50-Year Member of Altamahaw-Ossipee Extension Homemaker Club Looks Back, 1987

The following, written by 50-year club member Roberta Wakefield Pritchett in 1987, was published in the Tar Heel Homemakers newspaper in 1988.

My name is Roberta Wakefield Pritchett. I was graduated from UNCG, then Woman’s College of UNC in 1935 with a B.S. degree in Home Economics. After teaching two years in Stokes County, I came to Altamahaw-Ossipee School in Alamance County in the fall of 1937 to open a new Home Economics Department.

When I came to the school, I was informed by the principal, Mr. David Miller, that I would be expected to join the Home Demonstration Club, which is now known as Homemakers Extension Club. It was thought that membership in this club would be an opening into the homes, because there was some opposition among the men against a Home Economics Department. A fraternal organization in the community had been using as a meeting place the space for the Home Economics Department and they didn’t want to relinquish their meeting place or find other quarters.

At the time I joined the local club, the monthly meetings were held in the teacher’s lounge of the Altamahaw-Ossipee School. I don’t know how long before that time the club was organized but it was long enough for the club to accumulate enough money to buy furnishings for the teacher’s lounge. It was furnished with a wicker settee and two wicker chairs, plus tables and some other straight chairs.

The club was very attractive and since there were several churches in the area and members of the club belonged to many different churches their common interest was the school. In addition to furnishing the lounge and using it for a meeting place, they later used their time and energy to secure velvet curtains and several back-drops for the school stage. To the best of my knowledge those velvet curtains were still in use when the school was torn down.

Among the ladies who were members of the club at that time were Mrs. Sallie (Roy) Kernodle, who has her 50-year membership certificate, Mrs. Margaret Pritchett, Mrs. Fannie (Carl) Gilliam, Mrs. Matt (L.A.) Ireland, Mrs. Mabel (Joe) Troxler, Mrs. Bertha (Dr. Charlie) Kernodle, Mrs. Lillian Ross and several others whose names I don’t recall.

At the time I joined the club, Mrs. Sallie Kernodle was always accompanied to the club meetings by her two pre-school age daughters. Mrs. Kernodle recalls that the club gave her a baby shower at the home of Mrs. Bertha Kernodle before the birth of her youngest daughter, and that daughter will be 52 years old this year. The extension agent at that time was Miss Annamerle Arant and she was especially fond of the two girls. For several years after she left Alamance County she would frequently send letters and cards to the sisters as they grew up. Miss Ann Priest came as the next extension agent following Miss Arant and she came to Alamance County about the same time I came to the county to work.

Mrs. Margaret Pritchett learned through her club work that the only safe way to can meats and many vegetables is by the use of a pressure canner. Through the club she purchased a pressure canner to provide safe food for her family of five children. Her daughter, who graduated from Altamahaw-Ossipee High School 51 years ago, remembers taking the pressure canner to school for the physics teacher to use in experiments for the class.

Incidently, this pressure canner is still in use during each canning season.

In September 1987, I will have been a member of the Altamahaw-Ossipee Homemaker’s Club for 50 years. I hope this will help to authenticate the fact that the Altamahaw-Ossipee Club has existed for more than 50 years.