When I accidentally became a member of the New York Alpha Chapter of Pi Beta Phi, I had no idea where Monmouth, Illinois, was located. It was there in Monmouth on April 28, 1867 that the organization was founded. As one born and bred on Long Island, I had a New Yorker’s view of the world and anything to the west of the Hudson River was just an empty space until California and the other ocean came into sight. I would have been hard pressed to locate the state of Illinois on a map, let alone figuring out where Monmouth was situated.
As life sometimes happens, I have been a resident of the state of Illinois longer than any other place I’ve lived. I have been to Monmouth many times and I have been in that house where Pi Phi was founded 149 years ago. I have walked up the staircase, holding on to the same banister that the Founders did. I have stood in that very room and wished I could transport myself to that Sunday afternoon in a different time and place. Those young women, most of them teenagers, created an organization that has grown and changed and yet at its core offers today’s members the same values and benefits. I am but one very tiny, tiny little link in one very longggggggg chain of sisterhood.
I love this wonderful wine carnation made by Lake Angel Glass, Past Pi Beta Phi Grand Council member Karen Price!
Today, I am in Monmouth celebrating the 75th anniversary of the opening of Holt House to the public. After falling into disrepair, it became uninhabitable and was auctioned off for delinquent taxes. It was purchased by a Pi Phi father and turned over to the fraternity. Some who had seen the property thought it needed to be razed. After consultations with structural engineers and architects, the building was found sound and renovation began.
While at Holt House, I like to read the old guest books. I came across the name Marilyn Simpson in one. It’s the same Marilyn Simpson who married Bill Ford and edited The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi for many years. Marilyn had not yet become a member of the Nebraska Beta Chapter at the University of Nebraska, her mother’s chapter. That would happen in 1943.
I will likely write more about today’s events, but before I sign off I wish my Pi Phi sisters a very Happy Founders’ Day! Thank you, Jennie H., Jennie N., Fannie T., Fannie W., Ada, Inez, Magaret, Clara, Rosa, Emma, Nancy, and Libbie!
