Jan. 21 marked Kiwanis International’s 100th birthday, and some local members reflected on the history of the organization in Vicksburg.

Vicksburg is home to two Kiwanis clubs — Vicksburg Kiwanis and Port City Kiwanis, which are 81 and 40 years old, respectively.

Jim Westbrook, the oldest Kiwanian in Vicksburg, is 91 years old.

“I joined way back in 1961, when I was 37,” he said. “March 1 I will have completed 54 years.”

The Vicksburg Kiwanis Club was established in 1934, and Westbrook said some of the chartering members were still involved when he joined.

Westbrook said when he moved to Vicksburg in 1960, he was interested in becoming active in community affairs.

“I had an invitation to attend a meeting at the Kiwanis Club, the Loins Club and the Rotary Club,” he said. “I attended all three of them and I liked Kiwanis the best.”

Westbrook’s time with Kiwanis has been unique, and he has been a central figure in much of the Kiwanis history in Vicksburg.

“We had a high school key club at Vicksburg High School for many years, but when integration came along they stopped meeting,” he said. “The district president was from Baton Rouge, and he asked me if I could reactivate the Vicksburg High School key club. As president I got it reactivated, and it’s still going today.”

During Westbrook’s term as president he was also involved in the founding of Vicksburg’s other Kiwanis club, Port City Kiwanis.

“One of our members came to me and he said ‘Jim, I understand that Jim Stirgus Sr. is interested in forming a service club of some sort,’ and I told him we would get a committee together and go see him,” he said.

Westbrook said he and a few others went to meet with then-Vicksburg School Superintendent Stirgus in his office, and suggested that he start a Kiwanis club.

“He said he was not interested in starting a segregated club and we told him, ‘We’re not going to tell you who to put in your club. That’s between you and your club,” he said.

From there Westbrook said they told him the requirements, which they met, and they received their charter in April 1974.

“It’s been a very viable club,” he said. “It’s been in existence for nearly 41 years now.”

One of the charter members of Port City Kiwanis was former DA Gil Martin, who also served as president of the club.

“It was the first racially integrated club at the time,” he said. “It gave an opportunity for people of both races to get to know each other. I kind of felt like that was an important healing process for us all.”

Martin said Port City Kiwanis was very popular among politicians at the time.

“It was an important thing for them to do at the time,” he said. “Some of them joined just for that, but they quit after a while. There was still a core group of us that stuck around.”

Kiwanis have good programs, with an emphasis on social services, Martin said

“It’s a very lively, fun group,” he said. “Not much has changed from the way it was when we started.”