A brief history of KEO Club, Group D, 1968-1976, Columbus, Ohio

In a 2012 blog I mentioned our KEO Club in noting the obituary of Judge Duncan who had been a guest speaker at one of our get togethers. At that time I didn’t have or hadn’t found any documentation, but now I have.  This is what I wrote in 2012.

“Back in the late 60s and early 70s, we belonged to an interracial couples group called Know Each Other (KEO).  It was modeled on the First Community Church Couples Circles plan, but instead of church membership it consisted of 5 white couples and 5 black couples. The membership was quite fluid with divorces, career changes and relocations and people moving on to other activities, but I think we stayed together about 5-7 years. We had some interesting programs and great parties. Interestingly, the black couples were higher up the professional and income ladder than the white couples. Somewhere I probably have a list of names in an old Christmas card book.
Each host planned our meetings and discussions, and one of our members was a judge (don’t remember the title), but he knew Robert Duncan, and invited him to our group to talk.  It must have been before he became the first black on Ohio’s Supreme Court, but maybe not, since that happened in early 1969. I know our group was meeting in 1968.”

Last night I came across a history of Group D I had written and had probably sent it with our Christmas letter of 1976 which I also found. I don't remember when the group disbanded. It probably had a 10 year life, which isn't bad for a social group, and I recall one "reunion" in the mid-80s of the ladies.  The list of our activities is exhausting--at least for the age I am now.

"In November 1968, eight couples from several areas of Columbus met at our home in Upper Arlington to organize a KEO Club (which means we were 29 and 30).  Original members were, in addition to the Bruces, Betty and Marion Willis, John and Virginia Baker, Sandy and Hayden Boyd, Ken and Molly Hood, Jim and Rosie Doughty, Julia and Jim Pearson, and Wilma and Alan Jones.  The intent was to racially balance a couples group to help build bridges of understanding and friendship, however, no information on race was included in the original calling list, so there was no way to know the "balance" until we met! [I believe this was the brain child of Paul VanNatta/Vancouver, a member of First Community Church who was active in a local human relations council.  It was modeled on a First Community Couples Circle one of which we were already members.]

In 1969, Ed and Carol Reese, Ed and Janet Sullivan and Earl and Sylvia Thompson joined us.  Our first fall get together was a spaghetti dinner at our home.  During our first year together we had programs on welfare, employment problems of the poor, jazz, a discussion of drugs and the vice squad, and social gatherings. In 1970 we gained Tommy and Clarence Wiggs and Bob and Judy James and lost the Bakers and Doughtys, and the Boyds moved to Rochester.  Ed and Evelyn Stafford joined us several months before their wedding.  By this time there were 9 other KEO groups with members totaling about 200.  Several functions were planned for the entire membership such as  a play, a square dance, social gatherings at the Cavaliers  Club [black social club on the East side], a retreat at Camp Akita [belongs to First Community church], a Halloween party and a picnic.

In 1971 the group suffered a blow to its continuity when three of the white couples, in separate and unrelated decisions, chose not to go on with the group.  Divorce and job change seemed the problem and not the fellowship or goals.  We were fortunate to find Gus and Jesse Anagnostis, Tom and Pat Mendelsohn, John and Sandy Shanfelt and Bob and Jean Crooks (with us only briefly) to fill out the group.

According to a 1972 Christmas Card list, our membership included Anagnostis, Mendelsohn, Pearson, Reese, Shanfelt, Stafford, Sullivan, Thompson, Wiggs, Willis and Bruce, five white couples and six black couples.  In 1972 the Boyds returned to the city and rejoined our group, and Bill and Nancy Tucker began meeting with us, but dropped out after two years.  During this time we had programs on the equal rights amendment, a meeting with a conservative school board member, a talk on white racism in American history, a program on sickle cell anemia, slides on Greece, a talk on criminal justice by an ex-convict, a program on values clarification, a presentation on Freedom Heritage Foundation, a talk by a native Liberian, old movies, a poetry reading, some picnics, two Christmas dance parties with a hired band, several plays, and get togethers with the dwindling membership of the other KEO club members.  Busy schedules took the Sullivans (a dentist) and Pearsons (a municipal judge), and the Boyds moved to Detroit (we said good-bye with class at the Christopher Inn in downtown Columbus).  Shanfelts moved out of town.

Earlier Earl Thompson had left Columbus and our group to go on the stage in New York, and we all went to see him in a play at the Springfield Dinner Theater in January, 1975.  The Mendelsohns moved to Michigan in the fall of 1975, but we gained Ken and Marian Adams, Dick and Gerry Morgan, Jim Banner, Mary Lou Young, and Ruby Brown.  In 1975 we had a talk on genealogy, learned first aid from the Upper Arlington Emergency Squad, heard Chuck Taylor, and partied at the Neil House.  We seemed celebrative in 1976 so we danced at Bill Howard's studio, played games at the Adams' and Young's and picnicked at the Morgans'.  At an informal gathering at Sylvia Thompson's new home in November, 1976, we planned yet another party for December at the home of the Willises with a gift exchange.

The Bruces, Mendelsohns, Staffords and Boyds over the years added five children to the group--one of our social events was a baby shower for the Staffords--the Willises, Wiggs and the Adams added grandchildren to their families.  A lot of kids have grown up and gone off to jobs and college, and we're all heavier, grayer, smarter, and better looking!!!"