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An Informed Citizenry: The Saginaw Valley Torch Club
by
Hal Arman

Even though this article is being written about the Saginaw Valley Torch Club, it was not authorized by them and they bear no responsibility for its contents. As a former President of the group (1986-87), I hope it accurately and honestly represents the group, and I hope members, past and present, share with me a wish for the continued good health of the Club.

Torch Club is an international association of local clubs in which respected persons enjoy the cultural interchange of knowledge. The first international Torch Club was organized in 1924, and the first meeting of the local Saginaw Valley Torch Club occurred in 1928. Local Torch Clubs operate in 75 locations in the United States and Canada.

Other service clubs in the Tri County area were also started in the late 1920s, so it is fair to conclude that people in those earlier years were eager to band together to know more about their community and to do good works. Torch Club always had a unique, and some would say naive purpose. Simply stated, it was and is the belief of the Club that good people, before and after an excellent meal, could learn some new facts about a situation, engage in some civilized discussion about what they had learned, and go out into the community with some new perspectives on that problem, which they would share with other community members they might encounter. Unlike Kiwanis, Rotary, and other service groups, there is no emphasis on fund raising, no service projects in the community, and no selling of jams and jellies.

Apparently the idea of getting together periodically to discuss some problem or situation after a Club member described the alternatives and options to that situation was a worthy purpose because the Torch Club in the Saginaw Valley has had some distinguished Presidents through the early years. Looking at the list of Past Presidents (and acknowledging that many other worthy people are not mentioned in this brief article) one quickly notes that the early leadership of the Dow Chemical Company was much in evidence. Names such as Thomas Griswold, Willard Dow, and Calvin (“Tink”) Campbell quickly come to mind. The founding partners in distinguished Bay City Law firms, Lyle Clift, Ralph Selby, and Lloyd Bartlett are also noted. Significant names in commerce in the area, such as the Heavenrich Brothers, Don Law, Curtiss White, Bob Tiderington, and Bill Cummings have been Presidents. Leaders in education such as Jack Ryder, Ernie Britton, and Bob Yien, have also been Torch Club President. In fact before he died, Ernie Britton, in a personal taped oral history with this author, said that the idea for Delta College originated at Torch Club when the Superintendents of the three major school districts started a dialogue on what they were going to do with the crisis of large numbers of men returning to the area after their overseas duty was completed in World War II. Bay City Junior College was in existence, but it was small and not equipped to handle many more people outside of its district. Saginaw had already hired a person who was going to start a junior college for that city.

So what kind of problems or situations did community leaders hear papers on and discuss? Members will certainly recall a paper by Dr. Lohr in which he talked about the advances that were occurring in the care of younger and younger premature babies. Some members advanced the idea that these steps seemed to be knocking at least one intellectual support out of the arguments for abortion. Others saw a religious component in the attempt by doctors to thwart the will of a God who directed that a baby should be born prematurely.

Members were entranced when “Tink” Campbell (at that time the Chief Legal Counsel for the Dow Chemical Company) dimmed the lights, enlisted the help of a fellow member to dress in Renaissance garb and pour each member a glass of vintage port as Tink donned a flowing robe and proceeded to quote from memory long passages from the various plays of Shakespeare.

More recently Torch has seen papers presented by members on High School Performance and the Economic Future of the Tri-Counties, American Job Loss Due to Foreign Business Investment, Impact of American Dollars on the World Economy, No Child Left Behind, Abuse of Minors & Disadvantaged by the Clergy, and Understanding Pain. All comprising an eclectic and fascinating schedule of topics that could produce many comments and opinions. More importantly, members could go out into their community and discuss these issues further with the realization that they were leading public consideration of these varied topics. In short, they would be community leaders that had thought about and discussed options and gathered information prior to entering into a community conversation.

In addition to talking about the important subjects noted above, Torch has always been an important arena for informal discussions of ideas and concepts about future programs and projects in the Tri-Counties. As noted above, the idea for a community college to serve the tri-counties either originated with or was pushed along by discussion by Torch members. Similarly, Jack Ryder depended on many Torch Club members to provide local support and dollars in the early years at Saginaw Valley State College. The airport that serves the three counties was also pushed along by Torch discussions. One could put together a long list of important developments in the history of each county individually, or the tri-counties together, that benefited from an early discussion in Torch Club.

Once a month during the late fall, winter, and early spring, a group of about 100 members gather to talk about some new thoughts and ideas. At the conclusion of those meetings it is an easy thing to say that the discussion didn’t produce any immediate or tangible result, so the discussion was pointless. However, the members of Torch Club, by their active support of the concept of open discussion, have demonstrated that one of the goals of democracy; an informed citizenry, is alive and well in the Tri-Counties.

 
 
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