A Chanute Time Capsule: The Chanute Officers' Wives Club
The United States Air Force Officers’ Wives Club was started at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington D.C. on May 16, 1923. This new club included officers’ wives in the Air Service and U.S. Army. The club was called the Air Service Club until the late 1940s and early 1950s, at which it became known as the Officers’ Wives Club (OWC). This coincided with the Air Force becoming its own military branch, as opposed to part of the U.S. Army.
After World War II and its aftermath, the U.S. (and the OWC) became a part of the “Hat and Gloves Era.” This era, taking place in the 1950s, saw heightened etiquette that extended to the OWC, calling for a military wife to have charm and to uphold strict visual standards, including the wearing of hats and gloves in church, wearing long dresses at a formal dinner party, and to never extend invitations through husbands. This was clearly an age of propriety following the unstable years of World War II as well as a time that the Air Force recognized the importance of the wife in an officer’s career. During this time, the primary activities were centered around the home, including working at thrift shops, supporting the Red Cross, and being members of the PTA.
The early 1960s saw a continuation of the prim and proper nature of the 1950s, as the OWC maintained the protocol outlined in the 1950s. This protocol included focusing on respect in introductions (including not calling an officer’s wife by her first name, unless allowed to do so), instructing children in social courtesies, and keeping personal affairs private.
The United States saw a culture shock of the Vietnam War and the counterculture movement of the late 1960s. This period of transition created difficulties for the OWC, as the Vietnam War was met with anti-war sentiment. This caused problems for the wives and their husbands returning from the war, with one wife saying “I felt that I too had served a sentence" (Gabriel, 1985). By the end of the Vietnam War, the OWC looked very different from its inception 40 years earlier.
Despite all the changes brought on by the 1960s and the 1970s, in the late 1980s, the OWCs still existed around the country; and even the world. They hosted activities including art auctions, bingo, theater productions, jewelry sales, raffles, and charity balls, to name a few. The Chanute OWC picked apples for their homemade cider as a way to earn money for their activities. Despite this, the wives’ clubs still had to work to stay relevant into the 1990s, often dealing with the “genteel, hat-and-white-gloves stereotype” and the negative attitude from the husbands (Willis, 1989).
The Chanute Collection has information in the Clubs and Committees Collection about the Chanute Officers’ Wives Club, known as COWC, starting in the late 1980s. According to their 1986 constitution, the goal of the COWC was to “foster a spirit of good fellowship through the provision of social, cultural, and welfare activities among its members” and “to be organized for educational, charitable, and community purposes.” There were three types of membership, all of which are voluntary: Active, Associate, and Honorary.
Active members were wives of all military officers on active duty that were stationed at the Chanute Air Force Base. Associate members were wives of U.S Armed Forces Officers that live nearby but whose husbands were stationed elsewhere, as well as wives of retired officers, widows of officers, and adult female dependents of Chanute officers. Honorary members were invited by the honorary president “as deemed appropriate.”
The COWC was involved primarily in charity, as outlined by this welfare fund report. The COWC donated to various Air Force and armed forces organizations, including the Air Force Village, the Air Force Village Valentines, the Chanute Air Force Base (or CAFB) Family Services and Youth Center, and the Armed Forces YMCA. In addition to the armed services organizations, the COWC also donated to the Historical Society of the CAFB, the Red Cross, the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, and awarded an estimated $3,000 of scholarships.
Along with donating to various charities and organizations, the COWC also focused their attentions on the Health Care Consumer’s Advisory Council and the Youth Advisory Committee, the Family Action Information Board, and the Chanute Child Development Center as part of the Parent Advisory Committee. Their work on the Family Action Advisory Board (FAIB) included updates about their Thrift Shop as well as providing support and cookies for departing students. The Parent Advisory Committee included members of COWC that were parents of users of the Chanute Child Development Center. These family oriented charitable endeavors do parallel their 1950s counterparts, as their activities were centered around the home.
The Chanute Officers’ Wives Club played a key role in getting women involved on the base and involved in giving back to the community financially, through the running of programs, and being a part of various on-base committees. What makes this club interesting is that it shows a different view of life on the base from the people who lived with and supported the service members. It also provides a snapshot into different decades and eras in not only America in the 20th century, but also in women’s roles. A club like this in its early years relied heavily on women as homemakers, and while the later years did see some changes in this club’s activities, we ought to realize that the concept of this club in it of itself would look very different if it were created today.
Citations:
Gabriel, G. (1985). The History of the OWC Part II: The Unsung Heroine of the Vietnam War, Wahine.
Willis, G. (1989). Wives Clubs Work to Stay Relevant in the ‘90s, Air Force Times.