FRANKLIN TWP — Fifty years and going strong.

The Lake Arthur Ladies Golf League celebrated its golden anniversary last month at Lake Arthur Country Club. The organization has 42 active members and a waiting list of about 15 more.

"It's the girls that keep bringing me back," said Colette Bowser, a member since 1984. "This is the friendliest league I've ever belonged to, and I've been with a few."

"We had heard we missed our 50th birthday a couple of years ago," league member Carolyn Cajka said. "We did some research and discovered our 50th anniversary was actually this year."

Bowser and her husband Sheldon built a wooden cake to commemorate the anniversary and placed it at the entrance to the country club.

The league made its official debut with a breakfast and a round of golf on June 3, 1959, when the course was known as Willow Lake Country Club. The name was changed to Lake Arthur in 1962.

Wynn Tredway was the course's original owner, buying 203 acres from Peter Katilavas in 1957 so he could design and build a golf course on it.

Through a few ownership changes and the course being expanded from nine to 18 holes, the Lake Arthur Ladies League has remained a constant — and it's always played on Wednesdays.

"Wednesday was Ladies Day," charter member Phyllis Chappell Thoma recalled. "We didn't have tee times and there were less than 20 women in the club, but we never missed a week."

Thoma was invited back as an honored guest during the league's 50th anniversary celebration.

"We were all duffers," she said of the league's early days. "It was just our day to go out and have fun. We did sing-a-longs and just enjoyed each other's company."

The league has six teams today. To commemorate its 50-year history, teams this year are named after living charter members Phyllis Chappell Thoma, Janice Cooper Farmer, Lois Christy Mergenthaler, Margaret Daum, Jeannette Gehrmann and Georgia McKindree.

Each team has seven members and the lowest four scores count as the team score each week.

The teams don't play for money. They don't even play for a trophy.

They just play.

"It's the purest competition there can be," said Cajka, who is in her seventh year with the league. "Everybody wants to win. There doesn't have to be a prize."

The verage age of the league is 58. Membership turnover happens gradually, usually one or two members a year.

Jeanne Watson and Amy Ammon joined the circuit this year. Cindy Kelly and Brenda Minto got on board last year.

The league's biggest single-season turnover occurred in 2002, when Cajka, Shirley Maiolo, Donna Blaine, Sally Jancse, Mickie Lewis and Connie Eck all joined.

The member who has stayed in the league the longest is Sharon Abbott, now in her 31st season.

Most of the women in the league are retired, though some do shift work and are able to arrange their schedules so they're available to tee off at 8 a.m. every Wednesday.

"Some teachers join us when school lets out. Our membership is very dedicated," Bowser said. "They find a way to be here.

"This is where we belong on Wednesday. This is home."