[2] In the next decade, more sewing circles formed in Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Ohio, and Ontario.
[1] After her husband, Menno Steiner, died in 1911, Clara Eby Steiner began to organize women to promote a general society of sewing circles[3] which came to fruition in 1916 with Mary Burkhard as the first president.
[1] At the 1955 Annual Meeting, the name was changed to the Women's Missionary and Service Auxiliary to encompass the greater mission of the organization.
Minnie Graber, president, articulated the organization's vision at that time thusly, "We strive toward the vision of concerting the efforts of every Mennonite woman and girl to the total program of the Mennonite Church so that wherever the church is found, in city or country, at home or abroad, in charitable or educational institutions, in community efforts, in relief to the ends of the world, there we may be found enhancing the attractiveness of the Gospel and giving expression to the love of Jesus.
"[1] In 1958, the WMSA and its girls' auxiliaries named 826 local units with a total membership of 15,690.