KERNAN, LASALLE COUNTY, HAS \ 



COMMUNITY CLUB 



They Have Good Times and 

 Accomplish a Lot off Good 



A RURAL community club claiming to 

 be the oldest in Illinois will have 

 to meet the challenge of the Com- 

 munity Boosters of Kernan, La Salle 

 county. The Community Boosters or- 

 ganized in 1913, so that makes it just 

 a little bit older than the La Salle County 

 Farm Bureau, but don't get the idea that 

 it's an old-timers club. The age range 

 starts with the toddlers, who usually get 

 restless during the business session of the 

 program, and goes beyond the "life be- 

 gins at 40" mark. 



Refreshments are a major item on any 

 Boosters' program and here are members 

 oi the committee in this division for one 

 evening: Mrs. Irvin Funk, Mrs. Howard 

 Smith, and Mrs. lohn Feken. 



In case you want to meet some' of the 

 prominent Farm Bureau leaders of La- 

 Salle county, your best bet is to attend 

 one of the Boosters' regular meetings. 

 You'll find E. E. Stevenson, who served 

 as president of the La Salle County Farm 

 Bureau for 21 years, and who is now 

 president of the Illinois Grain Corpora- 

 tion, leading the songs. He was the first 

 president of the Boosters and is still 

 going strong. You'll find Mrs. Lucile 

 Needham Stevenson, his daughter-in-law, 

 in charge of the business meeting. She is 

 a former president of the Illinois Home 

 Bureau Federation. 



Other notables to be found on the 

 membership roster are G. R. Birtwell, 

 treasurer of the La Salle County Farm 

 Bureau; J. Ward Smith, charter Farm 

 Bureau member and second president of 

 the Boosters, and now a member of the 

 state legislature; J. V. Stevenson, who 

 served as president of the University of 

 Illinois Dads Association; Elgy Birtwell, 

 who for some years was president of the 

 Ransom Farmers Elevator, one of the old- 

 est cooperatives in the state, and many 

 others. You'll find that most of the 

 Boosters are either Farm or Home Bu- 

 reau members. 



How the Community Boosters hap- 

 pened to organize in the little crossroads 

 center of Kernan, six miles east of Strea- 



Entertainers for a typical Boosters' meet- 

 ing are Wayne Koetz, son of Mr. and Mis. 

 William Koetz, and at right Margaret Birt- 

 well, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Galan 

 Birtwell. 



tor, is a story in itself. The late ClifiFord 

 Vogelsang, a country school teacher who 

 became state senator, had a lot to do with 

 it. He was teaching the Maple Grove 

 school and put on a program for the 

 folks of the community. There were 

 spelling bees and other events that proved 

 popular with young and old and as a 

 result they asked for more such meet- 

 ings. As time went on the meeting 

 place was shifted to the Kernan town 

 hall. The next step was the purchase of 

 a piano. After acquiring a piano, the 

 members thought they ought to have a 

 place of their own to house the piano. 

 An abandoned church was purchased and 

 renovated and the Community Boosters 

 had a home. This seemed like an im- 

 portant chapter in the club's history as 

 it meant considerable planning and work 

 to pay for their home, but the Boosters 

 felt they were well established. 



Calamity visited the Boosters and their 

 well-orgartized existence in 1931. Fire 

 destroyed the remodelled church and 

 members were forced to return to the 

 Kernan town hall for their meetings. 

 However, within a few months, work 

 was started on a new Community Boos- 

 ters club building on the church site. 

 Members contributed work and materials, 

 and soon a modem, fireproof, brick 

 building was ready for occupancy. At 

 the 30th anniversary in March, 1942, the 

 last of the indebtedness on the building 

 was cleared. 



In the new building there is a large 



(Continued on page 25) 



Parents and grandparents with boys in 

 the service group about the Eeman Com- 

 munity Boosters' service Dag. Left to right 

 are Mrs. Will Chatham, Mrs. John Voigts, 

 Mrs, I. V. Stevenson, Mrs. Irvin Funic Mm. 

 and Mr. Elmer Brand**, and Mi«. and Mi. 

 E. E. Stevenson. 



31 



L A. A. RECORD 



