History
Flotsam and Jetsam Garden Club History
By Barbara Neff -- October 9, 2007
I'm amazed and delighted to be here for the 40th anniversary meeting of Flotsam and Jetsam Garden Club.
Amazed because it doesn't seem possible that it's been 40 years since a dozen or so women gathered in
my living room for the first meeting. And delighted to see what a vital, vibrant organization the club has
turned into.
In order to give you a little background on the group's early days, I have to go back further than its beginning.
In the late '50's a group of women met occasionally. They called themselves the Darn It and Blab Society.
That is, until my father re-christened the group Stitch 'n Bitch. It was a very loosely organized group. No
dues, no rules, no guilt if you didn't show up. Their purpose was to visit, work on their current personal
projects, share skills they owned and learn new techniques. They mended, they knit, they tooled leather,
poured candles and etched aluminum. One day my mother, Mabel Wallis and Lynn Peterson's mother,
Margit Fredericks, expressed an interest in learning how to do silk screening. Enter Bertha Hoovan who
knew how to do that, and she taught a workshop on it.
For some reason which I don't remember now, a need arose to raise money for a community project. The
women in that group decided to stage a driftwood show. They enlisted Bertha's help because she'd been
involved with flower shows. She shepherded them through a successful show (with silk screened
programs) called "Driftwood Daze." Members of the community, summer people and anyone with an
interesting piece of driftwood that "looked like something" or was just pretty was invited to enter. Prizes
were awarded in the form of colored ribbons attached to sand dollars backed with felt. I think those were
Patty Evans-Endresen's mother's idea. Bernice Endresen was a "goin' concern" and was involved in
making a success of whatever project the community was currently working on.
By Barbara Neff -- October 9, 2007
I'm amazed and delighted to be here for the 40th anniversary meeting of Flotsam and Jetsam Garden Club.
Amazed because it doesn't seem possible that it's been 40 years since a dozen or so women gathered in
my living room for the first meeting. And delighted to see what a vital, vibrant organization the club has
turned into.
In order to give you a little background on the group's early days, I have to go back further than its beginning.
In the late '50's a group of women met occasionally. They called themselves the Darn It and Blab Society.
That is, until my father re-christened the group Stitch 'n Bitch. It was a very loosely organized group. No
dues, no rules, no guilt if you didn't show up. Their purpose was to visit, work on their current personal
projects, share skills they owned and learn new techniques. They mended, they knit, they tooled leather,
poured candles and etched aluminum. One day my mother, Mabel Wallis and Lynn Peterson's mother,
Margit Fredericks, expressed an interest in learning how to do silk screening. Enter Bertha Hoovan who
knew how to do that, and she taught a workshop on it.
For some reason which I don't remember now, a need arose to raise money for a community project. The
women in that group decided to stage a driftwood show. They enlisted Bertha's help because she'd been
involved with flower shows. She shepherded them through a successful show (with silk screened
programs) called "Driftwood Daze." Members of the community, summer people and anyone with an
interesting piece of driftwood that "looked like something" or was just pretty was invited to enter. Prizes
were awarded in the form of colored ribbons attached to sand dollars backed with felt. I think those were
Patty Evans-Endresen's mother's idea. Bernice Endresen was a "goin' concern" and was involved in
making a success of whatever project the community was currently working on.
| FLOTSAM AND JETSAM GARDEN CLUB Post Office Box 14 Hansville, WA 98340 For questions or comments about this website, please contact: webmistress@flotsamandjetsamgardenclub.com |
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Bertha Hoovan Marilyn Jones Florence Parnell Mary Johnson Janet Mietzner Barbara Neff --- Marie Wickwire Lydia Hufnagle Sheila Ludewig Donna Partridge Ruth Bennett Dorothy Lentz Gayle Kroll Mae Stubbs Verby Ereth Louise Larson Millie Fowler Judy Jurgen Katie Mattson |
| A Name Filled With Tradition, Humor and Uniqueness “When the Flotsam and Jetsam Garden Club was formed, it evolved from a group of young mothers who had already been meeting as a crafts club. These approximately twelve women had presented a crafts show and one or two driftwood shows, for which they achieved some acclaim. Looking for more, they decided to become a garden club. Bertha Hooven was asked for advice. Due to commitments she had, she asked they wait until spring and she would join them. Bertha was the guiding light of the endeavor, and it was her suggestion (according to Barbara Neff) that the fledgling club be called the Flotsam and Jetsam Garden Club. It was a whimsy that grew out of all the members living on or near the beach, their success with driftwood, and their belief that the name appropriately described the area. Flotsam and Jetsam Garden Club is a name with years of tradition. It still has a lovely sense of whimsy. Everyone smiles when they hear it. It lets everyone know that we garden in a coastal environment.” (excerpt from a letter written by Susan E. Claeys, Sept., 1998) |
| 1967-68 Marilyn Jones 1987-88 Lois Eakin 1988-89 Lois Eakin 1989-90 Edith Grimshaw 1990-91 Rosie Farnsworth 1991-92 Carol Meredith 1992-93 Frances Baker 1993-94 Bobby Pedersen 1994-95 Bobby Pedersen 1995-96 Mary Booth 1996-97 Sue Claeys 1997-98 Gretchen Lee 1998-99 Karen Miller 1999-00 Sara Nawrot 2000-01 EmmaJean Hemingway 2001-02 Shirlee Jelcick & JoAnn Goodspeed 2002-03 Pat Fredericks 2003-04 Ann Terry 2004-05 Nancy Garing 2005-06 Nancy Garing 2006-07 Mary Booth 2007-08 Dody Solaas 2008-09 Cathy Stemen 2009-10 Paulette Cziske 2010-11 Glee Palmer-Davis 2011-12 Artie Flohr |
| Flotsam & Jetsam Garden Club P A S T P R E S I D E N T S |
Go a few years forward - not a whole generation - to a group
of young women whose children were just entering school
and who wanted something new to do with their time -
something that would give them a social outlet as well as
an opportunity to do something that would "matter."
Enter Bertha Hoovan again. She had been elected
President of the Washington State Federation of Garden
Clubs and one of the responsibilities of her term was to
assist in the formation of a new Garden Club. "We" of
course were impatient and wanted to do something "now".
But Bertha's term didn't begin until 1968. So while we
started meeting in the fall of '67, we did not get our charter
until the spring of '68. I remember the installation of officers
ceremony. It was held at The Last Resort, which was Verby
Ereth's home. There were candles and scarves and it was
very sweet, Orange, which was Bertha's favorite color,
figured prominently in the activities.
Did you ever wonder why your meetings occur at nine in the
morning? It's because several of the charter members -
Janet Meitzner, Carolyn Parnell and I - had little boys in
morning kindergarten. We put those kids on the school
bus, attended the meeting and were home by noon when
the bus brought them back. Three hours of freedom!
Bertha guided us through our first year. One of our
important actions was to choose a name for the group. The
suggestions I remember both came from Bertha. One,
which I think she favored, was The Toredos. She told us it
was the name for worms which bored into driftwood,
of young women whose children were just entering school
and who wanted something new to do with their time -
something that would give them a social outlet as well as
an opportunity to do something that would "matter."
Enter Bertha Hoovan again. She had been elected
President of the Washington State Federation of Garden
Clubs and one of the responsibilities of her term was to
assist in the formation of a new Garden Club. "We" of
course were impatient and wanted to do something "now".
But Bertha's term didn't begin until 1968. So while we
started meeting in the fall of '67, we did not get our charter
until the spring of '68. I remember the installation of officers
ceremony. It was held at The Last Resort, which was Verby
Ereth's home. There were candles and scarves and it was
very sweet, Orange, which was Bertha's favorite color,
figured prominently in the activities.
Did you ever wonder why your meetings occur at nine in the
morning? It's because several of the charter members -
Janet Meitzner, Carolyn Parnell and I - had little boys in
morning kindergarten. We put those kids on the school
bus, attended the meeting and were home by noon when
the bus brought them back. Three hours of freedom!
Bertha guided us through our first year. One of our
important actions was to choose a name for the group. The
suggestions I remember both came from Bertha. One,
which I think she favored, was The Toredos. She told us it
was the name for worms which bored into driftwood,
but I haven't been able to find it in the dictionary. Her other suggestion was Flotsam and Jetsam. The former
means floating debris and the latter is material thrown overboard from a ship to lighten its load. Those
terms seemed appropriate to those of us who beachcombed and used material we gathered there in our
decorating. The group favored Flotsam and Jetsam over Toredos, I think to Bertha's disappointment.
The Federation was far more involved with flower arranging than with horticulture then. Usually at flower
shows, the tables displaying arrangements outnumbered the tables displaying blossoms by about 20 to 1.
Federation requirements mandated certain accomplishments during a year, according to the size of the
group. We decided to keep our membership under 25 or 35 - I don't remember which now - so that we could
get by with staging a flower show every two years rather than annually.
Over the years the membership became more interested in "growing" than in "arranging" and the decision to
drop out of the Federation came in the late '80's.
I loved the time I spent in garden club prior to going to work full time, and I look forward to participating again
now that I'm retired and back in the community.
Barbara Neff
means floating debris and the latter is material thrown overboard from a ship to lighten its load. Those
terms seemed appropriate to those of us who beachcombed and used material we gathered there in our
decorating. The group favored Flotsam and Jetsam over Toredos, I think to Bertha's disappointment.
The Federation was far more involved with flower arranging than with horticulture then. Usually at flower
shows, the tables displaying arrangements outnumbered the tables displaying blossoms by about 20 to 1.
Federation requirements mandated certain accomplishments during a year, according to the size of the
group. We decided to keep our membership under 25 or 35 - I don't remember which now - so that we could
get by with staging a flower show every two years rather than annually.
Over the years the membership became more interested in "growing" than in "arranging" and the decision to
drop out of the Federation came in the late '80's.
I loved the time I spent in garden club prior to going to work full time, and I look forward to participating again
now that I'm retired and back in the community.
Barbara Neff
| The original charter members: |