Excerpts from the 1963 CFA Yearbook, Part 2

The History of CFA
Our Early Years, 1943-1950

The early part of the 1940’s were trying years for the cat fancy. The war kept down the number of shows, and the demands of war time activities cut into the usual delights of participation by cat fanciers. Nevertheless, The Cat Fanciers’ Association maintained itself during the war without appreciable loss of members, activities, and revenue.

During the year ending January 31, 1943, four clubs were admitted to membership, including the Detroit Persian Society and the Milwaukee Cat Club. Gross revenue during the year was $2,045.83, and ten shows were held. Eight were all breed and two were specialties. Seven had entries entitling them to four points, the remaining three were three point shows.

The November meeting was adjourned inasmuch as a quorum of the Board could not be obtained. Miss Muriel Glenz had reported to Fort Dix as a member of the Army Nurse Corps and her attendance was dependent on being able to obtain a leave at the proper time. Mrs. Grosset was ill in the hospital and had been for some time. Her resignation was submitted, and the Board voted to elect Miss Goodwin to fill the vacancy.

The minutes of the 1944 annual meeting show that two clubs had been accepted into CFA membership during the year – Genesee Cat Fanciers, and The American Silver Fanciers West Coast Branch. The latter club was an interesting development of the then policy to maintain some sort of umbrella over various specialty clubs. Competing specialty clubs were not acceptable for membership, and when more than one club representing the same specialty was a member, geographical lines were drawn to protect the areas in which shows could be sponsored by each. The subsidiary club idea was developed in order to further the notion that competition was not desired between such clubs.

Nine all breed and four specialty shows had been held during the year. Mrs. C. D. Carroll was added to the list of judges. Income improved a bit despite the trying times, for the treasurer reported gross revenue of $2,240.73.

At this meeting, Mrs. Alexander Pinney and Mrs. Anthony Avata were elected to the Board to succeed Miss Glenz and Mrs. Karl Norton. These two ladies with Miss Hydon, Miss Goodwin and Mesdames Hunter, Morfit and Warfel Smith comprised the Board of CFA.

The Solid Color Club of the South was admitted to membership at the meeting of the Board held on February 7, 1945. At this meeting, the Board voided the wins of an entry which had been written in, in the catalog and the judge’s book.

The 1945 annual meeting was held on February 22. A matter was discussed which had earlier caused debate. Several delegates suggested that either the chinchilla or the shaded silver class be abolished. The silver breeders present objected, and the matter was referred to the Board without recommendation. Another matter presented which in one form or another continues to be a matter for debate had to do with the age of novices. A suggestion that the age of each novice be inserted in the judge’s book was voted down. The officers and Board members were reelected.

During the year CFA activities had increased markedly. Eleven all breed and seven specialty shows were held, and gross revenues increased to $2,762.44.

Before the next Board meeting, CFA was saddened by the death of Mrs. C.O. Morfit, a loyal and valuable Board member.

At the May 1945 meeting the Board established the policy that CFA judges would not be permitted to judge shows sanctioned by other associations.

The Board at this meeting also held that inasmuch as there were three Solid Color specialty clubs, none of them would be sanctioned to hold more than two shows each.

Mrs. Charlotta W. Hall was elected to fill the vacancy on the Board caused by the death of Mrs. Morfit.

At the next Board meeting, the North Shore Cat Club was accepted into membership.

The Board meeting of February 6, 1946 added the name of Mrs. W. E. Limpert to the judges list.

The 1946 annual meeting reflected an air of great promise for the cat fancy. Muriel Glenz came back after service in the army, and the delegates were eagerly anticipating a resumption of shows, registrations, and general interest exceeding any in earlier years.

Ten all breed shows and seven specialty shows had been held during the previous year. Income continued to increase, and gross revenues had mounted to $3,588.26.

Miss Muriel Glenz was elected to the Board to succeed Mrs. Warfel Smith. All other Board members and officers were reelected.

The May 1946 Board meeting accepted the Minnesota Siamese Cat Club into membership. The club was advised that a territorial assignment would be considered at a later date.

In November 1946 the Board accepted into membership the California Silver Fanciers, the San Diego Cat Fanciers, the National Siamese Cat Club, and the Cat Fanciers of Washington. The resignation of the West Coast Branch of the American Silver Fanciers had been earlier accepted.

The Golden Gate Cat Club became a member of CFA at the meeting of the Board on February 6, 1947.

At this same meeting Mrs. Mood submitted her resignation as Recorder for CFA. Her resignation was accepted with regret, and Mrs. James S. Carpenter of McLean, Virginia, was elected to succeed her.

The 1947 annual meeting minutes show that the promise so eagerly anticipated at the 1946 meeting had been achieved. Sixteen all breed shows and nine specialty shows had been held during the year. Eleven new clubs had been accepted into membership, and the Association closed the year with forty four clubs. Gross revenues had reached $5,014.88.

A discussion was engendered by silver breeders who suggested that silver classes be judged immediately after the completion of the judging of whites. The meeting was reminded that the order of judging was to be determined by the club. A delegate from a west coast all breed club suggested that some thought be given to a method of identification for registered cats. It was pointed out that some small animals had been tattooed for this purpose. The meeting voted that clubs be asked to submit any ideas on this subject.

Mrs. Warfel Smith was elected to the Board to succeed Mrs. Pinney, and all other officers and directors were reelected.

During this year repercussions followed the recognition of Burmese as a new breed. Many registrations of Burmese were being requested for which the pedigree showed Siamese ancestry within three generations. Many opinions were submitted to the Board in which the type of progeny rather than ancestry was urged as establishing a pure breed. The Board was of the opinion that three generations of Burmese ancestry was required for pure breeding, and despite the obvious hardship, voted to suspend the recognition of Burmese indefinitely. The Board stated that its action was for the purpose of permitting the establishment of the breed without the commercialization pressure in favor of Burmese-Siamese hybrids.

The Hawkeye State Cat Club was accepted into membership at the November 1947 meeting, as was the Solid Color Club of the West.

The 1948 Annual Meeting minutes show further marked growth in CFA. Forty eight clubs were members of CFA, and during the year these clubs had sponsored twenty all breed and nine specialty shows. Gross revenues had increased to $6,052.85.

The suspension of the recognition of Burmese was a subject for heated discussion. The minutes state that the consensus of opinion was “that the suspension should not be terminated at this time”.

The president read an appeal from fanciers in England stating that canned cat food was unavailable there. The meeting voted to send $100 to the SPCA in New York for the purchase of canned cat food to be sent to England.

All Board members and officers were reelected.

The May 1948 Board meeting accepted the California Solid Color Fanciers as a member. At this meeting the names of Mrs. Lester O’Neill and Mrs. Frances Herms were added to the list of judges.

For some time Miss Goodwin had served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Association. The May meeting read a letter from her in which she stated that the burdens of the joint office were taxing, and submitting her resignation as Secretary. Mrs. Karl B. Norton was elected as Secretary of CFA.

The November 1948 meeting reported with regret the death of Mrs. Gertrude Tyalor. The Board was advised also of the illness of Mrs. Warfel Smith and Mrs. Stewart.

The name of Mr. Sven Nelson was added to the judges list. The Secretary reported that a second shipment of canned food had gone to England, and that many letters of appreciation had been received from cat fanciers there.

Mrs. Karl Norton was elected to the Board to fill out the term of Mrs. Warfel Smith.

The 1949 Annual Meeting was held on February 24. The Fort Wayne Cat Fanciers was accepted as a member. The popularity of Siamese had resulted in appeals having been made to the Board by Siamese breeders for a requirement that a judge who was a Siamese breeder be required to judge Siamese in an all breed show. Mr. Nelson brought this up at the annual meeting and a lively discussion ensued. It was apparent that the Siamese breeders were unhappy over the results in all breed shows and blamed the situation on the traditional long hair background of the experienced all breed judges. The economic effect of requiring two judges caused the meeting to vote down the recommendation, but the Siamese breeders remained unhappy with the recommendation that all breed judges become more familiar with Siamese and the standards.

To add to the problem, the Burmese suspension was again brought up, and was referred to the Board.

Mr. Sven Nelson and Mr. James Brinning were elected to the Board in place of Miss Goodwin and Miss Glenz. All other officers and directors were reelected.

The June 1949 Board meeting accepted the All Breed Cat Club of New England into membership along with Mo-Kan Cat Club. At this meeting, Mrs. J.F. Goforth was added to the list of judges.

During the summer, Mrs. Norton died. This sudden loss was a great shock to the Board, and resolutions deploring her death were passed at the October meeting. This meeting also elected Mrs. James E. O’Bryon to fill out the unexpired term of Mrs. Norton as Secretary.

The November meeting named Mrs. O’Bryon as a Board member to fill out Mrs. Norton’s term.

The Russian Blues were recognized as a breed at this meeting. The standard and classes in effect in England were adopted by CFA for the present.

Mrs. Gladys Weirich was added as a judge to the CFA list.

The 1950 Annual Meeting was a turbulent affair. It was called to order at 11:45am on February 23. Miss Goodwin, the Treasurer, reported that two clubs were asking that delegates be seated although one club had paid its dues that morning, and the other stood ready to pay its dues if its delegates would be seated. The chair then appointed a credentials committee. The committee reported that the clubs were indeed delinquent as stated by the Treasurer, but that the recommendation of the committee was that delegates therefrom be seated. The parliamentarian then pointed out that under the constitution only those clubs which were in good standing for not less than thirty days prior to the annual meeting, were entitled to vote. The chair ruled that the constitution took precedence over the recommendation of the credentials committee, and held that the two clubs involved would not be permitted to vote.

Mrs. O’Bryon then objected to permitting two other clubs to vote, stating that they too were under the constitutional ban. Another credentials committee was appointed amid charges and countercharges from the floor. The credentials committee reported that the two latter clubs were likewise barred under the constitution. The parliamentarian then suggested that if the two objections were withdrawn, his ruling would be unnecessary, and the meeting could proceed with all four clubs voting as if the matter had never been brought up. Mrs. O’Bryon refused to withdraw her objection, and the four clubs were disenfranchised for that meeting.

The vice president of the Association, Mrs. Orville Stewart had died since the last Board meeting, and the loss was reported to the Association with great sorrow.

Miss Elsie G. Hydon who had been president of the Association for seventeen years, asked that she be relieved of her office, and from membership on the Board. With a great deal of regret, the meeting acceded to her request, but voted her the life time title of Honorary President.

The meeting then elected Mrs. Harry P. Shipe as President; Miss Lillian M. Goodwin as Vice-President and Treasurer; and Mrs. James E. O’Bryon as Secretary.

The following were then elected as members of the Board of Directors: Mrs. Harry P. Shipe, Miss Lillian M. Goodwin, Mrs. James E. O’Bryon, Mrs. John Hunter, Mrs. Anthony Avata, Mrs. Ralph Mabie and Mr. David Deans-Henderson.