January 3 is the birthday of Grace Goodhue Coolidge. Gracious and humble, she was a dedicated member of Pi Beta Phi, having been a charter member of the chapter at the University of Vermont. She also served as Alpha Province Vice President. One of my favorite letters written during her years as First Lady is a handwritten one to Pi Beta Phi’s Grand President, Amy Burnham Onken, in response to an invitation to attend the 1927 convention at the Breezy Point Lodge, in Pequot, Minnesota. 
On April 22, 1927 she wrote on White House stationery, “I should be happy indeed, were I able to write and tell you that I would see you all at the Convention at Breezy Point in June. Unfortunately it is most difficult if not absolutely impossible for me to step aside from the beaten path and I must therefore content myself with wishing for Pi Beta Phi the most successful Convention in its glorious history. From one of its loyal members.”
Grace Goodhue Coolidge (center) with Pi Phi friends at the 1915 convention in Berkeley, California.
As a collegian, Grace Coolidge was her chapter’s delegate to the the 1901 Syracuse convention.* She attended the 1915 Berkeley convention as a fraternity officer. From that journey on the train from Boston to Berkeley, she and a group of Boston University and University of Vermont Pi Phis formed a Round Robin letter that lasted until the end of their lives.
*Phi Kappa Psi Woodrow Wilson, a member of his fraternity’s chapter at the University of Virginia, was among the collegians present at the 1880 Grand Arch Council meeting. President Wilson and Mrs. Coolidge may very well be the only President or First Lady who attended, as a collegian, their respective organization’s national meeting.
For more information on Grace Coolidge, click on the links to the right. Today, my favorite Coolidge blogger posted a wonderful birthday greeting to Mrs. Coolidge including the story about how the pair met http://kaiology.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/remembering-grace-goodhue-coolidge/.
