Sometimes the most wonderful things have their roots in disappointment. Imagine three young women, Eva, her cousin Anna, and their schoolmate Mary, students at a women’s school in Oxford, Mississippi. The weather in Mississippi near Christmas of 1873 must have been fairly harsh. The three young women were unable to get from Oxford to their homes in Kosciusko, a distance of a little more than 100 miles. Instead of spending time at home with their families, which they all, no doubt, looked forward to with longing, they were forced by the weather to remain in Oxford.
They were hosted by the lady principal, Mrs. Hays. Her son belonged to one of the fraternities then at the University of Mississippi (ΔΨ, ΦKΨ, ΣX, ΣAΕ, ΔKE, ΦΓΔ). Founder Eva Webb Dodd later told this story: “When the idea first came to three homesick girls during the Christmas holidays of 1873 to found fraternity or club as we then called it, little did we realize that we were laying the cornerstone of such a grand fraternity as Delta Gamma.”
Delta Gamma’s Founders’ Day is celebrated on March 15 because on that date in 1879, the Eta Chapter at Akron University was founded. Coincidentally, it was a man, Phi Delta Theta George Banta, who took Delta Gamma to the northern states. That story of George Banta, Phi Delta Theta and Delta Gamma, is told in another post at http://wp.me/p20I1i-AS.
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In this day and age, would any GLO schedule a chapter installation on December 24? Would anyone attend? It’s not very likely. In 1913, Chi Omega’s Pi Alpha chapter at the University of Cincinnati was installed on December 24. I suspect it is not the only chapter to have a holiday installation date.
Eleusis article about the founding of the Pi Alpha chapter (courtesy of Lyn Harris)
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The Circle of Sisterhood closed out 2015 with more than a million, yes, a million dollars in donations, thanks, in part, to a $10,000 check from Phired Up Productions. The power of sisterhood is real.
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DeMarcus Huddleston, the Theta Xi I mentioned a few posts ago, was remembered at Southeast Missouri State University.
It’s means a lot that the Greek Community at SEMO can show their love for our fallen Brother #RIPDMarc
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I’ve been knee deep in projects and deadlines and although I want to write more, I need to get moving in order to put together some sort of Christmas celebration. I would have loved to be in Florida right now, after spending a few days with Uncle Walt, but the timing wasn’t right and the Becques are not made of money. I am hoping to spend the time at home catching up or just making sense of the papers which surround me.
I’ll end this post with a picture and a quote. The picture is of the handiwork of a Pi Phi whom I met while serving on the Gatlinburg Study Task Force several years ago. She has many talents and is very creative. This is a picture of her handiwork. If you’re handy, too, she gives step-by-step instructions on her blog. Her blog a fun read even though I have never harbored any thoughts of owning a horse (http://rantingsofahorsemom.blogspot.com/).
From Rantings of a Horse Mom
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I had planned to use a quote from my favorite Phi Gam for the Christmas Eve post. Then I saw that Alpha Tau Omega used it in a tweet yesterday. Props to ATO for interfraternalism in quoting a Phi Gamma Delta.
Alpha Tau Omega
Merry Christmas!
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/
