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Kappa Tau's Local History
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AOII's History
Kappa Tau's Local
History
The following is from a pamphlet that
was distributed at an alumnae luncheon several years
ago. It is attributed to Catherine Dufreche Bernard
and is dated November, 2000:
" . . . In the fall of 1929 the first
social club, the Yellow Jacket Club, was organized by
students, Stella Kinney and Doris Robertson with the
approval and aid of Mr. Sims, the president of the college.
He gave the club a small place to meet and he suggested
rules. The club was to promote school spirit, congeniality
and academic excellence. In those early years the club
sponsored homecoming parades, banquets and dances. The
club valued the achievements of its
members and were a happy group enjoying their kinship
and the activities of college life. They sometimes wore
a yellow jacket and a small gold pin with a bee guard
when they wished to be identified as group.
As times and events began to change at
Southeastern we grew up too and adopted a Greek name,
Kappa Rho, in honor of our two founders, Kinney and
Robertson. That was in January of 1939 and for twenty-five
years Kappa Rho was very active and prominent on the
campus. In the sixties national sororities began to
appear.
Actually, Alpha Sigma Tau, a national sorority, was
already well-established on campus when I arrived at
Southeastern in 1959. During my sophomore year, 1960-61,
Kappa Rho began to investigate becoming part of a "national".
There was reluctance from a strong faction within the
sorority, with the result that a few of our members
left Kappa Rho to initiate the colonization of another
chapter - but the predominant membership of the other
colony was new sorority membership.
We had further contact with several national organizations,
and in the fall of 1962 we became an Alpha Omicron Pi
colony. All of our Kappa Rho active members and some
of our KP alumnae were initiated into AOII in January,
1963. I was president of Kappa Rho during the spring
semester, 1962, and I was president of the colony during
the fall semester, 1962. Yvonne Daigre Landry was the
first chapter president, 1963. Jac Talbot, Pi chapter
alum, was a very important resource for us during the
colony period. She walked us through much of AOII chapter
organization, she helped us keep in touch with Pi alumnae
and national representatives, and she acted as hostess
when AOII dignitaries visited us. (Jac and her husband,
Judge Talbot, lived near the Hammond Country Club.)
When I was a student Kappa Rho - and then AOII - was
responsible for the organization of the Homecoming Parade.
We secured and decorated convertibles for school administrators,
the Homecoming Court, and our officers; our pledges
rode on a fire truck; one year we costumed a member's
young sister as Kippy, the Kappa Rho bee. We also presented
an "original musical" each year. The musical
was a fundraiser for the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia scholarship,
so they composed/arranged/performed the music. Our annual
formal was held just before Christmas holidays began.
We knew of the Yellow Jacket to Kappa Rho history, but
we had very little contact with any of the alumnae.
At that time, sororities operated independently except
for the campus Pan-Hellenic organization. We had faculty
sponsors but we had little formal support....
In 1976 the Yellow Jacket members began
to meet annually. They collected modest dues, and as
the bank account grew they decided to give a small amount
to a student member of AOII. In 1990 Stella Kinney gave
an endowed scholarship; others have contributed to the
account and a decision was made to establish the Stella
Kinney/Student Foundation/Yellow Jacket Club Scholarship
which is administered by the Development Foundation
of SLU and awards between $700 and $1000 to a single
recipient each semester. The Yellow Jacket Club members
now invite Kappa Rho members to meet with them each
year. . ."
Alpha Omicron Pi's
History
"We
formed AOII to continue the friendships we made in college
throughout our lifetimes." - Stella Perry
Four young
women at Barnard College of Columbia University in New
York founded Alpha Omicron Pi on January 2, 1897. The
founders were Jessie Wallace Hughan, Helen St. Clair
Mullan, Elizabeth Heywood Wyman, and Stella George Stern
Perry.
Founders
Helen St. Clair Mullan
A true scholar with a keen mind, Helen was destined
to become a great lawyer. She was the organizational
genius of the group and gave AOII its Constitution and
Bylaws. As AOII’s third National President, she
installed many of the early chapters and promoted expansion.
As the mother of two daughters, she was also prominent
in New York education, serving on the Board of Education
and as a Trustee of Barnard College. She was also a
gifted musician.
Stella George Stern Perry
Stella was well-known for her literary talents. She
was the first president of Alpha Chapter, the first
National President of AOII and was elected Historian
of AOII for life. Most of the information we have about
the early history of the fraternity is due to Stella’s
writings. Artistic, dramatic and idealistic, she gave
AOII’s Ritual simplicity and tolerance. Her work
was well done as AOII’s Ritual is unchanged since
1897.
Elizabeth Heywood Wyman
Bess, as she was usually called, was outstanding in
education, social welfare and as a writer. Bess was
the 13th National President of AOII. Prior to that she
spent five years as AOII’s first Registrar and
established the Central Office. She was always helping
others. Her quiet confident manner came from an inner
strength. She gave AOII sympathetic understanding, kindness,
gentleness and conscientious leadership.
Jessie Wallace Hughan
Jessie distinguished herself as a teacher and writer.
She was a gallant crusader for any cause she felt was
just. She was a true philanthropist and a dynamic leader.
Jessie gave AOII depth and sincerity.
Founding
Barnard College, in the late 1890’s, was the first
separate college for women to be affiliated with a great
men’s university such as Columbia University.
AOII’s four Founders were in the class of 1898,
young, and unlike most of the women who had entered
Barnard in previous years. They were friendly, adventurous,
frank and merry, and enthusiastically devoted to each
other and to the class of ‘98.
Determined to make a democratic, unostentatious society,
the four women, Stella George Stern, Helen St. Clair,
Elizabeth Heywood, and Jessie Wallace climbed a little
winding stair into the stackroom of the old Columbia
Library. This little room was rarely used and stored
Anglo-Saxon tomes and ancient vellum manuscripts. While
the four sat in a deep window seat, pigeons outside
and snow lightly falling, they pledged one another at
the beginning of the year 1897.
Barnard College welcomed the new fraternity and it
was not long before the first chapter, Alpha, was flourishing.
The fraternity became national with the installation
of Pi Chapter at Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, New
Orleans, on September 8, 1898.
Over the next 100 years, AOII has added to the ranks
180 collegiate chapters and initiated over 126,000 members.
Omicron Chapter (U of Tennessee), chartered on April
14, 1902 as our 4th chapter is the oldest active chapter.
AOII has thrived and continued to grow throughout the
changing 20th century. Despite several wars, the Great
Depression, the women’s suffrage movement and
the social unrest of the 1960’s, AOII has continued
to hold true to its ideals. Founder Stella Perry once
wrote, “that which makes our bond is promise certain
of success. Let us follow our ensign devotedly, utterly
and bravely. For our purpose cannot fail.”
Columbia Law Library, the place of AOII's founding.
Heritage
Founded on January 2, 1897, Alpha Omicron Pi began as
a dream by 4 young college women to continue their friendship
throughout life. One of AOII’s founders, Stella
George Stern Perry, wrote in 1936, “We wanted
a fraternity that should carry on the delightful fellowships
and cooperation of college days into the workaday years
ahead and to do so magnanimously. Above all, we wanted
a high and active special purpose to justify existence
and a simple devotion to some worthy end.”
Stella’s wish for AOII then, remains AOII’s
wish for her members today: “May you have the
joy in it all, dear children, that we (founders) have
had all the way! May you love one another as happily
always as we four have done in a life-long fellowship
without a break! And may your descendants in Alpha Omicron
Pi bring to you the glory that you yourselves are to
us today!
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