Left to right: Past Presidents Priscilla Gover, Mary Boscher, Connie Smith, Helen Mahler, Sue Labucki, Josie Herrick and Lesley Phipps. (Photo by Don Wielgus)
WESTFIELD – Much has changed in the city of Westfield over the past 100 years but there have been a few constants, like the the Westfield Woman’s Club.
The organization boasts over 200 members and has assisted, contributed and donated time and resources to a wide array of causes near and dear to the hearts of the membership body, many of whom have been involved for years.
“I’ve been with the Woman’s Club since the ’70s and it’s a great organization. It’s wonderful,” said Club President Lillian Hebert, who served as the organization’s treasurer in the ’80s. “Years ago, it was so different – it was very formal, you had to dress up with the hat and the gloves and it was very cliquey.”
Today, the Women’s Club has shed much of that arcane formality, but still maintains a considerable community presence.
Left to right: Centennial Celebration Committee Members
Joyce L’Esperance, Josie Herrick, Co-Chair, Mary Boscher, Linda Buzzee, Lillian Hebert, Club President Meg Morrill, Mary Hebb, Lesley Phipps, Amy L’Esperance, Kathi Palmer and Susan Foley, Co-Chair. (Photo by Don Wielgus)
“We have all varieties of people here. Everybody gets along good. We’re all workers,” said Hebert. “We’ve added a lot of new programs but we’re still carrying on the traditions that we started 100 years ago.”
“We’re still working with the community for the community and the people in Westfield have accepted us,” she said. “We used to hear a lot of flak – ‘we don’t want to join the Women’s Club, it’s too stuffy’ – but we’ve lost that and we love that.”
The minimum age for entrance into the organization is 18 and Hebert is hoping to continue attracting younger members.
“A lot of people see things about us in the newspaper or they hear about us through word of mouth and they call to ask about joining,” said Hebert, who listed member dues as $45 annually with associate members paying $50 a year.
Hebert highlighted the Court Street organization’s numerous community initiatives, including volunteering with Red Cross blood drives, designing and making quilts for women and children at the city’s Women’s Shelter and the Soldier On program, which benefits women veterans at the VA Hospital in Leeds.
“We really do have a wonderful organization. We do so much for so many people,” said Josie Herrick, who served as president from 2009-2013 and has been a member for almost a decade since moving to Westfield from New York.
“It was a social (club) to better the lives of women, but what we’ve always strived to do is help the community,” she said.
