A small article in the Southern Illinoisan newspaper prompted me to write a post for the Pi Phi blog. It was about a national historic designation being given to the site of a 1956 crash of two planes over the Grand Canyon. There were four Pi Phis killed in that crash. They were on the way home from the 1956 Pasadena convention. Not many Pi Phis know the story, so it seemed like a good time to tell it. That accident lead to the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration.
One of the comments to that post (on the Pi Phi Facebook page) touched my heart, “My mother, a Montana Alpha, was proud to be able to attend this meeting. She was supposed to be on one of the flights but at the last moment she decided to fly north to visit her cousins that she had not seen in years. My father, at home with my three elder siblings, was initially panicked because he heard about the crash before Mom was able to connect with him to let him know her change of plans. Years later, thinking and talking about this would bring tears to Mom’s eyes. We were blessed that tragic day. Mom would have been pleased by this memorial to her Pi Phi friends.”
You can read the post at: http://bit.ly/Wck84s.
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Congratulations to Phi Beta Sigma as it celebrates its Centennial at a convention in Washington, D.C. A monument at Howard University, where the fraternity was founded, will be unveiled tomorrow, it is dedicated to the fraternity’s three founders.
Today’s events include a Sigma-Zeta Reaffirmation Ceremony. Phi Beta Sigma and Zeta Phi Beta are the only constitutionally bound Greek-letter brother and sister organization. Zeta Phi Beta is also convening in Washington, D.C. at its 2014 Grand Boule’.
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One of the first attempts at inter-fraternalism between the Greek-letter organizations took place July 19 and 20, 1893 in Chicago.
You can read more at: http://wp.me/p20I1i-WY.
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. 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/
