The earliest mention of the women’s groups are as follows:
- The women’s Missionary Society was organized August 19th, 1876 with Mrs. Elizabeth Bostwick elected as its first president. Her presidency continued for 29 years. The dues were 10 cents a month.
- The Ladies Aid Society was organized November 22nd, 1898.
- The Martha Society was organized January 2nd, 1902. F. A Slingerland was its first president and was responsible for its name.
- November 20th 1911 a new Estey pipe organ was installed in the church at a cost of $2,000, $1,000 of which was donated by Andrew Carnegie. The ladies of the church worked for ten years to raise $1,000 to match Mr. Carnegie’s gift. (125th anniversary book)
The Women’s Association was formed in February, 1943, as a combination of the Martha Society and the Missionary Society. Mrs. C.M. Mosher, who had been president of the Missionary Society since 1924, was elected the first president of the Women’s Association and served with her well known energy and ability. Other officers were Mrs. Floyd Edelman, Secretary, Miss Irene Sheppard, Chairman of Missionary Department, Mrs. Orville Rowe, Chairman of Martha Department, and Mrs. Charles Chase, Treasurer.
The Association has been one of the most active and helpful organizations in the entire history of our Church and too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the members for their ceaseless efforts in the welfare of the Church and its varied activities. The Women’s Association in 1945 received permission from the Session to enlarge the kitchen by removing the partition between the kitchen and the adjoining classroom with suitable doors being placed between the two rooms, and since that time the kitchen has been used for many successful suppers.
In 1954 the Martha department of the Women’s Association raised $ 1,633 for the reconditioning the church organ.
Unfortunately, since that time we are missing records of the women’s association. We pick up the story of the Women’s Association from early 1990. At that time Marge Chase was president of the association taking over that role from Rena Knickerbocker. Marge would continue to be president until 2008 for a total of 22 years. Trudie Wilson would hold that title next from 2009 for five years and Carol Hart from 2015 to the present.
From the minutes of the association we find that during the time that Rena and Marge were president every anniversary, birthday, graduation, illness, birth and death would warrant gifts, flowers or fruit baskets, etc. along with cards for all occasions. The association continued to donate funds for things like copiers, pew bibles, the ramp fund, organ repairs, kitchen roof repairs, vestibule repairs, railings and installation on steps of fellowship hall, carpet for the Sunday school room, and fuel oil. The women paid for propane for the kitchen as well as trash pick up, paper goods and cleaning supplies. The women supported the Presbytery Women’s Mission, Frontier Nursing Service, John Milton Society for the Blind, the Children’s Home in Poughkeepsie, the Christmas Basket fund and the local food locker. We made donations to the church for every member’s death and/or family members death.
From there the association expanded its fundraising efforts in order to provide more funds for the church. We held raffles in conjunction with the Memorial Day chicken barbecues, we held a penny social and of course continued with the rummage sales and Christmas bazaars.
In 2009 the association gave the church $1500, 2010 $4,000, 2011 $2,000, 2012 $2,700, 2013 $3,000, 2014 $4,650, 2015 $4,000, 2016 $7,700, 2017 $ $3,500, 2018 $6,200 and 2019 $4,000 for a 10 year total of $43,250. Some of these funds were earmarked for broken pipes in the kitchen, manse bathroom repair, Bilco doors for the manse and church basements, electrical renovations, and septic repair.
We were then faced with COVID 19 and fundraising ceased. When we tried to regroup and continue the association, as we had previously, we found that the group was just too small and those that remained were physically incapable of carrying on without more bodies. We made the tough decision to dissolve the association. The final acts as an association was the donation of $1,500 to Church World Services for the 2022 Ukraine Crisis Response Funds and the remaining funds of $6,800. to the church for expenses.
There are so many people to thank for our many years of success. To name a few of those from generations past we thank Eleanor Goldsmith, Edith Goldsmith, Eda Aroh, Kay Baxter, Paula Roberts, Dorothy Miller, Anna Dam, Mary Blackmar, Christine Finkle, Julia Beckley, Betty McGhee, Marion Church, Doris Vater and Ruth Greene and many more. We also thank those women who never officially joined the association but were always there to help such as Jeanne Valentine Chase, Kathy Bartles, Pastor Jan Brooks and Cathy Roush. We thank the men of our church who provided the much needed muscle to lift and move items such as Bob Clinch, John Hart, Ken Blackmar, Jim Jackson, Jim Petrie, Nate Chase, Scott Chase, Ray Wendover, Dave Roush, Don Bartles, and Doug Hart. We thank those who donated items to the sale and to those who baked for the food sale such as Gloria Doyle, Carol Ruqus, Elizabeth Beier, Laura Dennis, Casey Henderson, Rae Hart, Dorothy Whitaker, Roberta Cerniglia, Cindy Glozier, Dora Hage and many others. We thank also those who have moved away or passed on such as Pastor Carol Miller, Linda Bartolomeo, Trudie Wilson, Marge Chase and Judy Parliman. We are so appreciative for all you have done over the years for us.
Lastly, we would like to thank the present group of women who saw it through to the bitter end. Carol Hart, Shirley MacPherson, Marva Blackmar, Lynne Clinch and Linda Wendover. Thank you all for your hard work and continued support.