Thanks Friends for the GLO Updates!

“I get by with a little help from my friends” keeps running through my head. My thanks to those who send me information. Your help is much appreciated.

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Last week, three alumnae of the University of Nebraska – Lincoln chapter of Alpha Xi Delta delivered babies on the same day at Methodist Women’s Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. Has something like this ever happened before?

The mothers,  Nikki Guynan, Traci Stiles, and Lindsay Vodicka, all age 35, were in the chapter at the same time. Guynan and Vodicka delivered legacies, Elli and Adalyn, respectively, and Stiles gave birth to a boy, Hardy. 

Nikki Guynan holding Elli, Traci Stiles with Hardy, and Lindsay Vodicka and Adalyn

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Margaret Kirk Bell, Kappa Kappa Gamma, will be inducted posthumously into the World Golf Hall of Fame in June 2019.

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Irvin Harlamert, an 88-year-old Denison University Kappa Sigma alumnus, along with his wife, Barbara, visited the house which had been his chapter house when he was at Denison. 

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My Pi Phi friend Penny has done a great deal of research on her chapter at Hillsdale College and the women it has initiated, including the woman who broke codes, Elizebeth Smith Friedman. She sent me this info about the son of another Michigan Alpha chapter initiate:

George Curtis Moore gave his life while in the service of his country 45 years ago.  His parents, Dr. Paul H. Moore and Lucille Munn Moore, came from Ohio to Los Angeles in 1931; his father was a graduate of Case Western Reserve Medical School, and his mother a graduate of Hillsdale College, where she was a member of PI Beta Phi.  George was their only child; he earned his B.A. in 1949 from the University of Southern California (and earned a M.A. there in 1950), where he was a member of Chi Phi.  He then entered the diplomatic service and became a specialist in the Arab world.  He was assigned to Khartoum in 1969, two years after the U.S. Embassy closed there, as the Principal Officer.  Some credit his steady, low-profile diplomatic efforts for the re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in 1972.  He was given the title Chargé d’Affaires ad interim (effectively, acting Ambassador) until actual ambassador was appointed.  George was to return to Washington, D.C. and the new ambassador hosted a farewell reception for him on March 1, 1973.  As the event was winding down at 7 pm, the embassy was stormed by seven men with automatic weapons.  Several diplomats successfully fled, but most were contained within the embassy.  The attackers identified themselves as Black September, the same group responsible for the 1972 massacre of the Israeli Olympic team in Munich and other acts of violence and terror.  They allowed all but five people to leave:  the hostages were the American ambassador and the Belgian Chargé d’Affaires, the Saudi Ambassador, Jordan’s Chargé d’Affaires – and George.  Black September then issued a ransom demand:  they would release the hostages if the U.S. released Sirhan Sirhan (convicted assassin of Robert F. Kennedy) from prison.  President Nixon refused to negotiate, and after about 24 hours, Black September shot and killed George, the American ambassador and the Belgian diplomat.  The Saudi and Jordanian diplomats were released.  In the months following this attack, Black September was shut down by the PLO as it was not achieving its expected goals.

George Moore was survived by his mother, his wife and two daughters.  His Chi Phi brothers contributed to a commemorative plaque located in the Von KleinSmid Center at the University of Southern California.  

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Congratulations to the latest crop of Balfour Fellows. The Foundation for Fraternal Excellence awards the Fellowships, named for benefactor Lloyd G. Balfour, Sigma Chi.

ADAM BANTZ, SIGMA NU, BUTLER UNIVERSITY, Pursuing M.S. in College Student Personnel and a career in Student Affairs at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

ALEXANDRA CARL, KAPPA ALPHA THETA, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON, Pursuing Master of Public Health in Health Behavior at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

ALLEN POTTER, PHI KAPPA THETA, EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, Pursuing M.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Eastern Illinois University

BRIANNA ANDERSON, ALPHA DELTA PI, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, Pursuing doctoral program in Human Development and Family Studies at University of Illinois

CHELSEA APPIAH, ZETA PHI BETA SORORITY, INC., THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, Pursuing master’s at The Ohio State University

KAITLYN (KAIT) SEMON, PHI MU, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI, Pursuing Master’s in Business Administration-Health Care at University of Saint Thomas 

MICHAEL GOODMAN, PI KAPPA ALPHA, UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA, Pursuing Ph.D. at University of Maryland

REAGAN ARNWINE, ALPHA DELTA PI, MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY, Pursuing a Master of Occupational Therapy at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center

SHYAM KURIAN, PHI KAPPA PSI, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY, Medical student at the Mayo Clinic

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Arrowmont has been on my mind lately.

This video from Arrowmont makes me want to ignore what’s on the calendar and head to Gatlinburg. Who’s in?

Speaking of Arrowmont, great things are happening there! In late summer, Bill May, Arrowmont’s wonderful Executive Director announced that the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts received a $3,500,000 grant from the Windgate Foundation to establish the Windgate University Fellows Endowment. It will provide funds to enable university art students to attend Arrowmont. If you know any college students studying art, alert them now. Arrowmont is one of the most fantabulous places in the world!Also announced earlier this summer was the Preserving and Teaching Traditional Appalachian Craft initiative. Its goal is to “preserve and continue traditional craft knowledge by educating teachers and grades 4-12 students in Central Appalachia about traditional craft making, and by offering master artists and cultural elders the opportunity to teach and learn in Arrowmont’s supportive environment.” Arrowmont’s roots extend to 1910 when Pi Beta Phi’s convention at Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, voted to establish a Settlement School. Gatlinburg was chosen as the site and the school opened in 1912. The teachers realized the importance of the native crafts and offered weavers and basketmakers a market for their wares, selling the Arrowcraft at sales through chapters and alumnae clubs. In the 1940s, summer arts and crafts workshops began during the summer months when school was not in session. In 1967, Arrowmont became Pi Beta Phi’s Centennial project. Today, Arrowmont is an independent entity and is thriving.

There are three components to the Preserving and Teaching Traditional Appalachian Craft initiative.

Legacy: Appalachian Arts for Appalachian Teachers

ArtReach on the Road

Appalachian Craft and Culture Fellowship