My father belonged to the Moose, Rotarians, Masons and Exchange Club.
Me (67), nada.
I’m a little past middle-aged, but never been a member of a service club or fraternal organization. I have legally-advised one (IAAL), and while it has offered me the chance to join, I haven’t taken them up on their offer.
They still offer me free coffee if I have to attend at their hall. That offer, I take. 
Piling on like this is not at all uncommon in civic organizations. (A bit of an anecdote on this note: I’m a member of a few, including a relatively large art one that meets once a month, on Friday mornings. Now, the membership is 90% retirees, and in a meeting a couple of months ago, one of the officers was bemoaning lack of young people/how we needed to bring fresh blood in. I sensibly pointed out that the majority of fresh blood has work on Friday mornings. The officer looked extremely uncomfortable, and mumbled something about meeting times being discussed in the past. Apparently Friday mornings were “most convenient for everyone”. Seems to me like they’re pretty happy with the status quo.)
My dad is a member of the local Optimists organization and they meet at the crack o’ dawn Fridays. They do a lot of good community work, though.
Judging from old episodes of “The Flintstones”, it seems that a lot of Moose, Elks, and other Lodge-type organizations were used as excuses for the guys to get out of the house in the evenings and drink and tell dirty jokes. Maybe an early Friday meeting time prevents things from degenerating into stag nights.
It seems to me that maybe nowadays that women are allowed to drink, smoke, and tell dirty jokes, there’s not as much impetus for the guys to dash off to their men-only meetings. Certainly I’m not going to join anything my spouse wouldn’t be allowed to join.
When I was reading up on the Elks, it seems that in the mid-90s they were sued to allow women to participate (they previously didn’t even have a womans auxiliary) by the State of Oregon and, after losing that, amended their rules to allow women to join nationally. I would suspect that similar groups are mostly the same way by 2016 but can’t say I’ve researched it.
What’s wrong with being silly?
Many years ago an acquaintance tried to get me to join one. I believe it was the Elks. I went to their website and saw that you are required to be a theist and must swear that you are one when you are initiated. I told him that that was a nonstarter for me. He said that he just lied when he was asked that and so did a couple of friends of his. I think that all of the major ones have the same requirement.
My dad was in the Knights of Columbus for 50-ish years, but my brother had no interest in joining, nor did my nephew. My husband is a member of a Harley Owners Group, but he had no interest in fraternal or service organizations. I suppose there are service clubs for women, but I don’t much care to get involved, plus I’m still working, so my free time is limited.
We’re in our 60s - I don’t suppose that counts as middle-aged any more, does it?
Lions don’t have a religious requirement for membership (actually we’re not supposed to even talk about religion at meetings)
We have women members too! I just checked the roster and 15% of our local club are women. So yeah, meetings can have a boys-club feel to them.
Good for you guys. It’s nice to hear that.
Interesting discussion, folks!
Talking about the membership of women in some of these clubs formerly reserved for guys reminded me that there used to be a women’s version of many of these. The Masons had the Order of the Eastern Star; the Kinsmen had the Kinettes; the Lions had Lionesses, etc. I’m guessing that they have more or less disappeared as membership in the formerly men’s-only clubs was opened up.
There was an Elks Lodge in the neighborhood where I grew up. The Elks are still in business, as far as I know, but they sold the building some years ago and moved to smaller quarters. Too bad – I would have joined just to hang out in the building. It’s spectacular.
Some pictures here:
http://www.scoutingny.com/the-incredible-aztec-theater-hidden-in-queens/
http://forgotten-ny.com/2002/06/elmhurst-queens/
And a description here:
http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2009/37/astoria_times_newscolumnistsihkpffw09022009.html
I just turned 40, and I’ve been a member of a community theatre group for about ten years. It’s not the traditional elks or masons kind of thing, but it’s still service oriented. I put in about 300-500 volunteer hours a year running the company from a business standpoint and producing shows. Building sets, auditioning casts, running shows, etc. The family has all grown up doing it and my kids always get high volunteerism awards in school because of the number of hours they put in alongside me.
I get a lot of social contact through the theatre, and there are a lot of younger people who are active there, more to scratch their own itch as actors, but some of them stay and help build the place so others can scratch their itches.
Enjoy,
Steven
I am the President (and sole member) of The Party Centurions.
I’m 53 and have never been a member of a ‘club’ type organization, including Boy Scouts. Outside of sports teams, I’ve just never been a joiner. I have nothing against them and appreciate the work they do. I have even helped collect eyeglassesfor the local Lions club, among other things. I just don’t care to join the club.
That sort of thing seems pretty common in many societies- my Mum went to check out an Alpine plant society, and they tried to recruit her as treasurer right then, on her first meeting… She reckoned she (age 60) was the youngest there by almost 20 years.
She declined, if you were wondering.
I’m a life member of the VFW but I don’t belong to a specific lodge. My father didn’t belong to any organizations so it wasn’t a tradition.
In many small towns across the USA the local volunteer fire department serves as a pseudo-lodge. Its an honor to serve on it and many work on the side doing fundraisers and such.
But other groups like the masons, much more rare. Who has the time?
Not a guy, but I am middle-aged so does that count? I joined the local Elks Lodge about 5 years ago. They have an outdoor pool with comfy lounge chairs, access to the bar for the grownups and popcorn and popsicles for the kids. It is the place to be when the weather is suitable (which here in CA means about 8 months out of the year). Pretty much every family I know with kids ages 13 and younger belongs to the Elks.
My mother was in Order of the Eastern Star but gave it up (don’t know why) when she married my dad in 1962; my grandmother was in it too. None of us kids were or are interested in anything like that.