Alexander Valley Ladies’ Aid still going strong

Chatter emanates from inside the annex to the Alexander Valley Community Church, rivaling the engine noise from a small airplane overhead as the women of the Alexander Valley Ladies’ Aid Society gather for their monthly meeting.

The 103-year-old organization’s members work in support of the broader community that extends across the Alexander Valley, from Geyserville into Healdsburg. They come out to help with fires, floods and accidents, but most of their work takes place during calmer times.

These women, who take their charitable work seriously, also know how to have fun. They work, play together and get together to create a variety of gift items for their annual Christmas bazaar.

Many of the women’s roots are buried deep and long in Alexander Valley soil, while others are new transplants.

“I am amazed at the collective historical knowledge of this group,” said Dawn Dolan, a recent Alexander Valley transplant who has been a member for three years.

The roster reads like a who’s who of Alexander Valley and includes Rotlisberger, Cadd, Burgess, Saini and Wasson. Ruby Wasson is the oldest member at 94, and probably the member with the longest standing.

Each meeting includes historical tidbits from another time. At one recent meeting, Corresponding Secretary Meredith Dreisback read from 1923 minutes, about a dozen diapers being made for a Mrs. Beeman. Sharon Rotlisberger spoke up.

“My mother was born in 1923, and she was a Beeman. Those diapers were for her.”

Most of today’s members joined when their children were grown or when they retired from full-time work. As expected, many are 50 and older. Membership is open to anyone, including those who live outside Alexander Valley, and the dues reflect the age of the organization - just $5 a year.

Their charge, from the beginning, has been to support the Alexander Valley Church, which began in 1852 in Cyrus Alexander’s home, then moved to a small building on his property that burned to the ground in 1863.

The deed to the “People’s Protestant Church” at 6650 Highway 128, now the Alexander Valley Community Church, was recorded in Sonoma County in 1896. Volunteers turned out to raise that building, with local women organizing a potluck and charging 25 cents a plate to raise money for the church. The Ladies Aid Society was born, although the group wasn’t officially organized until 1911.

It now supports a diverse list of local charities that include Healdsburg SOS, the Healdsburg Food Pantry, North Sonoma County Hospice, the Geyserville Fire Department, the Alexander Valley School and the REBEIT Basketball Tournament.

Members also create Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets, honor a teacher of the year from within the Healdsburg Unified School District and are responsible for the church building and property. Original hand-hewn pews remain in the church’s sanctuary, and the building itself, now Sonoma County Historical Landmark Number 106, has been refurbished several times, with the society providing 50 percent of the funding.

Over the years, it has housed a number of different denominations, most recently the Alexander Valley Christian Fellowship with Warren Hays as pastor, but the Ladies Aid Society endures.

To learn more about it, visit avladiesaid.com.

Contact Healdsburg correspondent Ann Carranza at Healdsburg.Towns@gmail.com.