There are banquets given for captains of industry who fund hospitals, libraries and stadiums. Their names often become household words.
The Salt Lake Council of Women will meet at Little America Hotel on Friday, Feb. 26, for another type of banquet. The evening - titled "Tapestry of Their Lives" - will honor the collective contributions of seven women being inducted into the council's Hall of Fame. The commodity these women gave, and continue to give, is not measured in monetary units. It is time - the "stuff life is made of," to quote Benjamin Franklin - about 315 years of it altogether.There are 48 women's clubs represented by the Salt Lake Council of Women, and every five years seven club members are inducted into the Hall of Fame for exemplary voluntarism. Here are the names of the 1993 inductees and brief capsules of their accomplishments:
Ruth Ellen Rands
Ruth Ellen Rands lost her parents and grandparents by the time she was 18 years old. Instead of feeling cheated, she has spent a lifetime giving love to others. A USO volunteer during the war, Rands took the Red Cross nurse's aide course and volunteered at LDS Hospital. She had such a touch with babies that she was asked to work at the hospital. She saved her money and bought squeak toys for the infants, matching dresses for twins and gifts for the siblings of a family with little money, even paying taxi fare for a mother who would have had to walk to her home.
A member of the Business & Professional Women of Salt Lake, Ladies Literary Club, Pioneer Theatre Guild, General Federation of Women's Club, United Nations Council and Daughter of Utah Pioneers, Rands has also volunteered for the American Lung Association and was honored as outstanding volunteer for the Utah chapter. She has devoted longtime service to the LDS Church, the Red Cross and Alpha Iota Business national scholarship sorority. Rands has been a volunteer for an amazing 60 years.
Beverly Brown Glauser
Beverly Brown Glauser can be found every Thursday with the Assistance League's singing and dancing group ACT III, performing at retirement centers, hospitals and nursing homes, and has also volunteered at the league's Thrift Shop. For 35 years she has worked on cancer, heart, muscular dystrophy and diabetes neighborhood drives. Glauser belongs to the Neighborhood Garden Club, the Utah Symphony Guild, the University of Utah Museum of Fine Arts, the Arthritis Foundation, the Pioneer Theatre Guild, Utah Opera Guild and American Cancer Society Road to Recovery Program - providing transportation for patients to and from treatment.
Music and education have not been slighted during Glauser's 58 years of volunteer service. She has been an LDS Church organist for 55 years and shared her musical talents with many denominations throughout the greater Salt Lake area. Glauser served for 10 years on the board of directors of the University of Utah Emeritus Alumni Association and won the Merit of Honor award in 1991. She also served on the U.'s Women's Association board and the Salt Lake Council of Women's advisory board.
Alice Fumiyo Iwamoto Kasai
Alice Fumiyo Iwamoto Kasai must have started her volunteer work as a tot to have compiled 55 years' worth of service. From working with the Japanese American Citizens League on the district, state and national levels to serving in PTA and as coordinator for West High School and Kennecott, bringing together employees to give personal assistance to students failing in math and English. Kasai chaired the citizenship and international relations committee of the Utah Council of Parents and Teachers.
Kasai has shared her time with Gov. Calvin L. Rampton's advisory committee, the Asian Association of Utah (serving nine Asian nationalities), Salt Lake County Aging Services, the Utah Department of Health Ethnic Minority Program, KRCL Radio as vice president and coordinator for "Asian Chimes," the United Nations Association of Utah, Civil Rights Organization and the Asian Elderly Program. She serves as an interpreter for Japanese elderly in hospitals, nursing homes and such, and is presently assisting a group of 55 Tibetans.
Vervene (Vee) Carlisle
Businesswoman Vervene (Vee) Carlisle didn't get to start her volunteer career quite as early as many of her co-inductees. Carlisle's father died when she was 17 as she was finishing high school. She became sole support for a family of seven before taking time for her own life. Listed in "2,000 Notable American Women" and "Who's Who in the West," Carlisle served in the Utah House of Representatives during the 1970s, where she fought for historic preservation, women's credit, affirmative action, and environmental and neighborhood legislation.
In her spare time, Carlisle managed to serve with the League of Utah Consumers, the Zonta Club, the advisory board of the School of Social Work at the University of Utah and Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, and chaired the Women in Business Committee. Add the Ballet Guild, the Opera Guild, the League of Women Voters, the Public Relations Society of America, the Utah Girls Scouts Council, KTVX News advisory board, editorial board for the Salt Lake Tribune's Common Carrier, the Utah Heritage Foundation and the National Exchange Club, among many others.
Hazel Parry Harrison
For 42 years, Hazel Parry Harrison has quietly gone about serving her community. She served on the Women's State Legislative Council, chaired the International Peace Gardens, served the Mental Retardation of Utah organization, and was a member of the Private Industry Council and Utah Youth Village, where she organized mailings, was hostess for open houses and assisted in quilt making. She visited rest homes with food baskets and magazines and made dolls and blankets for unwed mothers at University Hospital with the Women of the Moose Club.
Harrison also volunteers for the Department of Social Services, monitoring two group homes for the handicapped and/or mentally impaired. She belongs to the American Association of Retired People, the Salt Lake Safety Council, the Flora Culture Garden Club and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers.
Arletta Lemmon Elton
Arletta Lemmon Elton can count 37 years of volunteer service, but there isn't enough space on this page to list all her community service. She has been a volunteer for the Utah Lung Asso-ci-a-tion, Utah Heart Association, Easter Seals, Cancer Society, Red Cross and Primary Children's Medical Center. Through the Sugarhouse Business and Professional Women's Club she has donated time, clothing and cosmetics to the youths at the Salt Lake Detention Center for Girls, as well as helping to find bedding and furniture for the center.
In 30 years with the Salt Lake Council of Women she has chaired many conservation and ecology workshops and worked on safety legislation, pushing for safety restraints for Utah's children. As a member of the Women's Safety Council she has lobbied for legislation regarding drunken driving. Her LDS Church service includes Sunday School, Primary and Young Women classes as well as participating in many singing groups. Her hand-made gifts are given away as fast as she can make them.
Marjorie Williams Laughlin
For 40 years Marjorie Williams Laughlin has volunteered in PTA, the Salt Lake Council of Women, at the Salt Lake Detention Center and at Utah Youth Village. With 17 years of volunteering at the Detention Center, Laughlin used her experience to help build the Utah Girls Village, serving on the policies and procedures committee for the facility. She sought funding and materials to build the village's homes and has served on the governing board of trustees for 23 years.
Laughlin has served as a member of the CPA Auxiliary since 1945 and also worked on the Christmas Santa Claus parade for the Jaycees Auxiliary. She has learned about legislation to help children and youth on the Women's Legislative Council. Her "tens of thousands" of volunteer hours have reached beyond teaching young girls to quilt to showing them that someone does care.
The "Tapestry of Their Lives" program recognizing the Hall of Fame Honorees will begin with a reception at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, at the Little America Hotel, with dinner at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $26 per person. RSVP Nola Parry at 268-0888.