Good Memories for Charter Member

Source: AWI Collection

Transcript: The Lacombe G l o b e , T u e s d a y . Tulv 2.1996 A 9
Good memories for charter member
BY BEV RUDOLFSEN
GLOBE STAFF WRITER
Gwen McAndrew has a lot of
good memories tied u p in the
Lacombe Fourpoint Women's Insti­tute.
If s been a lot of work, but she
doesn't regret one rninute of the 50
years as a proud member.
McAndrew, a spry woman in
her nineties, is the lone surviving
charter member of the club, which
was organized in Lacombe in 1946.
It all began in 1939, when her
husband John gathered his wife
and a group of her friends and
asked them to knit and make pyja­mas
that the Red Cross could send
to soldiers fighting overseas. The
women kept busy with this until
the end of the Second World War
in 1945.
Wanting to uphold the enjoy­ment
of each other's company, the
women formed a short- lived club,
which gave way to a formal W. I. in
1946. No good cause was too small
for the club, which boasted a mem-
LACOMBE'S GWEN MCANDREW-- 50 YEAR MEMBER of W. I., PICTURED
HERE SERVING TEA.
bership of 15 or 20 womea
They turned their hands to
baking, catering auctions and farm
sales, card parties—" Anything to
make money," McAndrew recalls.
" We were busy. Every place I
went, I was taking some sort of
baking." They made quilts for fire
victims, bought a piano for the
Lacombe seniors' lodge, gave cash
to the Salvation Army and for can­cer
research, and once even
washed, hung and ironed a moun­tain
of laundry for a newly- wid­owed
man.
" We seemed to be happy in
what we were doing," she said.
Over the years, she served as club
president, vice- president, club
reporter, and convenor for home
economics and agriculture.
She retired from active duty
w i t h the club in 1991, b u t still
attends the meetings occasionally,
just to keep up.
She believes the W. I. is worth­while
for today's generation, if they
can make time to join. " I would say
it's very beneficial to them," she
said, recalling her own time spent
with the club. " It was good for all of
us to mix together— it was friend­ship,
really, as it is today.
" We always welcome anybody
that wants to come."