ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 17, 1997 TAG: 9702170069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: JOANNE POINDEXTER STAFF WRITER
ALL ELKS WERE MALE until 1995, when the organization voted to admit women to lodges.
Virginia Military Institute in Bedford?
Not quite. But another all-male bastion is beginning to feel the pressures of admitting women.
The 94-year-old Elks National Home is going coed.
While VMI is tinkering with giving "buzz cuts" to females, Elk leaders are trying to determine where to put a beauty salon.
While VMI has debates about expelling pregnant cadets, the Elks home is making room for couples to live together - something highly unlikely at VMI.
And while VMI ponders whether females should meet the same rigorous physical requirements as their male counterparts, the Elks home is worried about being accessible to older, ambulatory residents.
And, like VMI, the Elks home feared legal reprisals if female members were denied residency.
But while VMI worries about getting a critical mass of women by this fall, the Elks home is making plans for an onslaught of older women not expected until the year 2001.
The Elks organization was all-male until 1995, when it voted to allow women into its lodges, so folks at the national home knew it was only a matter of time until women would want to live there.
"This is a thing of major proportions," said William Pickett, administrator of the National Elks Home. "We know what we want to do, and we know what it will take to do it. We are all set to propose it to the members."
A committee of about 22 former national leaders are meeting through Wednesday to receive an architect's proposal for capital improvements that would make the home attractive to females and couples.
Under the current rules, members must meet financial obligations in their local lodges and be an Elk for five years before moving into the national home in Bedford. The first women, therefore, won't be eligible for residency until the year 2000, but officials don't expect their first females until 2001.
Elks members - like cadets at VMI - have had mixed reactions about allowing women into their lodges and eventually into the national home.
"There were some hard feelings about being told you had to do it," said Ronnie Overstreet, exalted ruler of the Lynchburg lodge. "I figured we would get some women. I didn't know we would get this many."
National Elk officials say Lynchburg, with 250 female members, could have more women than any other lodge in the country. The Lynchburg lodge, about 25 miles east of the national home, is Virginia's largest with nearly 1,400 members, including Bedford Countians.
National Elk officials said they don't keep figures based on sex, so it's hard to tell how many females have joined nationally in the past 16 months. The Roanoke lodge has three female members; a lodge in Charlottesville doesn't have any.
With national membership at more than 1.2 million in more than 2,200 lodges, "women are not flocking in [to join]," said Frank Garland, chairman of the Elks' Grand Lodge Advisory Committee.
The Lynchburg lodge's number of women is a bit usual, he said, speculating with others that the proximity of the national home encourages female interest.
Garland is on the committee that is meeting in Palm Springs, Calif., this week to look at the proposed improvements.
The Roanoke architectural firm SFCS has been working with an Exton, Pa., consultant for about six months on the proposal, but SFCS officials would not discuss the plans.
Garland, the advisory committee chairman, said it's a little early to disclose renovation plans, but that Elks around the country have been surveyed, and there is a demand for a coed home.
"The biggest problem facing us is the cost," he said. "We have some reserves, but not as much as it will cost."
The advisory committee will make a recommendation to the national board of trustees, which will meet at the home in Bedford in the spring. Tentative plans call for a vote on the proposal during the Elks national convention in July in Chicago.
The first female Elks at the national home may well be from Bedford County.
Bedford County women make up the majority of the women who have joined the Lynchburg Lodge since May.
Privately, some women said the Elks National Home enticed them to the fraternal order.
They said living at the Elks Home is cheaper than living at many retirement facilities.
An Elk can enjoy a view of the Peaks of Otter and live at the home for as little as $630 a month in a single room with a shared bath. The charge includes daily maid service, three meals a day, recreational facilities, transportation, medical assistance, a haircut once a month, laundry, and dry cleaning of one suit a month. A two-room suite with a private bath and the same amenities is $995.
Residents also have access to a golf course, gardens and craft workshops.
It is home to about 160 men and has room for about 136 more. Last year, more than 22,600 cars traveled through its iron gates to see the annual Christmas lights display.
The home is probably the Elks' best-kept secret, said Charles Oliver, a trustee with the Lynchburg lodge. Although men come from almost all 50 states, the Philippines, Guam, the Panama Canal Zone and Puerto Rico, about 10 percent of the residents are from Bedford and surrounding areas.
Frances Owen, an 81-year-old widow who has lived in Bedford 54 years, said a lot of the female Elks are familiar with the home and want to live there. She was initiated as an Elk in mid-January.
"If we do all get over there in time to retire, we are going to have a lot of fun," Owen said.
"A good many of us are hoping to hold out to get into the home, so we won't have to leave the area."
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: JANEL RHODA STAFF. The Elks National Home has been inby CNBBedford for 94 years. color.