VFW Post 943 Auxiliary
Officers
President Vicki Krug
Senior Vice Barbara Turner
Junior Vice Patricia Montgomery
Treasurer Deanna Ekholm
Secretary LouAnn Densmore
Chaplain Barbara Bulfinch
Conductress Sharon Kozak
Guard Melvin Swartz
Asst. Guard Deanna Ekholm
Trustees
1 Yr. Mary Jo Gill
2 Yr. David Kozak
3 Yr. Linda Gray
Patriotic Instructor Barbara Bulfinch
Historian LouAnn Densmore
History of VFW Auxiliary 943
In January of 1933, one year after VFW Post 943 was chartered, 13 women met at the YMCA on Park Avenue to form an Auxiliary to that Post. On February 2, 1933 the Auxiliary was instituted and officers were installed with Gertude Shaw being the first president. When the charter was closed at a later date there were 35 members.
The Auxiliary went to work assisting the Post with Buddy Poppy distribution on Memorial Day and also hosted card parties and raffles to help raise money for this very worthy program.
The Auxiliary collected food and clothing to help families in Ohio and Pennsylvania during the raging floods of 1936 They were the first to distribute flags to local schools and formed a drill team that was considered one of the best in our area, performing in nearly all parades. Their first Christmas party entertained approximately 200 children.
At this time, we were in District 8, with Kathryn Laskey serving as president. Since then, we have joined District 7 and proud to state we have had 6 sisters serve as our District president - Mary Palmer 1961-62; Edith Leonardson 1970-71; Grace Somon 1975-76; Susan Tucker 2002-03; Faye Olin 2005-06; and Mary Kay Sawicki 2015-16.
Under our former name VFW Ladies Auxiliary, membership within the organization was offered exclusively to female spouses and family members of any member of the VFW. The gender-specific eligibility requirement remained in effect for more than 100 years until July 20, 2015, when delegates to the VFW's 116th National Convention voted to amend the dated by-law to extend same membership opportunity to eligible males.
To date, we have 358 members in our organization, 88 of those members being male. .