Belle Furman Quitman
No one in Phi Sigma Sigma knows as many other members of the fraternity -from the standpoint of sheer numbers as well as from a shrewd knowledge of first-hand fraternity lore- as she. I believe no one in the fraternity wields the vast influence she does and deservedly. Those chapters whose varied difficulties she ironed out on the tour of inspection-those girls who tea-ed and feted her on that long trail from New York to California, via the Atlantic seaboard, and back again, via the Pacific, not omitting a trek into western Canada in the dead of winter- those parents and deans and patronesses and townswomen and fraternity men and women from fraternities other than our own who met and conferred with her during this tour-know her and recognize her worth. Those of our members who have met her, who have dealt with her in any fashion, who have observed her kindly and impartial conduct of national conventions, have come to love her for her charm revealing smile and friendly handclasp as well as for her pure competence, her matter-of-factness, her straightforwardness, her ability to deal with women’s fraternity problems man-fashion. And to many of us who have the welfare and future of the fraternity poignantly at heart, who have sorrowfully seen too many potential leaders go by the board on achieving the matrimonial state, it is a matter of immense satisfaction to reflect that this illustrious daughter of an illustrious chapter continues to have the same strength of conviction, the same singleness of purpose and the same unadulterated love of Phi Sigma Sigma which dominated her undergraduate and her pre-marital career.
In a report of the 1930 convention, Belle’s husband Sidney Quitman was described as, “that angel of a husband-don’t get us started-entertaining the girls in his and Belle’s room with chocolates, cigarettes and a rare sense of humor.” Belle Furman Quitman served as Grand Archon until December 1933 Convention. She was a mother by then. The Quitmans had two daughters, Edith and Lynn. They were dedicated members of the Germantown Jewish Centre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sidney was a member of its first Board of Directors in the 1930s. The library at the Centre is named for the couple; Sidney was the Coordinator of the library and Belle was Chairman of the library committee in the 1950s. In 1961-62, the Quitman Library became the first synagogue library to be accredited by the Jewish Library Association. The couple died in 1997, Sidney on January 29 and Belle on October 12. The couple donated items to the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, a part of the Smithsonian, as well as the Jewish Museum in New York City.
