Della “Dell” Gillette, was born in Traverse City, Michigan. She studied library science at the University of Illinois and worked as a librarian. In October 1912, Elizabeth Clarke Helmick, Settlement School Committee Chairman, secured her services as a teacher at the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Helmick met her in Chicago and hosted her for several days. Gillette met with the alumnae club and the Pi Beta Phi chapter at Northwestern University. Pi Beta Phi Founder Emma Brownlee Kilgore also attended the meeting. From there, Gillette stopped in Champaign to visit with her own chapter. In her zest for the Settlement School, she helped fan the flames of support for the project. Her chapter soon sent boxes of books for the students.
Gillette was the first Pi Beta Phi Settlement School teacher who was a member of Pi Beta Phi. The first teacher, Martha Hill, was a Tennessean and had taught throughout the state. Gillette was a foreigner, so to speak, and her tenure would have lasting impact on the Settlement School. From all accounts, she was a very earnest and determined woman, deeply committed to her work, and always going the extra mile. The Gatlinburg community loved her.
On January 31, 1913, the first American flag to fly from a pole over Gatlinburg was raised in front of the Settlement School building. Gillette introduced the students and their families to a real Christmas celebration. She started a library and began a sewing club for the older girls. While they worked on sewing projects, Gillette read to them. Two boys’ baseball teams were organized. When school ended at the end of March, it was the first time that the children had gone to school for eight months in one year.
Several years after Gillette left Gatlinburg and traveled back to Traverse City to become Mrs. Theron Morgan, it was said, “To this day, Miss Dell is lovingly spoken of, and there is not a person in Gatlinburg who doesn’t hope she will come back and visit them.”
On the weekend of November 2, 2012, “Miss Dell” returned to Gatlinburg. A statue created by sculptor Doug Young adorns the Centennial Plaza in front of the Arrowcraft Shop on the Parkway. Pi Beta Phis from across the country and Canada, as well as distinguished guests, including descendents of Pi Phi teachers, students and Settlement School Committee members, gathered to dedicate the plaza and unveil the statue of Gillette handing a book to a young student.
Additional information about the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School can be found on the Pi Phi Blog at www.piphiblog.org
The Fall 2011 Arrow located on the Pi Beta Phi website has an article about Dell Gillette. The Pi Beta Phi website also has a plethora of information about the celebration and the weekend’s activities.
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