Women of Gleaner
The Wainwright home. Mrs. Wainwright and her three children were supported by Gleaner arbors after Fred Wainwright’s death.
1919 and 1920, Gleaner members pushed for passage of the 19th Amendment in Midwest state legislatures. Gleaner members also worked together to help families in need. One example of compassion is found in the story of the “Wainwright Fund.” In 1898 Fred Wainwright applied for membership in the Protection Arbor and a $1,000 certificate. His application was sent to Caro but held pending his initiation. A “fearful storm” prevented him from attending the initiation and before the next meeting could be held, he died, leaving a wife and three children. Although the order had no legal obligation, 350 arbors and individuals donated more than $1,000 to pay the certificate. Similar examples of Gleaner generosity are found in old copies of The Gleaner publication.
Elfa L. Munn For more than 40 years, Elfa Munn served the Society as a reliable leader in an era when few women — let alone farm wives — were executives. She was elected to the Executive Committee as Supreme Chaplain in 1914, then ascended to the Supreme Council where she served from 1916 until finally resigning in 1955. During that span she helped oversee the Gleaner Memorial Home from its creation, even serving as its matron from 1937 until its sale in 1942, and continued to take interest in members of “the Home Family.” She also was one of three members of a budget committee created in 1936 to help the Society cut costs to cope with the Great Depression.
Years of Rapid Growth
Elfa Leila Meyers was born Dec. 8, 1875, in Barry County, Michigan. She married Arthur H. Munn on March 22, 1905, began farming outside Grand Ledge, Michigan, and joined the Society’s Oneida Center Arbor in 1911. In addition to their work, she and Arthur enjoyed fishing at a summer cabin located at Fife Lake until his death in 1933. She remained on the Supreme Council until the year before her brother’s death.
At the end of 1898 there were 301 arbors in the Society, all in Michigan, and none farther than 75 miles from Caro. On March 27, 1899, Ohio issued an insurance charter, the first outside of Michigan. Organizers had been busy in the state for some time, and Brooklyn Arbor near Toledo became the first out-of-state unit in May of 1899. Within a year there were 10 other Ohio arbors in Lucas and Wood counties. The Indiana charter was issued by the state in March of 1900 and soon there were 13 arbors in Steuben and LaGrange counties. Berkey, Rochester and
Elfa Munn died Oct. 25, 1964, in Lansing, Michigan, and is buried next to her husband in Charlotte’s Maple Hill Cemetery. “She has built herself a special niche,” President R.G. Ransford wrote, “not only in the annals of Gleanerism, but in the hearts of all who were privileged to know her.”
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