Ladies Auxiliary History
The Minquadale Ladies Auxiliary was organized in 1951 by County President, Mrs. Nan Law Woods as the presiding officer. The first election of officers was held on March 20, 1951 with Theresa Walker being elected president. The charter closed that night with 46 charter members. Of the founding charter members Dot Eastridge is the only surviving member.
In August of 1951 we joined the Ladies Auxiliary of New Castle County and the Delaware Volunteer Fireman’s Association Ladies Auxiliary with dues being $3.00 and $2.00 respectively.
On July 1, 1958 the first junior girls age 13 were voted in. Joanne (Prentice) Karmanski (deceased), Patsy (Ellis) McNeal, Jacqueline Ford, Eugenia Thompson (deceased), and Ann Marie (Chickie) (Carello) Tulowitzki were the first junior auxiliary. Two of them are still in our auxiliary; Patsy and Ann Marie.
We currently have 83 members, 4 junior members and 3 honorary members. Senator David McBride is the newest honorary member of the ladies auxiliary. A total of 48 ladies are life members of the organization.
This year is our 65th anniversary! During the past 65 years the ladies have catered many functions to raise money; some of these activities include fairs, weddings, banquets, anniversary and birthday parties, State of Delaware seminars, WAWA manager meetings, bake sales, New Castle County Council dinners, and quarter auctions. We have raised over 1 million dollars through the years catering these functions.
We have joined our men at conventions/conferences winning 1st place 5 years in a row along with 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place. We are proud of the accomplishments and trophies won throughout the years. As far as state auxiliary history there has never been an auxiliary in the state to surpass this milestone of winning five years in a row.
During the years several ladies have served as officers at the County and the State level. Doris Carello (deceased) and Joanne Tulowitzki have held the office of President of the County and the State Associations. Carol Johnson held the office of County President and was in line to be State President in 2012 but passed away before achieving this accomplishment. Jane Williams has held the office of secretary for the County, State assistant secretary, State secretary and secretary of our own organization for 20 years. Jane is currently the 2nd Vice President for the County Association. Many of our members have served on numerous committees for the county as well as the State Association.
At the 2000 conference in Dover, Irene Hojnicki was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the LADVFA and then at the 2005 conference Virginia (Ginny) Houck was the recipient of this award. We are privileged to have these ladies in our auxiliary and consider them our friends.
We have honored many ladies throughout the years as member of the year for outstanding and distinguished service to the auxiliary. These ladies are: Theresa Walker (deceased), Doris Carello (deceased), Joanne Tulowitzki, Barbi Hojnicki, Irene Honjicki, Ginny Houck, Jane Williams, Debby Masten, Kathy Wagner (deceased), Elizabeth (Bick) Cockerill (deceased), Kathy Shaw, Carol Johnson (deceased), Debbie Martin, Grace Martin, Angie Dziok (deceased), Mary Skibicki (deceased), Patty Addison, Cheryl Thompson, Stephanie Hojnicki, Donna Grzybowski (deceased), Sharon Torterotot, and Linda Thompson.
Each year we continue the tradition of celebrating our year’s success by holding our annual banquet. It has been held in January and April throughout the years. At the banquet the money we raise throughout the year is presented to our Firemen. The money is used for new equipment or restoration of our building.
On December 16, 2014 Marie Thompson was installed as Assistant Financial Secretary and 2 days later passed away.
The officers for 2016 were Kathleen Shaw, President; Cheryl Thompson, 1st Vice President; Debby Masten, 2nd Vice President; Sandy Barber, Secretary; Diane Torterotot, Treasurer; Irene Hojnicki, Assistant Treasurer; Lynn Pudvan, Financial Secretary; and Theresa McKee, Assistant Financial Secretary.
The officers for 2018 were Kathleen Shaw, President; Cheryl Thompson, 1st Vice President; Chris Swan, 2nd Vice President; Sandy Barber, Secretary; Diane Edwards, Treasurer; Sandi Mitchell, Assistant Treasurer; Lynn Pudvan, Financial Secretary; and Theresa McKee, Assistant Financial Secretary.
