Fraternity History & More

I’m convention tired. I’ve spent the better part of the last week greeting old friends and making new ones. It’s fairly easy to make new friends in a place where everyone shares a deep connection to an organization. This is especially true of fraternity and sorority conventions and with P.E.O.’s early beginning as a collegiate organization, it, too, shares this trait.

For those who have never heard P.E.O.’s early history, I’ve written many posts about it. There is a search button on this blog; use “P.E.O.” to find additional posts. P.E.O. was founded on January 21, 1869, in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, a month after Libbie Brook, a Pi Beta Phi founder, established a chapter of I.C. Sorosis at Iowa Wesleyan. At that time, Pi Beta Phi was the organization’s Greek motto. I often wonder what would have happened had Libbie Brook ventured eastward from Monmouth, Illinois, rather than westward as she did. Would P.E.O. exist today? Or if Pi Beta Phi had used Greek letters from the beginning, would P.E.O. be known by Greek letters, too? (In the late 1880s, the P.E.O. convention body appointed a committee to study the idea of changing the name to a Greek letter one, but nothing came of the committee’s work.)

Several collegiate chapters of P.E.O. existed. Community chapters founded by young women who belonged to those collegiate chapters followed. The young women wanted to have the bonds of P.E.O. sisterhood available to them after their formal education ended. By 1902, only one collegiate chapter remained. That chapter became the second chapter of Alpha Xi Delta.

Betty Quick, Gamma Phi Beta, makes an appearance at about the 58 second mark. In addition to having served as National Panhellenic Conference Chairman, she is a P.E.O. member.

At the Convention, President of International Chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood Sue Baker, a Kappa Kappa Gamma, passed the gavel to Brenda Atchison, an Alpha Gamma Delta.

I met many sorority women throughout Convention of International Chapter and some were even double sisters, those of us who are Pi Phis and P.E.O.s. One was a recent Pi Phi initiate. I mentioned that she was one of the few at this CIC who might be at the Bicentennial CIC in 2069. If she makes it there, she should tell those P.E.O.s in attendance of the events of the 150th. I also met a few P.E.O.s who were at the Centennial CIC in 1969 and they recounted their memories of that event, which was also held in Des Moines, Iowa.

I’m in Des Moines at the 74th Convention of International Chapter (CIC) of the P.E.O. Sisterhood in Des Moines, Iowa. I’ve been spending most of my time in the Bookstore where copies of the 150th commemorative history of P.E.O., We Who Are Sisters, is available for purchase. It has been fun signing books! Bookplates are also available for those who have a copy of the book at home. Stop by Room 301 if you are at CIC.

Last night was Projects Night, where the speakers are recipients of P.E.O.’s projects. Pi Beta Phi alumna Savannah Guthrie made a surprise video appearance.

It’s always fun seeing friends and making new ones. Kylie Smith, Kappa Kappa Gamma’s Archivist and Past President of the Ohio State Chapter of P.E.O. is here, too, as is my long-time Alpha Gamma Delta friend, Nann Blaine Hilyard. She gets the credit for me being a P.E.O. member. Betty Quick, Gamma Phi Beta and past National Panhellenic Conference Chairman is here, too. I wonder if she is the only NPC Chairman who is also a member of P.E.O.

I was hoping to walk around downtown Des Moines this morning before starting my day. Not happening. It’s raining cats and dogs, with an occasion lightening strike and clap of thunder. What’s more, I failed to pack an umbrella and raincoat.

I suspect I will be exploring the skywalk system in a little while trying to make my way to the Wells Fargo Center where the P.E.O.’s Convention of International Chapter will be taking place.

Yesterday’s drive to Des Moines was uneventful. Before I made it to my hotel, I stopped and saw a Pi Phi friend, Missy Reams who is the Volunteer Coordinator at Bidwell Riverside Center. A month or so she put out a Facebook request to her local friends for clothes hangers for the transitional housing program. In cleaning out my dad’s house, I had bagfuls of hangers without a home. I asked if she still needed them and she said she did. I told her I would drop them off the next time I was in Des Moines.

The Fall 2019 Arrow of Pi Beta Phi arrived in my mailbox on Saturday. In it was an article about Missy. We roomed together at the the first Pi Beta Phi Leadership Institute in a Washington University residence hall. She is an amazing woman doing amazing things!

File this next photo in the :things I never imagined I’d see in a Ladies’ Room. Extra points if you know the photo’s location.

Every fall as students head to college and GLOs recruit new members, I hold my breath each time I look at my alerts in the morning. Will there be a story about hazing? Will the current collegiate members of GLOs heed the efforts of many, including those who have lost the most to hazing, to eliminate hazing from all GLO activities? I hope and pray they do. It is an effort that has no end, for the way our organizations work, hazing prevention education is a constant as members join and others graduate and leave.

HazingPrevention.Org has been educating, advocating and engaging about hazing prevention since 2007. This year’s Hank Nuwer Anti Hazing Hero Award winners have been named. They are Rae Ann and Stephen Gruver and Dave Westol. The Gruvers, along with last year’s Heros Jim and Evelyn Piazza, lost precious sons to fraternity hazing. The Gruvers’ son Max died while pledging a fraternity at Louisiana State. The Piazzas’ son Timothy was at Penn State. The two families have spoken to countless GLO audiences and at GLO conventions around the country. Dave Westol has been a tireless advocate for all the good things that GLOs do and he is a crusader to make GLOs the best organization they can be. Previous winners also include collegiate members of GLOs who tackled hazing issues, athletes and professionals working with GLOs. We are grateful for the efforts of those who have been honored with this award.

A Four Diamonds Child Enrolls “At Home”

Penn State’s THON began in 1973 as an overnight Dance Marathon. Forty-six years later it is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. Funds are raised for Four Diamonds at Penn State Children’s Hospital. This year, Tucker Haas, who has attended THON as a Four Diamonds child will be on the other side of the THON effort as a Penn State student.

The GLO Members Who Perished on September 11, 2001

We are about a week away from the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. This year’s crop of out of high school freshmen have no real memory of the terror of that day. I think it is important for us to remember those of our number who perished on that September morning, so I will post this again.

Last week included a day drive to and from Kansas in rain storms to rescue a garage full of items that did not fit in our daughter’s moving truck and a trip to Florida that turned into a very quick trip due to Hurricane Dorian. We were in Florida for 14 hours and for some of those we were asleep. In good traffic, it’s a 16 hour drive each way. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of the Bahamas who have been dealing with Dorian’s wrath and those who will be dealing with it this coming week.

In between the two drives, I spent a few days at Pi Phi HQ in St. Louis. There I found this treasure in the pile of things waiting for me in the archives. It’s a composite of the NPC Chairmen in rotation. Note that the “official rotation” did not begin until 1908 with Anna Lytle (Tannahill Brannon), Pi Beta Phi’s delegate. She’s sixth from left in the top row. I suspect this composite was indeed a very big project, having to gather digital images of the women who served. Two women served twice. Amy Olgen Parmelee, Tri Delta, and L. Pearle Green, Kappa Alpha Theta. Parmelee’s first go-round as Chairman in 1905 occurred before the official rotation took place. She served in rotation during the 1914-15 year. Green’s tenure was twice in the official rotation, 1909 and 1947-49!

Kudos to NPC for creating this wonderful homage to the women who served the organization since 1902.

A New to Me Book

When I arrived home from Florida, a book was in the mail in our box. A Pi Phi friend in Monmouth, Illinois, found it in an antique store for $5 and messaged me with a picture, asking if I would like it. It’s a fun addition to my collection of fraternity and sorority histories and publications. While prices on online book sites can be astronomical, things can still be had for reasonable prices. Many items are also available in digital format, too.

Miss National Sweetheart

Congratulations to the 2019 Miss National Sweetheart, Jane Kennedy, a Delta Gamma from University of California, Santa Barbara. She was First Runner Up in the 2019 Miss California competition. The Miss National Sweetheart contest takes place in Hoopeston, Illinois over Labor Day. The Hoopeston Jaycees coordinate the contest.

Sorority Women Competing in Miss USA 2020

The state competitions for Miss USA 2020 are underway. Currently, the state winners include an Alpha Chi Omega and a Kappa Alpha Theta. Names will be added to the list as state winners and affiliation are identified.

The excitement of fraternity and sorority recruitment is in the air. I am not quite sure how it became August 9 so quickly, and I don’t think I will ever catch up with the to-do list before me. Delta Gamma’s #IAmASororityWoman campaign began on August 1 and as par for the course this year, I am late in acknowledging it.

However, I love this campaign! I share the stories of all Greek-letter organizations connecting the past to the present and the future. There are more than 1,400 posts on this blog and the search bar can help readers know more about their own and other GLOs. My #NotableSororityWomen posts for #WomensHistoryMonth highlight the amazing women who claim sorority membership. I hope to have links by organization soon, but if you want to see the profiles of women in your organization, search your organization’s name and add #NotableSororityWomen to the search and you will see those I’ve featured in the past.

I feel we all love our organization the most, and yet, we are all family. The more success our organizations have, the better for all of us. And when one of the chapters fails and falls short of living up to their values, we all suffer. The world at large does not know the difference in our letters. We are all painted by the same brush when things go awry. It is incumbent upon all of us to make sure that we live up to the ideals we espouse and recite with conviction. Kudos to Delta Gamma for their #IAmASororityWoman campaign.

The North-American Interfraternity Conference’s #myFraternity campaign is also a harbinger of fall recruitment.

The core of any of the fraternities and sororities is friendship – a brotherhood or sisterhood – with the promise that one can be connected to the organization throughout their lifetime. A well done fraternity/sorority experience is a gift to all involved. Hearing alums say, “I am a…” rather than “I was a…” is an indicator of a great experience as a collegian. Staying involved past graduation, mentoring young members, helping plan for the future of the organization and supporting it financially with donations are a way of paying forward what one receives as a collegian.

Membership should really be for a lifetime and not just something one does as a freshman or sophomore.

This Associated Press photo of Grace and Calvin Coolidge just after they became President and First Lady following the death of Warren G. Harding showed up in my email box this morning. It was taken in their apartment at the Willard Hotel on August 6, 1923. The President is wearing a mourning armband and the First Lady’s eyes, those eyes, speak volumes.

Although Lucy and Rutherford B. Hayes are the first President and First Lady to be affiliated with GLOs, they were Honorary Members. Delta Kappa Epsilon and Kappa Kappa Gamma honored them with membership privileges.

Grace and Calvin Coolidge, were the first First Couple to have been initiated into GLOs as college students. She was a charter of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at the University of Vermont and he was a Phi Gamma Delta at Amherst College.

Laura and George W. Bush are the second First Couple to follow in the Coolidge’s footsteps. She is a Kappa Alpha Theta and he is a Delta Kappa Epsilon, as was his father, George Herbert Walker Bush.

George W. Bush’s mother, Barbara Bush, attended Smith College, one of the Seven Sister colleges, before she married George H.W. Bush. In her post White House years, she was invited to become an Alumna Initiate of Pi Beta Phi. She accepted the invitation and she was initiated by then Grand President Sarah Ruth “Sis” Mullis at the home of a Houston Pi Phi, who was a very close friend of the Bushes.