Six decades of service

By WAYNE QUESENBERRY/Staff

While the Lead Mines Ruritan Club has experienced many changes over the last 60 years, one aspect remains the same. Service to the community is still the organization’s top priority.
“Our mission is to make our community a better place in which to live,” remarked longtime member Bob Dean. “We’ve been able to do that in a number of different ways.”
Jackie Cregger, one of the club’s female members, stated, “We’ve helped a lot of people in need. The best part of being in the club is the giving.”
“Helping people in need,” commented Tommy Cregger when asked the best part of being in the club.
“And the fellowship,” added Charles Cox, a member of the club’s board of directors.
The Lead Mines Ruritan Club’s 36 members have contributed $21,400 (reporting period of Sept. 1, 2007, to Aug. 31, 2008) to such community-based groups as the Barren Springs Volunteer Fire Department, the Ivanhoe Volunteer Fire Department, the Max Meadows Volunteer Fire Department and the Lead Mines Volunteer Rescue Squad. They also have donated to various Parent Teacher Organizations, Special Olympics, playground funds, 4-H clubs, Crossroads Shelter Inc., the Agape Food Pantry Inc., the Family Resource Center, the American Cancer Society, Mountain Community Action Program and elementary, middle and high school organizations.
“Our newest project has been the sponsorship of the Wythe County Department of Social Services Santa Shop collection,” noted Janet W. Cassell, secretary of the club, which she joined three years ago. “In two short years, approximately $18,000 in gifts and money have been contributed to this endeavor by businesses and individuals in our service area under the leadership of the Lead Mines Ruritans.”
For the past three years, the club has honored a Teacher of the Year from Jackson Memorial Elementary School, Max Meadows Elementary School, Fort Chiswell Middle School and Fort Chiswell High School. It presents plaques to the winners selected by their peers.
A college scholarship is presented by the club each year to a qualifying Fort Chiswell High School senior. School supplies for needy children are provided by the Ruritan club, too.
Club members sponsor and participate in such community programs as roadside trash pickup, upkeep of the Chaffin Cemetery, mowing of the Stephen F. Austin Memorial Monument grounds, and preparing and distributing food and fruit baskets to the elderly and needy.
The club’s major fundraising projects include the annual car show, flea market, community calendar sales, apple butter making sales, spaghetti suppers and raffles.
Primary fundraisers of the club in 1968 were selling the community calendars and stadium cushions.
Tommy Cregger recalled one of his club’s earliest community events from the early 1950s – the Fourth of July celebration held on the grounds of the former Austinville Elementary School. He listed the activities as pony rides, a homemade merry-go-round made by his late father-in-law and charter club member Herman Jackson, pole climbing contest, greased pig contest, dunking booth, Bingo and fireworks.
“The fireworks got so expensive and the liability, too,” Cregger commented.
Cox added, “Then people started traveling more, taking family vacations.”
“The mines were in operation at the time, too,” Bob Dean pointed out. “People lived in the company houses and there were more people in the community then.”
Much more has changed since the Lead Mines Ruritan Club was chartered Oct. 12, 1948. A different meeting place, female members, declining membership and additional community service projects are among the changes.
The late C.F. McKenney is credited with organizing the Lead Mines Ruritan Club and serving as its first president. He was an agriculture shop teacher at the former Jackson Memorial Elementary School at the time.
According to the club minutes, the first community meeting was in June 1948 at the Jackson Memorial High School. Tom Downing, representing Ruritan National, presented an overview of the Ruritan organization.
The first official meeting was held July 21, 1948, in the fellowship hall of Bethany United Methodist Church near Poplar Camp. The second meeting was held Aug. 11, 1948, with 30 members present from a membership of 34.
The fellowship hall of Bethany United Methodist Church remains as the site of the club’s dinner meetings on the second Monday of each month. The building was enlarged with assistance of the club, particularly the carpentry skills of Ruritan Tommy Cregger.
“We met for awhile at Trinity United Methodist Church in the 70s,” noted Ruritan board of directors’ member Bobby Barbour.
The club’s major project in 1948 was painting the inside of the Austinville Elementary School. Selling table lamps for the FFA to establish an FFA campsite on Claytor Lake was another.
In 1968, club membership was 50 with an average attendance of 32 members at the monthly meetings.
Today, the local club has members in each of the classifications recognized by the national organization – Regular Status member, Teen Associate and Ruritan Forever. Twenty percent of its membership is female since women were allowed to join the Ruritans in the 1990s.
Concerning her membership, Jackie Cregger commented, “I had worked so close with the Ruritans. My dad and my husband were both members and I had helped cook the meals. I thought I might as well put my name on the roll.”
“My entire adult life has been involved in community service,” Cassell said. “My husband, Rodney, was active in the Ruritans and I saw all the good things the club was doing. So I joined.”
Katherine Dean added, “I thought it would be nice to belong to the Ruritan club.”
New members are always welcomed by the club. They don’t have to live in the Austinville community.
“They need to show a desire or an interest in community service,” Cox stated. “There is an application to fill out and our dues are very reasonable.”
While there are teen-age members, the average age of members is between 50 and 60 years old. The oldest member is 85.
“We are privileged to have a club that is supported by individuals, businesses and other organizations forming a partnership that allows the Lead Mines Ruritan Club to donate back to the community – time, talents and financial contributions,” remarked Janet Cassell. “The slogan of Ruritan is ‘Fellowship, Goodwill and Community Service’ and for over 60 years members past and present have made an impact on this community and we look forward to a future with even greater challenges and meeting those challenges with members who will continue to give back to the community.”
The club’s other officers for 2008 are Jimmy Melton, president; Steve Barnett, vice president; and Jason Manley, treasurer. Also serving with Cox and Barbour on the board of directors is Rodney Cassell.
To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the club is hosting an open house this Sunday, Oct. 5, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the fellowship hall of Bethany United Methodist Church.
Wayne Quesenberry can be reached at 228-6611 or .