History

The Minquadale Ladies Auxiliary was organized in1951 by County President, Mrs. Nan Law Woods as the presiding officer.  The first election of officers was held on March 20, 1951 with Theresa Walker being elected president. The charter closed that night with 46 charter members.  Of the founding charter members, there are two still with us today; Florence Drummond and Dot Eastridge.

In 1951 Florence Drummond, Dorothy Eastridge, as well as Irene Hojnicki joined the Auxiliary.  As of 2009 these three ladies have 59 years of volunteer service with the auxiliary.

In August of 1951 we joined the Ladies Auxiliary of New Castle County and the Delaware Volunteer Fireman’s Association Ladies Auxiliary with dues being $3.00 and $2.00 respectively.

On July 1, 1958 the first junior girls age 13 were voted in  Joanne Karmanski (Prentice) (deceased), Patsy Ellis (McNeal), Jacqueline Ford, Eugenia Thompson (deceased), and Ann Marie Carello (Tulowitzki). Two of them are still in our Auxiliary, Patsy and Ann Marie.

We currently have 98 members and 4 junior members.  A total of 51 of the Ladies are Life Members of the organization.

During the past 58 years the ladies have catered many functions to raise money; some of these activities include fairs, weddings, banquets, anniversary and birthday parties, State of Delaware Seminars, WAWA manager meetings, Bake Sales, and New Castle County Council Dinners.  We have raised over 1 million dollars through the years catering these functions.

We have joined our men at conventions/conferences winning 1^st place the past five years in a row. Have also won 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place in previous years.  We are proud of the accomplishments and trophies won throughout the years. As far as State Auxiliary history there has never been an Auxiliary in the state to surpass this milestone of winning five years in a row.

During the years several ladies have served as officers at the County and at the State level.  PP Doris Carello (deceased) and Joanne Tulowitzki have held the office of President of the County and the State Associations.  Carol Johnson has held the office of County President and will achieve the goal of State President in 2012.  Jane Williams has held the office of NCC Secretary, State Assistant Secretary, and is currently the LADVFA Secretary and Secretary for our own auxiliary for the past 20 years. We are very proud of all of their accomplishments.  Many of our members have served on numerous committees for the county as well as the state associations.

At the 2000 conference in Dover, Irene Hojnicki was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the LADVFA and then at the 2005 conference in Dover, Virginia (Ginny) Houck was the recipient of this award.  We are privileged to have these two ladies in our auxiliary and consider them our friends.

We have honored many ladies throughout the years as member of the year for outstanding and distinguished service to the auxiliary.  These ladies are: Theresa Walker, Doris Carello, Joanne Tulowitzki, Irene Hojnicki, Ginny Houck, Jane Williams, Debby Masten, Kathy Wagner (Deceased), Kathy Shaw, Carol Johnson, Dixie Karmanski (deceased), Elizabeth (Bick) Cockerill (deceased), Debbie Martin, Grace Martin, Angie Dziok (deceased), Mary Skibicki (deceased), Patty Addison, Cheryl Thompson and Stephanie Hojnicki.   These ladies received an engraved clock, 14 kt. gold rose and certificate for their accomplishment.  They are chosen by their peers to receive this honor each year at our annual Christmas party.

In April of each year our Men and Ladies continue the tradition of celebrating our year’s success by having our Annual Banquet.  At the Banquet the money that was raised throughout the previous year from the various fund raisers are presented to the Firemen by the Ladies Auxiliary.  The money is used for new equipment or restoration of our building.   

Our future is bright and full of promise in serving our brother firemen and community in volunteering and dedicating our lives to help others.  We are privileged in serving as volunteers for this wonderful organization.

In 2010 the current officers are Kelly Thompson, President; Kathleen Shaw, 1^st Vice President; Grace Martin, 2^nd Vice President; Jane Williams, Secretary; Debbie Martin, Assistant Secretary; Irene Hojnicki, Treasurer; Diane Torterotot, Assistant Treasurer; Lynn Pudvan, Financial Secretary; Marie Thompson, Assistant Financial Secretary. 

-Courtesy of Historian Sheila Fox