There are sorority women competing in the Miss America 2018 contest. You can help make one of them the People’s Choice Candidate. Vote once a day at www.missamerica.org/vote/. Voting closes on September 5th! For the list of sorority women competing in the contest, see http://wp.me/P20I1i-3ER or you can link to it at the top of the page.
Back in November, I wrote about Arrowmont in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and how the fires burned down two of the dormitories, Hughes Hall and Wild Wing, named for Pi Phi’s Past Grand President Marianne Reid Wild. This week, Arrowmont held a groundbreaking ceremony for a replacement dormitory. A new entrance to the renowned Arts and Crafts school is also being constructed.
The last time I was in Gatlinburg, it was to celebrate Pi Beta Phi’s Centennial of Literacy. Marie Maddox, a teacher at Pi Beta Phi Elementary School wrote a play about the founding of the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School. It was a wonderful evening and the performance was a tour de force. Marie later wrote a book about one of Gatlinburg’s oldest citizens, Martha Cole Whaley. Marie lost her courageous battle with cancer earlier this week. The tributes from her former students reinforced my conviction that she was an outstanding teacher and her spirit will live on in her students. My condolences to her daughter Shelley and son-in-law Dwight, her family and her friends.
