Times have changed the past 75 years, but not the dedication a rural woman’s organization has for its community.
The Square Butte Ladies Group celebrated 75 years of picnics, dances, bake sales and memories with current and former members and guests in a reunion at the Square Butte Hall west of Millarville June 11.
The ladies-only organization was formed in April 1941 by 15 women. The purpose of the group was to socialize and serve their community and today’s members continue to fulfill those same goals.
Agnes Ball, the organization’s longest serving member, joined in 1959 at the encouragement of her sister-in-law Una Ball the day she and her husband Art returned from their honeymoon.
“At the time it was a way of getting out into the community,” she said. “We did a lot of things and we supported, I don’t know how many, charities. It’s a real caring community.”
Ball’s favourite activities were the summer picnics.
“We would go to the north fork of the Sheep River,” she said. “You could drive through the creek and we would park and all of the ladies would come and then the men would come after they finished with the haying. Everybody took something. You made sure you had enough for your family and to share with other people, too.”
Ball told ladies at the reunion about a family picnic near Bragg Creek when her children were still young.
Ball and Una had loaded seven of Una’s eight children, Ball’s three children and Ball’s nephew into the car. When it was time to pay the admission fee, the young man collecting the money was baffled.
“He kept looking into the vehicle with all of these kids and he would step back and look in again,” she said. “He said to me, ‘You don’t get much sleep at night, do you?”
Ball said the young man had mistaken Una for her mother as her hair had turned grey prematurely.
Ball considers the group therapeutic. She recalls when her daughter Susan convinced her to attend a meeting a month after she lost her husband.
“People were so good about everything and so considerate,” she said. “It was actually healing to go.”
Mary Ann Watson said her mom joined the ladies group in 1947, so it was natural for her to follow suit.
Watson later moved away from the community, but when she returned she rejoined the group.
“I’m just very proud of our community and so enjoy the comradeship and friendships,” she said.
“I think it’s a great group and it’s just wonderful to be able to participate in this beautiful area that we live in.”
Among Watson’s fondest memories are participating in the John-a-thon walk from Turner Valley to the Square Butte Hall in the 1970s to raise money to build a bathroom for the hall.
This summer, she is baking pies for a bake sale table at the Millarville Farmers’ Market, which the group has been doing since 1987.
Many of the ladies’ fundraising initiatives have supported the hall and contributed to numerous charities in the region. Since 1978, the Square Butte Ladies Group donated $78,600 to various causes including Kinsman Camp Horizon and STARS Air Ambulance.
Jill Fry, president of the Square Butte Ladies Group, said keeping the organization strong for 75 years has been a challenge.
“We’ve had our ups and downs as far as membership goes,” she said, adding it’s getting tougher to recruit young women. “Times have changed. Women are working more and the world is bigger. When the group started it was a welcome respite from home life to go out to these meetings.”
Fry said she joined 30 years ago for that reason, but nowadays it’s much easier for women to hop in their car and go to the city and they no longer feel cooped up at home.
Societal changes over the past decades have also resulted in changes to group’s activities.
Time-consuming events like barbecues have been replaced with bake sales and quilt raffles, she said.
What hasn’t changed is the group’s determination to keep going.
“It’s just a tradition that people don’t want to see die,” she said.
