W.W.T.C. – Road Tripping

Wednesday Weekly Theme Challenge

(Aug 10 – 16): Road Trippin’

• Do you know how many miles you have driven to 20-30 events?
• What is a fun memory you have?
• When carpooling, what was the mode of transportation? Car, van, bus, RV, plane, train, ….?

Yesterday, I was at a meeting and we were talking about all the upcoming 20-30 events happening. And how much fun it is to go and support each other clubs’ events. Either by attending, volunteering, or going to meetings to promote our own club events.

The other bonus of going, is the road trip to get there. It is a great bonding experience to carpool with your own club members. I was asked how many miles I must have put on my car just attending 20-30 events. That stumped me, because other than to answer “A LOT,” I did not know. It did make me remember some great memories connected to those road trips.

(Pictured) This might not be my car, but it was the first part of a trip to the 2012 International Convention in Costa Rica. We decided to head out of Sacramento to San Francisco airport in style. Which was also my first Convention outside the United States.

Play along. Comment below or tag this page in your post for any stories or photos you would like to share.

Member Monday & a Happy Anniversary!

In 1960, 20-30 International and Active International both voted unanimously to merge into 1 organization. Today we’ll highlight the three presidents.

“The DATE of August 1, 1960 will be remembered as the most significant in our history since the founding of 20-30, for on that day the merger of Active and 20-30 International became a reality. Both groups will retain their present administrative structures until the joint international convention in Tucson next summer, but for all other intents and purposes we are now one combine organization.” – Clint McClure, President, 20-30 International

“It is a logical step enabling two service-minded groups to combine their talents and enthusiasm in order to better serve their communities and their countries.” – Owen Barnes President, Active International

W.W.T.C. – Favorite Find

Wednesday Weekly Theme Challenge (July 27 – Aug 2): Favorite Find

This theme could be applied in a variety of ways.

• a) What’s something you discovered about yourself while in Active 20-30?
• b) Or a favorite tradition your clubs does?
• c) How about a neat find at a location that has a connection to 20-30? Like a plaque on the wall at a store, a news article about an event on a diner menu? (I’ll have to find the info on that, it was pretty neat). A dedication at a park?
• d) How about an item that you got or someone shared with you?
• e) How about finding out some celebrities were in the club or an honorary member? Two honorary members that come to mind are Frank Sinatra and Charles Lindbergh.

Recently I was doing a search and came across a post in a Facebook group for Hawthorne residents, where someone had a photo of her dad with a 20-30 sign that he painted. She was trying to get more information on what 20-30 was. I was happy to tell her.

“My Dad worked at the Navy base in Hawthorne after WWII. I wasn’t born until 1953. I never remember hearing about this group. Sounds like a group they might want to revive.”:

Play along. Comment below or tag this page in your post for any stories or photos you would like to share.

Pin it on Tuesday: Project Themed Pins

Here’s a few pins showcasing some of the projects our clubs have done / are doing.
Do you have any club project pins?

This is a weekly feature to show off all the wonderful pins. Let us know of any you would like to share. Please include the story behind the pin, if you know the year, how you got it (any fun trade stories), or other memory you connect to that pin (for example, it’s a pin that represents your term as club president or going past active). Even if you don’t have info to include and it’s just a neat pin you like, please share.

Pin It On Tuesday: How do you display your pins?

Thanks, Julianna Hart, for the inspiration of this post.

How many pins did you trade for, or collect, at convention? How do you display them? Laid out nice and neat to take photos, just throw them into a fanny pack, or put them into a nice framed display?

We’ve had a tradition of creating pins to represent our clubs or conventions. They could be president themes, features located in the town of the club, when a member goes past active or passes away, or regarding a social or fundraising event.

There are A LOT of pins, so we are also going to have a weekly feature showing them off here. Let us know of any pins you would like to share, the story behind the pin, if you know the year, how you got it (any fun trade stories), or other memory you connect to that pin (for example, it’s a pin that represents your term as club president or going past active). Even if it’s just a neat pin you like, please share.

Month of Highlights for the 1920’s

With the start of September this week, it’s 10 months until our 2022 Convention – Centennial Celebration (JUL 13 – JUL 17, 2022)!

We are going to switch from weekly themed memory prompts, to sharing the Active 20-30 timeline. Each month we’ll focus on one decade and have posts on timeline of events, photos, stories, and member spotlights.

Our story begins in 1922, in two different cities. Aberdeen, Washington and Sacramento, California.

St. Helena 20-30 Club Builds Bus Stops 1965

I’ve seen photos and articles of several clubs building shelters. Clubs like Napa, Santa Rosa, Coronado, and here is one from St Helena in 1965. Have you participated in building shelters, or know if your club did this type of project in the past?

20-30 Club to Build Bus Stop Shelters

As school begins the members of the Active 20-30 are busily constructing as many bus stop shelters as the club treasury will allow, before the rainy season begins. Due to the overwhelming response of parents requesting shelters, there are many more needed.

The club’s motto is “Youth to serve must be served.” In an effort to serve all the youth of the school district, if possible, the club will give away an R.C.A. Color T.V. Oct. 29 at Carpy Field during the half-time of the St. Helena vs. Willits football game, profits going toward additional shelters. “Help us to help your children,” by obtaining your tickets for the television at any of the home games or from any 20-30 member. Anyone requesting a shelter may write to St. Helena Active 20-30, P.O. Box 65, St. Helena.

“20-30 Club to Build Bus Stop”, The St. Helena Star, 16 September 1965, p 2, Newspapers.com. Accessed 25 August 2021.

Photo Caption: St. Helena Active 20-30 Club is engaged in the project of rebuilding or in some case renovating the old school bus shelters once provided by the earlier club. A color TV will be awarded as a prize this fall. Shown above in Taylor Electric is Marshall Sears buying the first ticket from John Mathis, treasurer of the 20-30 Club with Ralph Turnidge looking on. Proceeds will go to help finance the shelter project.
The other pictures show a shelter which can be salvaged, and one which is simply done for. Working on the project when the pictures were taken were Ray Torres, Ernies Butala, Bob Stemler, Don Martin, Leroy Cox and Ralph Duer. In the bottom picture Ralph Turnidge’s sons help spray the new type shelter the club is building. Since the project started the club has had many requests for shelters, and has to raise money by awarding the color TV set.

Pin It On Tuesday – Fashion Forward

Fashion shows up in our pin collection. Highlighted here is a sports jersey, a sweater vest, a shoe, and a crown. We also should include a suitcase to round it out.

Would love to see what fashionable type of pins you might have.

There are A LOT of pins, so we are also going to have a weekly feature showing them off here. Let us know of any pins you would like to share, the story behind the pin, if you know the year, how you got it (any fun trade stories), or other memory you connect to that pin (for example, it’s a pin that represents your term as club president or going past active). Even if it’s just a neat pin you like, please share.

Fashion (July 19-25, 2021)

Time to pull out all your 20-30 shirts. Do you have a favorite? Have you collected shirts from the same event each year? How about all the costumes you wore at events? What other club fashion accessories have you collected through the years? There have been vests, hats, bracelets, rings, necklaces, tie clips, belt buckles, cuff links, etc.

“Active 20-30 Dominican Republic wardrobe from the 1960’s displayed during their 2015 National Convention” (thanks for sharing Geoffrey Cheung).

(These weekly themes are inspired by 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

Honorary Member – Robert P. Shimmin

Does your Club have any Honorary Members?

Honorary Membership can be “conferred to any person for meritorious service to the club, community or nation.” This membership is granted according to procedures in Clubs’ bylaws.
So far in rediscovering our past, we’ve come across a few famous people being given honorary membership into different clubs. Aviator Charles Lindbergh was honored by the Chehalis Club in 1927, Frank Sinatra by the Portland Club in 1947, and Pete Wilson (later became Governor of California) by the San Diego club in 1972. More recently, young Billy Warner was given honorary membership to several clubs in 2017.

An very interesting person we’ve come to learn of, is Dad Shimmin. Robert P. Shimmin was given honorary membership by Phoenix #99 soon after his son, Jack Shimmin had passed away. Jack was a founding member when they chartered in April 1932. He unfortunately became sick and died in November of that year. Soon after they asked his dad to “join”, and Dad Shimmin started visiting 20-30 clubs across the nation and attending conventions. He was also given the titles of “Grand Old Man of 20-30” and “International Ambassador of Good Will”.

Dad Shimmin kept going until his death in 1965.

(photo of newspaper article was in the El Paso Herald-Post in 1958)