The Baker Hotel in Dallas, Texas, was the site of the 19th National Panhellenic Congress (NPC), as the Conference was then known. It was the first time NPC met in the southwest and it remains the only time NPC met in January. The meeting opened on January 4 and closed on January 8, 1926.
Installed as chairman at the 1923 meeting at the Parker House in Boston, Dr. May Agness Hopkins, Zeta Tau Alpha, presided. About 50 people attended, including delegates, non-voting delegates, and official visitors. At that time, NPC had 19 full and two associate members. According to a report in an NPC member magazine, the four days were busy ones and the “business of the Congress was conducted in the pleasant English room on the mezzanine floor of the Baker, a warm and colorful setting for sessions which, indeed, lacked in neither of these qualities.”
The NPC Editor’s Conference held a two-hour session on January 4. Emily Butterfield, Alpha Gamma Delta Quarterly editor and an Alpha Gamma Delta founder, was elected secretary for the session and as chairman for the next biennium. The program consisted of discussions on: “Chapter Letters; on the Bringing Out of Literary Ability; on How to Interest Real Writers; the Value of Editorials As Such; Secret Publications; the Fraternity Magazine; Mailing Lists; The Business Side of the Fraternity Magazine; How to Be Economical; Exchanges; Uniformity of Style and Uniformity of Advertising.” It was noted that the “discussions pertaining to the Chapter Letter seemed to hold greatest interest.”
Hopkins, or “Dr. May,” as she was known to her ZTA sisters, was one of those early NPC women who truly amaze me. Perhaps the timing of the meeting and the locale were due to Hopkin’s active schedule as a Dallas pediatrician.
Hopkins served as ZTA’s first NPC Delegate, but her service to ZTA began about the time she became an initiated member. Born in Austin, Texas on August 18, 1883, she graduated from the University of Texas in 1906, the same year the Kappa Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha was founded. May Bolinger (Orgain) was a member of Epsilon Chapter at the University of Arkansas. Four NPC groups had chapters at the University of Texas, and Bolinger wanted a ZTA chapter there, too. A friend told her that if she could get May Hopkins to help, her efforts would be successful. A lunch was arranged and by the end of lunch, Hopkins agreed to help organize a Zeta chapter, even though she was a senior. The chapter’s installation took place in Hopkins’ home. A month after graduation, Hopkins attended ZTA’s 1906 Knoxville convention. She left as Grand Secretary. In 1908, while attending medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, she was elected Grand President. She attended her first NPC meeting in 1909.
In 1911, Hopkins received her medical degree; she was the only woman in her graduating class. She completed an internship at Boston’s New England Hospital for Women and Children and a residency at Pennsylvania State Hospital. In 1912, she opened a pediatrics practice in Dallas, all the while serving as Grand President.
During World War I, she offered her services and “her call came shortly before the 1918 Grand Chapter meeting and prevented her attendance there, but she sent her suggestions and recommendations, and while the meeting was in progress she was busily engaged in closing her office and making all preparations for going into – she knew not what.” She tendered her resignation as a Grand Chapter member, but it was not accepted; instead, she was granted a leave of absence.
Her response was printed in the Themis, “To my sisters in Zeta Tau Alpha: When I received the resolution of my co-workers of Grand Chapter expressing their appreciation of my work, my heart simply filled to overflowing and I now am unable to find words with which to express my appreciation of your thoughtfulness. But I do wish you to know this: If I have been able to serve my fraternity with the least degree of efficiency; and through it to serve my sisters at large, it has only been through the untiring and loyal support you have given me as my co-officers and co-workers. It is true that our beloved fraternity has grown and through it I have grown – but you have been the power behind the throne. To you I give all the praise, all the honor. For myself, I can only say, ‘May I live to serve you and those I love again.'”
In lieu of the identification bracelet worn by all war workers, she wore a gold band bracelet with the Greek letters “ZTA.” It was a gift given to her by Omicron Chapter when it was installed in 1911 at Breanau University in Gainesville, Georgia. Her name was already engraved on the inside and she added her address to it. The bracelet, “was a bit of Zeta Tau Alpha that went with her through all her war-time experiences.” She continued as Grand President until 1920.
Dr. May Agness Hopkins, Zeta Tau Alpha
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