26% of NPC Sororities Celebrate Founders’ Day in October

Posted on October 1, 2018 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

October is a busy month for Founders’ Day celebrations. Seven of the 26 National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) organizations will be a year older before Halloween gets here. While I always try to write a post for the NPC groups on their respective Founders’ Day, I am not sure I will be able to this year. I’m presenting the info here, along with a fun fact off the top of my head, in case this is the only opportunity I have this year to wish them well on another year!

On October 10, 1872, Alpha Phi was founded at Syracuse University in New York. Alpha Phi’s original birthday is September 18, as recorded in the minutes of the November 4, 1872, meeting. However, Founders’ Day is celebrated on October 10. Alpha Phi is the oldest of the Syracuse Triad and it is the first women’s fraternity to build its own home.

The Alpha Phi chapter house on University Avenue in Syracuse. It was the first house built and owned by a women’s fraternity. The house was sold in 1902 and the chapter moved to its current home on Walnut Place.

 

On October 13, 1870, Kappa Kappa Gamma was founded at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. Kappa Kappa Gamma and Pi Beta Phi are known as the Monmouth Duo. The amazing thing about the pair is that their Alpha chapters were forced to close by the college authorities and by the 1880s both chapters ceased to exist. Luckily, expansion had taken place and those chapters kept the organizations going despite the loss of the mother chapters. 

Photo by Melisse Campbell, a KKG alumna

 

On October 15, 1885, Alpha Chi Omega was founded at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, home to Kappa Alpha Theta’s Alpha chapter. At first membership in Alpha Chi was limited to music students, and its badge is the lyre. 

 

On October 15, 1898, Zeta Tau Alpha was founded at the Female Normal School (now Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia. In 1903, Themis was chosen as the patron goddess. It is also the name of the Zeta magazine.  

 

On October 23, 1897, Kappa Delta was founded at the Female Normal School (now Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia. It is the oldest of the Farmville Four, the sororities founded there. Interestingly, the two Farmville Four members founded in October are the ones which chose to close their Alpha chapters in order to join the National Panhellenic Conference.

White Rose with Larkspur painted by Kappa Delta alumna Georgia O’Keeffe, circa 1927. The white rose is the flower of Kappa Delta.

 

On October 24, 1902, Delta Zeta was founded at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Today, its headquarters is in Oxford, Ohio. One of my favorite fun facts about Delta Zeta is about founder Julia Bishop Coleman; she was also the first president of the Ohio State Chapter of P.E.O.

 

On October 24, 1909, Alpha Epsilon Phi was founded at Barnard College in New York City. Its seven founders were Jewish and they created the organization because Jewish women were not typically invited to join the established sororities.

Gertrude Friedlander and her Alpha Epsilon Phi sisters at the University of Pittsburgh

 


 

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Celebrating a Centennial Mountaineer Style

Posted on September 24, 2018 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Centennial celebrations happen only once every 100 years. This weekend I was in Morgantown, West Virginia, helping the women of the West Virginia Alpha chapter of Pi Beta Phi celebrate its first century.

In April of 1916 a group of  female students at West Virginia University founded an organization called “The Circle.” Its name honored a distinctive campus feature in front of Woodburn Hall.

In the fall of 1916, The Circle became interested in Pi Beta Phi. However, they were at a disadvantage because there was not a Pi Phi alumnae club in West Virginia. They did not give up hope and in 1918, two national officers and delegates from the chapters at George Washington University and Dickinson College “inspected” The Circle.

Pi Phi’s 1918 convention took place in Charlevoix, Michigan. It was to have taken place in 1917 and plans were well underway to celebrate the fraternity’s 50th birthday with a celebration, but the U.S. entry into World War I caused the plan to be cancelled at the last minute. 

May Lansfield Keller was Grand President from 1910-1918. She presided at that 1918 convention where on Tuesday, July 2, 1918 at the morning business meeting, the petition of The Circle of West Virginia University was presented and it was moved that a charter be granted to the group. The vote was unanimous. At the end of the business session, after her successor, Anna Lytle Tannahill was installed, Keller was given the title of Grand President Emerita. Although Keller was no longer a Grand Council member, she lived in Richmond, Virginia where she was Dean at Westhampton College. It made perfect sense for her to install the two eastern chapters authorized by the 1918 convention – Pennsylvania Delta at the University of Pittsburgh and the one at West Virginia University.

On September 21, 1918, The Circle became West Virginia Alpha of Pi Beta Phi. The installation took place at the home of faculty member Dr. Francis L. Strickland. His wife, the former Antoinette Louise Brown, was an initiate of the Gamma Phi Beta chapter at Syracuse University. Prior to coming to Morgantown, the Stricklands were in Indianola Iowa where Simpson College is located. Dr. Strickland was President of Simpson for several years and no doubt became acquainted with the women of Pi Beta Phi’s Iowa Beta chapter.

Mrs. Strickland hosted a luncheon and then turned over the large third floor of her home to the Pi Phis, and that is where the chapter was installed. Eighteen actives and two alumnae were initiated. Afterwards, the group headed to a banquet at the Hotel Madeira. The wives of faculty members and the chapter’s patronesses took the place of town Pi Phis, since there were none. Other NPC groups were represented including Kappa Kappa Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Chi Omega, and Alpha Xi Delta.

The charter active members of West Virginia Alpha of Pi Beta Phi

I loved being a part of the weekend’s festivities. One of the best things about being at a chapter anniversary celebration is seeing alumnae pick up conversations where they left off years and decades ago. Seeing them look at old composites and scrapbooks and reliving chapter memories is a precious experience. It was also great fun to meet a fan of this blog, Dr. Matthew Richardson, the Director of the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life.

It is always fun to meet someone who reads this blog!

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Friday GLO History News and Notes

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

It’s Friday and here’s my collection of interesting items that came over my twitter (@GLOHistory) and facebook feeds.

Robert Vandal, a Worcester Polytechnic Institute security officer has been serving as the Sigma Pi chapter advisor and this summer he was honored for his service.

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I’ve written about my adventures as Pi Beta Phi’s Archivist and how wonderful it is to get treasures delivered to HQ. What a treasure this pocket watch is and I am glad it is now in Beta’s collection.

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I came across some television and movie related posts this week, so here they are.

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Two NPC women who like to drive fast cars have come on to my radar screen in the past few weeks. The first one is a Hillsdale Pi Phi alumna who was in the chapter at the same time as my friend Susan.

To read more about Krista Peden Williams

Collete Davis, an Embry-Riddle Theta Phi Alpha is featured in this new Kia Forte commercial.

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What is a Fraternity Pin Worth?

Posted on September 19, 2018 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

What is a fraternity pin worth? It depends. There are a whole host of factors that determine the worth of a GLO pin (badge/emblem/etc.). Most are intrinsic. The love of fraternity ideals, the seriousness of the promise made, the resolve to reflect the values of the oath and living the creed come into play. And then there is the value of the precious metals and gems that form the actual pin.

Recently in a rare cleaning spree, I found this little book in with a stack of interesting items clipped from magazines. I knew I had it – somewhere – but yesterday it came into my vision and I knew I would write about it. It’s something I refer to every time someone asks about fraternity pins for sale on the internet.

The pamphlet, about 3×5 inches was in the September 1, 1997 issue of Family Circle magazine. In 1995, eBay became a thing, but it took several years for it to catch on and once it did, it proved this little book wrong. Fraternity pins and other GLO items often can make the seller a pretty penny.

At any point, there are hundreds of fraternity and sorority badges for sale on the internet. A market was quickly created, fostered in part by the desire to keep the items out of the hands of non-members.

This is my current favorite for a myriad of reasons, but I could never even contemplate buying it. If I had that kind of money sitting around waiting to be spent on frivolous items, I would help endow a scholarship in the names of my two Pi Phi friends who recently passed away – Julie Geiger Mercer and MaryMargaret McDonough. Therefore, I must content myself with looking at this picture of the badge, which I date to the 1890s, when the enameled wings were a thing. Today, Pi Phi’s Grand Council badges have white enameled wings.

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What Happens When You Don’t Get Your First Choice Sorority

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Primary sorority recruitment is a mutual selection process. Potential New Members (PNMs) rank their choices based on the Preference Parties they attended and then the PNMs are matched up with the chapter that offers them a bid, based on where the PNM appears on the chapter’s ranked bid list. It sounds like a complicated process and it is. Sometimes the PNM doesn’t get her first choice. Sometimes this causes much angst for the PNM (and perhaps her mother). Some PNMs are fine with whatever chapter appears on their bid card, but a few women decide not to accept the bid they are given and drop out of recruitment. It’s not always easy and while the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence, adjusting dreams is a good lesson for the rest of one’s life. Blooming where one is planted is a skill which can come in handy throughout life. It’s all hard to explain to a 17 or 18-year-old who feels like she is the only one in the situation. All 26 NPC organizations are essentially the same, and one will have a similar experience in any of the groups. While our colors, badges, flowers, songs, etc. are all a little different, at the core, we believe in the same values.

This heartwarming story was posted by my Zeta Tau Alpha friend Gabbie Rimmaudo. For a time, she worked at Pi Beta Phi HQ and I loved that she would stop by the Archives when I was there. She loves fraternity history. I showed her the letter we have which was signed by Dr. May Agness Hopkins, who served as ZTA President. Her thoughts on getting her second choice chapter brought tears to my eyes and I told her so. I also told her that at that moment I was at Pi Phi’s Officer Workshop using a pen with Zeta’s letters on it because I love the teal color and it reminds me of her. I hope Gabbie’s story can resonate with some women who accepted bids to their second or third choice chapters. I hope they will embrace the opportunities that may be in their future.

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The Pi Phi Officers Workshop was just what the doctor ordered. To be among Pi Phi friends catching up on what is new in Pi Phi land is good for my heart. On Friday night I happened to be standing next to a new face and said hello. She said that her Kappa friend Kylie Smith told her to say hello to me. My new friend was a collegiate member of the Simpson College Pi Beta Phi chapter when Kylie was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter there.

I had the opportunity to sit and chat with one of my very favorite Pi Phis, the incomparable Sis Mullis. I can’t believe my luck in hearing about her latest travel adventures and her reminding me of a very funny event that happened about two decades ago. She had me laughing at the memory of it wishing that cell phone cameras had  been around to document the unscripted moment when then Grand President Jo Ann Roderick began twirling a baton during Barbie Tootle’s presentation.

I also had the chance to share some time with my Pi Phi Leadership Institute co-facilitator. Having the opportunity to touch base with other long time friends as well as making new ones made the weekend one of the highlights of a very stressful summer.

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#myFraternity – Sharing the Impact of Brotherhood Done Right

Posted on September 12, 2018 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Today is #myFraternity Day. It’s an opportunity for fraternity men to share how fraternity membership has positively affected their lives, and it’s an opportunity to raise the volume on the positive impact of fraternity membership.

Go to twitter. Currently #myFraternity is trending, but you can search #myFraternity and spend a few minutes reading about the positive impact of fraternity.

Usually only incidents of fraternity gone wrong make the news. There are fraternity men on campuses across North America who are credits to their fraternity and who live their fraternity’s values on a daily basis. This appeared on one of the newsfeeds to which I subscribe.

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On the Wings of Eagles

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Congratulations, Miss New York, Nia Franklin, on being named Miss America 2019! Miss Louisiana 2018, Holli’ Conway, Delta Sigma Theta, Northwestern State University was the Second Runner Up. She along with Miss District of Columbia 2018, Allison Farris, Kappa Alpha Theta, University of Alabama; Miss Nebraska 2018, Jessica Shultis, Alpha Chi Omega, University of Nebraska – Lincoln; and Miss Oklahoma 2018, Ashley Thompson, Delta Delta Delta, University of Oklahoma made it to the Top 15. There were 20 sorority women competing.

Tomorrow is September 11. Please take a look at this post remembering the GLO members who perished. Please share it with collegiate members if possible. The current chapter members likely have no recollection of that horrible day. Some might have just been born when it happened.

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Last week the Carbondale community lost one of its brightest stars. Elizabeth “Liz” Schill passed away. She was a creative, caring and dedicated woman who made life richer for anyone with whom she interacted. She was a Delta Zeta and she spent decades working with the chapter at SIUC. If there was a job to do, she would do it gladly and she would do it well. She will be missed.

I also learned of the sudden death of Harold W. “Knap” Knapheide, III, President of The Knapheide Manufacturing Company of Quincy, Illinois. He was an alumnus of the Phi Delta Theta chapter at the University of Kansas. His wife Ann is a Delta Gamma alumna from the University of Colorado chapter. He and his family funded, through a gift to Monmouth College, the building of a chapter house for the Monmouth College chapter of Pi Beta Phi. The house was given by Knapheide and his sister, Vicki Knapheide Wood (Pi Beta Phi),  as a memorial to honor their mother Mary MacDill Knapheide. A funeral is being held this morning at the new Knapheide plant in Quincy.

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A Phi Delt, Three Phi Gams, and a Kappa Alpha Psi

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Burt Reynolds, an initiate of the Florida State University chapter of Phi Delta Theta has passed away at age 82.

Notice the crest on the tie.

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Vice President Mike Pence, a Phi Gamma Delta alumnus from Hanover College, made an unannounced visit to Plymouth Notch, Vermont, while he was traveling through the state. He toured the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site and paid his respects at the grave of his Phi Gam brother Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge’s son, John, was also a Phi Gamma Delta. Father and son were initiated into Amherst College chapter. (Notice I did not mention Grace Coolidge’s membership in Pi Beta Phi.)

Photos courtesy of the Coolidge Foundation.

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This summer I learned about Albert R. Lee when Jessica Ballard, an archivist at the University of Illinois, presented a program at the Fraternity and Sorority Archivists Conference. Lee was hired in 1897 and he was the unofficial Dean of African-American Students at the University of Illinois for 52 years and worked for seven presidents. He was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi.

Last week a new headstone for Lee, his wife Maude Marie McCurdy Lee and his son, Albert M. Lee was dedicated. I could swear I saw a picture of local Kappa Alpha Psis in front of the stone, but I could not find it. 

An exhibit honoring his work opened at the University of Illinois Archives. 

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Back to School GLO News and Notes

Posted on September 6, 2018 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

I am always amazed how much activity there is at an airport at 4:30 a.m. I know I have not been very good at passing on news and history of GLOs. My mind is scattered and my time is not my own right now. As I sit here in the St. Louis airport, here are some random news and notes.

Emily Eddington of the Beauty Broadcast YouTube channel is an alumna of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at Monmouth College. Take a look at the name of the wine colored shade of her branded palette that is currently featured by ULTA.

Emily

Take a look at the wine color.

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Mark Spitz is an alumnus of the Phi Kappa Psi chapter at Indiana University. I suspect many Phi Psis were glued to their television sets 46 years ago.

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Last week when I wrote about Aretha Franklin’s death I was unable to find a picture of her with her Delta Sigma Theta sisters. The sorority posted a picture. Franklin’s sorors also held an Omega Omega Service for her on August 28, 2018 at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit, Michigan. They wore black with pearls, and  many donned a corsage of the sorority’s flower, African violets. At the funeral, Aretha Franklin’s first outfit was the crimson of Delta Sigma Theta, from shoes to dress to lipstick, to honor her sorority affiliation.

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Of all the Bid Day posts I’ve read, this one from the Georgia College Delta Gamma chapter was one of the best. 

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Lyn Harris, Chi Omega’s Archivist just celebrated another trip around the sun. One of her gifts was this one-of-a-kind pair of socks with images of the Chi Omega founders. How fitting a gift!

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This plaza highlighting the National PanHellenic Council organizations was dedicated last week at Texas Christian University.

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And speaking of the ugly scourge of hazing, there are two new books out that deal with the subject. The first is by Hank Nuwer, a stalwart who began researching the topic in pre-internet days, when research meant long hours in libraries and archives, using the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, heavy books with very small type. In this twitter post, Chad Ellsworth recommends Nuwer’s latest book, Hazing: Destroying Young Lives.

Ellsworth, who endured hazing as a young college student, has just published Building Up Without Tearing Down. I recommend it highly. It is available on the capedcoaching website. 

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The Day Upon Which Theta Phi Alpha Was Founded

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

On August 30, 1912, Theta Phi Alpha was founded at the University of Michigan. In 1909, Father Edward D. Kelly, a Catholic priest and the pastor of the University of Michigan’s student chapel organized Omega Upsilon. He believed that the Catholic women at the university should have the opportunity to belong to an organization  that “resembled the Catholic homes from which they came.” At that time, Catholics were not always welcome in the other fraternal organizations on campus.

Bishop Edward Kelly as a young priest. He was in his 50s when he helped found Theta Phi Alpha.

After Father Kelly left campus and became the Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, Omega Upsilon was struggling.  There were no alumnae to guide the organization. Bishop Kelly’s vision that the Catholic women at Michigan should have a place to call their own was still alive even though he was not on campus. He enlisted the assistance of Amelia McSweeney, a 1898 University of Michigan alumna. Together with seven Omega Upsilon alumnae, plans were made to establish a new organization, Theta Phi Alpha.

Seven of Theta Phi Alpha’s ten founders were Omega Upsilon alumnae and two were undergraduate members of Omega Upsilon.

Theta Phi Alpha remained a local organization until 1919 when the Beta Chapter was formed at the University of Illinois. One of the women who joined the Illinois chapter was Marie Esther Funke of Edwardsville, Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. 

Funke attended St. Louis University, St. Mary’s-of-the-Wood’s College, Indiana, and the University of Illinois. The March 6, 1925 Daily Illini had an article with the headline, “8 women among 228 students in College of Law.” It went on to name the eight woman, and noted, “There are two other first year students – Marie Funke, Edwardsville, a transfer from St. Mary’s-of-the-Woods of Terre Haute, Ind., which she attended for two years…”

She was a law student when she became a member of Theta Phi Alpha. She practiced law for about 35 years, and her professional name was M. Esther Funke. She started her law career in Salem, Illinois. During that time she was a member of the Salem Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Club; she served as the organization’s state treasurer from 1936-38 and state program coordination chairman from 1938-39.

During the administration of Edwardsville Mayor Oscar Schmidt in the 1940s, Funke served as city attorney. She belonged to the Madison County Bar Association, League of Women Voters, University of Illinois Alumni Association, Edwardsville Business and Professional Women’s Club, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, American Association of University Women, Lane of Goshen Historical Society, Edwardsville Humane Society, and St. Boniface Catholic Church. She died in 1966 and she is buried in the church’s cemetery.

M. Esther Funke (Photo courtesy of The Illio

M. Esther Funke when she was at the University of Illinois. (Photo courtesy of The Illio)

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