University women’s group celebrates 75 years in Longmont

Seventy-five years ago, 51 women came together in Longmont with one goal — to make the community a better place.

More than seven decades later, that group — the local branch of the American Association of University Women — is still working to improve people’s lives through gender equality and advocacy, said Linda Davies, co-president of the Longmont chapter.

“It’s always been about women, and equity,” Davies said. “We are activists in a good way — we help to solve problems, help fund local causes and bring an awareness to issues that need to be addressed in our community.”

There are 12 branches of the association in Colorado, in addition to both a statewide and national umbrella organization, which include nonpartisan public policy teams.

“The teams will talk about what initiatives are being taken up legislatively here within the state, and what we can do as a branch to continue to advocate for women,” Davies explained.

The Longmont chapter was started in 1947, and has kept archives ever since, she said. Those historical records include many references to improving the ‘status of women’ — a mission that hasn’t changed, Davies explained.

“In the early 50s, it was maybe women who were at home raising their children,” she said. “These were women who had college degrees, and they wanted to be active within the school district, and making changes.”

The members knew what was going on in their community, and found their voices were stronger together, Davies said.

“At one point, some were like, ‘you women need to back off, because you’re being perceived as this pushy group of women, and you’re overeducated,’” Davies laughed. 

But the women didn’t give up, and eventually, local and state governments began to rely on the club to organize vaccine clinics, help students with special needs, fundraise for community programs and create educational initiatives, Davies explained.

“I’m proud to say that they were true activists in the sense of making sure they were supporting the content in the library — they were supporting study guides in the library and they had career information for young women,” she said.

That mission to help young women continues to the present day, said Wanda Schnabel, who is also co-president of the Longmont chapter.

“We fund scholarships every year — two to three and sometimes four, depending on our fund availability, and those are to St. Vrain district graduates,” Schnabel said.

The Longmont chapter also helps students by shopping for and stocking the student food pantry at the Front Range Community College.

“They’ve been able to tell us things they’re short on — sometimes it’s things like yogurt, things like hamburger — things that the students, who need to make use of their pantry, can use,” Schnabel said.

The chapter works to educate its members and teach them how to ignite change by contacting state legislators. Over the past few years, the group has focused on diversity and how to best support people of color, Schnabel explained.

“After the George Floyd incident, we formed this group called the Racism Study Group, and they spent a year reading and learning about all kinds of things,” she said. “We all needed to know more.”

And that quest for education and learning will continue to bring the American Association of University Women together for many years to come, Schnabel said.