Clare Brown Williams Shank, club president from 1974-1976 (now deceased) researched, planned and wrote most of the copy for the Heritage section of our webpage. It was excerpted from a club booklet she completed in 1981. She was an active club member for three decades.
The past presidents in fall, 1981 wrote, “She (Clare) brought honor to us all when President Eisenhower called her to Washington to serve as the top woman in the Republican Party organization in the post of Assistant Chairman (now called co-chairman) of the Republican National Committee and Director of all women’s activities nationwide. No Floridian has to this writing achieved so high a rank in the structure of either major Party. Famed for her organizing talents and for her platform charisma, her duties required her to travel the country, enthusiastically mobilizing, speaking and fund raising, so effectively done that she received numerous awards and decorations for outstanding public service. She was a distinguished guest speaker at each National Convention of the GFWC throughout her tenure from 1958-1964 and was a delegate from the club to each such convention.
“Clare Brown Williams Shank wrote, “This booklet is dedicated with admiration to all those who went before us, bequeathing us this sterling heritage; to my contemporaries who share the warmth of friendship, the stimulus of broadened intellectual horizons, the gratification of worthwhile civic and charitable work, and the fun of social events – all of which is ours as members of this proud Woman’s Club; and to our future sisters who will build upon all the accomplishments of these years portrayed for posterity within these covers.”
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