Helen “Betty” McGarr Murtagh, Theta Phi Alpha, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2024

Posted on March 7, 2024 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Helen Elizabeth “Betty” McGarr Murtagh, was born on October 23, 1925 in Lakewood, New Jersey. After the death of their parents, she and her three siblings were taken care of by her mother’s sister, Mildred Brown.

She had artistic talent and while growing up in Jersey during World War II, she painted signs and decorated the sides of blimps and war planes at Lakehurst Naval Air Station.

She enrolled at Syracuse University and became a member of its Theta Phi Alpha chapter. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1947, she was employed by several advertising agencies and she freelanced fashion illustrations.

She married Gil Murtagh, a New York University graduate, in 1950 at Saint Mary of the Lake church in Lakewood. They honeymooned in Bermuda. He was an architect and the couple lived in Norwalk, Connecticut. The Murtaugh family grew to include five children.

Betty Murtagh used a bedroom for her studio. She illustrated several children’s books, including one with her neighbor, Virginia Hartmann, entitled I Can Do Anything. It was published in 1963 and was even read on the children’s television show Romper Room. She also created more than 75 Christmas card designs.

After the family moved to Hinsdale, Illinois, in 1974, she began exploring and experimenting with printmaking and created more than 100 large and colorful serigraphs.

She moved to Utica, New York, after the death of her husband in 2001. Her first art show was curated by Dr. Becky Shaw, a British artist. The show took place at the Munson Museum of Art in Utica. An exhibit at Utica College and at Syracuse University followed. A collection of her work remains at the Resource Center for Independent Living in Syracuse.

She died on May 20, 2008, at the age of 83. Some of her work can be seen on her facebook page.

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Frances Steen Suddeth Josephson, Kappa Kappa Gamma, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2024

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Frances Steen Suddeth Josephson grew up in Baltimore. She became a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma while attending Goucher College where she was a biology major. Her goal was to become a doctor.

Dorothy Stinson, the president of Goucher, was the cousin of Henry Stinson, the United States Secretary of War. That connection was the impetus for some extremely bright Goucher women being recruited as clandestine cryptographers, “codebreakers.” The work she did was her secret until 1992, when the U.S. government finally declassified the project. Her first husband never knew about her codebreaking career because he died before she was able to discuss it.

After her graduation from Goucher in June 1942, she was one of the first WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service). She was commissioned as an Ensign in August 1942. In an article in The Key of Kappa Kappa Gamma, she stated that the work she and her fellow codebreakers did helped bring the war to a quicker close.

She worked the midnight to 8 a.m. shift as she took part in race to decode the German’s Enigma machine. The work they undertook directly contributed to the Allies’ European victory. Decoding the Japanese code was much harder, and it touched her personally. Her brother, Commander Egil Steen, was a U.S. Navy captain. He commanded a ship which she learned was to be attacked, according to a Japanese code which was intercepted. There was nothing the Navy could do to avoid the kamikaze attack. While almost all of the crew were killed, Commander Steen survived the attack.

On November 20, 1944, she married Naval Air Commander James H. Suddeth in the St. Andrew’s Chapel at the United States Naval Academy chapel in Annapolis. Her husband was a Phi Kappa Tau, a graduate of Georgia Tech. Captain William N. Thomas, the academy chaplain, officiated. The bride wore an ivory satin gown and a veil which her mother had worn years before at her own wedding. The bride carried a bouquet of orchids and gardenias. A reception took place at the Officers’ club in Annapolis.

James Suddeth died on September 1, 1960, when he was struck by lightning on a Summerville, South Carolina, golf course. She married Captain H. Carl Josephson in 1962.

Frances Josephson was multitalented. She was an active volunteer and an accomplished artist. She also modelled at stores and taught charm and poise to high schoolers.

In 2004, Josephson was honored by the Navy Cryptologic Veterans Association. Her son, James “Jed” Suddeth, Jr., had served in the U.S. Naval submarine force and offered this tribute: “As an American citizen, with all the freedoms we have, I thank you; as a fellow naval officer, I salute you; and as a son, I love you.”

She died on June 9, 2007, at the age of 86.

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Mignon Good Eberhart, Alpha Gamma Delta, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2024

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Mignonette “Mignon” Good Eberhart was born on July 6, 1899, in Lincoln, Nebraska. She studied for three years at Nebraska Wesleyan University where she became a member of Alpha Gamma Delta. Her sister, Lulu Good Vogelsang, was also a member of the chapter. Vogelsang would go on to serve Nebraska Wesleyan on its governing board and Alpha Gamma Delta as national president. Both sisters were members of P.E.O.; Mignon was a member of Chapter CA\Nebraska.

M.G. Eberhart, as she was known professionally, described her journey as an author. She began writing when she was a teenager:

I preferred writing to studying Caesar’s Commentaries and algebra. There was one halcyon period during which I traded work on English themes for the solution of geometry problems, with an obliging classmate, but, perhaps for the best, this was very brief. There was a long novel to which I could add chapters at will, and numerous plays, all of which were advisedly destroyed. In my early twenties I gathered up courage and postage stamps and sent a book-length typescript to an editor. It was accepted. The story was a murder mystery and thus started me on a hard but rewarding writing path. The writer hopes that a mystery novel is entertaining to read but it is not easy to write.

She began writing in earnest after her 1923 marriage to Alanson Eberhart, an engineer.

The first short story The Dark Corner she submitted was rejected twice but it was finally published in Flynn’s, a detective magazine.

The Patient in Room 18 was her first published novel. It debuted in 1929. Her second novel was The Patient Slept and it was awarded a $5,000 Scotland Yard prize for the best detective story of 1929. The Crime Club also selected it as its book of the month selection.

In a newspaper interview which took place early in her career, she said that she read to her husband each day’s work and if he was bored with any of it, she would rewrite it. Her rationale was “I know the public will have the same reaction. A logical husband is almost a blessing if you’re going to write mysteries.”

In March 1930, she spoke at a dinner sponsored by Theta Sigma Phi, a national journalism sorority, at the Lincoln hotel. She related her plan for utilizing her leisure time in a productive way “in the writing of mysteries and murders.”

Nebraska Wesleyan University awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1935.

The couple divorced in 1943. She then married John Hazen Perry in 1946 but the marriage lasted about two years. They divorced in 1948 and she remarried her former husband. Alanson Eberhart died in 1974.

The Greenwich, Connecticut home in which she lived. (Alpha Gamma Delta Quarterly)

During her lifetime, Eberhart wrote more than 55 novels and was one of America’s best-known romantic suspense novelists. She was called the American Agatha Christie. Some of her recurring characters were Sarah Keate, Lance O’Leary, Susan Dare and James Wickwire. Her novels were adapted for cinema and television, and one was even performed on Broadway. She adapted the novel Fair Warning into a play Eight O’clock Tuesday, which ran on Broadway in 1941.

Eberhart was awarded a Grand Masters Edgar from the Mystery Writers of American and was a past president of the organization. Her books were translated in 20 languages. Harry Truman was “one of her most ardent fans.” In 1994 she received the Agatha Award: Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Eberhart wrote her last book Three Days for Emeralds when she was almost 90. She died on October 8, 1996, at the age of 97 in a Greenwich, Connecticut nursing home.

In 2007, a collection of her short stories was published. The Cochrane-Woods Library at Nebraska Wesleyan University has first editions of her 59 novels and the music for the song Mignonette which was composed for Eberhart while she lived in Chicago.

A plaque identifying her as a recipient of an honorary doctorate from NWU and a list of her achievements was presented by the Nebraska Wesleyan University Alumni Association and is in the Alpha Gamma Delta chapter house.

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Jean Messecar Caldwell, Phi Mu, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2024

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Phi Mu was founded on January 4, 1852 at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. Originally known as the Philomathean Society, it and Alpha Delta Pi, also founded at Wesleyan College, are known as the “Macon Magnolias.” Phi Mu  was founded by Mary DuPont (Lines), Mary Myrick (Daniel) and Martha Hardaway (Redding). The founding was publicly announced on March 4, 1852, the day that is celebrated as Founders’ Day. On August 1, 1904, the group received a charter from the state of Georgia and was established as Phi Mu Fraternity. The second chapter was founded at Hollins College in 1904. Phi Mu joined the National Panhellenic Conference in 1911.

Jean Messecar Caldwell was born on July 20, 1927 in Owosso, Michigan. She was born before her fraternal twin brother. A graduate of Alma College, she began law school at the University of Detroit. When her parents moved to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, she moved too, and began her studies at the University of Tulsa Law School.

She became a Phi Mu at the University of Tulsa. In 1952, she became a member of the Alpha Omicron chapter of Phi Delta Delta law fraternity for women. She was just one of four women in her law school class and the only woman at the Bar exam.

Tulsa Tribune, May 27, 1952

On November 12, 1953, she became Mrs. Robert E. Caldwell. She first worked at a small law firm and then became one of the first women to be hired as an attorney in the Tulsa County District Attorney’s office. When she became pregnant with the first of the couple’s six children, she was relieved of her position in the D.A.’s office.

Caldwell was an active volunteer in her children’s activities as well as in her church community. She served on many Catholic and ecumenical committees in Tulsa. Caldwell began the first Diocese pre-school education program. Along with the Holy Family Cathedral Choir, she sang at the Vatican in Rome.

In 1989, she earned a master’s degree in theological studies from Loyola University Pastoral Studies program in 1989.

She died on July 13, 2019 at the age of 91.

 

 

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Martha Broadus Anderson Winn, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2024

Posted on March 3, 2024 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

 

Martha Broadus Anderson Winn, a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., was born in 1875 and she was raised in Washington, D.C. In 1898, she married railroad porter Henry S. Anderson.

A soprano, she studied voice, first in Washington with John T. Layton, and then at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, Illinois. She then enrolled at the Chicago College of Music and became its first black graduate when she earned a bachelor’s in music in 1908.

She taught voice in Chicago and had her hand in many local musical activities. She hosted musicales in her home. She was a soloist at Quinn Chapel AME Church, Chicago’s first Black congregation, and she was a member of the Choral Study Club. She co-founded the Coleridge Taylor School of Music in Chicago and was choir director of the Bethesda Baptist Church.

In the 1920s, she was writing for The Broad Ax newspaper. Her column was called “The Music Cabinet.” She served as an officer of the National Association of Negro Musicians.

She married Baptist minister, the Rev. John Henry Winn, and moved to Texas. There, she taught and performed. Then ty moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where Rev. Winn became pastor of the Fifth Street Baptist Church. He died in 1955. His wife served as the head of the church’s music department and she remained an active volunteer.

Martha Broadus Anderson Winn died in 1967 at the age of 91.

The Broad Ax, October 3, 1925

 

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Iris Barrel Apfel, Phi Sigma Sigma, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2024

Posted on March 2, 2024 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Iris Barrel Apfel died on March 1, 2024, at the age of 102. As an octogenarian she became known as a style icon, although she was fashionable and had her own sense of style throughout her life.

Apfel grew up in Astoria, Queens. Her father ran a glass and mirror business and her mother owned a fashion boutique. She studied at New York University and then attended the University of Wisconsin where she majored in art. There she became a member of Phi Sigma Sigma and served as the chapter’s vice president.

Capital Times, December 20, 1942

She’s second from left in the second row

She worked in fashion in New York City before marrying Carl Apfel on February 22, 1948. From 1950 until 1992, the Apfels owned a textile company, Old World Weavers, and she branched out as an interior decorator. The company’s focus was on 17th, 18th and 19th century fabric reproductions. They collaborated on renovations of the White House under nine presidents from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton.

Apfel had a wonderful eye for fashion and bought items while on her travels all over the world. In September of 2005, Rara Avis (Rare Bird), an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, featured her clothing and accessories.

She was a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin in 2012. Apfel was the subject of a documentary by Albert Maysles; in 2014, Iris premiered at the New York Film Festival.  Three years later she appeared in the documentary, If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast.

She wrote a biography, Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, in 2018 and a year later, she signed a modelling contract at the age of 97 .

The Apfels were married for 67 years when Carl Apfel died at the age of 100 on August 1, 2015. I suspect the number of married couples who both make it to age 100 is exceptionally miniscule. What an amazing woman and what an amazing life she led.

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Carol J. Nemitz, Zeta Tau Alpha, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2024

Posted on March 1, 2024 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Carol J. Nemitz, Dean Nemitz,as she was known to legions of Iowa Wesleyan University students, was born in Pulaski, Iowa, on February 25, 1934. After graduating from high school in 1951, she enrolled at Iowa Wesleyan. There, she became a member of the Alpha Alpha Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha chapter and she was involved in many student activities including athletics, music, drama and literary pursuits.

She left Iowa Wesleyan after her sophomore year because her father died. She became an elementary school teacher in the Iowa school systems of Wapello, Keystone, and Corydon.

The Zeta Tau Alphas held the third annual Iowa State Day on April 30, 1955, and she was in attendance as an alumna. Nemitz graduated from Iowa Wesleyan in 1956.

After earning a master’s degree at the University of Northern Iowa, she worked there for several years as a residence hall director. In 1962, she was serving as an officer the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Alumnae Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha. When she was hired by Iowa Wesleyan in 1963, the alumnae chapter gave her a send off.

Courier, July 11, 1963

Between the fall of 1963 until her retirement nearly 50 years later in August 2013, she was an integral part of the campus. Among the jobs and titles she had were counselor and Dean of Students. She served as toastmistress at the 1966 Zeta Tau Alpha Iowa State Day.

When she became Vice President of Student Affairs in 1970, she was Iowa Wesleyan’s first female vice president. In 2002, Nemitz even served as Iowa Wesleyan’s Interim President. Her ability to remember names and dates was exceptional. Given her history with the campus and her excellent memory, she was a font of information.

Iowa Wesleyan, her alma mater, appreciated and loved her. Among the honors she received were an Alumni Service Award, a Distinguished Served Award, and an honorary doctorate. A new residence hall, Nemitz Suites, named for her in 2006, as was an award for outstanding IWU staff members.

Carol Nemitz received a Distinguished Service Award from Iowa Wesleyan in 2014.

Nemitz was active in professional organizations and was the first woman to be awarded the Iowa Student Personnel Association Distinguished Service Award. Among her civic affiliations were Rotary, AAUW and Chapter DD of TTT. In addition, she was an active member of Mount Pleasant’s First United Methodist Church.

The P.E.O. Sisterhood was founded at Iowa Wesleyan on January 21, 1869. She was a 50+ year member of Chapter Original A  and served as the chapter’s president. Nemitz also served as Historian of International Chapter. She led tours of the Memory Room in Old Main and was a member of the Sesquicentennial Committee for the festivities in 2019.

She died on February 3, 2024, in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, at the age of 89.

I consider myself lucky for having met her several times. Her dry sense of humor always brought me a smile. And she will be missed by oh so many Iowa Wesleyan grads, Mount Pleasant citizens and members of the P.E.O. Sisterhood.

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#BadgeDay24 and Why #IWearABadge March 4, 2024

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

March 4, the first Monday in March, is NPC International Badge Day. It is a day for members to wear their respective NPC badges. If  “pin attire” is not worn, then it is perfectly acceptable to wear letters, those articles of clothing sporting the Greek letters.

I’m mentioning this today because I spend the month of May, Women’s History Month – #WHM2024, profiling #NotableSororityWomen.

The National Panhellenic Conference’s International Badge Day began in 1997.  In the spring of 1996, Nora M. Ten Broeck wrote an article about her experience after she wore her Alpha Sigma Alpha pin to work one day. The article appeared her sorority’s magazine, The Phoenix, and was titled “A Simple Solution – Wear Your Membership Badge Today.” Her NPC colleagues loved the idea and endorsed the project. The month of March was chosen because it is also National Women’s History Month.

Use #BadgeDay24 and #IWearABadge across social media.

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On Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s Founding Day

Posted on January 15, 2024 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, the first Greek-letter organization for African-American women, was founded on January 15, 1908 by nine young female Howard University students. They were led by the vision of Ethel Hedgeman (Lyle); she had spent several months sharing her idea with her friends. During this time, she was dating her future husband, George Lyle, a charter member of the Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha. 

After choosing a name for their sorority, the nine women wrote a constitution and a motto. Additionally, they chose salmon pink and apple green as the sorority’s colors and ivy as its symbol. Seven sophomore women were invited to become members. They did not partake in an initiation ceremony and all 16 women are considered founders. The first “Ivy Week” took place in May 1909 and ivy was planted at Howard University’s Miner Hall. On January 29, 1913, Alpha Kappa Alpha became incorporated.

Althea Gibson, was born in 1927 in rural South Carolina. In 1930, her parents moved to Harlem, New York, where the opportunities must have seemed better than being sharecroppers on a cotton farm. Althea learned to play paddle tennis at a Police Athletic League play area. She became the city’s paddle ball champion at the age of 12.  A natural born athlete, she played many sports and was musically talented, too, winning a prize for singing in an Apollo Theater contest. She was not the best student and often was truant. At one point, she dropped out and went to night school.

Althea Gibson was the first African American to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated

Althea Gibson was the first African American to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Many mentors and other supporters who recognized her athletic talent spurred her on. She moved to North Carolina to train and give high school another try. In 1949, in her 20s, she entered Florida A&M College (now University) on a basketball scholarship because there were no tennis scholarships. She played basketball, tennis, and golf on the men’s team. She became a member of the Beta Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority, Incorporated.

She went on to win numerous titles, including Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals. She was the first African American to win both of those championships. Unfortunately, tennis at that time did not come with a means of making a living. There were no big prizes and it was difficult to make ends meet. 

Aug 23, 2013. The Althea Gibson commemorative stamp went on sale today. The stamp is part of the United States Postal Service's Black Heritage Series. It recognizes Gibson, the first African American to win a Grand Slam.

In 2013. as part of the United States Postal Service’s Black Heritage Series, the Althea Gibson commemorative stamp debuted. Gibson was the first African American to win a Grand Slam.

Gibson died in 2003. See this PBS American Masters preview for more information http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/althea-gibson-preview-althea/3927/

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Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Founded on January 13, 1913

Posted on January 13, 2024 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

This week has in it the founding days of three of the four National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) Sororities. All three, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. were founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. January 13, 1913, is the date upon which Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. came into being. It 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 of the sorority’s members were initiates 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. Myra Davis 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 took place in Edna Brown Coleman’s living room. The 1913 Valedictorian and Class President, she married Frank Coleman, a founder of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Florence Letcher Toms’ hobby of collecting elephant figurines led to the animal becoming the sorority’s symbol.

Two months later, on March 3, 1913, the sorority walked in the historic suffrage march in Washington, DC. They were the only African-American women’s group to participate. Honorary member Mary Church Terrell, an ardent suffragist and civil rights activist, joined them in their march. She inspired and mentored the women. Terrell wrote the Delta Oath in 1914.

The daughter of former slaves, Terrell was an 1884 graduate of Oberlin College. She taught high school, was a principal, and was appointed to the District of Columbia Board of Education. Terrell was a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and picketed at the White House. She was the first president of the National Association of Colored Women. Terrell dedicated herself to suffrage and equal rights. She signed the charter that established the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. Terrell help found of the College Alumnae Club, which later became the National Association of University Women (NAUW). She was awarded three honorary doctorates before she died in 1954.

Mary Church Terrell

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