Centennial Women's Tea Sunday, October 4

by Dixie A. Walter

A Centennial Woman’s Tea is being held to celebrate, and appreciate, the uncountable contributions made by women through the past 100 years in Eatonville and surrounding areas. Most of all, we want to thank them for making life easier for their women descendants. The Tea will be held in the Eatonville Community Center, 305 Center Street West from 3 to 5 p.m. Donations are accepted, and those attending the tea are asked to bring a non-perishable item of food for the Eatonville Food Bank.

We pay tribute to women because they were involved in many of the same activities as men. They cut firewood, some hunted game for food, tended fields they had plowed in a long skirt. In addition, they bore the babies, raised them, cooked over blistering hot stoves and washed clothes by hand fought for the right to vote.

Because women of the Westward movement were eventually considered equal partners with the men these woman won the right to vote a good number of years before the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920. Thirty years before the Nineteenth Amendment, in 1890, Wyoming became the first state to recognize women's right to vote and provide for it in a state constitution. Three years later, in 1893, women got the vote in Colorado, followed by Utah (1896), Idaho (1896) and Washington (1910).

Women also nursed the ill and were midwives. A woman identified in the town history book as Mrs. Garret tended the sick prior to the first doctor’s arrival in 1904. She was such a busy midwife in the area that when she was about to die, 75 people went to her for birth certificates, since she had helped them all into the world. Women were teachers, business partners and business owners.

We also honor the women of the past century up to the present. Look around you and see how women continue to make huge contributions to our community, as they have for 100 years. We admire them all.

A legacy table will be available for anyone who wants to bring and display something which was dear to a woman in her life. It could be a doily, apron, hat, anything you wish. Please include a small, descriptive label and your name so you can find it easily to take home. You will be encouraged to tell the story of the item significance, if you are comfortable doing so.

The tea will feature amazing photographs of women in all stages of life. A silent Powerpoint presentation of local women, made by Pat Van Eaton, will be out of the ordinary. You will recognize family, friends and others.

Emily Randolph - 11 years old - will entertain with three songs, including “Eatonville is a Small Town” with lyrics by Emily and her Grandmother Carol Slevett. Printed lyrics will be at the tea. Leslie (Yatie) Shore will do a short poem reading, and read from a 1945 journal written by a local woman. There will also be a few surprises.

There is no age limit for attending the tea. Girls who are old enough to sit still for a time are welcome. Dress in your Sunday best and join us. Hostesses are Leslie Shore, Roni Haynes Johnson, Edwinna Van Eaton and Dixie Walter. Questions? Please call Dixie Walter - 360.832.6555 or email maatkra@aol.com