Gathered on the front steps of the Madison Woman’s Club House, members look forward to September, when they will begin a second century of helping and serving the community where they live.
By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.
The members of the Madison Woman’s Club headed into their summer break looking back on a long history of service to the community of Madison and the surrounding area. Their most recent milestone was their 100-year anniversary, celebrated only two weeks ago with state officers from the GFWC Florida Federation on hand as guests. Jackie Johnson, president of the Madison Woman’s Club during this historical year, said that one of her fondest memories of her past term is “just having such wonderful members to work with, and the fact that we reached our 100 member goal for our 100th year. That was our number one goal. We now have 109 members.” Johnson has also served two previous terms as president, from 1981-83 and 2006-2008.
Also, Johnson was pleased that Rachael Reichmann, 99, and also a past-president of the Woman’s Club, was able to attend that 100 year celebration. “That meant a lot to me,” she said.
The club has accomplished a lot during Johnson’s term for the last two years. “We’ve been able to help a lot of people and I’m really proud of that,” she said. Two of the most memorable projects for her are raising funds for K-9 Companions for Independence, an organization that buys and trains puppies as service dogs who assist disabled people. These include not only the familiar seeing-eye dogs, but also dogs that are trained for such everyday tasks as opening doors. The other project is Heifer International, an organization that provides farm animals such as goats, cows and chickens for people in poor rural communities in places such as Africa.
When the club returns in September, Mary Grover will be assuming the reins as president, leading the Madison County Woman’s Club into its second century of service to the community.
