Organized to help Italian immigrants to learn about their new homeland while preserving their Italian heritage. Members continue to raise funds for charities and social activities. In Clearfield, the first meeting was held in the Marino home on Daisy Street and followed in various places until a permanent home was found. Some of the names in that first club are still familiar today: Barone, Cima,
Ettaro, Giovangrassi, Iannaro, Lastarzo, Liberatore, Marano, Marino, Menicucci, Miceli, Pizzella, Pontillo, Salvatori, Spingola, Tagliaferri, Vezza and others. The building had a bar on the first floor. Music classes were held in the basement and the second floor was for meetings, banquets, Sunday school classes, weddings and spaghetti nights. In 1929 women could not belong to the SOI, so a companion organization was created, the Martha Washington Auxiliary Lodge No. 1524. The women held their own meetings and events. They also cooked for the various dinners, weddings, etc. In 2000 the membership rules changed, allowing women to join SOI and so the Martha Washington Lodge dissolved in 2008. The last President of the group was Evelyn Pizzella with 20 remaining members, most over the age of 80. In the 1950's a one-story addition was added for the purpose of serving food on the first floor with more seating. In the 1980s a two-story addition was added to the back of the building for office and storage space. In 2004 the club was remodeled. In 1983 the Douglas Hotel burned and the SOI purchased the lot in order to create a parking lot. We are an organization of men and women who represent the estimated 26 million Americans of Italian heritage, dedicated to promoting our culture, our traditions, our language, the legacy of our ancestors, and our contributions to the U.S. and the world. We are sons and daughters, grandmothers and grandfathers. We are corporate executives and we are union members...young students and retirees...teachers and attorneys...doctors and firefighters...bakers and Wall Street brokers...and everything in between. We are philanthropists and we are model global citizens with purpose beyond ourselves. And we are proud and patriotic Americans of Italian heritage. We exemplify the very best of what it is to be Italian American. Today it is a multi-cultural club with Italian descendants and their spouses as regular members as well as social members of any background.
