Golden K Kiwanis
of Decatur
A BRIEF HISTORY
by Tom Garren
(Charter Member)
The first Kiwanis Club in
Decatur was chartered in 1920. It was called "The Kiwanis
Club of Decatur". At the time there were 265 clubs with
28,500 members in all of Kiwanis.
A second Kiwanis Club was
chartered here in Decatur in 1975. It was called the "Early
Birds Kiwanis Club". It like Golden K is a breakfast club
and was set up to accommodate those business people for whom
an early hour was more convenient (and for chronic
insomniacs).
That same year, 1975, the first ever Kiwanis club meant to accommodate
"older members" was formed in Greenville, NC. The members
chose the name "Golden K Kiwanis Club", Kiwanis
International agreed to the name, a charter was granted and
the Golden K movement was on its way.
It wasn't without some resistance that Golden K got started. Many of the
clubs saw this movement as a threat to their membership
levels and to their ability to recruit older men into their
clubs.
In late
1980 an ad hoc committee was set up here in Decatur between
what we now call the” Noon Club” and the Early Birds to set
up a Golden K Club here. Needless to say there was not
unanimous agreement that this was a good idea.
The first
official meeting of the club was held in June of 1981 at the
former Dinner Belle in what was then Fairview Plaza (now
Fairview Park Plaza). After that weekly meetings were held
at that same venue.
At
that first meeting officers were elected and a rough meeting
procedure was established.
By late
August we had over 40 members, more than enough to apply for
a charter. A charter was granted and on September 10,
1981 the charter was presented to Fred Bockmann, First
President at a ceremonial dinner held in the Richards Treat
Center on the Millikin University campus. After the
charter night celebration the club began its now 27 year
life. It grew rather slowly at first compared to the
explosive growth we were to experience in the not too
distant future.
By the end of year, in 1984,
membership had reached 150 or more and vigorous growth
continued. In September of 1985, membership reached 200
making us the biggest Golden K club In Kiwanis and the 8th
largest club in all of Kiwanis.
Membership continued to grow, we reached our peak of over
280 members. Beginning in the mid 90's though membership
began to decline, slowly at first but then gradually faster
for a number of reasons.
But in
spite of declining membership, Golden K is still vibrant and
active as ever in its service activities and we have some
talented vigorous and active "youngsters" carrying on the
Golden K
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