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Sep. 29, 2011
by Mary Sincell McEwen
A need to assist the people of the Mountaintop, as well as to beautify the areas in which Garrett Countians live and carry on with the business of life, was the initial spark that lit the long-lived candle of the GFWC Civic Club of Oakland. This spark was sent up 100 years ago, and has burned brightly for a century.
The Republican newspaper printed an article in 1932, just after a celebration of the club in observance of its 21st anniversary. Thekla Fundenberg (she later became a Weeks) was the guest speaker at the event, having been the founder and first president of the club.
In what is among literally thousands of Civic Club of Oakland reports in The Republican, Miss Fundenberg was quoted at the conclusion of the story:
“Always remember, no matter what you are called upon to do in any kind of service work, that you are more than repaid in seeing your object accomplished, making pleasant friends and happy memories.”
That sentiment does indeed seem to be alive and well 100 years on, as the members now thrive on the hard work they volunteer to do, and they enjoy one another’s company immensely. The club meets every last Tuesday of the month from March to November at the Will O’ the Wisp Restaurant at Deep Creek Lake. They share lunch at noon, and the business meeting follows.
The initial motivation to form the club was apparently the unsightliness of the town of Oakland in 1911. Rubbish piles, other scattered trash, muddy streets, and untamed grasses and weeds prompted a group of 23 women to act. They formed the club on March 31, 1911, and immediately engaged in a massive clean-up effort. According to the story in the paper, “their project ended in a rubbish parade in which wagon loads of dirt and trash were hauled away and disposed of.”
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