Mrs. William (Lea) Hork in Junior Woman’s Club

This week I visited the Pittsburg (California) Historical Society. We lived in Pittsburg from about 1956 to 1963 in a two-story house on East 9th Street. The Society runs a museum in a huge building with some really fantastic displays and I took a glance at that before asking what kind of archive records they had.

In their library, they had binders with indexes to other collections. Under the surname index, I found several references to our family surname HORK. Boy did I find some treasures. These were newspaper clippings that had been indexed by volunteers. They were located into two different binders, but both about women’s clubs.

My mother was a member of the Junior Woman’s Club, which later was known as Pittsburg Woman’s Community League. There were several articles about my mother on various committees. Here is an undated printout of the officers and chairmen of the club. My mother had two jobs: Ways and Means and Press.

There was an article about the club’s planning for the upcoming year. Although not dated, it was on the same page as another article dated Aug 29, 1961.  Mrs. William Hork was in Ways and Means and also International Affairs. Their first event on the list was a “Dollar Merchants Lunch” planned for September 27 at St. Peter Martyr Hall. My mother was in charge of meatball preparation. She was also named the chairman of the Dec 6 Christmas Brunch, that will feature unique Christmas decorations, candy, cookies, aprons and other gift ideas.

The previous month, August, there was a luau held at a member’s home and the husbands were invited. They were celebrating the 11th anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Petrini and the 12th anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. James Atchison. My mother was responsible for the main dish which consisted of ham with raisins, prepared Hawaiian style. She was also part of the group that made colorful leis. The women wore muumuus, grass skirts and sarongs and the men were in Bermuda shorts and colorful shirts. My father was listed as attending. Wish I had a photo of that! The newspaper had a photo of Mrs. Dexter Welch at the luau.

My sister’s name was also in the index. She was pictured with Mom, checking out a big stuffed teddy bear. She was just 13 months old.

But the most surprising photo was one where she was pictured standing next to Louis Armstrong, who performed a concert at the Creative Arts Building. The proceeds for the concert were used to purchase an electronically controlled bed for Pittsburg Community Hospital.

 Aren't newspapers wonderful? I remember a little of her volunteering but she cut way back when we were older and she had six children.

Copyright © 2018 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.