Women's Club marks 40 years of philanthropic work

Doris Rufener About 50 women gathered at the Westlake Village Inn recently to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Westlake Women's Club, a philanthropic nonprofit group that has raised thousands of dollars for local, regional and national charities.

Nine past presidents attended the breakfast that included speeches relating fond memories of the city's early days and the group's formation in 1968.

"I can hardly believe that 40 years have gone by since we sat in our new homes in Westlake and marveled at how lucky we were to live here," said Helene Ross, a former president.

Seated at tables decorated with balloons and cake centerpieces, the women listened as Ross described how residents formed the group to unite the neighborhood and to "give back" to the developing community.

In those days there was only one stoplight in the city, at Westlake Boulevard and Agoura Road. Westlake Lake was still being dug, and many city streets were still dirt roads.

"It was an exciting time," Ross said.

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES—Westlake Women's Club president Karen Bradley and past presidents Betty Horner, Elizabeth Lightfoot, Cate Brown, Trudy Heinzer, Doris Rufener, Norma Callero and Helene Ross gather at the Westlake Village Inn before the start of the club's 40th anniversary celebration on Oct. 14 in Westlake Village. The club's first event, a membership tea, attracted five people. A year later the group held its first fashion show, an event that has become an annual fundraiser attended by hundreds.

"I laugh when I think about our fashion shows today. It was so formal back then that we used only our husbands' names to identify ourselves," Ross said.

The cost to join the club was $25, considered a hefty sum at the time, said Dee Morrow.

"The club has been such a wonderful experience for me. I am so grateful for the wonderful friends I have made and continue to make," Morrow said.

Another event the club organized was an ecology fair put on by Westlake High School students. The club also held a doll fair and had a dollhouse raffle that was won by a boy.

"Fortunately he had sisters," Morrow said.

Doris Rufener joined the Westlake group in 1971. The club asked her to start a support program for a group of boys at Camarillo State Hospital. Rufener and other members visited regularly, bringing picnics and birthday gifts until the hospital closed in the 1990s.

"It was one of the things we loved doing the most," Rufener said.

When a Vietnamese refugee family relocated to Thousand Oaks, the Women's Club helped pay their living expenses, found the husband a job, furnished their apartment and secured a scholarship for one of the children at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The family returned to the club several times to keep members updated. The children eventually graduated from college, and the father opened his own business.

"We supported the family until they really got on their feet," Rufener said.

Rufener recounted other club efforts, including landscaping the 101 Freeway offramps at Lindero Canyon Road and Westlake Boulevard; supporting two local families through Habitat for Humanity; fundraising for Mary Health of the Sick nursing facility in Newbury Park and the Women's Resource Center in Thousand Oaks; and paying for the training and delivery of a guide dog for a visionimpaired Conejo Valley resident.

The club also awards thousands of dollars in scholarships each year to area high school seniors.

"We have done so much," Rufener said. "Our emphasis has changed a little bit, but we still are a wonderful service club."

Offshoots of the club include a working women's group that meets in the evenings and the Westlake Junior Women's Club, which holds its own fundraisers and special events.

In addition to Rufener and Ross, other past presidents in attendance were Elettra Sorrentino, Norma Callero, Liz Lightfoot, Cate Brown, Trudy Heinzer and Betty Horner. The current president is Karen Bradley.

"Pat yourselves on the back whether you were a president or not. It couldn't have been done without you," Bradley said.

Sorrentino drove from her home in Palm Springs to celebrate the milestone.

"You are still going strong. I am really proud," said Sorrentino, who led the group from 1992-94.

The club now has 89 members, with new members continuing to join, Heinzer said.

"If God gives you a few things you should give back," said Heinzer, who left the club when she and her family moved to the East Coast in 1986 before returning in 1997.

"The friends you make in this club are for a lifetime."

The group will hold its annual holiday tea at 10 a.m. Fri., Nov. 7 at the North Ranch Country Club.

The event is open to the public. Tickets are $65. For more information, call (818) 991-2790.