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Now 50
members strong, the group has had 10 presidents
since its start April 30, 1952. Past presidents and
their years of office include, Bibs Wheeling,
1952-54 Eula Bourne, 1954-56: Sara Luck, 1956-58;
Sally Gibson, 1958-59, Eleanor Hynson, 1959-61; Eula
Bourne. 1961-62; Becky Dowell, 1962-63, Nancy Levitt,
1963-64; Ann Walser Harrover, 1964-66; Frances
Tucker, 1966-68; Eula Bourne, 196971 and Helen Masi,
1971-72.
"Prior
to the first meeting, Mrs. Raymond Davis
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had
been asked to organize a Firemen's Auxiliary. She
went to Culpeper to ask the auxiliary there how to
organize it and brought home with her a copy of
their by-laws. She and Mrs. Earl Hurst Sr made a
list of possible members and called them to a
meeting at the Davis house April 30,1952." |
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And at
that first meeting the auxiliary was organized with
the 13 charter members being Mrs. James Barron, Mrs.
Leslie Bourne, Mrs. John Brown, Mrs Jesse Crosby,
Mrs. Raymond Davis, Mrs. C. W. Fitzwater, Mrs. Earl
Hurst Sr., Mrs. Robert Leight, Mrs. Howard Luck,
Mrs. Caton Merchant, Mrs. Charles Mathias, Mrs.
James Robinson and Mrs. Turner Wheeling.
"Beginning in May 1952, with $2.50 in the bank, our
main object was to make money for the firemen." By
January 1953 they had $1,121.67 which was raised by
the following activities- their first auction sale,
$829. 73; |
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the
first Masquerade Ball, $95.64: a rummage sale, $69
and a bake sale. During that first year they also
entered a float in the Christmas parade and gathered
clothing for the Junior Woman's Club loan closet. |
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In
Feb. 1953, they gave the firemen their first check
for $1,000 and then ensued years of sponsoring
various activities to raise money for the
firemen-food auction, vanilla sale, fashion show,
selling refreshments and auctioning cakes at the "turningon"
of the new street lights in Manassas Aug. 30, 1955,
selling Christmas trees and, most of all, dinners.
The
group began having covered dish suppers in 1955 for
the firemen "as an economy move toward building the
new firehouse, rather than banquets. " |
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The
dinners began to interfere with marching in 1958 and
more and more supplies were being bought for the
kitchen.
Mrs.
Rohr commented in 1959, "We are kitchen-minded now.
We bought oven racks, repaired the kitchen table,
purchased two serving tables, saw that a screen door
was installed in the kitchen. We began to think
about purchasing cooling equipment for the kitchen.
Because we spent more time in the kitchen, members
objected to spending time in marching." |
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And
since that time, the auxiliary continues to serve
dinners and assist the firemen through their
donations.
Uniforms were purchased in 1954 and their first
dress parade was at Orange where they won first
prize of $25,
In
Feb. 1953, they gave the firemen their first check
for $1,000 and then ensued years of sponsoring
various activities to raise money for the
firemen-food auction, vanilla sale, fashion show,
selling refreshments and auctioning cakes at the "turningon"
of the new street lights in Manassas Aug. 30, 1955,
selling |
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Christmas trees and, most of all, dinners.
The
group began having covered dish suppers in 1955 for
the firemen "as an economy move toward building the
new firehouse, rather than banquets. " The dinners
began to interfere with marching in 1958 and more
and more supplies were being bought for the kitchen.
A
brief look at the auxiliary's history was given by
Mrs. Walser Rohr |
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Manassas Volunteer Fire Company |
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