Peninsula In Passage

Driver Book Club Imagine a book club that becomes a century old tradition and club membership, a cherished honor. The Driver Book Club celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2003 and is still going strong. “It was a very important thing in community,” says Joyce Carter, former president and historian. “If you had a doctor’s appointment that conflicted with book club, you cancelled the doctor.” The club was born in 1903 when 10 women met at the Grange Hall in Driver to form a social-study club for the “enjoyment and enlightenment of members.”The 21 charter members, two men and 19 women, represent some of the most familiar names in the community – the Ames, Carrs, Dardens, Hargroves, Wilroys, Eberwines, Williamsons, Williams, Drivers, and Savages.

Dues were 10 cents a month. Club membership was by invitation only and remains limited to 25 so the group can meet comfortably in members’ homes. “They were educated people not just dirt farmers,” Carter said, remembering a preacher who only lasted a year in the community because he underestimated the community and talked down to the people. When Carter joined in the early 1970s she was following a family tradition. Her grandmother, three great aunts, mother, aunt and sister were all members. “Back then we always wore hats and gloves and brought out our best linens, china, silver and crystal,” she says. From 1922 to 1952 the club belonged to the General Federation of Women’s Clubs but changed little except to limit the meeting refreshments to a mere two courses. Book Club may have been a misnomer. “This club was different in that we didn’t have to read a book and books were not discussed,” Carter says. “We had programs that were

assigned to members and we discussed an author, theme and every other kind of topic except politics. Each meeting a member prepared a research paper and I remember my mother doing a paper on “Elizabeth: the Future Queen.” The club has evolved beyond the immediate Driver neighborhood to include members from Chesapeake, Portsmouth and other areas of Suffolk but still rotates meetings among the members’ homes. “But now very few members do research anymore - you just come up with your own program and/or

invite a speaker,” Carter said “I guess we just may have gotten intellectually lazy.”

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