Women in Kiwanis, the first year

By Dick Isenhour

When the gavel struck and the overwhelming decision to admit women members hit the House of Delegates during the 1987 Washington, DC, convention, it’s no surprise there was a host of women waiting in the wings to “officially” join. The idea had boiled long enough, some women already were serving alongside Kiwanis’ men as unofficial members, some volunteered as advisors to Kiwanis’ sponsored programs, and others had started unofficial clubs for female members, such as Kiwanianne clubs. When the doors opened, they were ready to join the ranks and wear the K.

Nancy Church | Susan Poland | Phyllis Brandwene

Nancy Church, Kiwanian since 1987
Raised in Kiwanis

Nancy Church was a veteran of Kiwanis long before she became an official member August 11, 1987.

Nancy Church

“My father was an active Kiwanian in Middletown, New York, for about 20 years,” Nancy recalls, “and our whole family participated in many of the club’s activities. My brother was a member of Key Club, but when I got to high school, girls could not yet join. So as I got older, my dad would take me with him to his Kiwanis luncheons and projects. In all the club did, they always seemed to have so much fun, and I wanted to be a part of that.”

After college and a wedding, Nancy moved to Plattsburgh, New York, where, in 1977, she began a career as a professor at the State University of New York.

“Over the next few years, I was invited to be a guest speaker at meetings of Kiwanis and Rotary clubs,” Nancy says, “but women still were not allowed to join either. So a friend and I each decided to write a letter to the clubs to inquire about membership. I learned the issue was brought up by members of the clubs, but no action was ever taken.”

 The Plattsburgh Kiwanis club kept Nancy’s letter on file, though, and in the summer of 1987, Tom Conlin invited her to a meeting.

“Tom handed me an application,” Nancy says, “urged me to fill it out, and said he would sponsor me as a member. Before I knew it, I was a Kiwanian.”

Since then, Nancy has been a Kiwanian in action. Her regular Kiwanis gigs include participating in her club’s annual pancake breakfast and summer picnic for senior citizens; writing the club’s weekly newsletter; working with Plattsburgh’s Seton Catholic High School Key Club; answering the phones for the PBS fund drive; and working on the building her club built at the local YMCA camp.

“The greatest rewards of being a Kiwanian,” she stresses, “come from contributing to successful fundraisers, participating in hands-on community activities, working with our youth organizations, and helping to raise the quality of life in our community.”

Susan Poland, Kiwanian since 1988
Key Club unlocks membership interest

Whoever said, “When you want something done, give it to a busy person,” may have had Susan Poland in mind. During her 20 years as an active member of the Sun City-Kachina, Arizona, Kiwanis club, Susan has raised two children, taught physics, and served as the advisor for the Dysart High School Key Club, as well as two other clubs at the high school. During this past year, she helped her club start a Terrific Kids program at Surprise Elementary, and she currently serves as Southwest District youth administrator.

Susan Poland (left)

“I actually was a Key Club faculty advisor for about eight years before I could even become a Kiwanian,so I witnessed firsthand what the Kiwanis family is all about,” Susan notes. “I was very impressed withall the work I saw Kiwanis doing, including their work with Key Club. Once Iwas able to joinKiwanis, I couldn’t wait to get more involved.”

When Kiwanis finally admitted women as members, the Kachina club wasted little time bringing Susan into the fold—officially.

“They never really asked me to join,” she quips. “Soon after club delegates returned from that historic convention, the club invited me to a meeting with our Key Club officers, and while I was there, they called me up front an inducted me into Kiwanis. I was very pleased.

“I waswelcomed with open arms at atime whenvery few women were in Kiwanis.”

Susan says she has been able to turn down opportunities to be a club officer but admits she is a “sucker when it comes to helping kids.”

“So many times, we as Kiwanians are the onlyones who offer guidance, a sense of purpose, and that feelingfor children that they areappreciated,” she explains. “Seeing a smile on a child when he or she receives a Terrific Kids award,or their faceswhen they open their very own new book, or the look in their eyes when they receive apat on the backreally makes Kiwanis come alive for me.”

Phyllis Brandwene, Kiwanian since 1987
‘Someday I’m going to be a member of this club’

As an early activist, Phyllis Brandwene cut her service teeth volunteering for a number of organizations—none of them Kiwanis. But when the opportunity to join her local Kiwanis club finally arose, she seized it.

Phyllis Brandwene gets a hug from Joe Mchale, a past president of the Wilkes-Barre Aktion Club.

One of the first organizations she joined was the League of Women Voters. This was the mid-1960s in Pennsylvania, where state governors were allowed to serve but one, four-year term. An aggressive campaign to revise the state constitution to allow governors to serve more than one term was launched, utilizing the efforts of people from all over the political realm. Phyllis was tabbed to represent the League in the effort.

 “We toured the state, speaking to various clubs and organizations about the issue,” she recalls.

One of the clubs her group visited was the Wilkes-Barre Kiwanis club in her hometown.

“At that time, the Wilkes-Barre Kiwanis club was the most prestigious club in the county,” she recalls. “Membership invitations were difficult to get. Most members were professionals specializing in various areas of expertise. If you were a trial lawyer who wanted to join, for example, and there already was a trial lawyer in the club, you had to wait or find a specialty not represented in the club.

“They had a long list of men who couldn’t get in.”

Phyllis doesn’t remember much of what she said to the club the day she presented the proposal to change the state constitution, but she definitely remembers being nervous.

“The club had never even had a woman attend a meeting before,” she recalls. “I was shaking in my boots. The officers of the club sat on one side of the head table with me and the other women from the League on the other side. I remember looking out and seeing all these men staring intently at us women.”

Despite the aggressive education effort, the campaign failed.

“I was relieved that that effort was over and I could finally focus on other League priorities,” she says. “But the first initiative the new governor undertook was changing the term limit for governor, and I got stuck with the same job.”

The Wilkes-Barre club invited her back to talk about the proposal.

“I was sitting next to a man,” she says, “and I can recall looking at him and saying, ‘Some day, I’m going to be a member of this club.’ He told me to stop being ridiculous, and I said, “Oh, it’s going to happen.”

It would be several years later, but it did happen. After reading in the newspaper that Kiwanis International was allowing women to join, she called a Kiwanian friend and asked if it would be possible for her to become a member of the Wilkes-Barre club. She was subsequently welcomed into the club, but not by all of its members.

“I was told there were a few members who quit, and more than a few disgruntled members who stayed,” she says. “Gradually, those attitudes changed.”

Phyllis has served a term as club president during her years as a Kiwanian, but she gets the most satisfaction out of her longtime involvement with the Aktion Club of Wilkes-Barre she convinced her club to sponsor.

“I love Kiwanis and what it stands for,” she stresses. “The gratification I get from working with the Aktion Club is beyond compare.”