Alumnae Chapter News - Spring 2022

From Founders’ Day celebrations to membership milestone ceremonies and reunions, Tri Deltas are back to sharing the bonds of sisterhood at special events and gatherings. Here’s what our alumnae have been up to since the fall!

Alabama

In October, Auburn, Alabama, alumnae and collegians gathered to celebrate 27 Golden Circle members! Twenty-five of the alumnae were initiated at Auburn University, one was initiated at the University of Georgia and one at the University of Mississippi.

The ceremony was held at the Grove Hill clubhouse, and honorees were presented their Golden Circle pins by Past Fraternity President Gwenn Smith Wynn, Past Alumnae Chapter President Kathy Ray, and Auburn/East Alabama Alumnae Chapter President Marlye Lee. Congratulations to these sisters for 50 years of Tri Delta membership!

Auburn, Alabama, alumnae celebrate Golden Circle.

California

San Jose alumnae gathered to wish Mia Skinner, Carnegie Mellon, farewell as she moves to Austin, Texas. Mia previously served as alumnae chapter president of the San Jose Alumnae Chapter for four years. In true Tri Delta fashion, no one said “goodbye”—just “good luck” and “best wishes” to a remarkable person and dedicated Tri Delta!

San Jose alumnae gather for a farewell party for Mia Skinner.

Members of the San Jose Alumnae Chapter were invited to join the Monterey Peninsula Alumnae Chapter for a Founders’ Day luncheon at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club. The Founders’ Day proclamation was read by Debbie Drommerhausen Hutchings, Arizona State, and each member rose and lit a candle as their school was called. A fabulous time was had by all who attended!

Florida

Daytona Beach Alumnae Chapter members Diana Johnson Grunderman, Florida State, Patti Rucker Primavera, Florida State, Vicky Crozier, Florida, and Deena Jones Adelson, Texas/Arlington—along with Deena’s eight-year-old granddaughter, Adelson Ann—gathered to make Valentine’s Day card art kits for 36 kids at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. They assembled bags that included four plain white cards and envelopes, stickers, two markers, Valentine’s stampers and confetti so the kids could create their own Valentine cards! 

Daytona Beach alumnae assemble art kits for the kids at St. Jude.

Members of the Sarasota Area Alumnae Chapter gathered for a special Founders’ Day event—the celebration of the chapter’s founding 60 years ago in 1960, a year late due to COVID-19. The event featuring a catered box lunch was held outdoors in keeping with COVID-19 protocols. The theme of the day was the 1960s. Members arrived to ’60s music, and President Cindy Hicks Jeffers, Texas, shared personal memorabilia including her blue high school gym suit. Christine Wilson Strom, Ohio State, arrived in a poodle skirt. Everyone also participated in a 1960s trivia contest, while Laurie Kohler Halladay, Missouri, took the group on a walk down memory lane talking about the history of the chapter.  

The chapter also honored its past alumnae chapter presidents, including those in attendance: Christine Thomson Heider, Iowa State, 1993-1994; Jan Hollister, Florida State, 2015-2019; and Cindy Hicks Jeffers, current president. Jan’s mother, the late Ruth Hollister, was one of the chapter’s first members. Pamela Mott, Knox—whose late mother, Emma Jean Mott, was one of the early members—also shared her memories. Rituals chair Jayne Esposito Cantwell, Syracuse, conducted the Founders’ Day ceremony and candle lighting.

Diane Barnes Forer, Stetson, is a founding member of Princeton Area Alumnae Chapter, and every year she meets with her 1971-72 pledge sisters for a weekend of sisterhood! This group meets in a different city to renew friendships and keep their bonds strong. As the group approaches their 50^th anniversary as Tri Deltas, they celebrated with a special Golden Circle ceremony. The group included: Rebecca Hudson Wilson, Susan Spiegel Wiggins, Melissa Peterman Whitley, Frances Peters Drennan, Kathy Benedict Dageford, Diane Barnes Forer and Cheryl Abbott Goebel, all Stetson.

Members of Stetson’s 1971-72 pledge class celebrate Golden Circle.

The Fort Myers Alumnae Chapter honored four sisters at their annual salad luncheon with a special stars and crescent cake. Bonnie Aspinwall, Alice Powelson and Lois Jorgensen celebrated their 90th birthdays. Judy Kerl, past alumnae chapter president, was also celebrated as she leaves the chapter to return to Ohio, her home state. The luncheon meeting also included a charity fundraiser. On Jan. 16, an EF2 tornado hit Fort Myers destroying 56 homes in an area where two chapter members live. The proceeds from this year’s fundraiser were donated to assist the displaced homeowners. 

Bonnie Aspinwall, Judy Kerl, Alice Powelson and Lois Jorgensen

Georgia

A group of Tri Delta alumnae attended the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee (FSPAC) reception in Atlanta, Georgia, in the fall.

From left to right are: Sarah Duncan, Southern Mississippi; Sarah Coons Lindsay, Miami/Ohio; Carol Knoche Helmus, Millikin; Phillis Durbin Grissom, Southern Methodist; and Tricia Lewis, Georgia.

Illinois

Nine alumnae members of the University of Illinois’ Delta Pi Chapter, initiated between 1979 and 1983, reunited at the lake home of Peggy Young Rishe in North Carolina. The sisters boated and floated on Lake Norman, swam in the pool, played games, had dance parties and enjoyed delicious food over a long weekend in August. What an example for us all of enduring friendship and sisterhood in Tri Delta!

Delta Pi Chapter 1979-81 initiates reunite in North Carolina.

The Delta Pi Chapter class of 1961 is another wonderful example of lifetime membership! This small pledge class has remained very close friends for 63 years. The group has had an annual round-robin letter going since 1961 and have been holding a reunion every two years since 2000. The group meets in different cities each time, and although the latest reunion was delayed a year due to COVID-19, the group gathered—along with their spouses—in Tucson, Arizona, in October 2021. The group included: Carole Luehring Olsen, Sandy Sellers Kionka, Ann Feit Rhoda, Nan Schaudt Mabie, Joyce Bullock Darrell, Sue Albrecht Reiker and Sue Brown Burger.

Delta Pi Chapter class of 1961 and spouses reunite in Tucson.

Indiana

Members of the Indianapolis Alumnae Chapter participated in a floral design class at Oberer’s Florist in February. Their creativity was rewarded with everyone being able to take their masterpieces home! In addition to the class, members donated items for the Indianapolis St. Jude cork pull and provided feminine hygiene items for Support the Girls Indy.

Michigan

Five Traverse City, Michigan, Tri Delta sisters celebrated their Golden Circle, marking 50 years of membership on Sept. 15, 2021, at the Glen Arbor Bed and Breakfast: Mary Sarow Smith, Michigan State; Kathy Helms Hy, Michigan State; Carol Murray, Michigan State; Jeanine Hibler Rossbach, Michigan; and Millie Brown Putz, Southeast Missouri State. The event was hosted by Patricia Ramsdell Widmayer, Michigan State, co-owner of the Glen Arbor Bed and Breakfast, and Christine Wilson Strom, Ohio State. A Tri Delta flag hung outside, welcoming sisters to the event. The Golden Circle event included a luncheon, stars and crescent custom cake and each member’s memory of her collegiate Tri Delta life. The sisters sang Tri Delta Grace and Alpha Theta Phi, and they remembered the pledge given to us by Sarah Ida Shaw and Eleanor Dorcas Pond, “Tri Delta offers you the joy of friendship.”

Traverse City sisters celebrate Golden Circle.

Minnesota

Eight alumnae from the Theta Chapter pledge class of 1986 gathered for a five-day reunion on Anna Maria Island in Florida in November. The group also used the reunion as an opportunity to couple sisterhood with philanthropy, raising $500 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital!

Members of Theta Chapter pledge class of 1986

Missouri

The St. Louis Alumnae Chapter hosted its annual Pine Party with local Tri Psis (Tri Delta’s mothers’ sorority) at the home of Tri Delta sister and past president of Tri Psi Laura Outman, Southeast Missouri. As a philanthropy project for the chapter, alumnae, collegians and Tri Psi members put together 1000+ gift bags for patients at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

North Carolina

Twenty-four sisters from the Charlotte Alumnae Chapter gathered at the lovely home of Angela Yochem, DePauw, for Founders’ Day 2021. After a delicious catered luncheon, several members were honored with membership milestone ceremonies. Virginia Morris Snoddy, Stetson, received her Diamond Circle pin. Virginia was initiated in 1946 and remembers to university being flooded with former soldiers using their GI Bill benefits after World War II. She went on to become a flight attendant for Pan Am airlines and remembers when two of her Stetson Tri Delta sisters were passengers on one of her flights to Hong Kong!

Three members received Golden Circle pins: Sara Smith Nolan, Emory; Sharon Dempster Searcy, Florida State; and Christy Black Stephens, Indiana. Ten members were celebrated with the Silver Circle for 25 years of membership: Nancy Adams Erb, Texas; Emily Trivette Field, Kansas State; Lisa VanWinkle Fritschel, West Virginia; Barbara Holt, Nevada; Karen Mendel Kaplan, West Virginia; Carolyn Nelson Picton, Central Florida; Janet Denhollem Pierce, Louisiana State; Peggy Young Rishe, Illinois; Nina Speed, Kansas; and Angela Yochem, DePauw.

To commemorate their 50^th anniversary, alumnae from Alpha Sigma Chapter’s 1971-72 pledge classes donated a 20-foot flagpole for the Tri Delta house at the University of North Carolina. On Oct. 23, the sisters gathered in Chapel Hill to present the gift, which included lighting for the U.S. flag and two beautiful Tri Delta banners. Elayne Bennett also presented the Tri Deltas with the Freedom Flag on Sept. 11 in honor of Mary Lou Hague, North Carolina, a sister who perished on Sept. 11, 2001.

Members of Alpha Sigma Chapter’s 1971-72 pledge classes

Tennessee

On New Year’s Eve, the Nashville Alumnae Chapter held its annual Eve of Janus fundraising ball at the Country Music Hall of Fame to raise money for Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. The chapter celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the Eve of Janus, which is the longest-running fundraising event for the hospital. To date, the Nashville Alumnae Chapter has raised more than $5 million for the Tri Delta Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Clinic at the hospital.

Kim Ray, Oklahoma, Suzie Schulenberg, Mississippi State, and Sally Graham, Vanderbilt, all volunteered at the Eve of Janus and were in charge of coordinating the debutantes and their escorts who were presented that night. While there, they met Julia Nahley, Vanderbilt, and Addie Perkerson, Mississippi, who had been presented in previous years and were both supporting their siblings who were being presented in 2022!

Virginia

The Richmond Alumnae Chapter recently celebrated Diamond Circle for member Gretchen Erb Bradley, William and Mary, at the chapter’s Pansy Brunch. Congratulations to Gretchen for 75 years of Tri Delta membership!