Last summer a longtime Powell club held its last official meeting, and now its minutes from throughout the years are under the care of the Homesteader Musuem. On Aug. 18 at noon, the EPASC Club had its final “official meeting” with all the members. The members are not going to completely disband, but decided that it was time to turn over all their minutes and notes in a donation to the Homesteader Museum, plus a financial donation cleaning out their bank account.

Homesteader Museum Director Brandi Wright said the ladies are getting older and recruitment for the club has been hard. However, they still plan on meeting on the third Monday of each month over lunch and enjoy each other’s company.

What is in a name? No other club is quite like it. And its name is as unique as its purpose, having been derived from the first letters of the last name of charter members: Mrs. Edmonds, Elting, Peavy, Adkins, Sturgeon and Caldwell. They were the wives of the early-day Bureau of Reclamation officials and homesteaders, one was a Camp Coulter nurse.

It was the first women’s club to organize on the Powell Flat — even before the town was incorporated. Their goal was to study art, literature and drama, as well as Wyoming history, politics, current and local issues.

Early programs covered serious topics, such as book reports on “Anna Karenina,” “Mother India,” Shakespeare, papers on European dictators, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and the concerns of modern life — “Should married women continue to keep their jobs?”

They also enjoyed themselves when each member brought baby pictures of herself to delight an afternoon audience, or a time when they discussed “the irascible and irresponsible youth of the day.”

Members took an active role in politics, writing letters voicing women’s views to the town council, the state Legislature, and the governor.

Membership is based on early family relationships in the community, and devotion to the club’s purpose. Membership was limited to 16 — and although the club has had around 105 members in 116 years, total membership has never exceeded this number.