2019-2020 Club Officers:
- President -Bill Mitton
- Vice President - George Staley
- Secretary Treasurer - Rick Frels
Club History
As told by Charter Member and First President Robert Dravis.
In 1969 the National Woodcarvers Association (NWCA) bi-monthly
magazine Chip Chat printed a roster of all NWCA members by state. With this roster we were able to determine the members that lived in the Quad City area that had an interest in woodcarving. Cards were sent to these NWCA members stating that a meeting would be held at the home of Bob Dravis in East Moline, IL to see if there was enough interest in the Quad Cities to start a local woodcarving club. In early 1970, eight people attended that first meeting. For the next six months we met each month at various homes, which enabled us to see what types of carving were being done by area carvers. People attending the first meeting were: Meth Walters, Everett Traylor, Herman Reinders, Ralph Erickson, Roy Roba, Ralph Heuer and Bob Dravis. In September of 1970 our first meeting in the basement workshop at the Butterworth Center in Moline was held. At that meeting Bob Dravis was elected the first president of the club. We continued meeting at Butterworth Center until 1978 when our membership reached over 50 members. |
We were then forced to look for a larger meeting place and moved
to the Carriage House at the Deere-Wiman home. At one point, in 1980, we reached a membership of over 100 members. In 1984 the woodcarvers held a large one day woodcarving show in the music room at the Butterworth Center. Over 500 carvings were on display with over 450 people attending. In 1988 the local club was asked to sponser a tree each November at the Festival of Trees, held each year in downtown Davenport, IA, which became an annual event for the club with about 200 wooden ornaments carved for a tree each year. The first year the tree was purchased by Roy Carver of Muscatine, IA at a price of $5000.00. Our thanks to Bob Dravis for his input. Current MVWA Club meetings are held the 3rd thursday of each month at 6:30 pm at The First Presbyterian Church 777 25th ave East Moline il. Visitors and new carvers are welcome to attend. |
Past Club Presidents:
1970 - Present 1. Robert Dravis 2. Everett Traylor 3. Gina Dedecker 4. Michael Pierce 5. Rudy Casas 6. Bill Fisher 7. Marvin Wiederin 8. Larry Yudis 9. John Vrombaut 10. David Myers 11. Don Hultgren 12. Joanne Rumpza 13. Brian Jones 14. Rick Frels 15. Bill Mitton 16. Larry Westmorland 17. Laura Riech 18. Carol Leavey 19. Tim Johnson 20. Kendall Davis 21. Bill Mitton |
Copyright Mississippi Valley Woodcarvers Association March
2008-14 All rights reserved.
2008-14 All rights reserved.