What's in a name? Ruritan, Suffolk

One of the country's leading civic service organizations began with a group of men in the village of Holland in Suffolk. But its name - Ruritan - was given by a woman. In 1928, J.J. Gwaltney was the agriculture teacher at Holland High School, according to Donald Worrell, the group's recently elected national president. As Gwaltney talked with the parents of his students, Worrell said, he detected some tension between farmers and townspeople and thought they should work together for a resolution.

"It was a farming area with a little city in it, with livestock running wherever they wanted to go," said Worrell, who lives in Holland. "The town people who were trying to maintain their nice, pretty yards didn't appreciate cows and pigs running through."

Gwaltney met with his school district supervisor and they talked about creating a group to help the community, according to Worrell and the Ruritan Club's official history.

They pulled in farmers, ministers and other local leaders. After a few meetings, an organization was established over supper at the Holland Hotel on May 21, 1928.

The organizers invited Daisy Nurney, a reporter from The Virginian-Pilot, to cover the meeting. According to the club's history, the guys asked Nurney to come up with a group name. She combined what she said were root words for open country, "ruri" and small town, "tan," or "rural dweller."

One of the founders present that evening was H.L. Worrell, Donald Worrell's grandfather.

The club's first fundraisers were barbecues to raise money to buy meals for children who might otherwise go to school hungry - a version of the modern-day free-lunch program. When farmers got sick, Ruritan members banded together to help harvest their crops.

"It was always helping people who couldn't help themselves," Worrell said.

Worrell's father became a Ruritan and so did he, and he has served for 37 years and was elected president in January. The group has more than 31,000 members nationwide, still with the focus on keeping the help local.

Even though the group has a national office that keeps records and a board that sets policy, it has no national projects to which the local clubs contribute. Every club has its own objectives, anything to cutting wood for the elderly or raising money for Boy or Girl Scout units.

"When people can see where the money goes," Worrell said, "They are more generous."

Denise Watson Batts, (757) 446-2504, denise.batts@pilotonline.com