On March 4,1973, the Reverend Bill Byrd floated
the idea of a Golden Age Club before the members of Kennesaw
United Methodist Church. The idea caught on but it took a full
year before the concept came to fruition.
On Tuesday morning March 12, 1974 an
organizational meeting was held in the Fellowship Hall with only
four or five prospective members. Attending were Reverend Byrd
and Billie Wells, the first leader of the group, and other
prospects were Clinton B. Cochran, Vera Gaines, Josephine Reed,
and Edith King. Although there were only a handful of members at
first, what they lacked in numbers, they made up for in
enthusiasm and energy. And the number of attendees began to
grow. As the membership grew, so did dislike for the group's
name. No one wanted to be known as golden agers or senior
citizens, so the search for a new name began. The perfect name
for the group was suggested by Vera Booth when she told Reverend
Byrd that the members were like happy voyagers traveling to meet
the Lord. At the meeting in July of 1974, the name was
officially changed to The Happy Voyagers.
There have been only nine leaders of The Happy
Voyagers: Billie Wells, Carol Erchak, Sarah Garrett, Shirley
Vaudrey, Anita Boyette, Dennis Wolfs, Sue Frazier, Elaine
Spiegel and the current president, Bob Boyette. In the 33 years
the group has been in existence we now have 77 active and 11
inactive members. The spirit of the group is still the same;
enthusiastic, energetic, and we continue to enjoy our time
together in fellowship.
The Happy Voyagers Club is a social club with no
age limit for its membership. Regular meeting dates are the
third Wednesday of each month, beginning at 11:00 A.M. in the
CAC building and includes a covered dish meal provided by club
members. For more information contact the Church office or any
of the Happy Voyagers officers, Bob Boyette, Leland Chambers,
Carolee Wolfs, Sue Crawley, Sue Frazier, Betty Chambers, Francis
Dooley, and J.R. Dooley.
