Dinner which was an event much loved by its members.  We all scurried from wine and hors’douvre, to dinner, to dessert at different assigned locations and the husbands were finally able to participate and meet our friends and their spouses.  Always a fun and well attended event!

The first class of Mah Jongg was taught by Rosanne Ball in September 2000.  A club Mah Jongg set was purchased and used for the classes.  Many of our members never played before moving to Hilton Head, but today there are numerous organized groups.  Mah Jongg is not as complicated to learn as bridge, but it does captivate your interest.

Knit Wits, our newest activity club, was formed in 2011 by Colleen Wainwright for companionship while knitting or crocheting.  It encourages all levels of skill and many easy and complicated items have been made.  This is another fun group to join as they talk and work their way to gorgeous finished projects.

Numerous other activity clubs were deemed to be interesting, but unfortunately they did not continue.  These included walking groups, get acquainted groups, support groups, stitch and chat, needle crafters, and game night.

In Easter of 1989, Laura Turner and Joan Israel were the first to serve coffee and buns purchased from various merchants to about 400 people at the Dolphin Head Park Easter Sunrise Service.  This project, which continued for many years, showed our Club’s commitment to our community.

New Member Coffees are so beneficial in reaching out to our new members.  The first welcoming new member coffee was held in October 1994 with Board Members baking coffee cakes.  Today, many share in bringing food.  Coffee and tea is served in a small informal atmosphere with the Board explaining about our Club and activities.  Did you start by meeting lasting friends at one of these coffees?

Our best loved meetings are held as luncheons.  Our Activity Sign Up meeting is a salad luncheon held in August.  The first was held in 1988 with the Board bringing all desserts.  The May meeting usually is a great luncheon with a theme like a fashion show held in the Country Club or hotels.  We all enjoy the program as we dress in spring finery,  In December, we have a Christmas luncheon which is usually held in a hotel with great entertainment from our local entertainers, school children, vocal groups, etc.  The highlight is the contributions given to Deep Well by our members who bring unwrapped new toys, non-perishable food items and / or monetary donations.  Our members are always extremely generous.  

Our Women’s Club, as well as our members individually, has contributed many service house and financial donations to our Plantation and to many area organizations over the years.  The largest undertaking, under the presidency of Maryjean Herberger, was to purchase 2,500 packets of notecards with 12 different scenes from Hilton Head Plantation and to sell them individually to our friends and neighbors.  We were able to present $10,000 to the HHP Conservancy Foundation.  Under the presidency of Beverly Gackenbach, a bronze plaque and two benches were placed at the HHP flagpole in memory of the “Veterans, Past, Present and Future”.

Many of the benches throughout the Plantation were presented by HHPWC.  In 2007 & 2008, we received awards from the HHPPOA Board for our architectural donation and support of the Veteran’s Flag Pole and our continued support to the community.  Most recently, a teak rocking chair was donated to the new Spring Lake Pavillion in memory of Louise Gault, the first president of our Women’s Club.

In the early years the Women’s Club was called upon often to purchase needed items for the Plantation House and VIM (Volunteers in Medicine).  Did you know that we purchased the blinds, artwork, area runs, ice machine and the upstairs cabinets of the Plantation House?  Plus, we shared costs with other clubs for other items.  During the Christmas Holidays we helped decorate the Plantation House and we helped with the big clean-up of this facility.  We purchased two theatre seats in the Art Center in 1996; and the birch double doors, a refrigerator, and a kitchen table and chairs for VIM in 1994.

In conclusion, we are proud of our organization.  We are  proud of all the dedicated women who have served in various positions including our officers, our directors, or activity chairs, our board assistants, our board committee chairs, and members of all committees. ALL have made this a spectacular Women’s Club.  We are proud of our first 25 years, and we look forward to the prospect of many, many more successful years.  

Acknowledgements:  Many thanks to the following for helping to gather the information for this history:  Minutes, Eileen Frey, Nancy Graham, Bonnie Haroff, Joan Israel, Shirlee Stone, Judy Strum, Beverly Gackenback, Author, May 2012.