Photos from the RWC Annual Christmas Party, December 13, at the home of Leslie and Rob Gandy

Photos from the RWC Annual Christmas Party, December 13, at the home of 

Leslie and Rob Gandy. 

Rollingwood Women's Club Annual Holiday Party

RWC Meeting Minutes 11/18/14. Annual Charity Drive and RWC Nomination and Voting of Funds

RWC Meeting Minutes 11/18/14.

Annual Charity Drive and RWC Nomination and Voting of Funds

At the home of Karen Hughes at 2 Brett Cove

The President called the meeting of the Rollingwood Women’s Club to order.

Previous minutes were referred to on the blog, www.rollingwoodwomensclub.blogspot.com.

Treasurer was absent so not financial notes were read. 

Annoucments: The next meeting will be at the Annual Christmas Party at Leslie Gandy’s house and 2402 Vance on Saturday, December 13 at 7pm. 

Members are invited to a preview for Women in Fair Trade Festival at Mary Whorley’s house at 3344 Eanes School Road on Friday November 21 from 12-2pm. The Fair takes place on Saturday and Sunday. For more information see www.atcf.org. 

The Annual Rollingwood Holiday Christmas Light Contest is next month with awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. 

Kelly Dixon, The President and Debbie Dillon volunteer to assemble holiday baskets for City staff, police and maintenance teams. This annual gift is financed by RWC. The President motioned to approve an amount not to exceed $400. Catherine Scott makes a motion and Christi Savarece seconds. 

Beverly Hamilton, Executive Director of Austin Diaper Bank spoke about her organization, which provides diapers for children in need. Members brought packages of diapers in support. Ways to support include financial assistance, diapers or for people to host a diaper drive at home or at their pre-school. http://www.austindiapers.org/

Open Issues: City of Rollingwood came forward asking for money for an addition $140 for signage in addition to the $100 pledged last year by RWC. Christie Savarece made a motion Amy Rung seconds it. Motion passes unanimously. 

New Business: For 2014, City Hall has requested a custom-made Rollingwood doormat for front door, as well as four window shades totaling $2,195. There was discussion if making such a donation could be overstepping our status as a 501 c3 because it may not directly beautify city and impact citizens. Some members of the board fear such a gift could jeopardize RWC’s tax-free status.  Also, some members thought the doormat could be purchased much more cheaply with out the Rollingwood seal on it. The President proposes to investigate the nomination of fund disbursement for the City of Rollingwood meeting under 501c3 designation until January. Sandra Farrell makes a motion. Becky Kittleman seconds it. 

Rollingwood Community Garden, represented by Becky Combes for request of funds for to replace old wooden beds with improved beds, upgrade and clean chimney swift tower and a wheelbarrow. 

Toni Hudson from the Parks Commission first asked members for suggestions on what to do with the old playscape, which is ending its usability, but may be of some value to others. Parks Commission asks RWC for a donation to replace the lower playscape decking which is possibly a carcinogenic. Proposed to replace it with shredded wood, which would cost  $7,000.  Next, she noted that “Dino” the purple dinosaur has been repaired many times, but is in need of replacement, which is estimated to cost $900. Lastly, she noted two trees behind field house have temporary and unsightly tree wells. The Parks Commission asks for $8,600 to erect a safety fence around the trees.  

Noting that the Treasurer recommended RWC limit gifts to $15,000 this year, the tree wells were rejected because of insufficient funds.

Leah Paulo proposed putting a Free Little Library up at Rollingwood Park possibly to be placed near Community Bulletin Board. Toni Hudson makes a motion to allocate $500 in the budget and Heidi Smith seconds. Motion carries. 

The President tallied the request for gifts for $14,955. In Total the Requests for Gifts are:

$400 for Gift Baskets for the City

$140 for city sign

$2,195 City Hall for Rollingwood doormats and shades, not including shipping and handling on the shades

$3,820 Garden Club

$7,900 Parks Commission 

$500 for Free Little Library

Catherine Scott makes a motion to approve all requests from the Rollingwood Garden Club. Amy Rung seconds. Motion passes. 

Kristie makes a motion to replace rubber decking on lower level of the playground. Rosanne Ferraro seconds. Discussion concerning the urgency of replacement ensues. Maria Abernathy offers to research topic for the January meeting. Natasha Harris makes motion to amend motion to approve decking for lower playground. Heidi Smith seconds it, but the proposal is unapproved. RWC instead votes on the amended proposal the to give the money to the Parks Commission if the research bares out in January. Motion passes. 

Sandra Farrell makes a motion to pay for replacing Dino, Shanthi Jayakumar seconds it. Motion carries. 

The President adjourned the meeting at 9:20pm.

Minutes submitted by Kelly Dixon

Minutes approved by Marissa Mireur

Photos of the old playscape in the Upper Level of Rollingwood Park

Photos of the old playscape in the Rollingwood Park. Available to a good home! contact Toni Hudson (tonihudson2904@att.net) if you know of an interested party. 

Photos from November 18, 2014 RWC Meeting

Photos from November 18, 2014 RWC Meeting, Annual Charity Drive featuring Austin Diaper Bank and Nomination and Voting of Funds. Speaker Beverley Hamilton. 

Notes from RWC History

Shanthi Jayakumar, RWC Historian 1994- 10-28-2014

1968-69:

RWC PROGRAMS 1968-2014

1. The club starts an “Informal Gathering” in the Fall. This later became the Wine & Cheese party.
2. Member Caroline Marble presents a program of slides of Cambodia where her family had resided for many years.
3. Speaker Mark Levburg of the Austin chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union shared the work and purposes of the organization.
4. Program was a presentation by VISTA Volunteer Lynda Gonzales who spoke of her work in Manor.
5. Talent show was held at the Zilker Club house.
1970’s:

1. BookreviewbyFrankRichardson(U.TProfessor)of“AguidetorationalLiving”. Guest members included Senator and Mrs. Lloyd Doggett.
   
2. Talk by Mrs. Billie Coopwood (then administrative secretary to Sarah Weddington) on Women’s Legal Rights.
   

3. 3  Artist Dalhart Windberg demonstrated oil palette painting and painted “Hill Country Sunset”. He then donated the painting to the club. The club had a drawing with tickets sold at $1. The Capitol National Bank won the painting and donated it to the City. The Women’s Club made $2000 on the sale of this painting!
   
4. 4  Club sponsored a Talent Show at Westlake High School, held a garage sale and received donations to assist Tony Oates to attend Special Olympics for the deaf in Romania. She won Bronze for the U.S
   
5. 5  The club sent a letter of support to the newly formed “Now or Never” group that was actively working for the creation of the Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve. Martha Hudson and Flo Macklin were part of that group.
   
6. 6  Club donated water cooler, clock to City Hall.

7. 7  Special skit “Inside Rollingwood” was performed. Fund raising efforts included a garage sale, sale of spices, consignment clothing sale, year book ad sale and the painting sale raised over $3000 and added to the previous 3 year collection of $1700 helped the club pay for donation of furniture, ($1150) drapes ($600), the patio ($768), landscaping ($1000) to the newly built City Hall. The club also donated $ for Christmas gifts to 5 needy families in the Eanes school District.
   
8. 8  The Club starts an annual tradition (exact date unknown) of Halloween in Bandit’s cave courtesy of Lilian Crider who had bought the property in 1950 and preserved many of the relics in her antiquities store on Barton Springs Road. Crider sold the property to Velma and O.O. Shurtleff in 1978 and they invited the Women’s club to hold Halloween parties for the children complete with dry ice smoke and spooky stories as well as pumpkin decorating contests until 1988 when the cave property was sold to Dan McNamara a spelunker who closed the cave for fear of vandalism. Admission to the cave was 25cents. Kids 5and under came between 6-7 and older kids from 7-8. It is said that the cave runs under Rollingwood and gets its name from the bandits that hid out in it and who used to rob the wagons on the San Antonio Trail in the days before the Texas Revolution. Another tale gives the bandits credit for robbing the Texas Treasury of $17,000 worth of gold and silver coins and hiding in the cave. They were never caught and the loot was not recovered.
   
9. 9  In 1978, Hazel Maxwell starts the very 1st July 4th Parade to bring neighbors together and foster community. The parade had the fire truck, trash truck, decorated cars, decorated bicycles and yes, HORSES! When the parade began, the noise from the fire truck spooked the horses, sending them galloping in a frenzy all the way back to the stables on Bee Cave Road! Horses were outlawed after that!
   
10. 10  RWC organizes a Sampler Supper to fund raise for the club. Residents bring a casserole or covered dish (salad, dessert, vegetable or meat) and 10 copies of the recipe. Recipes were sold for 25 cents each. Anyone not bringing a dish donated $1. The club made over $50 in contributions and sale of recipes. All money went for the park fund.
    
11. 11  Discussion and approval on creating a park adjacent to City Hall in Rollingwood. City council donated $750 and the RWC had $270.
    

1980’s:
1 Tract of land being developed into a park “a tree at a time and a fence post at a time” and according to club president Hazel Maxwell (1978-79)“Our work on the

park is measured in inches right now. The next time it will be the full yard.” There
was only one lonely cottonwood at the time.

2. 2  Trees planted. Members serve as Volunteer Firemen and assist in rescue efforts in
   the flood of 1981.
   
3. 3  Some members raise funds for the park by collecting and recycling aluminum cans.
   
4. 4  Volunteer Fire Department barbecue supper to raise funds for firemen’s equipment.
   RWC contributes desserts.
   
5. 5  RWC and residents plant 22 trees in the park while Jess Walters sings “Trees”.
   
6. 6  May Day picnic 1985, the play scape ribbon cutting by mayor Harry Rogers
   
7. 7  RWC annual Christmas parties are held at City Hall.
   
8. 8  District Attorney Ronnie Earle speaks to the club.
   

1990’s:

1. Membershipduesgofrom$3to$5.Clubthemeis“womenworkingtogetherto promote social and educational activities for its members.
   
2. 1st “Yard-of- the-Month” contest with the purpose of raising awareness for the beautification of Rollingwood. A committee is formed and a sign is to be placed in the yard and name of recipient to be published in the Picayune.
   
3. ProgramsincludeXeriscaping,Women&Parenting,historyoftheEanesarea, Holiday party and Christmas decorating, a Spring style show and luncheon and a Community barbecue dinner for fund raising.
   
4. Clubpromotesthechanceto“meetneighborsdownthestreet,comparenoteson retirement, raising teenagers, dealing with toddlers, juggling a career and family.....something for everyone.”
   
5. SpeakerJodyConradt,U.TWomen’sathleticdirector.
   
6. SpeakerJohnDromgooleanexpertonorganicgardening.
   
7. SpeakerKathyCronkiteondepressionandherbook“EdgeofDarkness”.
   
8. SpeakerToodyByrdofWestlakeHighSchool.
   
9. TourofUmlaufSculpturegardensbydocentHazelMaxwell.
   

10.Club delivers 1st Christmas Goodie baskets to City Staff in 1995. 11.Exploring the Internet World and connections in cyber space. 12.Talk by Statesman columnist Jane Greig.
13.Tour of National Wildflower Center.
14.Adult and Child CPR demonstration.

15.RWC fundraises $ for the park by selling bricks at $100 each to be placed on a Commemorative pathway at the park. The enhanced Playscape is dedicated to the children of Rollingwood. Ribbon-cutting ceremony and a Octoberque dinner.
16.Programs on “Getting Organized”, Skin Care and on being Jewelry savvy. 17.Cooking with club member Marilyn Scher.
18.Tour of the Harry Ransom center with docent Ann Russell.
19.Program on the Faith Home for babies with AIDS.
20.Presentation on Wild Basin wilderness Preserve by Flo Macklin and Martha Hudson, two of the founding members.
21.Tips for creating a shade garden by members Mary Victor & Holly Salmon and All about Silver by member Bea Howe.
22.Introduction to Jewish traditions by club members.
2000’s:

1. RollingwoodushersinNewMilleniumY2KwithaBalloonDroponDecember31stat 3017 Hatley Dr
   
2. CookingmadeeasybyMarilynScherandanothervisitfromJaneGreig.
   
3. Bill&StephanieHammtalkondaughterandsoccergreatMiaHamm.
   
4. TourofGovernor’sMansion.
   
5. RWC’smajorfundraisingwith“DeckthePark”toraise$25,000.Fundraisingefforts
   were spear headed by Marilyn Kounnas, Sandra Farrell and Deb Celusniak with
   support of the entire RWC membership and the Rollingwood community.
   
6. AuthorSusieFlataupresentsherbook“FromMyMother’sHands”.
   
7. OtherprogramsincludeWomenandInvesting,SpringFashionsandgardeningtips.
   
8. 1st meeting in January 2002 with Mayor and City Council for updates on City
   matters.
   
9. SpringStyleShow.
   

10.Parenting and Children’s Behavior with practical parenting skills on redirecting
children’s behavior and solving conflicts at home and work.
11.Deck the park raises $25,000 for the park. Earlier the club had raised $16,000 over
the years of fundraising.
12.Club is invited to tour the home of James David owner of “gardens”. This home was
featured in a national magazine.
13. Walton’s Florist.
14.Wine Tasting with Austin Wine Merchant, The Cellar, Central Market, Twin Liquors.

15. Michael’s Holiday Decorating Demonstration.
16.25th Anniversary of July 4th celebrations and 1st certified 5K Run/Walk. 17.Dedication of the Park Pavilion.
18.Demonstration at Rowing Dock.
19.Southern Living explained.
20.Clothes at Nordstrom’s.
21. Memory Lane-talk by longtime residents.
22.Demonstration of how to make your own jewelry at BeadZ.
23.Yoga & Exercise by member Leticia Rodriguez
24.Cosmetic Dermatology.
25.Europe Travel.
26.Cooking demonstration at Whole Foods.
27.Jiu Jitsu Self Defense Demonstration.
28.Tour of Natural Gardener.
29.Women’s Health.
30.Kirk Tuck Photography.
31.Tour of Blanton Museum
32.Demonstration of how to make chocolate by the Chocolatier
33.Visit to Lilly Pulitzer Shop.
34.Green Neighbor Challenge by City of Austin.
35.Enhancing your Beauty- tips for make-up.
36.Healing with Acupuncture.
37.Decorating with Collectic Home Designs.
38.Progressive Home tours-new and remodeled.
39.Going Green with reusable bags.
40.RWC 50th Anniversary celebration.
41.Wardrobe Essentials at Nordstrom’s.
42.Beijing Olympics-a special report.
43.Women’s Health & Pilates.
44.Quick & Delicious meals with Cookwell & Company.
45.Décor & You interior decorating tips.
46.Progressive Home Tour
47.Dedication of Field House.
48.Book Swap.
49.Flashing lights in the rear view mirror: what to do if pulled over.

50.Tour of Sprout’s Farmer’s market store.
51.Tea Embassy and the art of tea making.
52.Antique linens-how to care for these.
53.Sustainable Food Center & Community Gardens.
54.Hospice : Life and Death preparedness.
55.Healthy French Cuisine with Chef. Alain Braux.
56.Train For The game Exercise and fitness.
57.Charity pajama party : donate for a cause.
58.Mindfulness: the art of Being Present with Dr. Allison Sallee. 59.Sustainable Gardening with Dick Peirce.
60.Self Defense for Women with Esther Robards-Forbes from The Picayune. 61.Interior Design and Decorating with Bay Hill design.
62.RWC Wine & Cheese with former Presidents attending.
63.Enneagram : study of personality types.
64.Tour of Trader Joe’s
65.Who’s Who in Rollingwood.
66.Charity pajama party: donate for a cause.
67.Private Tour of the State Capitol.
68.Finances and “Smart Women finish rich”.
69.Tour of Dell Children’s Hospital.
70.Holiday Shopping.
71.Cooking Class at Whole Foods Market.
72.JEI Design : Custom design concept.
73.BioMolecular Beauty at Westlake Faces: looking your best at any age! 74.My Fit Foods food tasting.
75.Miranda Darr, Fifth Avenue Club Consultant: how to audit your closet. 76.Antonelli’s wine & Cheese pairings.
77.Shopping at Sanctuary.
78.Exercise the Pure Barre way.
79.Dr. Glen Luepnitz on nutrition to deal with female Hormone fluctuations. 80.Discovering Your Memory Power.
81.Meeting at City Hall.
82.Vom Fass sampling of oils, vinegars and wines.
83.Exercise with personal trainer Josh Kintigh. 

The following remarks were delivered by Shanthi Jayakumar at the RWC Meeting 10/28/14

Shanthi Jayakumar, RWC Historian 1994- 10-28-2014

Rollingwood Women’s Club History

Thank you all for being here tonight. I have enjoyed serving as the historian for our club since 1994 and I am really excited about sharing some of the highlights of our club history with you. The scrapbooks that you see here are a record of most of the activities of the club since its founding in 1958. The books are just part of the story. What I am going to present to you has been compiled from various books, newspaper articles, visits to the archives at Eanes and the Austin history centers and of course from interviews that Flo Macklin and I conducted with longtime residents of our community. I really miss not having Flo here with us tonight, but she is home and getting better each day. I have shared the content of my presentation with her.
For tonight’s meeting, and in the interest of time, I have decided to share the basic highlights of the history of both the city and the club to show how intertwined the two have been for the last 50+ years. Even to this day, the shared goals are what make Rollingwood the envy of surrounding communities. Volunteerism and service to community has been the guiding principle for both entities. I hope you will leave here with a better understanding of how fortunate we all are to live in such a caring, friendly and supportive community. I hope we can foster the same for future generations.

Very briefly, a few notes on the land that Rollingwood sits on. Before he died in the Texas Revolution, Ben Milam sold the land to Henry P. Hill. In 1904, 1800 acres of land was bought by Condido Dellana who had immigrated from Italy in 1880 and had worked as a stone mason on the State Capitol building until its completion in 1888. In 1946, brothers A.B and George B. Hatley bought 300 acres from the Dellana ranch for $300 an acre. While A.B developed the land along the Colorado river with a main thoroughfare named Stratford Drive, George developed the inner portion of Rollingwood. Almost all street names in Rollingwood are named after members of the Hatley family and their friends. An interesting observation in one of the reference materials states that the Hatley brothers used a numbering system where one would go West to East, the other went East to West with no coordination. The Hatley brothers are reputed to have been rivals in business ventures! Their disagreements caused them to divide Rollingwood Drive with the North half being developed by George and the South by A.B who then divided the land into smaller lots to allow for more lots.
In 1955, the Village of Rollingwood was incorporated with Frank L. Scofield as its first mayor. There were only 28 homes in Rollingwood. Scofield recalled how the first city council operated for 3 years without any bookkeeping or organization. Then from 1958 -75, Clarence Wilson conducted city business from his home at 3202 Gentry Drive (currently the home of Steve Wertheimer). Elected officials and residents met in private homes or in downtown Austin buildings to conduct city business.

Let me digress and share some anecdotes of the early days as shared by Frank L. Scofield the first mayor of Rollingwood and by his son Frank Scofield .

Frank Scofield the son wrote “I remember meetings between my father and a lot of other men taking place in our living room. My mother explained that the men were upset that the City of Austin might take us and charge a lot of money. As the years passed, there were a lot of meetings”. Again, Frank the son recalls, “I remember fewer deer than we deal with today. Probably due to the fact that the area west of Wallis supported at least 3 deer blinds during hunting season”.
Back to the city and another true story of what used to happen. All officers of the Village served without pay except for L.T. Gunn who served as Marshall and was paid $30 a month and given a whistle and had to use his own car to patrol the city.
Frank Scofield the first mayor who was also the acting judge, relates this story. “Hatley Drive (aka Roller Coaster Alley) had another hill where it crosses Riley. It was a steep slope on the approach drive and a steep drop off on the Vale side. The kids would come out here on weekends in their automobiles and ride the hill like a ski jump. They would speed down Hatley, get airborne when they jumped the hill and crash down in front of Dean Johnston’s front door (2500 Hatley). Lt. Gunn and myself would catch them and give them a ticket. The next week when they came in to pay the ticket, they were surprised to find out that I was also the acting judge and they would be asked to do community service”. After many such incidents, the city appropriated funds to dynamite the hill and you can see the cut-away in front of Harry Roger’s home (2600 Hatley).
Hatley Drive was also the birthplace of the Rollingwood Women’s Club. While the men were planning and organizing the city, four women met in 1958 on the porch of Alice Scofield’s home at 2403 Hatley Drive (currently the home of Kelly Dixon) and formed the Rollingwood Women’s Club. Besides Alice Scofield, the other women were Mrs. Maggie Gunn (wife of Lt. Gunn), Mrs. Marge Chinn and Mrs.Billie Johnston (whose front door was where the cars would land after crashing) that started the club “to promote friendship and assist in the functioning of the newly incorporated city”.

At the club’s first meeting in September 1958, there were 37 charter members. Of those, only Betty Etier still lives in the city. Mrs. Etier interviewed by the Picayune in 2008, recalled that in 1958 there were about 80 homes scattered among beautiful oak trees and young families flocked to the community to raise their children (we seem to be repeating that currently!). She continued to say “we had a lot of kids and a lot of parents, and nobody knew anybody. We were scattered and we decided we needed to know each other.” Before long, members knew the names not only of their neighbors, but also that of the dogs, cats and birds that resided with them.

1959: The first yearbook a black spiral notebook 4 1⁄2” x 6”was printed with the Charter and the Club Constitution. The directory had a listing of 89 members. Article 2 read “The object of this club shall be the advancement of ways and means to make our neighborhood more attractive in which to live, the encouragement of beautification, and having the welfare of the families at heart, to plan and carry through parties and other forms of entertainment at specific times such as Halloween and Christmas. Also to assist our Mayor and Council in any way possible to help carry on projects of value for all concerned in Rollingwood. It is also the object of the Club to have at least two family picnics each year in order that everyone will be privileged to know one another, and as families move into our neighborhood to bring them together.” Annual dues were set at $2 ( raised to $3 in 1961 and then after 25 years went to $5 in 1983 and to $10 in 1996 currently $20) and it was decided that the Club would meet once a month, the Fourth Tuesday night at 8 PM, in the homes of volunteers unless otherwise ordered by the Club President. Club activities were listed as Socials namely a Halloween Party, Christmas Open House, a Christmas decorating contest and an Appreciation dinner in May. Besides these socials, the club programs in 1959 included a White Elephant sale, Hawaiian Travelogue, Book review, Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations, Well Grooming, and Landscaping.

1962-63: Bake sales, Garage sales and Talent Shows were the primary means to raise funds for the Club. There were Tasting Parties at which recipes were sold for 25cents a copy!
1965-66: The club added rock planters and the ROLLINGWOOD sign at the entrance to the city on Rollingwood Drive. The women placed rock and gravel in the planter, added expensive cacti and these were immediately stolen. They replaced the cacti and those were stolen as well. Finally, the women scrounged plants from their own yards and these thrived. They repainted the lettering. The next week, a gravel truck swerved demolishing the Southern rock wall!

FUND RAISING & RWC : Some highlights
The early years were about fund raising for all causes. Everything had to be paid for by volunteer effort. I will give you some of the most significant namely the $ raised to pay for building City Hall and the $ that paid for the furnishings at City Hall. Most of the $ came from membership dues, garage and Bake sales, sale of recipes, Halloween Bandits cave, Sampler Supper, barbeque dinners and aluminum can recycling.
*At this point I would like to share some incidents as related by Helen Shaw who was RWC president from 1970-71 and the first woman mayor of Rollingwood from 1972-76.

Helen Shaw recalls, “I like to call the following incidents “growing pains” of the Village, but it was painful. The meeting room, wherever it was, was jammed, with people standing. Many times there were invitations to go to the parking lot and settle disagreements. Once it was declared that one vociferous person went after another with a gun, but it was not so.....The divisions among the council members were deep but somehow the Women’s Club pulled together in spite of the divisions among the men.”
Again, Helen Shaw writes, “ As the 1970 council took office they were shocked to find that there was not a bit of money in the coffer to run the city, so the men borrowed on short term notes from month to month to operate the most basic functions of the city. They also laid down some fine basis for a “Do it yourself” government”.
By this time the desire to have a city hall was in high gear. Rent was being paid to hold court at the Optimist Club building. Helen Shaw recalls “Two of us would go early to clean up the dirty plates left and toss out the beer cans before we could hold court. The court clerk (FLO MACKLIN for many years) sat with her back to a hole large enough for any amount of snakes to crawl through. The councilmen have done jobs themselves to save each penny we could and my house has been the municipal building and office to save a few dollars on rent. At the end of each year we have been very proud of what we saved to go into the building fund”. Finally Shaw who was mayor at this time writes that the bids that had come in to build city hall were just over what the city could afford but she says, “Then in one of the brightest days of my life, two things happened. I received a letter from Marge Loehlin (RWC president from 1968-69) saying that her committee appointed to raise funds for City hall could donate $1600. The next was that the Volunteer Fire Department sent a petition signed by all members that they desired to use all their County Revenue sharing money on the project. This put us over”. City hall was built debt free for $50,000. The community had saved and planned for 10 years to make this a reality. The RWC and the Fire Department had saved the day!

*Pat Caraway president of RWC writes how the club funded the city hall furnishings.


At a program in the new City hall, Artist Dalhart Windberg demonstrated the art of oil palette painting and painted “Hill Country Sunset”. He then donated the painting to the club. The club had a drawing with tickets sold at $1. The Capitol National Bank won the painting and donated it back to the City. The Women’s Club made $2000 on the sale of this painting! Look for the painting that hangs on the far wall at City hall.
Fund raising efforts included a garage sale, sale of spices, of consignment clothing, year book ad sale and together with the painting sale raised over $3000 and added to the previous 3 year collection of $1700 helped the club pay for donation of furniture of 50 folding chairs, 10 folding tables, one desk, 1 swivel chair, 4 side chairs and 4 file drawers ($1150) drapes ($600), the patio ($768), landscaping ($1000) and Official building plaque ($225) for the newly built City Hall. The club also donated $ for Christmas gifts to 5 needy families in the Eanes school District.
Since Halloween is just around the corner, I would like to share some stories of Bandit’s cave.
The Club started an annual tradition (exact date unknown) of Halloween in Bandit’s Cave located at the corner of Riley and Pickwick. Rollingwood resident Lilian Crider bought the property in 1950 and preserved many of the relics in her antiquities store on Barton Springs Road and she gave tours for many years. Crider also shared the cave with the Rollingwood community and each Halloween opened it to the Rollingwood Women’s Club. Crider sold the property to Velma and O.O. Shurtleff in 1978 and they continued the tradition and invited the Women’s club to hold Halloween parties for the children complete with dry ice smoke and spooky stories as well as pumpkin decorating contests until 1988 when the cave property was sold to Dan McNamara a spelunker who closed the cave for fear of vandalism. Admission to the cave was 25cents. Kids 5 and under came between 6-7pm and older kids from 7-8pm. It is said that the cave runs under Rollingwood and gets its name from the bandits that hid out in it and who used to rob the wagons on the San Antonio Trail in the days before the Texas Revolution. Another tale gives the bandits credit for robbing the Texas Treasury of $17,000 worth of gold and silver coins and hiding in the cave. They were never caught and the loot was not recovered.

*One of our TOP fund raising efforts since 1978 has been for our precious park. Some of you probably know that Hazel Maxwell started this project in 1978. Hazel started the project with $750 from the city and $270 from the club. There was just one lonely cottonwood tree on the tract of land being developed. The park grew “a tree at a time and a fence post at a time”. Members raised funds for the park by recycling aluminum cans, organizing a Sampler Supper with residents bringing a casserole or covered dish and 10 copies of recipes that were sold for 25cents each. At that event the club made over $50 in contributions and sale of recipes. All money went to the park fund. Later funding came from the sale of commemorative bricks in the 1990’s.In 2000 the Deck the Park project raised over $25,000 and was spearheaded by Marilyn Kounnas, Sandra Farrell and Deb Celusniak and the generous support of RWC and the Rollingwood community.

*The other major fund raiser and a highlight at the end of each year is the July 4th parade. This was started by Hazel Maxwell in 1978 to bring neighbors together and to foster community. The first parade had the fire truck “Big Red”, trash truck, decorated cars, bicycles and yes, HORSES! When the parade began, the noise from the fire truck spooked the horses, sending them galloping in a frenzy all the way back to the stables on Bee Cave Road. You are right, horses were outlawed after that!


Rollingwood and Volunteerism:
An article in The Picayune September 1987 sums it very appropriately: “If you need something done, chances are it can get done in Rollingwood. For 30 years, the residents of the community have been taking volunteerism to new levels. Rollingwood residents can tell countless stories of volunteerism. Chris Byrne battling the July heat and digging up rock to plant grass. Anderson used to recycle aluminum cans and use the money for park upkeep........Dick Brown mows the yard around the Municipal building....” Dozens of Rollingwood residents can be relied on to get the necessary jobs finished. James Boyce took down the ironwork

ROLLINGWOOD sign and reworked it -at his own expense. Corky Logue knocked down the dilapidated Optimists building-at his own expense. Hazel Maxwell summed it up “The only reward is gratification, and that seems to be plenty enough for Rollingwood volunteers.” People in Rollingwood have had that spirit for a long long time.
Some quick factoids to help re-create life in the early days:

•   Lots sold for $4000 each and there were only 150 people in the entire subdivision.
  
•   Taxes were high at $400 a year. A paving tax helped pave the streets.
  
•   There was no trash collection until 1960. Trash used to accumulate in open trash dumps.
  Residents of Westlake Hills, Lost Creek and Westwood had to seek out their own garbage collector and only Rollingwood had a contract with John Durbin who charged a fee of $4.95 a month for 3 pickups a week and a limit of 5 containers weighing less than 40 lbs a container. This continued until 1983 when the city contracted with Longhorn Disposal.
  
•   Water: until 1969 when the city entered into an agreement with Austin, water was provided by several companies with their own water wells. There was a water tower bearing the letters ROLLINGWOOD. That was located between Wallis and Almarion and most water pipes were purchased from Camp Swift the army base near Elgin.
  
•   Fire service: Until 1985, the city had a volunteer fire department and a city newsletter describes the department “as a motley group that consists of teenagers, retirees, doctors, dancers, civil servants, red-necks, accountants and even a little old lady in tennis shoes”. Harry Rogers was fire chief in 1974 and for years all emergency calls 24/7 were handled by Harry’s wife Lavonne Rogers and their 3 daughters who attended to the phones and the CB radio and scanner. Funding for the fire department was from an annual barbeque at which the RWC provided desserts.
  
•   City Hall: Finally in 1975 after years of planning, saving and raising funds, a City Hall was built in 120 days at a cost of $50,000 and the project did not incur any debt.
  I would like to share some insights about the Volunteer Fire Department. This is from the Picayune of April 21, 1977. “Mischief (for Mrs. Chief) will give a few womanly remarks about the Rollingwood Volunteer Fire Training session last Saturday. It was cold and work! As half of us worked getting more proficient on working the controls on the fire truck, the other half
  brushed up on raising and handling the very heavy wooden ladder. Learning team work and the SOP of doing each thing takes practice! The ladies, as they took their turns on the ladder, huffed and puffed and swore that there certainly was a place for the men and that none of us was really ever a woman’s libber. One observation: men will often stand and kick the dirt and remain silent when in a group, but the ladies-they immediately start comparing the uniforms, how big the waist, that none can be found for the dainty, petite little Fire Persons, and that some coveralls are a sparkling white and some a tell-tale grey.” Jokes aside, these men and women risked their lives to keep the community safe. Harry Rogers who was fire chief almost lost his life on several occasions while attempting to rescue motorists whose vehicles had been swept into the flood waters on Rollingwood Drive near Barton Springs Road before that bridge was built.

Thank you for your interest in this presentation. A quick word on the books displayed. I have brought a sampling of the books starting with book 2. I started as historian in 1994. We have a total of 11 books. I am on my 8th book. We have more activities and I have been including more pictures and clippings from the paper on the club events and the books are huge! I would like inputs from members whether you would like to go DIGITAL starting next year since we have the capacity to do that via our website.
Please consider this as part 1 of our exploration into the history of the club. I hope you leave here with a better appreciation for our club, where it was and where it has been. Now, it is up to each of us to renew our commitment to the club’s mission which is to foster friendships and care for the welfare of our neighbors and the community.
Thank you. -Shanthi.

References :

1. Eanes: Portrait of a Community. Linda Vance and Dorothy Depwe, 1986 (Taylor Publishing Company)
   
2. Picayune articles from various years.
   
3. Information gathered from personal interviews with longtime residents.
   
4. Documents and letters provided by longtime residents.