Sertoma – The Stand Together Club
“Quality of life” is often cited as the main reason people choose to live in Johnson County. Many of the institutions associated with quality of life — from good schools and a park system, to libraries and good roads — are due to the initial efforts of volunteer organizations. Before cities organized chambers of commerce, they relied on volunteers to improve business, social, and educational opportunities in their communities. Sertoma is an international organization originally established in 1912 as The Stand Together Club at the Coates House in Kansas City. Members met during the lunch hour and worked under the motto “bound closely together, an unbreakable power for good in every community.” During the 1920s, the club changed its name to the Cooperative Club. Local districts formed throughout the region, until the entire United States was served as well as parts of Mexico and Canada. In 1950, the name Sertoma was adopted to distinguish the club from others using the “cooperative” theme and to communicate the club’s mission: Service to Mankind.
In Johnson County, the Sertoma Club has been a highly influential organization comprised of area businessmen and local leaders. Originally formed as the Shawnee-Mission Co-operative Club in 1935 by Walter Fleming and Harold Garver, the club recruited area businessmen to work together on civic projects designed to improve the Shawnee and Mission township areas. School consolidation and a parks and recreation system were among the many projects championed by the Sertoma Club. Merlin Welch, E. Paul Amos, Elwood Hobbs, and LeRoy Robinson were among the many members who became distinguished leaders of the Sertoma Club. The Shawnee-Mission Sertoma sponsored “Ladies Nights,” and on one occasion, the men staged a hanging of E. Paul Amos by Bud Billings, then sheriff of Johnson County. The first women’s auxiliary was started in 1923 by the Manhattan Sertoma Club. The women’s clubs were known as Co-operettes until 1950, when they became La Sertoma.
--ALBUM vol. 9, no. 1 (winter 1996)