Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The Garfield Grange will close at the end of the year after falling short of attracting new officers which were needed by Oct. 1.
In July, existing officers voted to close the chapter if they did not reach the deadline.
The minimum required by the Washington State Grange office in Olympia is to have a President or Master, an Overseer or Vice President, a secretary and a treasurer.
“No progress of people stepping forward to take offices,” said Master Penny Martinez. “Thirty-one December will be our last existing day.”
A total of 48 people count as Garfield Grange members – residents of Garfield, Farmington, Tekoa, Oakesdale, Palouse, Pullman, Spangle, Tensed, Idaho and Lewiston. Grange members are not required to attend their local grange.
“It’s sad to see this happen,” said Hollis Jamison, 81, a member and former 20-year master. “I can remember as a little kid going to the Grange with my parents. It was out in the country then. A potbelly stove in the middle, it was bingo, dance, playing cards. It was kind of the place to be.”
At present, four people serve in Ladow’s six needed office positions. In September, Martinez did not run for re-election. Also, James Woomack, secretary/treasurer, would need to drop either position, as Grange rules require the jobs to not be held by members of the same family.
Other officers include Kaye Woomack – James’ wife – as overseer and Chaplain Nancy Hathaway.
Unfilled positions were lecturer and assistant steward.
The 1931 Grange sponsors the Garfield food pantry, which distributes food once per month from the Legion hall. Woomack picks up the food from Second Harvest of Spokane and Whitman County Council on Aging, based in Colfax.
On distribution days, various Grange members help set up the food.
The Grange is supported by members’ annual dues of $41 per year. A month-long annual flower sale stopped two years ago.
The Ladow Grange’s name comes from its original location, a wooden building just off the road between Garfield and Farmington near the foot of Ladow Butte. The building is now gone, torn down after the Grange bought the old, brick Garfield grade school gym downtown after the new school was built in 1954. The gym was later sold off and torn down in the ‘90s to build LaDow Court.
“In the ‘80s, the Grange started to decline,” said Jamison. “The women were the spearhead in it. The women do a lot of work. Today, most of the young farmers, which there are not very many, most of the wives work. There was probably 15 times more farmers back then than there are now.”
In April, Woomack and Martinez spoke at a Garfield town council meeting to spread the word of their situation.
Originally formed to represent the interests of farmers and ranchers, many of the 250 granges in Washington today branch out for added causes.
Since Ladow Grange was founded, several chapters have consolidated into it over time.
The national Grange was established in 1889, two months before Washington Territories achieved statehood. The Washington State Grange is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of Washington’s residents through the spirit of community service and legislative action.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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