Today, January 9, 2014, is the Centennial of Phi Beta Sigma, Inc. It was founded 100 years ago at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Founders A. Langston Taylor, Leonard F. Morse, and Charles I. Brown, formed their organization on the ideals of brotherhood, scholarship, and service.
Founders’ Day will be celebrated globally. It is also the kickoff of the Unified Sigma Days of Service. All Phi Beta Sigma chapters will serve the campuses or communities which they represent. Some of the service projects include canned food drives, collecting coats for the needy and feeding the homeless. Service activities will also take place during upcoming regional conference.
This morning during an outdoor segment, Phi Beta Sigma President Jonathan Mason was interviewed by Al Roker, an honorary Phi Beta Sigma member, on the Today Show. Mason presented Roker with a Phi Beta Sigma jacket. Members were gathered around Mason at the patio at Rockefeller Center.
A worldwide “Three Minutes of Remembrance” is planned for 1:00 p.m. (EST) to honor the memory of the organization’s founders. Shortly thereafter, wreaths will be laid in memory of the founders. A wreath will be laid on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee at birthplace of Taylor and at Kansas State University in honor of Brown. Another wreath will be laid at the site of the planned Centennial Monument at Howard University.
The opening ceremony will take place tonight at Howard University. A message from Mason will be streamed on the web. Galas in various cities will take place on Saturday night. Happy 100th Birthday, Phi Beta Sigma!
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Today is also the birthday of Carrie Chapman Catt, a member of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at Iowa State University. Pi Beta Phi’s Chapter Loyalty Day is today in honor of Catt and the loyalty she had for her chapter. She truly utilized her Pi Phi connections as she traveled the country talking about women’s suffrage. Recently a picture of her wearing her arrow badge was discovered on the internet. The picture had been taken several years after her graduation from Iowa State while she was teaching in Mason City, Iowa. I thought that a mighty good sign that she valued her membership in the organization.
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Yesterday was my birthday and I want to share this from my facebook page.
From Chi Omega Archivist Lyn Harris (who, I might add, bleeds scarlet and straw and is a hoot!).
Elvis Presley, the moment he realizes he shares a BIRTHDAY with Fran DeSimone Becque.
Lyn’s tweets last year led me to realize that I also shared a birthday with one of Chi Omega’s five founders, Dr. Charles Richardson, a Fayetteville dentist. “Sis Doc” as he was known, was also a Kappa Sigma. Yesterday, members of the Chi Omega chapter at the University of Virginia visited the Kappa Sigma Headquarters. I sense the chapter had a nudge or two from Sister Harris.
From Kappa Sigma’s twitter feed:
Kappa Sigma Executive Director Mitchell B. Wilson with ladies of the Lambda-Gamma Chapter (Virginia) of Chi Omega Fraternity at Kappa Sigma’s International Headquarters in Charlottesville, VA. The ladies stopped by with a birthday cake in honor of their founder Dr. Charles Richardson’s 150th birthday. Dr. Richardson was an 1883 initiate of Kappa Sigma’s Omicron Chapter at Emory and Henry College.
And my mail included this from my dear friend Nann Blaine Hilyard. A card, a book, a note and a plate and two mugs with angels and stars, symbols of two organizations to which I am devoted, Pi Beta Phi and P.E.O. While Nann and I belong to different GLOs (her note is written on vintage Alpha Gamma Delta stationery), she is the one who introduced me to P.E.O. and for that I am so very grateful. Nann has so many talents and she, too, has a blog at http://withstringsattached.blogspot.com/.
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© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved.
Yeah Nan!