On Graduating and Becoming an Alum (and a New Puppy!)

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

I love the pomp and circumstance of graduation ceremonies. This year, for the first time in a long time, our attendance was not required at any offspring’s graduation ceremony.

Dear fraternity and sorority graduates – this is not the end of the membership journey. It is the beginning of your life as an alumna or alumnus. Seize the opportunity to be a part of the alum life of your organization. If there is an alum club/chapter where you’ll be heading, join it. Give to your organization’s foundation. I know you’re probably strapped for cash and don’t have much. Give up the cost of two grand venti coffees and send it to your organization’s foundation. Give at least $15 this year, $20 next year. Get in the habit of giving.

Work for your organization. It can be as simple as being on the lookout for potential new members. Speak of the good things your organization does. Keep current – read the magazine, visit the web-site, sign up for e-mails and tweets. Volunteer to work with a chapter, or put your name in the hat for committee work. Every national/international officer once was in the same place you find yourself today.

Best wishes for a happy and healthy life ahead. And remember when you speak of your membership in a fraternity or sorority, say  “I am an ABC” not “I was an ABC.”

***

The Laurel Parade is an important part of Mount Holyoke’s College graduation/welcome to alumnae life weekend. The Laurel Parade takes place the day before graduation. It is when the graduating class is welcomed into the Alumnae Association, by the anniversary classes celebrating reunions. Each class – first year, sophomore, junior, and senior – has a class color, either red, blue, green, or yellow. For the parade, each class is dressed in white. Each class has a uniform item in the class color – hats, scarves, boas, flowers, umbrellas, etc. to set the class apart from other classes. The graduating class marches last and carries a laurel chain. The parade ends at the gravestone of Mary Lyon in the middle of campus. The graduating class encircles the grave singing Bread and Roses.

This year’s parade was filmed from a flying camera by Miranda Gontz, Class of  2016. It’s at  . It’s a very short film and captures only the graduates walking with the laurel chain. It ends at Mary Lyon’s gravestone.

Two Mount Holyoke alumnae with a favorite professor.

Two Mount Holyoke College alumnae with a favorite professor. Their class color is yellow.

***

Wednesday’s post was about the loss of our dog, Tigger. The house was so quiet and we were missing having a furry creature around. Yesterday, we brought a new dog home. She’s yet to be named, but she’s a cute little bitty thing, a Pomeranian/terrier mix who needed a good home. Something tells me she just won the lottery.

Our new dog, yet unnamed.

Our new dog, yet unnamed.

 

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Saying Goodbye is Never Easy, R.I.P. T-I-Double Gher-Er

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

This week we said goodbye to our 17-year-old rat terrier. He had a good run and was a faithful, though sometimes ornery, companion. Dan and I are dog people. Our families both had dogs and we grew up with them. Dan’s sisters even took their family dog to our wedding reception and the dog is with the family in some of our wedding pictures.

Having three children in 18 months proved to be a bit of a challenge, especially when Dan was in graduate school working on a doctorate. Living in married student housing put the kibosh on having a dog. After we moved into our own home, the kids kept asking for a dog. Around Christmastime our local paper published letters to Santa; some elementary school classes wrote them as an assignment. When we spotted our daughter’s letter to Santa, it was all about her desire for a dog. We still refer to it as her “If I had a dog” missive.

After the holidays were over, we found a dog, a little rat terrier who had spent its days in an outdoor pen during a very cold winter. For the rest of his life, he would seek to be as warm as possible. We named him Tigger (T-I-double Gher-Er).

Tig became part of the family. This weekend, a friend told me that her favorite Becque family Christmas letter was the one Tig “wrote” which was subtitled “The Dog Who Won the Lottery.”

Tig traveled with us wherever we went. He loved to stay in hotels (and was likely Drury Hotels’ #1 fan!). He didn’t mind 16 hour car rides. He, however, did not play well with others. Whenever he saw any of his doggie “cousins” he would bark, even though they were guests in the same house and encountered each other frequently. After a barking session, he would usually be banished to an upstairs bedroom. We love the picture below. Both dogs are now gone, but suffice to say there was no barking at this moment. There was some cut of meat being carved above their heads. Getting a handout was the only thing on both their minds.

Tigger is the dog in the Rural King sweatshirt.

Tig is the dog in the sweatshirt.

After the kids left for college, all at once it seemed, Tig became extremely spoiled. We doted on him, more than we had ever doted on our children. Since October, I have been working at home. As Tig’s abilities lessened, his world, which had been any comfortable surface in the house, usually our bed or his “Uncle Al” chair (so named because of the chair’s previous owner), became a little dog bed and blanket across from where I now sit typing this. There I could keep my eye on him. When he started to get up, I knew he had to go outside. At first it was just shepherding him out. Lately, it meant quickly carrying him out. 

Tig in his doggie bed

Tig in his doggie bed

His quality of life declined. He could no longer see; he could not hear. We loved him anyway. I kept hoping that he would just fall asleep one night and not wake up. But that did not happen. We took that final trip to the vet’s office, a task we had been dreading.

Finding a new dog to love is on our to-do list and we hope we find one who can fill Tig’s shoes (and wear his old doggie clothes!).

Thank you for reading this rare non GLO post. My heart wasn’t into writing about anything else today, although I will offer my congratulations to Tri Delta Meryl Davis for winning Dancing With the Stars!

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com. 2014. All Rights Reserved.

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Indiana University, Home of Impressive GLO Chapter Houses!

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Saturday was spent in Bloomington, Indiana, attending the Bloomington Alumnae Panhellenic Council’s Serving Up Sisterhood fundraiser. It was held at the Pi Beta Phi house on the Indiana University campus. My friend Mary Jane Hall served as chair of the event. It was such a fun day!

Indiana University was established by the State of Indiana on January 20, 1820. In 1867, IU became coeducational. A Fort Wayne newspaperman had suggested that equality could be reached by admitting women to the university. Sarah Parke Morrison, the daughter of the president of the Indiana University Board of Trustees, applied for admission in 1867. A 1857 graduate of Mount Holyoke College, she was told she had to correct deficiencies in her preparation in order to be admitted with the incoming students of 1867. In 1868, 12 more women were admitted. According to Clark (1970, p. 125): “The traditional social order took considerable readjusting before women could be made to feel welcome in the university. For instance, in planning for the commencement of 1869 professors were perhaps more worried about Miss Morrison’s graduation than they had been about her admission to classes. They were afraid she would be subjected to the curious and hostile stares of the audience. Even worse, she would have to walk across the stage to receive her diploma and her ankles might be exposed to immodest views.”

The Pi Chapter of Beta Theta Pi, founded in 1845, was the first men’s fraternity on campus. Phi Delta Theta (1849), Sigma Chi (1858) Phi Kappa Psi (1869), Delta Tau Delta (1870), Phi Gamma Delta (1871), Kappa Sigma (1887), and Sigma Nu (1892) were founded before 1900.

Kappa Alpha Theta was founded in Greencastle at Indiana Asbury College (now DePauw University) in 1870. IU became home to Theta’s second chapter. Correspondence took place between one of the Theta founders and the daughter of one of her father’s friends. On May 18, 1870, Kappa Alpha Theta was installed at Indiana University with the initiation of three charter members.

On October 12, 1872, Kappa Kappa Gamma made its appearance. A male student at Monmouth College, where Kappa was founded, had a female cousin attending Indiana University. Correspondence ensued and the chapter was installed.

A Pi Beta Phi member from the Franklin College chapter arrived to study at Indiana University and saw what she considered to be material for a Pi Beta Phi chapter. A charter was issued on March 30, 1893.

On December 10, 1898, the Delta Gamma chapter was the last women’s fraternity to be installed on the Indiana University campus prior to 1900.

These early chapters provided members an opportunity to live together in a chapter house. In the 1800s, most of the chapters rented homes. Owing a home took a considerable amount of capital which young chapters rarely had. This was in the day before colleges and universities offered students the opportunity to live in dormitories/residence halls, so living together in a home was a benefit of membership. As Greek-letter Organizations (GLOs) grew and developed an alumni/ae base, they seized the opportunity to purchase homes when it was feasible.

1936 newspaper article about the modernization of an IU sorority house.

1936 newspaper article about the modernization of an IU sorority house.

Today, the GLO homes at Indiana University are exceptionally impressive. I would pay good money to take a tour of any, or more ideally, all of the structures. I wonder if such a fundraiser has ever taken place.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the name of Herman B Wells (the lack of a period after his middle initial B is correct. He had no middle name, just the initial). Indiana University was his life for most of his very long life and his fingerprints can be found all over campus. Well’s belief in the American fraternity system cannot be doubted. As an undergraduate, he was an active member of Sigma Nu’s Beta Eta Chapter. While working on his Masters degree at Indiana, he was an active alumnus. From what I have read about him, he had a deep and abiding love for his fraternity;  he served as Regent of its High Council, as well as a member of the Sigma Nu Educational Foundation Board of Trustees. He helped found the Interfraternity Institute (IFI). The first IFI session for  fraternity and sorority professionals took place at Indiana University in 1970. Wells deserves a post of his own, and I hope to get to it in the near future.

For a post about David Starr Jordan, who served as IU President and for whom Jordan Avenue is name, see http://wp.me/p20I1i-Md.

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© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Posted in Delta Gamma, Fran Favorite, Indiana University, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Mount Holyoke College, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Nu | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Indiana University, Home of Impressive GLO Chapter Houses!

An Adelphean Fountain on Alpha Delta Pi’s Founders’ Day

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

On May 15, 1851, Alpha Delta Pi was founded as the Adelphean Society at Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Georgia by six young women. The founders are Eugenia Tucker Fitzgerald, Ella Pierce Turner, Octavia Andrew Rush, Mary Evans Glass, Sophronia Woodruff Dews, and Elizabeth Williams Mitchell.  Fitzgerald, known to generations of Alpha Delta Pis as “Mother Fitzgerald,” was the leader and first president of the Adelpheans.

In 1905, the Society changed its name to Alpha Delta Phi and installed its second chapter at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A year later, a third chapter was founded at Mary Baldwin Seminary, in Staunton, Virginia. Alpha Delta Phi joined the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) in 1909. The installation of the Sigma Chapter at the University of Illinois in 1912 came shortly after the installation, on the same campus, of the Illinois Chapter of Alpha Delta Phi, a men’s fraternity founded in 1832 at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.  The Illinois members made their organization aware of this duplication of name and the problems that surfaced because of it. In 1913, the convention body voted to change the name to Alpha Delta Pi.

In 1926, a bench was dedicated on the Wesleyan College campus. It was given in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Adelphean Society. The bench was designed by Emily Langham of the Sophie Newcomb College chapter. The event was chronicled in the 1930 History of Alpha Delta Pi. “We have just had a big thrill way down in Dixie. When one attends a family reunion, there is always a feeling of both pleasure and pain, so many recollections are aroused. As the large number of Alpha alumnae gathered together for the presentation of the Marble Bench by Alpha Delta Pi to Wesleyan College, commemorating the seventy-fifth anniversary of its founding, they felt they were returning to an old home, the mother gone, but her children ‘rising up to call her blessed.’ Every loyal heart there felt with keenest appreciation the placing of this Memorial at the home of Alpha Chapter.”

photo (23)

Dedication of Founders Bench

Dedication of the Memorial Bench

The bench was placed in “a grove of great oaks. Waving mimosa trees in full bloom and magnolias added the floral decoration.” Ella Clark Anderson, the oldest member present, was a member of the class of 1862. Descendants of the founders were present when the blue and white drapery was drawn aside and the bench was unveiled. Ten years later, Alpha Delta Pi once again gathered on campus to dedicate another gift to the college. The Alpha Delta Pi’s Memorial Fountain is located in the center of Wesleyan College’s quadrangle; it was a gift to celebrate the college’s centennial in 1936. Made of Georgia marble, the Alpha Delta Pi coat-of-arms is engraved on the large slanting block at center. The names of the founders of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority are engraved on the stairs leading up to the fountain. Other elements of the fountain were added on other commemorations including two lions, the mascot of Alpha Delta Pi, given in 2011 to celebrate the College’s 175th anniversary. Alpha Delta Pi Fountain (detail), Wesleyan College

The fountain with lions added.

The fountain with lions added.

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© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved.

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10 GLO Authors for Children’s Book Week

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Children’s Book Week, May 12-18, 2014, is a time to celebrate books written for young readers as well as the joy of reading itself. Established in 1919, the history of the event can be traced to Franklin K. Matthiews, a librarian for the Boys Scouts of America. Many Greek-letter organizations (GLOs) support literacy efforts, reading to children in their communities, raising funds for literacy causes, and collecting books to be distributed to those in need.

Ten authors who have sparked a love of reading and life-long literacy have worn the badges of GLOs.

Brenda W. Clough, Delta Gamma. Although known primarily as a science fiction/fantasy author, Clough wrote a children’s book, An Impossumble Summer.

Jim Davis, Theta Xi. Garfield the cat has provided the most reluctant of readers an opportunity to dive into reading. My belief, especially with my once reluctant reader sons, is that one must find the right bait to hook a child on reading; I believe Garfield has done yeoman’s duty in this effort.

Ree Drummond, Pi Beta Phi. Known more for her Pioneer Woman blog and television show, she has written Charlie the Ranch Dog and Charlie Goes to School. I suspect more Charlie books are in the making.

Neta Lohnes Frazier, Kappa Kappa Gamma. From 1947-73, she published 14 children’s book, four of which received Junior Literary Guild awards.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, Sigma Phi Epsilon. Far better known as Dr. Seuss, Geisel has a very special place in children’s literature. He is my all-time favorite children’s author. You can read more about him in an earlier post http://wp.me/p20I1i-bh.

Harper Lee, Chi Omega. While her only book, To Kill a Mockingbird, is not a children’s book, it remains a perennial middle school/high school reading assignment. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961.

Deborah Norville, Delta Delta Delta. Known primarily for her work as a television anchor and journalist, she wrote a children’s book, I Don’t Want to Sleep Tonight.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Kappa Alpha Theta. The Yearling won a 1939 Pulitzer Prize.

Ruth Sawyer (Durant), Alpha Xi Delta (alumna initiate). In 1937, her book Roller Skates won the Newberry Medal for excellence in American children’s literature.  

Elwyn Brooks “E.B.” White, Phi Gamma Delta. White’s works run the gamut from children’s books – Charlotte’s Web (or “That pig story” as one of my sons used to call it), Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan – to pieces for The New Yorker, to the instructive The Elements of Style (“Strunk & White”).  (I suspect Mr. White would have his red pen all over this paragraph!)

1921-for-site

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© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Posted in Alpha Xi Delta, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Fran Favorite, GLO, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Phi Gamma Delta, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Theta Xi | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 10 GLO Authors for Children’s Book Week

Now is the Time to Discover GLO History

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

For almost all of the time we have been married, Dan and I have lived our lives in 16 week segments, starting first when he was in grad school. Once Dan became a faculty member, the ebb and flow of life on a semester basis became much more acute. Some people cannot fathom why we can’t join them on vacation, say for two weeks in October. Yes, professors take time off for conferences and life and death situations, but a vacation just for the fun of it in the middle of the semester is a bit difficult to justify.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale held its graduation exercises on Saturday. All around the country, the same exact scene was taking place. Happy families were celebrating, friends were saying goodbye, and cars and truck piled high with packed belongings were heading out of town. “Carbondale businesses brace for summer” is the headline of a story on the local television station’s website.

It is now time to get ready for the next academic year. Fraternity and sorority members have a busy summer. Chapter houses get spruced up and ready for the fall. Some members attend convention and leadership events and get energized. Executive board members reflect on the 2013-14 year and strategize for the one ahead. Recruitment plans take shape. Greek Life professionals take a deep breath, recharge their batteries, and get ready for the next cycle of students. Some hopscotch to a new job and jump right into all the discovery which that entails.

Research and writing these posts come naturally to me, promoting this blog does not. My self-effacing ways go against the grain of shouting “Hey, hey read this!” Yes, sometimes I do shout, but believe me it does not come easily to me. However, I honestly think that history is an important component of fraternity and sorority membership and that makes me wave my hands a bit. 

It is my hope that GLO members use these summer months to learn more about their organizations and their GLO cousins. The internet has made many out-of-print items readily available. There is no need to purchase the items (yes, print on demand publishers have usurped some of the now in public domain publications of GLOs and charge high prices for items that may be available for absolutely nothing). Some GLOs have digitized histories and magazines and have made them available to members on their organization’s website.  I highly encourage anyone with a little time to kill to read through a couple of decades-old GLO magazines. Some college publications are digitized and available for free. It doesn’t even have to be your own organization’s magazine. You can get a feel of what was happening on a campus or at a particular time by reading any of them. The war-time fraternity magazines are especially poignant.

There are more than 400 posts on this blog. Some are a bit longer than 600 words, but I try to make them a quick read. Please encourage other GLO members to take a look at the archives on this site. It’s searchable and I suspect there is at least one post that would interest the most history adverse person out there. Thanks and happy reading!

My fan club and me, circa 1995.

My fan club and me, circa 1995. The other member of the club was playing photographer.

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A Lost Pin, the Golden Girls, and Mother’s Day

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

World Wars I and II wreaked havoc on the American College Fraternity system. Chapter houses emptied almost overnight. Fraternity magazines from those years tell the heartbreaking stories of the sacrifice put forth by young fraternity men. Yesterday, May 8, V-E Day marked the 1945 anniversary of the end of the war in Europe. Bob Ragan, a member of Beta Theta Pi at Wabash College, was one of those men whose college career was interrupted by the war. In 1945, while stationed at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix, Arizona, he lost his Beta pin. Soon afterwards he was shipped to Fort Sheridan in Illinois and never located his pin. It was recently returned to him, almost seven decades after he lost it. It’s a heartwarming story and you can read it at http://bit.ly/1s9Rytm.

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One hundred years ago today, President Woodrow Wilson, Phi Kappa Psi, signed the proclamation which created Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May. Mother’s Day is a national holiday to honor mothers. I would be remiss on this blog to not mention the legions of House Directors/House Mothers/House Moms), most of them women, who have served in fraternity and sorority houses across the country. Their efforts have been much appreciated. Happy Mother’s Day to moms everywhere!

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On May, 9, 1992, the final episode of The Golden Girls aired. It ran for seven seasons and it was one of my late mother’s favorite television shows. It also gives me this opportunity to show this wonderful photograph of Rue McClanahan, a Kappa Alpha Theta at the University of Tulsa. In one episode, her character Blanche Elizabeth Marie Hollingsworth Devereaux, attended a reunion of her “Alpha Gam” sisters.

Rue McClanahan

Rue McClanahan, Kappa Alpha Theta

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An Alumnae Club, One of the Best BOGO Offers Around!

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

I have been a member of a Pi Beta Phi alumnae club since I graduated from college. Each club welcomed me with open arms. The wonderful women I have met and the instant connections have been a comfort and a joy. 

When we moved to the exact middle of nowhere, as I like to call it, Dan and I drove a U-Haul from Massachusetts to southern Illinois. We rented a car and I drove him to the airport in St. Louis. He was flying east to get our car, our three young children, and a helper (his mother) to start another drive east while I organized the house.

Since I was in St. Louis and it was a weekday, I made it my business to find the Pi Beta Phi Central Office, as Headquarters was then known. In pre-GPS days, I armed myself with maps. I recall that I became horribly lost, but I somehow managed to find it. Executive Director Ginny Fry, whom I had met at the reinstallation of my chapter a few months before, greeted me like an old friend. It was thrilling to see the office where the work of the organization was being done!

There was not an alumnae club within 120 miles. I knew that I had to try to begin one because the Pi Phis in southern Illinois probably didn’t know what they were missing, and, moreover, I wanted those Pi Phi connections. I contacted Ginny for the list of members in the area. The first meeting took place at my home with a handful of Pi Phis in attendance. Although none of us knew one another, we became quick old friends. Pi Phis who were unable to come expressed their enthusiasm.

The club was chartered in 1991. It has never had more than 15 members; percentage-wise that is terrific, for this isolated area. The closest Illinois chapter is about 3 hours away. We meet for lunch several times a year. I usually do the very informal program (“Fran tell us about ….”). We give to Pi Phi’s philanthropic efforts and we try, best as we can with the limited number of members, to do what is required of us.

Over the years, we’ve lost members to chapter eternal. When new members join, they are amazed by the camaraderie we have. We’re meeting for lunch today and it will be fun to be together again. I just had an e-mail from a member who was planning to attend, but had to cancel at the last minute. She asked me to convey her regrets and she implored us to have fun; “we always do!” she added.

I have also attended alumnae club gatherings of other National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) organizations. The sisterhood and the feelings of finding a long-lost friend were exactly the same. Had I not known those women were wearing crescents and lyres, I would have sworn they were Pi Phis. While active chapter life is what most collegians join for, life-long alumnae connections is the value added treat of membership.

To those NPC women who are graduating this year, I strongly encourage you to become an active alumna member. While collegiate membership is for a finite time, alumna membership is life-long. Although they are different experiences, they can also be exactly the same!

 

The Southern Illinois Alumnae of Pi Beta Phi, in conjunction with the Pi Beta Phi Foundation and First Book, donated 500 books to the Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale. About half of the club membership is in the picture.

The Southern Illinois Alumnae of Pi Beta Phi, in conjunction with the Pi Beta Phi Foundation and First Book, recently donated 500 books to the Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale. About half of the club membership is in the picture.

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May the GLO Twitter Feed Be With You

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

The academic year is coming to a close. Many Greek-letter organization (GLO) members graduated this past weekend. Others celebrated Greek Week, an event which typically includes service and raising funds for a non-profit organization. Others celebrated Founders’ Day or hosted a Spring Formal. On my twitter feed, I saw many pictures of good deeds being done and large checks being presented as well as tweets about collegiate chapter days ending.

Other interesting items which came through my twitter feed (@GLOhistory).

Yesterday’s postings on the internet trended on the #MayThe4thBeWithYou #StarWarsDay meme. Sigma Nu honored one of their own, actor Harrison Ford (Star Wars’ Han Solo), with a tweet. photo 3 (2)

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On April 29, 2014, Theta Xi celebrated its sesquicentennial (150 years). Theta Xi alumnus and Garfield creator Jim Davis created this very special (and clever!) greeting for the event.

photo 2 (2)***

On Throwback Thursday, a famous Tri Delta posted this picture from a 1979 University of Virginia Delta Delta Delta spring formal.

photo 1 (2)

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On September 14, 2014, Miss America 2014, Nina Davuluri, Sigma Kappa, will crown her successor. The first state contestant for Miss America 2015 has been chosen and she is a sorority woman. Congratulations to Miss Vermont 2014, Lucy Edwards, Delta Delta Delta at the University of Vermont! To keep up with the list of sorority women who will compete in the Miss America 2015 competition, bookmark this page http://wp.me/P20I1i-1eS. It will be updated regularly. 

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On a rather sad note, yesterday was the 44th anniversary of the Kent State University shootings which took place in the midst of anti-Vietnam War protests. On May 4, 1970, four Kent State University students, Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Lee Scheuer, and William Knox Schroeder, were  killed by the National Guard. Nine others were injured. The Kent State campus was closed for six weeks after the shootings. Protests and a national student strike led to demonstrations at other college and universities. The Kent State campus remained closed for six weeks. Alpha Xi Delta Sandy Scheuer, an honors student studying nursing, was shot as she was walking between classes. The Phi Kappa Tau web-site noted that “One of the students killed was Jeff Miller who, following his older brother Russ Miller, Michigan State ’65, associated Alpha Alpha chapter as a legacy in 1968, and later transferred to Kent State.” May they all rest in peace.

photo 4 (2)

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© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Posted in Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Delta Delta, Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Nu | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on May the GLO Twitter Feed Be With You

Happy Founders’ Day 2014, Phi Gamma Delta!

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Phi Gamma Delta was founded on May 1, 1848.  The “Immortal Six” – John Templeton McCarty, Samuel Beatty Wilson, James Elliott, Daniel Webster Crofts, Ellis Bailey Gregg and Naaman Fletcher – were students at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, when they founded the fraternity. The fraternity’s Beta chapter was established the same year at Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania. In 1865, the chapters became one when the colleges merged to form Washington and Jefferson College.

If you regularly read this blog, you likely know that Grace Goodhue Coolidge is one of my very favorite First Ladies, for a whole host of reasons. She was a charter member of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at the University of Vermont. She had the good sense to marry a Phi Gamma Delta from Amherst College. According to reports, Grace’s mother was, at first, opposed to the marriage. In his autobiography, the President said of their marriage, “We thought we were made for each other. For almost a quarter of a century she has borne with my infirmities, and I have rejoiced in her graces.”

Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge won the Vice Presidential spot on the Republican ticket in the summer of 1920. At the time of the nomination, the Coolidges were in Amherst attending his 25th college reunion and the 99th anniversary of the college. A reception at the Phi Gam chapter house was arranged with his wife helping the chapter plan the event on short notice.  More than 1,500 people attended.

On August 2, 1923, Calvin Coolidge became President after the death of Warren G. Harding. The Coolidges were planning  to attend Phi Gamma Delta’s 75th anniversary celebration in Pittsburgh in September 1923, but the plans had to be cancelled. Later, a founders badge was presented to the President. At the presentation, he said, “I am very glad to have this badge. My wife wears mine most of the time.”

This full size portrait of President Coolidge was painted by Ercole Cartotto. Although it is now at the Phi Gamma Delta's Headquarters, it was originally commissioned. by the Xi Graduate Chapter originally commissioned this for the Phi Gamma Delta Club in New York City. Ercole Cartotto's painting was dedicated on February 20, 1929, in the Club library. It is "life size."

This full size portrait of President Coolidge was painted by Ercole Cartotto. Although it is now at Phi Gamma Delta’s Headquarters, it was originally commissioned by the Xi Graduate Chapter for the Phi Gamma Delta Club in New York City. (Photo courtesy of  Phi Gamma Delta)

On November 17, 1924, John, the Coolidges’ eldest and only living son, became a member of his father’s Phi Gamma Delta chapter at Amherst College. On Founders’ Day, May 1, 1925, FIJI Sires and Sons was organized.  Its purpose is to “impress upon all fathers and sons, who are members of the fraternity, and in time upon their sons, a realization of the noble trinity of principles of the fraternity, with the hope that they may outrun the fervor of youth.” President Coolidge, Sire No. 1, signed the preamble of the organization.

The postcard reads

The inscription reads, “To Phi Gamma Delta with best wishes, Calvin Coolidge.”

Did Coolidge ever attend an event at the Phi Gamma Delta Club in New York City? I don’t know, but I certainly hope so. The small card pictured below had a pocket in which to enclose the quarter fee and thus be enrolled on the mailing list for notices of Fiji dinners. Perhaps he sent in his quarter and received notices of dinners. Northampton, Massachusetts, is about 160 miles from New York City and trains ran regularly between the two cities when Coolidge was a resident of Northampton.

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An early 1900s New York Fiji Dinners mailing list request.

In the August, 1914, Phi Gamma Delta magazine, the Kappa Nu chapter at Cornell University, located about 240 miles from New York City, reported on a trip to the Phi Gamma Delta Club, “The long stretch before Easter was pleasantly broken by the chapter alumni dinner which was held the middle of March at the Club in New York. Ten men from the active chapter went down from Ithaca and about twenty five alumni from New York and vicinity were there. These dinners are going to be an annual affair and no one realizes what a good time can be missed until he attends one.”

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© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Posted in Calvin Coolidge, Founders' Day, Fran Favorite, Fraternity History, Fraternity meetings, GLO, Grace Coolidge, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Phi Gamma Delta, Washington and Jefferson College | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Happy Founders’ Day 2014, Phi Gamma Delta!