3 minute read
Rediscovered Bond
MEMBERS RECOGNIZE AND RECONNECT SISTERS FROM THE 1940S.
BY LAUREN FILIPPINI (ALPHA CHI, BUTLER UNIVERSITY), MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
It started with a phone call to Alpha Chi Omega headquarters. A nurse shared that the woman she was caring for wanted to visit with Alpha Chi Omegas from the local chapter. With some quick research, staff learned that the member, Barbara Twiford Eden, was an initiate of Alpha Kappa chapter at the University of Oregon – and that she had reached her 75-year membership milestone!
A plan started to form. Staff contacted the Xi Xi alumnae chapter of Portland, Oregon, to see if members could help out, so Amanda Kraft (Delta Omicron, Portland State University) organized a visit to Barbara for members to present her 75-year pin. Additionally, the province collegiate chair for the state, Colette Livermore (Delta Omicron) posted a message to the Alpha Kappa initiates Facebook group asking for alumnae to attend. That’s when the story takes an even more surprising turn!
Rose Connolly (Alpha Kappa) saw the message and decided to join. She says, “The organizers noted that they had already arranged to bring a floral arrangement with carnations. Not wanting to go empty-handed but knowing we already had flowers, I got the idea to try and find a University of Oregon yearbook, The Oregana, from her time there.” Rose purchased a
copy of the yearbook on Facebook Marketplace as a gift for Barbara, and when she flipped to the page with the Alpha Chi Omegas, she recognized the woman pictured next to a young Barbara – it was a family member, Pat Webber Walters. Rose reached out to Pat, confirmed the connection and offered to drive her to see Barbara again!
Barbara and Pat had lost touch in recent years, though Pat recalls a favorite pastime of theirs: “Barbara and I loved football, and we would critique the Oregon games and wonder why the coaches didn’t listen to us.”
It was a day of joy and sisterhood as a multi-generational group made its way to see Barbara. Pat recalls, “I was especially impressed by the number of ‘young’ Alpha Chis who came … They didn’t know Barbara or me, yet they took time from busy lives to offer support and friendship. I thought, ‘There is a bond.’”
“We had fun looking at the yearbook and talking about how the university had changed,” Amanda says; one way was the fact that campus was primarily filled by women in the 1940s with so many men off to war. To cap off the visit, members conducted the 75-Year Membership Milestone Ceremony for both Barbara and Pat.
It just goes to show how wide-reaching and everlasting the bonds of sisterhood really are!
Learn more about membership milestones on alphachiomega.org.
