SI San Diego began the way all new SI clubs begin, by being sponsored by an already existing club. The first Charter Club was started in Oakland, CA in 1921. By 1931 clubs had already formed southward throughout the State, and on April 25, 1931, SI Los Angeles sponsored SI San Diego - San Diego's first Soroptimist club. Region Director Blanche Edgar of Sacramento presented the club charter to Edna Gillespie, who was the Founding President. The San Diego club had 26 charter members.
The inaugural event was carried out in high style, with a dinner at the El Cortez Hotel, which at that time was one of San Diego's best. A large delegation of additional Soroptimist members from Ventura, Santa Paula and Pasadena also joined in the festivities. Oddly, or perhaps not so oddly given that Soroptimist was one of the first exclusively women's service clubs in the United States, SISD members were first referred to, as in the attached San Diego newspaper clipping, as "Feminine Rotarians". The novelty of a woman-only service club apparently befuddled the males of the city, most certainly it did the journalists who wrote about it.
 Mrs. Edna H. Gillespie (top right), president; Mrs Martha R. Hastings (top left), vice president; Mrs. Leah McMahon (lower left), secretary, and Mrs Edith E. Taylor (lower right), treasurer) |