Why I Belong to a Woodworking Club
by Howard Van Valzah
Roscoe, IL
Recently I had a shop tour for the Dupage woodworkers at the shop at my home in Roscoe, IL. About ten
members showed up and we had a busy two and a half hours viewing fifteen or so demos on special
machines that I have that most woodworkers only wish they had. Usually something always goes wrong
at my demos but this time everything went off perfectly. There was time for many questions and some
discussions. But to me the most valuable part of the tour was renewing a friendship with an old timer
friend of mine.
We both have been members of the Dupage Club for many years and have shared many events and
activities. It was pure delight for me to see Milford Lau again. He is 91 years old, ten years older
than I am. I wanted to hug him when he walked in the door. He is a wonderful man and an even more
wonderful person to have as a friend. The event brought to mind something that is not often talked
about by club members. We can make truly great friends through our common interest in woodworking. I
have been very fortunate indeed to have lived through personal hard times with friends like Milford
who lost his wife to illness. And Ron Gilkerson who amazingly lived through throat cancer. And
wonderful John Roloff whose wife had a disabling stroke that required John to change his whole
lifestyle to care for her. And then he passed away before she did. We still hear from Jane
occasionally. And there was another club member who became very wealthy through an inheritance and
asked me to counsel him anonymously on what to do with it. I gave him my thoughts and he made the
very intelligent decisions on how to handle it.
My point is that there is a whole lot more to club membership than just being woodworkers. We all
have the opportunity to make great friends out of our common interest in woodworking. I would
encourage all of you to make a point of getting to know your fellow club members better and enjoy
becoming a part of their lives. Go to birthday parties or anniversary celebrations when you are
invited and get to know your woodworking acquaintances better. Take advantage of the shop tours to
get to know the woodworker much better. For example when I viewed Don Carkuff's shop, I remarked that
I really appreciated the fact that it contained art work of a sort that said a lot about him. He
wanted to come to my tour to see if my shop also had artwork telling something about me.
He would be amazed at how much "artwork" I have on the walls of my shop. Everything from an
Obama/Biden yard sign to a Bosch wall hanging. Segments of a Frank Lloyd Wright calendar, and also
a couple of pages from a Dartmouth College calendar show my interests outside of
woodworking. There is a full table and wall of antique tools and a metal lathe that belonged to my
Dad which happened to be the last prewar (WW2) machine coming out of the South Bend plant. Also quite
noticeable were three common windows with real stained glass antique windows in front of them through
which Dupage members spotted wild turkeys walking through my yard.
I am hopeful that maybe this article will encourage all of the Fox Valley folks to come out and see
me and my shop, either individually or in a group. I live just off I-90 on the way to Madison, WI
and the Lake Country. You will find that carpooling and lunching together can build strong
friendships. Welcome them as I have over the years and you will be a better person for doing it.
Howard can be reached by email at
howard@vanvalzah.com
.
Return to
Wood News
front page
