Who, What, When, and Where
The Madisonville Noon Kiwanis Club was chartered in 1922 by the Henderson (KY) Kiwanis Club, with J. Basil Ramsey serving as our first Club President.
We are a member club of Division 17 in the Kentucky-Tennessee District of Kiwanis International.
We meet every Friday (excluding some holidays) at Noon at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Madisonville, Kentucky. First United Methodist has been hosting our meetings since 1925!
Membership Application and Information Sheet
If you are interested in being a member of our club, please contact any active club member or fill out the attached NEW MEMBER INFORMATION FORM and return it to us at Madisonville Noon Kiwanis, PO Box 1331, Madisonville, Kentucky 42431!
Club Trivia and Other Good Information
The Madisonville Noon Kiwanis Club has produced a number of Lt Governors over the years. As best we can remember, all of these folks have served in that capacity at least once: Frederick E. Nichols, David H. Pritchett, John H. Gray, Cashman Ayer, Larry Wilson, Randy Teague, Barry Vaughn, Ann Oldham, Whitney Bundren, and Tim Thomas. If we missed one, we didn’t mean to!
Our clubs has also produced a handful of K-T District Governors: J. Basil Ramsey (1926), Harper Gatton (1929), and C I Henry (1948).
We’ve even produced one President of Kiwanis International: Harper Gatton (1935 – 1936).
Although it seems a little crazy to think about now, our club accepted its first female members in the 1987 – 1988 service year. Pamela Dallas later became our first female President in 1994. On the 75th Anniversary of our club, Ann Oldham served as club president as we hosted the then-President of Kiwanis International.
The Madisonville Noon Kiwanis Club has chartered at least three additional clubs in the western Kentucky area: Greater Madisonville, Greenville, Webster County.
For a number of years, we sponsored the annual 4th of July fireworks show in Madisonville. Our sponsorship began under the term of club president Tom Spain and ended under the term of club president Wayne Lowe.
Club legend holds that on the club’s Golden Anniversary, club president Cashman Ayer let “Zandini” get buried with rattlesnakes at the fireworks demonstration that year; we can neither confirm nor deny the veracity of this legend.
Randy Franklin has the honor of being the youngest member to serve as the club president, although we haven’t confirmed that honor by reviewing all of the birth certificates of our past presidents.
In addition to sponsoring the 4th of July fireworks, we’ve also been long-time sponsors of the annual presentation of “The Messiah” in Madisonville (under the leadership of club president CP Johnson) and started coordinating the Madisonville Noon Kiwanis Christmas Parade (under the leadership of club president Buddy Reynolds).
At each of our weekly meetings, we allow our members to donate $1 and talk about something they’re happy about that week. The “Happy Dollars” collected each week go into the Berl Fowler Scholarship Fund, which pays for $1000.00 scholarships for some of our local high school graduates. The “Happy Dollar” practice started under the leadership of club president Barry Vaughn.
