Happy Founders’ Day to Chi Omega! It was founded 125 years ago, on April 5, 1895 at the University of Arkansas. The founding chapter has the designation “Psi.” Ina May Boles, Jean Vincenheller, Jobelle Holcombe, and Alice Simonds, along with Dr. Charles Richardson, are the founders. A Fayetteville dentist, Richardson, a Kappa Sigma, guided the women. Known as “Sis Doc” to generations of Psi Chapter members, he crafted Chi Omega’s first badge out of dental gold. Chi Omega is likely the only NPC organization to have its first badge crafted in this manner.
The Tenth-Eleventh Biennial Convention of Chi Omega was held in the summer of 1920. The 1918 Convention was cancelled due to World War I, hence the double numbered 1920 convention. The locale was the Whittle Springs Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee. Chi Omega turned 25 years old that year and there was a big celebration. Does anyone start a banquet at 9:30 p.m. anymore?
The evening of July first brought the last event of Convention, the banquet. By nine o’clock the lobby of the hotel was filled with girls, almost two hundred, but not until half after the hour were they admitted to the dining room. The tables were arranged in three parallel rows the length of the room while across one end ran the table at which sat the guests of honor.
Appropriate decorations of cardinal and straw graved the tables, while at every place was a menu card and a tiny silver pencil. On the cover of the menu card was the crest of Chi Omega done in gold, inside were blank pages for autographs, also a list of the speakers. The pencils were decorated with our crest also, and were provided with a ribbon and a slide. Between courses the girls used the pencils to good advantage in securing the signatures of Dr. Richardson, Mrs. Collins, and other celebrities.
When the feast was over, the toastmistress, Laura Thornburg of Pi, introduced her speakers cleverly, taking as her theme a temple fair. Beginning with the foundations laid in the early days, pillars, columns, aisles, and arches were added, until each speaker had added her part to the symbol of the ideals of Chi Omega, and we found that the initial letters of the subjects of the speeches formed the acrostic Chi Omega.
As a gift of our love and appreciation for the loyalty and the long service of our retiring editor, Martha Land, the delegate from Gamma, Mildred Hall, presented her with a fitted suitcase. This is a gentle hint that Martha must visit all of the chapters in the near future.
The closing event of the evening was the presentation of the loving cup to Eta Alpha chapter. Mrs. Collins presented it to Lucille Resing in behalf of the Council. Our chapter at Oregon Agricultural College is to be congratulated heartily on winning this cup.
At midnight, the banquet closed with rousing songs and cheers, and with many promises to surely be present at the next Convention in 1922.
At 5 p.m. Central Time…
Please tune in at 5 p.m. (Central Time) as Chi Omega’s Archivist presents a very special program on the founding. I’ll try to post the link on the Focus on Fraternity History Facebook group page.
