This article was written by
Tennessee Valley Woodworker Club
Co-Founder, Henry Davis, as the
text for a presentation he gave
to the club on its tenth
anniversary at the November 1995 meeting.
To
view photos from the Tenth Anniversary celebration click
HERE
To view photos from early club events click HERE.
TENNESSEE VALLEY WOODWORKERS
This is a very special night for us,
tonight marks the beginning of our tenth year as a club. It was November 1985
that we had our first meeting, November 19, to be exact. That’s one hundred and
twenty meetings, one hundred and twenty times for ten program chair-persons to
worry about getting a program together.
People have accused me of starting
the Tennessee Valley Woodworkers. I can’t take all the blame, starting a club
is not a thing one person can do. One definition of “club”, is “to unite or
combine for a common cause”. Ten years ago eight woodworkers united for a
common cause, and The Tennessee Valley Woodworkers was born. I’d like to
relate to you some of the events that led to our club getting started.
In the spring and summer of ‘85, as
I pursued my hobby of woodworking I realized that for me woodworking was
lonely. I enjoyed the time I spent in my shop, but I realized that none of my
friends were woodworkers. I often thought how nice it would be to have some one
to talk to about woodworking, to ask advice, compare notes and maybe even
borrow tools . At that time Judy had no interest in my hobby, she was only
interested in the end product.
I had heard of a woodworkers club in
Tullahoma, but knew nothing about it. I later learned that Ross had been
in that club, but I didn’t know Ross at that time. That summer I talked to
several woodworkers at craft shows around the Tullahoma area. No one knew
anything about a Tullahoma club.
I toyed with the idea of trying to
start a woodworkers club. I told myself many times to forget it, I had never
even been in a club, how could I even think about starting one. When the idea
just would not go away, I approached several woodworkers about starting a club.
I got the same answer from everyone, no one wanted to help start a club, but
almost everyone said they might be interested in joining if a club was formed.
In the fall of that year, (1985) I
met Tom Cowan. We were both involved in the band backers at Franklin County
High School. It didn’t take long to discover that Tom was a woodworker. I ask
him if he would be interested in helping start a club, Tom gave me the same
answer as every one else had, “No, but let me know when a club gets going, I’d
like to join.”
I’m happy to say that the very next
time I saw Tom he told me he had changed his mind. He would like to help start
a club. Between us we rounded up five more woodworkers who were willing to help
us.
In preparation for our first
organizational meeting we gathered up all the information we could find on
woodworkers clubs. We obtained copies of by-laws and constitutions from
woodworkers clubs, We obtained a “kit” from Shopsmith Inc. on starting a
woodworkers club. We corresponded with an Eastman Kodak sponsored club in Oak
Ridge. I had a long conversation with the president of a woodworkers club in
Chattanooga, his club, called the “Chattanooga Area Woodworkers” was two years
old at that time, I got a lot of encouragement from him. After speaking with
him I remember having a good feeling about trying to get a club started. I
don’t know if the Chattanooga club survived or not, some years later I tried to
call him but the phone number was no longer in service.
On Sept. 25, armed with the
information we had gathered and with little knowledge of how to start a club
the seven of us met.
Of the original eight that attended
that first meeting, only three of us are still active in the club, Phil Bishop,
Tom and myself. Howard Colson, our other active member of our organizational
committee joined us for our second meeting.
The other five that were in
attendance at that first organizational meeting were Joe Pawlick, Larry Abston,
Randy Lee, Terry Penn and Bill Eubank. Those five, for their own reasons, have
elected not to continue their membership in the club. They all deserve a lot of
credit for their input into our beginning. I would especially like to thank Joe
Pawlick, he was secretary of the organizational committee and also served as
club secretary our first year. Joe published our newsletter for the first few
years and set the high standard which has continued until now.
We had two more organizational
meeting, plus a lot of homework, at the meetings we worked on the wording of
our constitution and by-laws, we discussed what we should call ourselves, and
how often and where we should meet. Some of us were so eager that we wanted to
meet every week or it least every two weeks, but after some discussion monthly
meetings were selected, and the third Tuesday was chosen. The third Tuesday,
simply because that seemed to fit into most everyone’s schedule. The minutes of
our third and last organizational meeting does not list the attendees, but it
was at this meeting, on October 22, 1985 that our constitution and by-laws were
signed. We also decided that our first regular meeting would be in November,
that was November 1985.
Tom takes credit for our name, I
remember suggestions like “The Wood Chucks”, “Chips”, “Wood Butchers”,
“Shavers” and “Splinters”. As you know “Splinters” became the name of our news
letter. On behalf of the club I’d like to thank Tom for suggesting a name like
“Tennessee Valley Woodworkers”, I’m not sure we could have survived ten years
calling ourselves “The Wood Chucks”.
The first meeting was held as
scheduled on November 19, with our vice-president and program chairmen pro-tern
Phil Bishop presenting the program. We have no record of how many were present
that night, but according to membership forms we had eleven members by then. In
addition to those active members already named our own Susan and Tom Church
joined that night. The oldest membership list I can find shows that by April
1986 we had grown to twenty-one, our latest membership list shows we now have
eighty-five members.
We didn’t have any “new” business
the first meeting, or any “old” business either for that matter, but we really
got the ball rolling during our second meeting on December 17. Officers were
elected, two committees were appointed and we had our very fist “show and
tell”. Tom Cowan presented the first “show and tell” of record, he showed us a
parting tool, a scraper and a centering square all of which he had recently
purchased, (with out Mary’s knowledge no doubt). The committees were to look
into the club participating in Old Timey Day in Winchester and Toys For Tots in
Tullahoma.
Why, or how, have we lasted ten
years when other clubs such as our have failed? Look around you, you all are
the reason for our longevity. Through the years we have been blessed with many
loyal and very active members. We have had top notch leadership from our
elected officials. We have had a monthly newsletter published by caring members
to remind us more forgetful ones of meeting dates and other club activities. We
have had a great place to meet, thanks to Tom and Duck River. I’m sure there
are many more reasons for our success, but those are a few that come to mind.
I have thought many times just what
being in a club like the “Tennessee Valley Woodworkers” has meant to me. One
thing stands tall above all else. Above all the knowledge I’ve gain, above all
the fun I’ve had and above all the good food I’ve eaten in these past ten
years. That one thing that stands tallest is all the wonderful friends I would
not have had if it were not for this club.
I am very proud to say “I am a
member of the Tennessee Valley Woodworkers”. Thanks to all of you for
continuing to make it happen!