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The Walters Ruritan Club was joined Thursday, Sept. 12, by Ruritan National representatives to help celebrate the WRC’s 75th anniversary.

Twenty-three people were in attendance at the event held at the Walters Ruritan Club building, including eight of the WRC’s nine members. 

“It was a great event,” WRC Recording Secretary Dennis Darden said. “Each one of the national guys and ladies got up and spoke about how well we have maintained giving back to the community.”

The Walters Ruritan Club was presented with a 75-year anniversary poster, which Darden said the club will put next to its 50-year anniversary poster.

“We wanted this (75th anniversary) to be special because it’s hard to get members now in our area, and all of us aren’t going to live to be a hundred, so we figured this might be the last hurrah,” he said.

The official 75th anniversary recognition document that Ruritan National gave to the WRC stated that it was “in acknowledgement of devoted and unselfish service which has resulted in making their community a better place in which to live.”

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WALTERS RURITAN CLUB

The WRC was chartered on March 21, 1949, with 30 members, meeting in the Woodmen of the World hall located in Walters.

“Walters Ruritan Club wanted to add a kitchen or something to that building, but the Woodmen of the World said that they really didn’t want it, so that’s when (club members) started seeking property to build their own place,” Darden said.

He noted that in 1952, the club purchased the site at 27746 Walters Highway from Mr. and Mrs. John Ballard. 

“The club members began construction on the building themselves, and they borrowed like $2,500 to complete the present building, which was finished in 1953,” Darden said.

The club moved into the Walters Ruritan Club building the same year and has operated out of the facility ever since.

Darden noted that the original tally of 30 members probably represented the all-time high for the WRC, and over the years it has declined. Adding to the difficulty of drawing new members in recent years is the size of the community’s population.

“Walters is kind of like Mayberry — it doesn’t have many people,” Darden said.

The Walters Ruritan Club is currently composed of nine members, and Darden estimated that the youngest member is 60 years old. 

HOW WALTERS RURITAN CLUB SERVES THE COMMUNITY

The WRC has a single fundraiser that it holds monthly — bingo. The club hosts the bingo session at its building on the second Tuesday of each month. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. with the actual bingo beginning at 7 p.m., and it draws people from Walters, Carrsville, Franklin, Windsor, Suffolk and Smithfield.

“This past Tuesday night, we had 65 participants,” Darden said, referring to Sept. 10.

He noted that the WRC has been hosting the monthly bingo session for nine consecutive years.

“And over the nine years, we’ve probably given over $100,000 away, back to the community,” he said.

The club gives to a variety of organizations, including the Windsor Athletic Association, which received $1,500 this year.

The WRC hands out scholarships, with two Windsor High School students each receiving $1,000 from the club this year.

Darden also indicated that the club is flexible and open to responding to needs that may come up unexpectedly.

“Anything that comes up, we talk about it and make the decision on what needs to be done,” he said.

The club also serves Walters and the surrounding area by allowing others the use of its building.

“The building is also used as a voting station for the Republican and Democratic parties, and we rent the building out to individuals for parties and things like that,” Darden said.

In the end, the Walters Ruritan Club’s guiding principle is simple, and it has been the same for 75 years.

“Anything that we can do to help the community, that’s what we do,” Darden said.