After 95 years, woman's club still vital part of Murrysville

Glenna Heyl of Murrysville has not just been a member of the Murrysville Woman's Club for more than five decades; both she and the group came into this world in 1920.

Both Heyl and the Woman's Club marked 95 years in 2015, and the group is woven deeply into the fabric of the municipality.

“The best part has been getting to know everybody,” Heyl said. But as fellow member Joyce Somers noted, it's much more than just a social club.

Originally formed to help register and teach women to vote and participate in the political process, the Woman's Club founded the community's first library by 1922 and managed it for more than 60 years.

The club also established the Murrysville Community Center in the late 1950s, and in 1960 its members started an annual art show that will mark its 55th anniversary next month. Its members also ran a “Career Day” at Franklin Regional High School from 1974 to 2014.

Many of the club's 41 members have been active for 20 years or more.

“I think the giving is a big part of why so many of us stay so long,” Somers said. “If it was just a social club, we wouldn't have members around into their 90s.”

Each year, the club holds two major fundraisers — a spring fashion show and a fall Christmas tea. This year's tea will raise money for Murrysville's volunteer fire departments.

Last year, the group donated $5,745 to a variety of local groups and $3,000 to the Miracle League of Southwest Pennsylvania, which operates a Murrysville sports complex for people with disabilities.

The club also recently started a social committee that takes members on regional field trips.

A cornerstone of the club's work is its scholarship program, which this year gave out three $3,000 scholarships.

“We started out giving vo-tech scholarships, but by 1983 — when the steel industry layoffs started to hit hard in the area — we started our nontraditional scholarship program that's still going today,” said the club's financial secretary Joyce Koga.

The nontraditional scholarships are for women 21 and older, and the club has awarded more than $88,000 for education.

“Those scholarships have resulted in 55 students studying for bachelor's degrees, 23 for associate's degrees, and seven of our recipients have gone on to receive PhD's,” Somers said.

Several of the larger institutions that the club established — the community center, the library — now are operated by the municipality.

Although the club's membership has shrunk from the days when it topped 100 — back in the late 1950s, when Glenna Heyl joined — it remains a vital part of Murrysville, President Jan Bollinger said.

“I think the most important thing is the friendships we've formed,” Bollinger said.

Part of what helps the club stay vital is its independent status: the club was once a part of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, “but a lot of the dues were going to the federation, and we wanted to keep the money local,” Somers said.

The group holds a monthly luncheon on the third Thursday. For membership information, call Somers at 724-327-8491.

Patrick Varine is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-871-2365 or pvarine@tribweb.com.