Voices of the Past
AMD: When did you join the club?
MMA: Around 1960 or 1961. Bill joined before me, and then I joined a couple years later. I never wanted to join at first, totally wasn’t interested.
AMD: Why weren’t you interested?
MMA: I just never had any need to join the club. I did my thing at the time and he did his thing. It was for work anyways.
AMD: Why did you originally join?
MMA: The bank that Grandpa worked for wanted him to join for social reasons. They paid for our membership for 2 years, but after that Grandpa wanted to pay for it himself because we both played golf. He was of course better but I was learning and wanted to use it more than just for social dinners and lunches. Grandpa didn’t think it was fair for the bank to pay for the membership.
AMD: First memory at the club?
MMA: Seeing how beautiful the course was when Bill first took me. Once Bill was president we would go out to dinner for business purposes and being one of the only women in the dining room. Then I worked with a woman at Berkshire Life that played golf and took lessons at the club, so I signed up for lessons also and we started to form a group that played golf.
AMD: Did you ever see anything at the club you disagreed with?
MMA: I didn’t disagree with things, but there were limitations on what women could do and could not do.
AMD: Tell me about you closest friends at the club?
MMA: The Athertons, Nuciforos, Opies, Welchs, Garavaltis, Manatis and the Burbanks. They were business friends of Grandpa’s. We are still all very close today.
AMD: When did Grandpa become president? What was it like during elections?
MMA: Grandpa was president in 1976 and 1977. They didn’t have elections; the board of trustees appointed people. They asked Grandpa to be president. It was an honor to be asked.
AMD: What was it like having your husband as president?
MMA: No different. People didn’t come to me to ask for things or say what they didn’t like. They respected Grandpa and didn’t use me to get to him.
AMD: Did Grandpa becoming president change him as a person at all?
MMA: No, not at all.
AMD: Is there anything you can remember that Grandpa struggled with being president?
MMA: Yes – there were members that didn’t like the changes that Grandpa wanted to make, but they weren’t really vocal about it. Some left, but he would always say, “let them go.”
AMD: What were some of the biggest issues in the club?
MMA: Membership was down in the early 70’s, and they were not allowing people in from other races and religions. The country club was predominately white. Also known as WASP. White Anglo Saxon Protestant. Grandpa was very strong in supporting people from different races and religions in becoming members. We had very close friends that were turned down 2 or 3 times from getting in as members. They were Greek and Jewish. Grandpa and Mr. Atherton worked very hard at changing that, and when they were both president, they made it clear that it was going to change and those friends were voted into the club. They were grateful for Grandpa’s voice. Grandpa also changed the policy of eating in the “grill room” originally just for men, but Grandpa changed that so women could go to dinner on Friday nights and eat with their husbands. He also changed the rule of women playing golf on the weekends. He changed it so they could play after 12:00. Before that they were not allowed to play on the weekends.
AMD: Anything you disagreed with that Grandpa did for the club?
MMA: No – not at all.
AMD: Where there certain members that didn’t like Grandpa?
MMA: No – they may not have like his ideas of changing the memberships and allowing people from other races and religions in – but they respected him enough not to challenge him.
AMD: How do you want people to remember Grandpa?
MMA: As someone that changed the history of the Club in the 70’s to accept people from all different backgrounds.
AMD: Three words to describe Grandpa?
MMA: Good to people! I love him!
AMD: What was the club like once Grandpa passed away?
MMA: It was the same, although more families that joined had wives that worked and also people joined from New York City that had summer homes in the Berkshires so they were not around as much in the winter.
AMD: Has anything changed since he’s been gone, both good and bad?
MMA: Nothing major. The culture of the Club has changed with younger members, both parents working, not the formal cocktail parties and dances on weekends. More casual atmosphere.
AMD: Anything you miss about what Grandpa did for the club, that’s not there now?
MMA: No.