News: Neillsville, Wis. - Kiwanis Club, Last rites (1955)

Contact: Dolores Mohr Kenyon

Email: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 
 

Surnames: Nelson, Quicker 
 

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI.) June 30, 1955 

Neillsville, Wisconsin
 

Kiwanis Club, Last Rites (1955) 
 

Last  Rites for the Old Kiwanis Club - Members decide to give up Charter after 34 years - to Probate the Estate 
 

Funeral services were held Monday evening for the Neillsville Kiwanis club, 34, which died following a lingering illness covering several years.  Fifteen faithful followers were at the bedside at the time of the death. 
 

The Kiwanis Club was the oldest—and, at one time the strongest—of local service organizations.  Four years ago its membership numbered in the 80’s; but in recent years it had withered away to 29, with fewer than that number in regular attendance.  
 

While the presiding consultants (President Al Nelson and Secretary-Treasurer H. H. Quicker) did not attempt to trace the cause of the fatal ailment, the few faithful followers felt it resulted from a complication of diseases.  Included among them were "busy-itis," wherein the membership is pulled anywhere from one to three ways at once each night for meetings.  Another was considered to be "television-itis," wherein the patient is seized by a desire to put his feet up on a hassock at home and just sit and look; the absence of he red blood corpuscles of "program-zines," and so on. 
 

Was a Leader:

For many years the Kiwanis club was a leader in community affairs. In its hey-day it sponsored the Kiwanis bull project—a project which put upward of 250 purebred bulls on farms in the Neillsville area.  This program about two years ago; fell victim to the forward march of science; artificial insemination.  The Kiwanis club also fostered for several years the Kiwanis bull competition at the fair—and the mark of "a Kiwanis bull" was the Hallmark of quality among dairy farmers of the area.  
 

Although gasping its last this spring, the start of the Pee-Wee baseball league—now a popular and interesting community enterprise—was first launched by the Kiwanis club. 
 

To Probate the Estate:

Throughout the 34 years Kiwanis has made many such notable contributions to the community life.  It was not without considerable regret that the faithful followers Monday voted to return the charter and call it quits. 
 

The next formal scene will take place three months hence, when the officers and board of directors have been instructed to call a meeting for the purpose of probating the estate.  The Kiwanis Club, which met regularly each Monday in the basement of the Neillsville Bank, owns two kitchen ranges, dishes and a wide variety of other material goods.  The hope of the faithful followers is that there are sufficient funds to satisfy the only creditor: the grandfather of the deceased, named Kiwanis International.  Should that be the case, the hope is that the material assets of the estate may remain in their present place for use by other groups in future periods.