Biography

The Sew and So Club began on September 24, 1937 when Hazel Lawton gathered a group of women together from Washington Township (the Lewis-Atlantic area of Cass County, Iowa) at her home and they "decided it would be nice to get together often and organize a club." At its second meeting, the twelve charter members voted on officers, the club's name, and to limit membership to twenty women.

The club met twice a month in members' homes during the early years to work on quilting, dish towels and other handiwork. Members would bring their children along if the tots were not in school. They had speakers at special times and donated funds to charities such as the Christian Home in Council Bluffs, the American Red Cross, the American Cancer Society, Boys' Town in Omaha, and the Atlantic Family Crisis Support Network. In 1946 the club "adopted" a family in the Netherlands and regularly sent clothing and other articles. The last official meeting was a Christmas party in December 2004. After the last two charter members died in 2004, the three remaining active members (Margaret McGill, Phyllis Sponsler and Shirley Breach) decided to close the club and donate its records to the Iowa Women's Archives.

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