Women for women

By Christian Potts

Sixty years ago, a group of women gathered for the inaugural meeting of the Oklahoma University Women's Club.

Since then, the campus, the city of Norman and the university itself have gone through changes, expansions, renovations and countless new faces. But that group has continued on in service to OU.

Now called the University Women's Association, the group promotes fellowship among current or retired female faculty and staff as well as the wives of current or former staff members.

The club's first membership was made up entirely of wives of OU employees. That meeting on Sept. 23, 1949, saw the first vote for officers, as well as a statement from the first club president, Mrs. L.H. Snyder, that "the club did not replace any other clubs and reiterated the importance of the New Sooner Club to new faculty wives."

"It had approximately 400 members that year, at time it was almost all faculty wives," said Janet Crain, current president of the group. "By the 1960s it was open to women who work on campus or any women connected to the University of Oklahoma."

Today's UWA has about 150 women who are part of 10 interest groups. Those groups range from an antiques group, a couple of book groups and even a salad luncheon group, where participants meet in the home of members who take turns hosting the gathering. Members bring a salad to share, along with, no doubt , plenty of stories.

A handful of the charter members from that first meeting in 1949 still are part of the club, including Dorothy Brinker, a former OU student and later a worker in the school's administration building.

She recalled when she and her husband Paul moved to Melrose Drive in what now is west-central Norman, then "it was at the edge of town and there was a corn field at the end of the street."

She met her husband at a boarding house on Boyd Street, where the Baptist Student Union sits. They married in 1949, the same fall she was one of UWA's first members.

"She worked her way through OU at 25 cents an hour," Crain said.

While the group has a weekly direction toward fellowship, it also takes part in several activities each year, notably a scholarship program benefitting the students of today.

Last April UWA awarded $1,500 scholarships to David Burget, a junior majoring in letters; Kirk Fitzgerald, a sophomore working on a degree in the School of Drama with an emphasis on lighting design; and Mackenzie Warren, a junior majoring in fine arts.

UWA's annual fundraiser, a wine and cheese reception that precedes the final dress rehearsal for the OU College of Fine Arts' presentation of "To Kill a Mockingbird," will be Feb. 11, 2010, at Weitzenhoffer Theatre.

Tickets are $20, with the money going to fund the scholarship program.

"We did the musical 'Baby' last year and it was fabulous," Crain said. "I didn't know much about the play and it was good. I am so looking forward to seeing 'To Kill a Mockingbird' this year."

The group's annual Holiday Gathering is planned Dec. 13 at the Gaylord College of Journalism, with Dr. Barbara Boyd speaking on "The Christmas Story: What Happened to Bethlehem."

For more information on the event or the group, call Crain at 321-8184 or Joyce Keller at 573-7432.

UWA's Web site is www.uwa.ou.edu/.