Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 28, 1990 TAG: 9006290675
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Betsy Biesenbach
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
For some reason, however, the clubs never lasted. But Omnia Bona was an exception. The women's service club was formed in 1947 by a group of Roanoke high school students.
Not only did the club stay intact, it expanded outside the Roanoke Valley. Today there are chapters in eight other cities, with a total membership of 136 women.
Many of the women were in Roanoke over the weekend - for the group's 33rd annual conclave, a meeting of members from all of the chapters. During the conclave, Omnia Bona gave Taiwan Lovelace, a 1990 graduate of William Fleming High School, a $1,000 scholarship.
"We didn't have the foggiest notion" that the club would grow as it did, said Delois Clements Broady, one of five charter members still with the Roanoke chapter. She and three other founders gathered for an interview during the conclave. The fifth charter member, Gladys Shepperson Watson, could not attend.
It all started 43 years ago when a group of students at the former Lucy Addison High School decided to take their lunches down to the nearby Washington Park. Usually, Broady said, the girls ate on the school steps.
Once in the park, the girls found a mock orange tree. They picked the blossoms and wove them into garlands for their hair.
"I guess it came into our creative minds to organize," Broady said. At that time, the group's only purpose was to provide some sort of activity and entertainment for the girls.
"There was nothing to do," Broady said.
They decided to call themselves the "Orange Blossom Sorors." The membership was made up of girls who "ran together," Broady said. It was not a clique, she emphasized, because anybody who wanted to could join.
Times were different then, Broady said. There was no television and no shopping centers, and no money to spend anyway. The girls, who were seniors that year, met at each other's homes after school and during the summer to socialize and play "girl games."
"And giggle," Broady laughed.
"Giggle," echoed another charter member, Dorothy Lash. She nodded her head and laughed, too, bringing more giggles from the other women.
In the fall, however, the group disbanded as some of the girls went on to college and others to raise families.
They all but forgot about the group until four years later. Many of the young women had stayed in the area or had come home, Broady said. In 1951, the Hunton YMCA had a dance and asked the former Orange Blossom Sorors to be the hostesses, she recalled.
After the event was over, the women decided to revive the club. But "we had changed," Broady said. "We weren't giggling any more."
The group decided to adopt a more sophisticated name, and came up with the Latin "Omnia Bona," which means "for all good," Broady said.
They also changed the purpose of the club. The members wanted to devote themselves to helping others.
"It's a political, civic, religious and social club," Broady said. "We like to think that because of our community involvement, we serve a purpose."
Broady and Lash, both retired teachers, listed some of the group's activities, which include awarding a yearly scholarship, and visiting patients in the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Salem and the Burrell Home For Adults.
In the past, Broady said, members have transported those who didn't have transportation, to the polls on election days. The club contributes to Hampton University, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Legal Fund, the United Negro College Fund and the Cancer Society. The club also contributes to groups that work to eradicate diseases such as lupus and sickle-cell anemia.
To raise funds, Broady said, the chapters do "anything and everything," including sales and dances.
The Roanoke group, which has 28 members, plans to "adopt" a young girl or girls to "help out in any way we can."
A 28:1 ratio of adults to children should keep her straight," laughed Broady.
This year, the Roanoke Chapter has been busy with organizing the conclave, a duty that rotates among the chapters each year.
The first chapter outside the Roanoke Valley was started in Washington, D.C., by a member who had moved there from Roanoke. The other chapters are in Chester, Pa.; Philadelphia; Richmond; Wilmington, Del.; Hampton; Harrisburg, Pa.; and South Jersey. Some of the chapters have been founded by women who were never part of the Roanoke club, said Maxine Hunt, publicity chairman for the conclave.
"I have been able to establish a sisterhood with these girls that I don't have in my life," said Broady, noting that her only siblings died when she was very young. "I enjoying doing things with people who enjoy the same things I do. I feel a sense of joy when we're all together."
Lash, treasurer, said the organization, "has helped me maintain some friendships through the years. It is an outlet for me to be able to be with this group."
Violet Jones Robertson, another charter member, is mother of the Roanoke chapter's president, Andrea Thompson.
"All of my best friends are in the organization," said Robertson, who works for General Electric. "I enjoy the club. I'm proud to be a part of it. When you go out and help someone else, it makes your life more useful."
Evelyn Blackwell Hale, who spent her time after high school rearing her two children, after a year at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical School in Greensboro, said her association with the club has brought her "sisterly fellowship, and it's made my life a little more enjoyable. It's nice to have friends outside your immediate family."
Although the group has only a few members who are in their 30s, Broady said she feels that unlike many other service clubs, the organization does not have a problem with recruiting members.
The daughters of several members have joined, and although demographically, the Roanoke Chapter is probably the "oldest" group, other chapters have quite a few younger members, Broady said.
"They tend to give us a little strength," she said.
But Hunt thinks the group could use a little new blood. "We need to start looking at younger women," she said. "Maybe we've been a little bit too selective."
by CNB