On August 30, 1912, Theta Phi Alpha was founded at the University of Michigan. In 1909, Father Edward D. Kelly, a Catholic priest and the pastor of the University of Michigan’s student chapel organized Omega Upsilon. He believed that the Catholic women at the university should have the opportunity to belong to an organization that “resembled the Catholic homes from which they came.” At that time, Catholics were not always welcome in the other fraternal organizations on campus.
Bishop Edward Kelly as a young priest. He was in his 50s when he helped found Theta Phi Alpha.
After Father Kelly left campus and became the Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, Omega Upsilon was struggling. There were no alumnae to guide the organization. Bishop Kelly’s vision that the Catholic women at Michigan should have a place to call their own was still alive even though he was not on campus. He enlisted the assistance of Amelia McSweeney, a 1898 University of Michigan alumna. Together with seven Omega Upsilon alumnae, plans were made to establish a new organization, Theta Phi Alpha.
Seven of Theta Phi Alpha’s ten founders were Omega Upsilon alumnae and two were undergraduate members of Omega Upsilon.
Theta Phi Alpha remained a local organization until 1919 when the Beta Chapter was formed at the University of Illinois. One of the women who joined the Illinois chapter was Marie Esther Funke of Edwardsville, Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri.
Funke attended St. Louis University, St. Mary’s-of-the-Wood’s College, Indiana, and the University of Illinois. The March 6, 1925 Daily Illini had an article with the headline, “8 women among 228 students in College of Law.” It went on to name the eight woman, and noted, “There are two other first year students – Marie Funke, Edwardsville, a transfer from St. Mary’s-of-the-Woods of Terre Haute, Ind., which she attended for two years…”
She was a law student when she became a member of Theta Phi Alpha. She practiced law for about 35 years, and her professional name was M. Esther Funke. She started her law career in Salem, Illinois. During that time she was a member of the Salem Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Club; she served as the organization’s state treasurer from 1936-38 and state program coordination chairman from 1938-39.
During the administration of Edwardsville Mayor Oscar Schmidt in the 1940s, Funke served as city attorney. She belonged to the Madison County Bar Association, League of Women Voters, University of Illinois Alumni Association, Edwardsville Business and Professional Women’s Club, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, American Association of University Women, Lane of Goshen Historical Society, Edwardsville Humane Society, and St. Boniface Catholic Church. She died in 1966 and she is buried in the church’s cemetery.
M. Esther Funke when she was at the University of Illinois. (Photo courtesy of The Illio)
