After I picked up my registration packet at the 71st Convention of International Chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, I sat down in the lobby of the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas hoping to check my e-mail. The bench next to me was empty and a woman came and sat down. We greeted one another and began chatting. Turns out she is P.E.O. founder Hattie Brigg Bousquet’s great-granddaughter. How fun is that?
I think every P.E.O. should attend a state convention and an international convention. They are inspiring events and an immersion experience of the good works being done by the P.E.O. Sisterhood.
Yesterday evening, I was given three books and they will be treasured. For the past four years, I’ve had the distinct honor and pleasure of serving on the Special Committee to Study P.E.O. Ceremonies and Meeting Procedures with five other P.E.O.s (three Past State Presidents and three members at large, including me) and Susan Reese Sellers, International Chapter President. It has been a wonderful experience and I will miss the conference calls we had on a regular basis. To thank us for our service Susan gave us each a copy of As We Were Saying by Winona Evans Reeves. They were all signed by the author. I suspect finding six signed copies of this book was not an easy task. It was published in 1944 by Chapter A, Chicago, Illinois, as a tribute to the author, a member of that chapter. In addition, Reeves, an initiate of Original Chapter A, Mount Pleasant and an 1889 graduate of Iowa Wesleyan College, served as Iowa State Chapter President in 1904 and International President 1909-11. She was editor of the P.E.O. Record for decades.
The two books under the blue book were given to me by Donita Mitchell, Past State President of Oklahoma State Chapter and a member of the committee. One is a history of the Oklahoma State Chapter; she was one of four Oklahoma State History Committee members to work on the book. She is a kindred spirit and was one of our go-to committee member for facts and historical information. The bottom book is a cookbook she was involved in creating.
Beulah Thornton’s introduction to As We Were Saying ends with this wonderful sentiment, “Many pleasant moments filled with jeweled thoughts will be the reward of those who read this little book.” I have a feeling that this pertains to the three latest additions to my library.
(C) Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2013. All Rights Reserved.
