A Week of NPHC Founding Days – Happy 101st Birthday Delta Sigma Theta

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

This week has in it the Founders’ Days of three of the four National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) Sororities. All three, Delta Sigma Theta, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Zeta Phi Beta were founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

January 13 is the 101st birthday of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Delta Sigma Theta was founded by 22 Howard University collegians – Winona Cargile (Alexander), Madree Penn (White), Wertie Blackwell (Weaver), Vashti Turley (Murphy), Ethel Cuff (Black), Frederica Chase (Dodd), Osceola Macarthy (Adams), Pauline Oberdorfer (Minor), Edna Brown (Coleman), Edith Mott (Young), Marguerite Young (Alexander), Naomi Sewell (Richardson), Eliza P. Shippen,  Zephyr Chisom (Carter), Myra Davis (Hemmings), Mamie Reddy (Rose), Bertha Pitts (Campbell), Florence Letcher (Toms), Olive Jones, Jessie McGuire (Dent), Jimmie Bugg (Middleton), and Ethel Carr (Watson). All had been members of Alpha Kappa Alpha, which was founded on January 16, 1908. When a disagreement about the future of the organization arose between the active chapter and the alumnae, an ultimatum was given, decisions were made, and in the end, the active members left Alpha Kappa Alpha and became Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Hemmings went from being the president of the Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter to being president of the Delta Sigma Theta chapter. Many of the first meetings were held in Coleman’s living room. The 1913 Valedictorian and Class President, she married Frank Coleman, a founder of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Toms’ hobby of collecting elephant figurines led to the animal becoming the sorority’s symbol.

Nearly two months after its founding, on March 3, 1913, the women took part in the historic suffrage march in Washington, D.C. They were the only African-American women’s group to participate. Honorary member Mary Church Terrell joined them in their march.

DST

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

Posted in Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Founders' Day, Fran Favorite, Howard University, National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), Zeta Phi Beta | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Golden Globes and the Fraternity and Sorority Members Who Have Won Them

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Please note that the reason I’ve compiled this list is to show the collective effort of fraternity men and women, not for bragging rights of any organization.

The 71st Golden Globes will be awarded at a ceremony on January 12, 2014 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The awards were first presented in 1944.

There are at least three fraternity and sorority members in competition for this year’s awards.

Matthew McConaughey, Delta Tau Delta, is nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for his work in Dallas Buyers Club. (CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER – HE WON)

Ty Burrell, Sigma Chi, is nominated for Best Performance for a Male Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical for his performance in Modern Family.  (CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER – HE WON)

Jim Parsons, Pi Kappa Alpha is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical for his portrayal of Dr. Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Delta Gamma, is nominated in two categories – Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical for her role in Enough Said and Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical for her role in Veep.

Over the years, a number of awards have been given to members of Greek-letter organizations. These winners are listed by category.

 

Best Film Director

1945 – Leo McCarey, Delta Chi, Going My Way

1970 – Paul Newman, Phi Kappa Tau, Rachel Rachel

1981 – Robert Redford, Kappa Sigma, Ordinary People

1982 – Warren Beatty, Sigma Chi, Reds

1991 – Kevin Costner, Delta Chi, Dances with Wolves

1994 – Steven Spielberg, Theta Chi, Schindler’s List

1999 – Steven Spielberg, Theta Chi, Saving Private Ryan

 

Best Actor Motion Picture – Drama

1952 – Fredric March, Alpha Delta Phi, Death of a Salesman

1963 – Sidney Poitier, Alpha Phi Alpha, Lilies of the Field

1970 – John Wayne, Sigma Chi, True Grit

2000 – Denzel Washington, Omega Phi Psi, The Hurricane

2014 – Matthew McConaughey, Delta Tau Delta, Dallas Buyers Club

 

Best Actor Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

1958 – Frank Sinatra, Alpha Phi Delta (Honorary member), Pal Joey

1979 – Warren Beatty, Sigma Chi, Heaven Can Wait

 

Best Actress Motion Picture Drama

1944 – Jennifer Jones, Kappa Alpha Theta, The Song of Bernadette

1958 – Joanne Woodward, Chi Omega, The Three Faces of Eve

1969 – Joanne Woodward, Chi Omega, Rachel, Rachel

1975 – Gena Rowlands, Kappa Kappa Gamma, A Woman Under the Influence

1977 – Faye Dunaway, Pi Beta Phi, Network

1991 – Kathy Bates, Alpha Delta Pi, Misery

 

Best Actress Motion Picture Comedy or Musical

1976 – Ann-Margret, Kappa Alpha Theta, Tommy

1995 – Angela Bassett, Delta Sigma Theta (Honorary Member), What’s Love Got to Do With It

 

Best Supporting Actor Motion Picture

1954 – Frank Sinatra, Alpha Phi Delta (Honorary member), From Here to Eternity

1956 – Arthur Kennedy, Phi Kappa Psi, Trial

1959 – Burl Ives, Phi Sigma Kappa, The Big Country

1980 – Melvyn Douglas, Zeta Beta Tau, Being There

1991 – Denzel Washington, Omega Psi Phi, Glory

1996 – Brad Pitt, Sigma Chi, 12 Monkeys

1998 – Burt Reynolds, Phi Delta Theta, Boogie Nights

 

Best Supporting Actress Motion Picture

1957 – Ellen Heckart, Pi Beta Phi, The Bad Seed

1972 – Ann-Margret, Kappa Alpha Theta, Carnal Knowledge

 

Best Screenplay

1951 – Joseph Mankiewicz, Phi Sigma Delta, All About Eve

 

Cecil B. DeMille Award

1966 – John Wayne, Sigma Chi

1971 – Frank Sinatra, Alpha Phi Delta (Honorary member)

1984 – Paul Newman, Phi Kappa Tau

1994 – Robert Redford, Kappa Sigma

2002 – Harrison Ford, Sigma Nu

2007 – Warren Beatty, Sigma Chi

2009 – Steven Spielberg, Theta Chi

 

Best Actor in a Television Series Drama

1970 – Mike Conners, Phi Delta Theta, Mannix

1971 – Peter Graves, Phi Kappa Psi, Mission: Impossible

1972 – Robert Young, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Marcus Welby, M.D.

1985 – Tom Selleck, Sigma Chi, Magnum, P.I.

1992 – Scott Bakula, Phi Gamma Delta, Quantum Leap

 

Best Actor in a Television Series or Musical

1972 – Carroll O’Connor, Sigma Phi Epsilon, All in the Family

1984 – John Ritter, Phi Gamma Delta, Three’s Company

1985 – Bill Cosby, Omega Psi Phi, The Cosby Show

1986 – Bill Cosby, Omega Psi Phi, The Cosby Show

1988 – Dabney Coleman, Phi Delta Theta, The Slap Maxwell Story

1992 – Burt Reynolds, Phi Delta Theta, Evening Shade

1993 – John Goodman, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Roseanne

2011 – Jim Parsons, Pi Kappa Alpha, The Big Bang Theory

2014 – Ty Burrell, Sigma Chi, Modern Family

 

Best Actress in a Television Series Drama

1972 – Patricia Neal, Pi Beta Phi, The Homecoming: A Christmas Story

1998 – Christine Lahti, Delta Gamma, Chicago Hope

2001 – Sela Ward, Chi Omega, Once and Again

2002– Jennifer Garner, Pi Beta Phi, Alias

2005 – Mariska Hargitay, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Law & Order, Special Victims Unit

 

Best Actress in a Television Series – Comedy

1967 – Marlo Thomas, Kappa Alpha Theta, That Girl

1989 – Candice Bergen, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Murphy Brown

1992 – Candice Bergen, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Murphy Brown

 

Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

1987 – James Woods, Theta Delta Chi, Promise

1989 – Stacy Keach, Psi Upsilon, Hemingway

1992 – Beau Bridges, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Without Warning: The James Brady Story (James Brady, Sigma Chi)

2001 – Brian Dennehy, Sigma Chi, Death of a Salesman

2013 – Kevin Costner, Delta Chi, Hatfields & McCoys

 

Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

1984 – Ann Margret, Kappa Alpha Theta, Who Will Love My Children?

1985 – Ann-Margret, Kappa Alpha Theta, A Streetcar Named Desire

1988 – Gena Rowlands, Kappa Kappa Gamma, The Betty Ford Story

1990 – Christine Lahti, Delta Gamma, No Place Like Home

1995 – Joanne Woodward, Chi Omega, Breathing Lessons

 

Best Supporting Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

1974 – McLean Stevenson, Phi Gamma Delta, M*A*S*H

1976 – Tim Conway, Phi Delta Theta, The Carol Burnett Show

1994 – Beau Bridges, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom

2006 – Paul Newman, Phi Kappa Tau, Empire Falls

 

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television

1986 – Faye Dunaway, Pi Beta Phi, Ellis Island

1995 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Delta Gamma, Seinfeld

1998 – Kathy Bates, Alpha Delta Pi, The Late Shift

2000 – Faye Dunaway, Pi Beta Phi, Gia

 

New Star of the Year – Actor (The award was discontinued in 1983; some years had multiple winners)

1955 – George Nader, Phi Gamma Delta

1955 – Jeff Richards, Sigma Chi

1957 – Anthony Perkins, Kappa Alpha Order

1957 – Paul Newman, Phi Kappa Tau

1958 – Patrick Wayne, Alpha Delta Gamma

1959 – John Gavin, Chi Psi

1962 – Warren Beatty, Sigma Chi

1966 – Robert Redford, Kappa Sigma

 

New Star of the Year – Actress (The award was discontinued in 1983; some years had multiple winners)

1962 – Ann-Margret, Kappa Alpha Theta

1965 – Mary Ann Mobley, Chi Omega

 golden globe

If I’ve neglected anyone, please let me know. Thanks.

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

Posted in Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Golden Globes and the Fraternity and Sorority Members Who Have Won Them

Happy Founders’ Day, Tau Kappa Epsilon!

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

One hundred and fifteen years ago, January 10, 1899, Tau Kappa Epsilon was founded at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. In a meeting at 504 East Locust Street, Charles Roy Atkinson, Clarence Arthur Mayer, James Carson McNutt, Joseph Lorenzo Settles, and Owen Ison Truitt formulated plans for a fraternity they first called the Knights of Classic Lore. The name was changed to Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) when, in 1902, the men rented the Wilder Mansion, a home which formerly belonged to the College’s president. It was the first men’s fraternity house on the campus.

One of its most famous members, the 40th President, Ronald Reagan, pledged TKE’s Iota Chapter at Eureka College on September 19, 1928 and served in several leadership roles as a chapter member. At the 1982 Eureka College commencement, President Reagan said “Everything that has been good in my life began here.”

He kept up his TKE connections. In 1955, while on a tour junket of the Morrison, Illinois, General Electric plant, he stopped and visited and visited the high school where one of his fraternity brothers, Enos “Bud” Cole, was principal. In a 1967 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Cole noted that as college students, “We talked about politics then, but it never entered anybody’s head that Dutch would go into politics. He had a lot of ideas.”

In March 1984, a TKE luncheon was held at the White House with about 60 alumni in attendance. The President was awarded the Order of the Golden Eagle, TKE’s highest honor. He was also the recipient of the North-American Interfraternity Conference’s Gold Medal Award. Another ceremony took place at the White House in June 1988 when the President was given the Order of the Silver Maple Leaf Award. In turn, he presented the Ronald Reagan Leadership Award, given to  TKE undergraduate, to that year’s winner.

The Iota Chapter President was invited to the funeral services for President Reagan after his death in 2004. A Youtube video shows the President talking about his fraternity.

The book about Ronald Reagan's formative years in Illinois was a gift from the author, my brother-in-law's father.

This book about President Reagan’s formative years  in Illinois was a gift from the author, my brother-in-law’s father. The photo on the cover is of a very young Reagan and I suspect that perhaps his TKE badge is on the shirt under that suit jacket.[/caption]

If you enjoyed this blog post, please subscribe for updates:

undefined

(c) Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014.

Posted in Founders' Day, Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Presidents, Tau Kappa Epsilon | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Happy Founders’ Day, Tau Kappa Epsilon!

A Centennial, Fraternal Friends, and Birthday Wishes

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

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!

 ***

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.

***

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.

 1544468_10152066952962221_768643680_n

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.

BdfUTBWCYAAs-o2
***

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/.

nann

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe for updates:


 

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

Posted in Carrie Chapman Catt, Chi Omega, Founders' Day, Fran Favorite, Fraternity meetings, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Howard University, Kappa Sigma, NPHC, Pi Beta Phi | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“Sis Doc,” Kappa Sigma and Chi Omega, Born 150 Years Ago Today!

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Dr. Charles Richardson, a Fayetteville, Arkansas, dentist, was born 150 years ago today, on January 8, 1864, in Rich Valley, Virginia. He was one of 11 children. 

He did his undergraduate work at Emory & Henry College in Virginia and he studied dentistry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. An active member of Kappa Sigma at both schools, he served his fraternity as a national officer.

He once owned the Fayetteville Gazette and was its editor for several years. He drove one of the first cars in Fayetteville.

However, what Dr. Richardson is most famous for is his role in the founding of Chi Omega and his lifelong dedication to the organization. With his guidance, Chi Omega was founded on April 5, 1895 at the University of Arkansas by Ina May Boles, Jean Vincenheller, Jobelle Holcombe, and Alice Simonds. He was known as “Sis Doc” to generations of Psi Chapter members (the founding chapter at Arkansas is known as the Psi Chapter) and he is counted as a founder. He crafted Chi Omega’s first badge out of dental gold.

Original Chi Omega badge crafted in dental gold by "Doc Sis."

Original Chi Omega badge crafted in dental gold by “Sis Doc.”

“Sis Doc” often wore a pearl horseshoe stick pin on his lapel. The stickpin is also on display at Chi Omega’s Headquarters in Memphis. The watch fob he was apt to wear had a Kappa Sigma badge on one side and a miniature Chi Omega badge on the other. The fob was not located after his death.

charles richardson

He often visited Chi Omega chapters and was a presence at Chi Omega conventions. On his travels to and from the Kappa Sigma Conclave in Philadelphia in 1900, “Sis Doc” visited the Chi Omega chapters at the University of Tennessee and Randolph-Macon Women’s College.

The June 1900 Eleusis carried this message, “For the first time since the magazine was started, the readers of the Eleusis are not favored by an article from the pen of our founder, Dr. Charles Richardson. He was asked for a contribution, but replied that he thought Chi Omegas would like a change. The editor did not agree with him, and it was only after he pleaded pressing duties as a member of Kappa Sigma’s Supreme Executive Committee that she decided to try to do without his assistance.”

The article continued, “Since leaving college, he has kept in touch with his fraternity, and has been a close student of fraternity affairs. He has attended the last three Conclaves of Kappa Sigma, and is now serving a second term as W.G.P., the second office of the Supreme Executive Committee The Caduceus says: ‘Dr. Charles Richardson has for many years taken an active interest in Kappa Sigma, and his election to the office of W.G.P. is a tribute to the high regard in which he is held by the delegates to the recent Conclave. His wise course upon all matters of legislation commended him strongly to those who exercised an influence at the Conclave, for he was indeed one of themselves, and it is safe to say that his vigor and firmness will make him an ideal W.G.P.’”

He was instrumental in helping establish the first three men’s fraternities at Arkansas – Kappa Sigma, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and Kappa Alpha Order. He also “drafted the constitution and by-laws of Chi Omega, and has taught the mother chapter what Greek life really is. In fact, he may be called the premier of Psi. He has always been ready to counsel us when perplexing questions arise. He has often given financial assistance as well.”

He died in 1924 and is buried in Fayetteville. His role as a founder of Chi Omega is acknowledged on his grave stone.

55223397_127968320634

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe for notifications of new posts.


 

(c) Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Posted in Chi Omega, Fran Favorite, Fraternity meetings, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Kappa Sigma, The Eleusis of Chi Omega, University of Arkansas, Women's Fraternity History | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on “Sis Doc,” Kappa Sigma and Chi Omega, Born 150 Years Ago Today!

Q. The Only NPC Meeting Held in January? A. The Baker Hotel, Dallas, 1926

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

The Baker Hotel in Dallas, Texas, was the site of the 19th National Panhellenic Congress (NPC), as the Conference was then known. It was the first time NPC met in the southwest and it remains the only time NPC met in January. The meeting opened on January 4 and closed on January 8, 1926.

Installed as chairman at the 1923 meeting at the Parker House in Boston, Dr. May Agness Hopkins, Zeta Tau Alpha, presided. About 50 people attended, including delegates, non-voting delegates, and official visitors. At that time, NPC had 19 full and two associate members. According to a report in an NPC member magazine, the four days were busy ones and the “business of the Congress was conducted in the pleasant English room on the mezzanine floor of the Baker, a warm and colorful setting for sessions which, indeed, lacked in neither of these qualities.” 

The NPC Editor’s Conference held a two-hour session on January 4. Emily Butterfield, Alpha Gamma Delta Quarterly editor and an Alpha Gamma Delta founder, was elected secretary for the session and as chairman for the next biennium. The program consisted of discussions on: “Chapter Letters; on the Bringing Out of Literary Ability; on How to Interest Real Writers; the Value of Editorials As Such; Secret Publications; the Fraternity Magazine; Mailing Lists; The Business Side of the Fraternity Magazine; How to Be Economical; Exchanges; Uniformity of Style and Uniformity of Advertising.” It was noted that the “discussions pertaining to the Chapter Letter seemed to hold greatest interest.”

Baker Hotel

Hopkins, or “Dr. May,” as she was known to her ZTA sisters, was one of those early NPC women who truly amaze me. Perhaps the timing of the meeting and the locale were due to Hopkin’s active schedule as a Dallas pediatrician. 

Hopkins served as ZTA’s first NPC Delegate, but her service to ZTA began about the time she became an initiated member. Born in Austin, Texas on August 18, 1883, she graduated from the University of Texas in 1906, the same year the Kappa Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha was founded. May Bolinger (Orgain) was a member of Epsilon Chapter at the University of Arkansas. Four NPC groups had chapters at the University of Texas, and Bolinger wanted a ZTA chapter there, too. A friend told her that if she could get May Hopkins to help, her efforts would be successful.  A lunch was arranged and by the end of lunch, Hopkins agreed to help organize a Zeta chapter, even though she was a senior. The chapter’s installation took place in Hopkins’ home. A month after graduation, Hopkins attended ZTA’s 1906 Knoxville convention. She left as Grand Secretary. In 1908, while attending medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, she was elected Grand President. She attended her first NPC meeting in 1909.

In 1911, Hopkins received her medical degree; she was the only woman in her graduating class. She completed an internship at Boston’s New England Hospital for Women and Children and a residency at Pennsylvania State Hospital. In 1912, she opened a pediatrics practice in Dallas, all the while serving as Grand President.

During World War I, she offered her services and “her call came shortly before the 1918 Grand Chapter meeting and prevented her attendance there, but she sent her suggestions and recommendations, and while the meeting was in progress she was busily engaged in closing her office and making all preparations for going into – she knew not what.” She tendered her resignation as a Grand Chapter member, but it was not accepted; instead, she was granted a leave of absence.

Her response was printed in the Themis, “To my sisters in Zeta Tau Alpha: When I received the resolution of my co-workers of Grand Chapter expressing their appreciation of my work, my heart simply filled to overflowing and I now am unable to find words with which to express my appreciation of your thoughtfulness. But I do wish you to know this: If I have been able to serve my fraternity with the least degree of efficiency; and through it to serve my sisters at large, it has only been through the untiring and loyal support you have given me as my co-officers and co-workers. It is true that our beloved fraternity has grown and through it I have grown – but you have been the power behind the throne. To you I give all the praise, all the honor. For myself, I can only say, ‘May I live to serve you and those I love again.'”

In lieu of the identification bracelet worn by all war workers, she wore a gold band bracelet with the Greek letters “ZTA.” It was a gift given to her by Omicron Chapter when it was installed in 1911 at Breanau University in Gainesville, Georgia. Her name was already engraved on the inside and she added her address to it. The bracelet, “was a bit of Zeta Tau Alpha that went with her through all her war-time experiences.” She continued as Grand President until 1920.

Dr. May Agness Hopkins, Zeta Tau Alpha

Dr. May Agness Hopkins, Zeta Tau Alpha

If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe to receive e-mails when a new post is published.


 

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

Posted in Alpha Gamma Delta, Emily Butterfield, Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, National Panhellenic Conference, Notable Sorority Women, Sorority History, University of Texas, Zeta Tau Alpha | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Q. The Only NPC Meeting Held in January? A. The Baker Hotel, Dallas, 1926

“ΦΓΔ Grieves. ΣΧ Sympathizes, as Former President Calvin Coolidge Enters the Chapter Eternal.”

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

Two days after her 54th birthday, Grace Goodhue Coolidge became a widow. The 30th President died suddenly on the morning of January 5, 1933.

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.”

“Calvin Coolidge, Greatest of Fraternity Presidents, Mourned by Greeks” is the headline of an article in the January-February 1933 Magazine of Sigma Chi. The title of this post is the article’s first paragraph. Calvin Coolidge became a member of the Phi Gamma Delta chapter at Amherst College. His wife was a charter member of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at the University of Vermont. Together, they were the first President and First Lady who were initiated into Greek-letter organizations while in college.

cal sigma chi

After leaving the White House in 1929, Calvin and Grace Coolidge returned to the duplex they rented at 21 Massasoit Street in Northampton, Massachusetts. They had  moved into it after their October 1, 1905 wedding and prior to the September 7, 1906 birth of their son John.  While it was a fine home for a Northampton lawyer, and even for Mayor Coolidge, it was not a suitable for a former President. The Coolidges needed a place with more  privacy to keep away the gawkers and celebrity seekers.

In May 1930, they purchased “The Beeches,” a secluded 13-room home set on six acres. They also spent time at the Coolidge family homestead in Plymouth, Vermont where the President grew up.  In a September 1931 letter written while the Coolidges were vacationing there, she wrote to a group of her Pi Beta Phi friends, “As he grows older I think he will turn more and more to these peaceful hills. It is in the Coolidge blood and I think you will all agree that where he leads I follow.” However, the post-White House plans he may have had were cut short.

On the morning of January 5, 1933, the 60-year-old President left for his office at 25 Main Street. The chauffeur brought the President and his secretary, Harry Ross, back to the house a short time later. The January 6, 1933 New York Times gave details of the President’s death. In the article,  Ross recounted the morning’s events:

“We drove out to The Beeches, and went into his study on the ground floor. Mrs. Coolidge was getting ready to go downtown for her regular morning shopping. She came into the study and chatted with us awhile. As she got up to go out the door without calling the car, Mr. Coolidge said: ‘Don’t you want the car?’ 

“‘No,’ she replied, ‘It’s such a nice day, I’d rather walk than ride.’ These were their last words together.”

When the First Lady returned from her trip to town, she went upstairs to call her husband to lunch. That is when she found him dead on the floor.

The Times article told of the funeral arrangements: 

In keeping with the simplicity of Mr. Coolidge’s nature and his life, Mrs. Coolidge decided that her husband would have preferred, if had been able to express his opinion, funeral services of the utmost simplicity. Such will be their nature. 

Instead of having the body taken to Washington or to Boston, to lie in state in places where he exercised the power of government as President of the United States and previously as Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Mrs. Coolidge ordered that her husband’s body remain in his home in this city, where he lived before and after his Presidential career. 

The funeral services took place at the Edwards Congregational Church on Main Street, where the Coolidges were faithful members. The President was buried in the family plot in the small cemetery in Plymouth, Vermont. 

cal cool grave

***

January 5, 1911 is the founding date of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Founded by ten students at Indiana University, it was originally called Kappa Alpha Nu. At the Grand Chapter meeting of December 1914, a resolution was adopted and the name of the fraternity was changed to Kappa Alpha Psi. The change became effective April 15, 1915. Happy Founders’ Day to the brothers of Kappa Alpha Psi.

 

 


 

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

 

Posted in Amherst College, Calvin Coolidge, First Ladies, Fran Favorite, GLO, Grace Coolidge, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Indiana University, Kappa Alpha Psi, Phi Gamma Delta, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Chi, University of Vermont | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on “ΦΓΔ Grieves. ΣΧ Sympathizes, as Former President Calvin Coolidge Enters the Chapter Eternal.”

A White Dress, an Alumna Initiate, and Saying Goodbye to a Sister

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

My only sibling, my sister Louise, died suddenly on this date in 2011. I cannot tell you how many times I try to phone her because I have something I want to tell her. She lit up a room and was the life of the party. My offspring kiddingly say she was the fun version of me. Every visit with Aunt Weezer (pronounced Ont Wee Zer) was filled with laughter and fun. She could make me laugh like few others can.

It was a Tuesday. Dan drove me to work after the Rotary Club meeting. Our daughter, Simone, who was heading back to grad school a few days later, needed boots. Later in the day, she picked me up at work and we headed to Dillard’s.

While we were in Connecticut for that Thanksgiving, my sister came up from Long Island and we spent some time together shopping. I told her that Simone was going to be initiated as a Pi Beta Phi at convention during the summer and she needed a tasteful white dress. I asked her to be on the lookout for something for Simone to wear.

As we entered Dillard’s that Tuesday in January, I spied a clearance rack of white dresses and jackets. Simone and I were thinking the same thing, so we looked at them. She picked out a few things to try on. I ended up shuttling between the rack and the dressing room. I remember thinking to myself that I needed to tell Lou about this adventure because she would love this story. Simone decided that it would be good to get the outfit so she didn’t stress about it later. She kidded that she could also wear it if she ever decided to get married at city hall. She added that if that happened she would need a pillbox hat with a small veil, too.

We never looked at boots because we wanted to walk around the lake before the sun went down. Once we got home, my husband had to give me the sad news that he had just spoken to my brother-in-law. Louise had died suddenly earlier in the day. I remember talking to my father, who had also been called. The pain and despair in his voice brought even more tears to my eyes. A few more calls, and we ended up walking around the lake in the dark, just to talk and figure out what we were going to do next.

We ended up driving on Wednesday, leaving in the pre-dawn hours. It would be one of our longest trips to Connecticut. The day was chock full of stories to tell Lou. She would have loved to hear about the various exploits of her niece and nephews, all living in different states, but all making cameo appearances in our trip east. We finally arrived in Connecticut about 22 hours after we left home. It included a midnight detour to MacArthur Airport on Long Island and a 2 a.m. tour of two Westchester, NY, train station parking lots.

After I arrived on Long Island on Thursday, my brother-in-law and I went to make the funeral arrangements. Then I went to work dealing with my sister’s clothes and things.

The visitation ended up being on my birthday. On top of that, I lost my voice, most likely from an allergic reaction to the dander from Louise’s cats, but we didn’t figure that out until much later. I sounded like Minnie Mouse. My sister would have laughed so hard hearing me sound like that at any event, let alone her funeral.

At some point on that awful Tuesday or maybe it was on the long drive east, I told Simone that I wanted to take that dress and jacket back to Dillard’s – that seeing her in it at the Pi Phi Convention would bring back the awful feelings of January 4th. She said that she was ok with whatever I wanted to do.

Once we returned home, the dress and jacket hung on the back of my closet door. I never returned them. In thinking about the shopping trip and how odd it was to find a tasteful white dress at 50% off in January in Southern Illinois, I had a feeling that we parked by that door at Dillard’s and walked in that way and spotted the white dresses for a reason.

Louise loved to recount that once, when she asked a very young Simone what she wanted to be when she grew up, Simone responded, “A mommy who goes to Pi Phi meetings.” When it was time for Simone to pick a college, we toured a few midwestern campuses with sorority chapters, but her heart was set on one of the Seven Sisters. Her choice came down to Smith or Mount Holyoke. She chose the latter because “it felt like home.” It was a wonderful place for her. Although she did not have the opportunity to join a sorority, the Mount Holyoke experience had similar qualities.

When Simone was asked, four years after her Mount Holyoke graduation, if she would like to be an alumna initiate of Pi Beta Phi, I was speechless – very surprised, quite honored, and totally speechless. I told Simone that I did not want her to do it for me. As far as I was concerned, that ship had sailed, and I was fine with it. She, however, said yes, and so we met that June in Florida.

I pinned on her a beautiful diamond and sapphire arrow badge that the University of Michigan Pi Phi chapter gave to me when we left Ann Arbor. Simone was initiated into that chapter. It was only fitting as she attended her first Alumnae Advisory Committee meeting when she was but a few weeks old and she spent a lot of time at the chapter’s house, although she was too young to remember much of it.

Louise graduated from Hofstra University (the Harvard of Hempstead as I used to tease her) before there were national sorority chapters there, but I know that she was with us in spirit that June day at the Pi Phi convention when Simone became a Pi Phi.

white dress

The alumna initiate in her tasteful white dress and jacket.


 

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

Posted in Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Pi Beta Phi, University of Michigan | Tagged | Comments Off on A White Dress, an Alumna Initiate, and Saying Goodbye to a Sister

A Birthday Tribute to Grace Goodhue Coolidge

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Today, January 3, is the birthday of First Lady Grace Goodhue Coolidge. As a student at the University of Vermont, she was one of the charter members of the Vermont Beta Chapter of Pi Beta Phi. In fact, the chapter was installed in her family’s home, now part of Champlain College. She attended Pi Phi’s 1901 convention as her chapter’s delegate and some of the friendships she made there lasted her whole life through. I’ve asked my friend, Cyndy Bittinger, whom I consider the foremost authority on Grace Coolidge, to write today’s post. Several years ago, Cyndy was an alumna initiate of Grace’s Pi Phi chapter. Cyndy, along with Calvin Coolidge biographer, Amity Shlaes, did the on-air commentary to the CSPAN episode mentioned in the post. 

For one of First Lady Grace Coolidge’s birthdays on January 3, the bell ringer at Edwards Congregational Church in Northampton, Massachusetts rang out “Happy Birthday” to honor her on her special day. That was an unusual tribute to a first lady who never really did want to call attention to herself. She would have been surprised that CSPAN has for the past year has been showing a series on first ladies entitled First Ladies: Influence and Image and that she was given one and a half hours of air time for herself just as the very famous Eleanor Roosevelt, Lady Bird Johnson and Jacqueline Kennedy had their time.

How did she compare with other first ladies? The answer is more that she was very popular for her time period and that tragedy struck her family in the worst way and she bravely held her head up and courageously carried on. This was the 1920s and she and Calvin Coolidge followed the Hardings, two who had flaunted morality and ethics while in the White House. Calvin wanted to restore prior traditions and decorum before the drinking parties and card games brought in by the Hardings.

When her son, Calvin Jr., died from an infected blister that had festered into septicemia, Grace could have taken to her rooms at the White House like New Hampshire’s Jane Pierce did over the death of her son, little Benny, but she chose instead to smile and take joy in her husband’s accomplishments and her older son’s life.

Grace Coolidge wanted to contribute as first lady, but before Eleanor Roosevelt’s time, the role was traditionally in the background. So Grace presided over banquets and musical concerts. She reached out to veterans as Florence Harding had done. However, she showed innovation when she used the radio to showcase choirs singing Christmas carols at the White House and encouraged a sing along for the public by arranging for newspapers to print the carols they sang. She collected antiques for rooms at the White House and appointed a committee to oversee its historic furniture. When the White House needed renovation, she designed a sun parlor for the rooftop thus ensuring privacy and solitude for the presidential couple.

During the 1920s, Grace Coolidge reigned at a White House where staff wanted to warm up the president’s image and decided to entertain the movie stars of the era. So she met Will Rogers, the comedian who had imitated her husband on the radio. She kidded Rogers that she could do a better impersonation. He replied, “I believe it, but look what you had to go through to learn it.”

The legacy of Grace Coolidge is linked with baseball. Her pastime was also the nation’s pastime. She was an avid fan right up until her death in 1957 at the age of 78. The American League gave her passes each year in elegant purses. When her son John, during the 1990’s when he was in his late eighties, asked me to drive one of these from his home in Plymouth to the University of Vermont’s Grace Coolidge Room, I was pleased to add this artifact to their collection. Of course it did not outshine the baseball signed by both Babe Ruth atnd Lou Gehrig!

In the newly commissioned poll judging first ladies completed by historians, Grace Coolidge probably will not rank high as far as influence goes since her husband did not include her in his administration as Jimmy Carter did with Rosalyn nor did she comment on public affairs as Betty Ford and many others did. Instead, she stayed true to herself with her strong sense of religion and family. She reached out to those with disabilities drawing on her skill of teaching deaf students that she had done right out of college.

The University of Vermont has a dormitory named for Mrs. Coolidge and designated a room in her honor at Waterman Hall. Champlain College has saved the home where she was married to Calvin in 1905, but her birthplace and first home in Burlington remain unmarked. With presidential libraries from Herbert Hoover’s to George W. Bush’s being built, more emphasis has been on first ladies and their roles. At Plymouth Notch, Vermont the Coolidge education center featured an exhibit on Grace’s love of baseball last season. So her legacy is being secured.

Grace Coolidge in her official First Lady portrait

Grace Coolidge in her official First Lady portrait

***

Cyndy Bittinger is the author of several books. Her latest book is Vermont Women, Native American and African Americans.  https://www.historypress.net/catalogue/bookstore/books/Location/New%20England/Vermont/Vermont-Women,-Native-Americans-AND-African-Americans/9781609492625

 ***

To read more on Grace Coolidge, see my post at http://wp.me/P20I1i-16 or click on the Grace Coolidge category on the right hand side of this blog for other posts about her. Her husband, Phi Gamma Delta Calvin Coolidge has his own category, too.

(c) Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Posted in Calvin Coolidge, First Ladies, Fran Favorite, GLO, Grace Coolidge, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Pi Beta Phi, Sorority History, University of Vermont | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on A Birthday Tribute to Grace Goodhue Coolidge

Happy 117th Birthday Alpha Omicron Pi!

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Alpha Omicron Pi was founded on January 2, 1897, at the home of Helen St. Clair (Mullan). She and three of her Barnard College friends, Stella George Stern (Perry), Jessie Wallace Hughan, and Elizabeth Heywood Wyman had pledged themselves to the organization on December 23, 1896. That first pledging ceremony took place in a small rarely used upstairs room in the old Columbia College Library.

Celebrating a Founders’ Day on the second day of the new year proved to be a challenge for the organization, so Alpha Omicron Pi now celebrates Founders’ Day on December 8, Stella George Stern Perry’s birthday.

Alpha Omicron Pi’s second chapter was halfway cross the country and to the south, 1,300 miles away from Manhattan. Stella contacted Evelyn Reed, a classmate from New Orleans. Evelyn’s sister, Katherine, was a student at H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College.

On September 8, 1898, Katherine Reed became the first pledge of the Pi Chapter at Newcomb College. Not only was it Alpha Omicron Pi’s second chapter, but it was also the second women’s fraternity at Newcomb. A Pi Beta Phi’s  chapter was established in 1891. “The little Greek community at Newcomb was very delightfully entertained at a charmingly original birthday party, given by the Alpha Omicron Pi girls, to celebrate the first anniversary of the founding of their chapter,” reported the Pi Phi chapter in the January 1900 Arrow of Pi Beta Phi.

Pioneering photographer and photo-journalist Margaret Bourke-White became a member of AOPi while a student at the University of Michigan. I remember reading a story about her in a Michigan publication from the 1980s. Margaret White, as she was then known, was a student at Michigan in 1922-23. She had previously attended Columbia University, and she graduated from Cornell University in 1927. Between Ann Arbor and Ithaca, she married, divorced, added her mother’s maiden name (Bourke) to her surname and she threw in some classes at Purdue University and (Case) Western Reserve University. 

Bourke-White was the first female permitted to work in a combat zone. She was also the first female photographer whose work appeared on the front over of Life, a weekly current events and popular culture magazine which brought the world into homes before the advent of cable television and 24-hour news cycles. She was one of the four original cover photographers for Life and the first photographer at Fortune. Her images are iconic. They tell the story of the Dust Bowl, survival in the Depression of the 1930s, fighting in World War II, freeing prisoners of war at the Buchenwald concentration camp among others.

Currently on the internet, there is for sale a very expensive copy of Bourke-White’s autobiography. The book is signed along with an inscribed note to Wilma Smith Leland, “My dear friend of long ago.” Leland served Alpha Omicron Pi as National President and Editor of its magazine, To Dragma.

Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White


 

(c) Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Posted in Alpha Omicron Pi, Barnard College, Columbia University, Founders' Day, Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Notable Fraternity Women, To Dragma of Alpha Omicron Pi, Women's Fraternity History | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Happy 117th Birthday Alpha Omicron Pi!