A piece of Exeter Kiwanis’ Past…
The photo/poster above is another recent gift from Community West Bank that graces the hallway at CACHE. This photo marked a special day when the club dedicated its first big service project to the community. The committee worked on this for about two years, and they were quite excited to see their first community service project come to fruition.
The Kiwanis International Convention opened in Montreal, Canada, and the International Kiwanis’ service day coincided with the Exeter dedication. The international leadership expected all 1,530 Kiwanis clubs and 98,000 Kiwanians in the USA and Canada to participate. The program began right at 4 p.m., the “zero hour,” coinciding with the 7 p.m. start time in Montreal. National and local club presidents gave speeches.
You’ll notice that the photographer appears to be standing east of the pool, near D Street. In the background, you can see all the cars and houses on E Street. The town closed its businesses from 3:30 to 5:30 pm to support this event. Also note the bridge to the island and its arbor. When I spent hot summer days in that pool as a youth in the 1950s, they were not present. About twenty years before, around 1900, when the town was still in its infancy, a group of women from the newly formed Exeter Women’s Club, proudly planted the trees in the photo. That tree planting project was likely the first community improvement project in Exeter’s history.
The Kiwanis Club of Exeter got their start in the fall of 1923, the early stages of the “roaring twenties.” Frank Mixter spearheaded the Exeter Club’s formation. Because of his business and Masonic Lodge membership, Frank had valley-wide connections. He attended numerous Kiwanis Club meetings throughout the valley in preparation for a club sponsorship in Exeter.
Early on, the Kiwanians were looking to make a big splash in the community. They decided on a “kiddie pool” at the city park. The design included a slight elevation from the lawn and a daily filling and emptying process to ensure the water remained fresh throughout the summer. When emptied, it would irrigate the lawn in that section of the park.
From Joe Doctor’s Kiwanis history, 1993 (Joe was Kiwanis President in 1956):
“Exeter had its fraternal organizations to help make life more interesting- Masons, Odd Fellows, Redmen, Knights of Pythias and Woodmen of the World- but it did not have a service organization with a motto such as that of Kiwanis, “We Build.”
It had leadership. At the first meeting the officers were elected, busy competent men…. Frank Vaughn, fruit grower and shipper, was elected district trustee, W.P. Ballard, superintendent of the Visalia Electric Railroad, first vice-president, Dr, Ruben C Hill, known Valley wide for his skills as a surgeon, second vice-president; Roy T. Jackson, also a VERR official, secretary, Roy K. Dowell, bank manager, treasurer; N.N. Redford, pharmacist and partner in the Exeter Drug Company sergeant-at-arms, B.F. List, prominent grower and shipper; D.H. Rowland, food store proprietor; Charles I. Burnett, lumberyard operator and later insurance broker, J.B. Matchin, Santa Fe railroad agent; Leo and Sidney Schelling, merchants, Frank Livingston, grower and shipper directors.”
The Kiwanians have always been known for singing. At the grand Charter presentation in February 1924 at the large auditorium in Visalia, over 400 people came together to kick off the newest club with songs, most of them very patriotic. One special song, written by Exeter’s Sam Crookshanks (former Tulare County Schools Superintendent), was a tribute to the town:
“The Song of Exeter”
sung to the tune of Solomon Levi. (you can find on YouTube)
Oh! Here’s to dear old EXETER, nestling on the plain,
The fairest town that I have found, in Uncle Sam’s domain
Fair orange groves and olive trees, bedeck her sun-kissed hills
And flowers fine and fruitful vines her lovely landscape fills.
Chorus
Oh! Rarest fruitage, oranges, peaches and prunes,
Oh! Rarest fruitage, Emperors, Malagas, Thompsons and Apricots, (Here’s to dear old Exeter, etc.)
2nd Verse
A doctor here would starve to death, unless he lived on hay,
A place of wealth and rugged health, good will and jollity,
The stranger who once enters through our fair enticing gate,
Will settle down in our home town and stay as sure as fate.
Chorus
The Exeter Kiwanis club is still going strong, committed to serving and supporting the youth of the community. Each Wednesday, they meet upstairs at CACHE for lunch. They celebrated their one-hundred-year anniversary with the sign project that is in progress at Pine and B Streets. For more information: https://exeterkiwanis.org