Kiwanis History

Our Kiwanis Club of Erwin was organized in 1921 and has served our community continuously through all the years since, with no lapse of service even during times of war or the Great Depression.  Ours is one of the oldest true community service organizations in the southern Appalachians, as well as one of the region's oldest continually-chartered Kiwanis Clubs. 

Our primary mission is service to children, as well as to generally build a better community within which our citizens can live, work, and play.  Our projects listed in this website are just a few of the ways we seek to benefit both young people and senior citizens.  For more than 50 years, we have provided shoes and clothing for the disadvantaged children of Erwin and Unicoi County.

The roster of our club membership and officers over the past century ranks as a true Who's-Who of local community leaders.  We always welcome visitors and guests to join us. Regular meetings are held each Tuesday at noon in the main meeting chamber of Erwin town hall on Main Street.

A generation of us have now gown up enjoying Kiwanis Little League Park and the campfire programs at Rock Creek park. 

Our next generation will enjoy the new toddler, tots and special-needs park along Erwin's beautiful Linear Trail
Today our club is part of Division 7 of the Kentucky-Tennessee Kiwanis District of Kiwanis International . . . which itself was founded in Detroit, Michigan, on January 21, 1915.

The name “Kiwanis” is taken from an Indian term “Nun Keewanis”, which roughly means “Self expression”. The purpose of the organization became “community service”, a concept from which Kiwanis International -- and our local Erwin club -- has never deviated.

In 1916, Kiwanis entered Canada, thus becoming “International”.  1962 saw Kiwanis extended to Mexico and International membership has grown rapidly, to now include clubs in 96 countries around the world.

Presidents of the Erwin Kiwanis Club

1921  James S. Thorp 1922  Thomas Earl Cecil 1923  Dan M. Laws 1924  Homer L. Mason 1925  P.M. Montgomery 1926  Tom R. Keys 1927  L.W. Pierce 1928  J.H. Chapman 1929  W.C. Hatten 1929  Ben Husband 1930  L.H. Allred 1931  Frank T. Gentry 1932  E. G. Robbins 1933  H. Dennis Erwin 1934  Stephen O. Redacre 1935  Jack T. DeArmond 1936  Carl S. Miller 1937  H.L. Monroe 1938  L.H. Phetteplace Jr. 1939  J. Clifford Rule 1940  B.H. Hampton 1941  Earle Hendren 1942  William H. Wright 1943  Dave T. Bell 1944  Charles E. Wing 1945  A.A. Dobbs 1945  C.D. Alexander 1946  John Wilkerson 1947  P.C. Alford 1948  Harry E. Campbell 1949  Dan S. Davis 1950  Arch McIntyre 1951  Carl T. Vance

1952  R. Doyle Moore 1953  Eugene P.Price 1954  M. Haynes Brown 1955  Roland Sevier 1955  Gwynn Parker 1956  J.P. Salmon Jr. 1957  Henry L. Reeves 1958  Robert H. Harvey 1959  W. R. McGowan 1960  James A. Goforth 1961  Edway R. Johnson 1962  Frank Parsley 1963  Charles E. Harrison 1964  James E. True Jr. 1965  Edward L. Hammer 1966  T. S. Hughes 1967  Joe Hendren 1968  John R. Jones 1969  Vernon S. Sims 1970  Fred H. Whitlow 1971  James L. McMackin 1972  Kay Carey 1973  Robert L. Kroh 1974  Ralph S. Gardner 1975  James E. Wells 1976  Tom J. Sams 1977  R. Edward Moore 1978  S. Lee Vance 1979  L. Kent Roller 1980  Thomas H. Hensley 1981  Thomas J. Seeley Jr. 1982  Howard C. Brown 1983  Robert F. Sams

1984  J.E. "Baldy" Bennett 1985  Sam Keesecker 1986  John W. Thomas 1987  Thomas D. Lee 1988  William B. Anderson 1989  Ron K. Elliott 1990  Steve Flack 1991  Thomas D. Harris 1992  William A. Steffey 1993  William J. Gaines 1994  Stuart S. Brown 1995  R. O. Smith 1996  Shelton J. Thompson 1997  Tim Bennett 1998  B.J. Moore 1999  Larry Hatfield 2000  Everett Shell 2001  James D. Stevens 2002  Jack Jones 2003  Alan Lingerfelt 2004  Betty Stevens 2005  Frank Cooke 2006  Larry Rose 2007  J. David Erickson 2008  Jim Wozniak 2009  Sarah Bailey 2010  Allen Rogers 2011  Alan Foster 2012  Richard Booth