Carroll Soknich felt rather lost when she moved in the late 1950s to Collier. She was 2,000 miles from her roots in the Pacific Northwest and was baffled by the ethnic diversity of her neighborhood.

"My idea of Italian cuisine was Franco-American in a can," said Mrs. Soknich, who came from Yakima, Wash.

She already had grappled with the traditions of her South Side husband's family, including a Serbian Orthodox wedding. Finding herself surrounded by other transplanted South Siders, she was looking for a way to feel like a part of things.

The way came in the form of an invitation from a neighbor, Millie Spiker, who wanted to form an official neighborhood club for those living on Cowan Road, South Cowan Road and Joyce Drive.

Mrs. Spiker's note "was greeted with enthusiasm," she said.

That was in 1958.

In the half-century since, the women of the "Hi, Neighbor!" Club have "cried together, laughed together and celebrated together," Mrs. Soknich said. They passed maternity clothes back and forth, then baby clothes, then kids' clothes.

They enjoyed Christmas parties at members' homes, and picnics behind Mrs. Soknich's house. Their husbands eventually shared a hunting camp, and worked together for scouting and sports. They celebrated graduations, their children's weddings and eventually grandchildren. And, they comforted each other during the losses of husbands and wives.

"It was like having 13 sisters," said Pat McGrath, a member since 1965.

Those "sisters" are still meeting on the first Tuesday each month. The dues have gone from 25 cents to $2 over the years, and many of the original members are now great-grandmothers, but the club still has its picnics and parties, still serves as the glue holding the community together.

The future is uncertain.

"Our oldest member is turning 95," Mrs. McGrath said. "I don't know if the generation coming up will keep it going."

There are a number of younger women among the 14 current members -- including Mrs. McGrath's daughter, Sharon McGrath -- but most newcomers to the neighborhood have not joined.

"More of them are couples where they are both professionals, and they also have family here," Mrs. Soknich said.

But even if the club's run comes to an end, it will not be forgotten. Members, former members, children, grandchildren and friends made sure of that by donating two benches to be placed in Moccasin Grove at Settler's Cabin County Park.

The benches were dedicated at a recent golden anniversary celebration, which drew about 200. They raised about $1,200 for the benches, pretty good for what Mrs. Soknich described as a "modest, middle-income neighborhood."

The placement of the benches is significant, because the forest was a playland for the neighborhood's kids even before it was turned into a park. "There were the beaver dams, and the monkey vines, and Fossil Rock," Mrs. Soknich said, giving the names the kids developed for landmarks in the woods.

The only problem, she said, was that the kids would habitually come home soaked and filthy from damming the stream and swinging on the vines. "We'd have to clean them up to get them ready for bed," she said.

After the park was established, the Hi, Neighbor! Club adopted Moccasin Grove as a favored spot for picnics, "one of the nicest places in the park," Mrs. Soknich said. Thanks to the club, future picnickers can use the benches to share the experience.

There was more to the club and neighborhood than simply parties, though. One man there was both a teacher and the athletic director at the local Salvation Army, Mrs. Soknich said. The Salvation Army had a pool, and "all our kids learned how to swim there."

Another man had a business putting in tennis courts. "I think every boy in the neighborhood worked for him at one time or another," Mrs. Soknich said.

One of the mothers worked in the school cafeteria. One of the neighborhood men was a master mechanic, and was forever helping others with their cars.

"It is unique," Mrs. McGrath said. "I tell my friends about it, and there are other neighborhood groups, but no one has a neighborhood like this."

"It was just a really, really tight family kind of thing," Mrs. Soknich said.