FOUNDERS’ DAY MESSAGE 2009/10
“We wanted a society that should continue our companionship through life and
extend the like joys to others, usefully, unselfishly, and without pettiness.”
Stella George Stern Perry 1936
Early on, the founders cautioned that Founders’ Day was intended not to honor
them, but to stop and measure how closely the fraternity had come in actively
performing the task each member had accepted when she was initiated into Alpha
Omicron Pi.
This display of selfless, gracious and unpretentious character demonstrates the
integrity and simple spirit of the four women who founded Alpha Omicron Pi 113
years ago. Their hope was that their own personal devotion to each other could be
eternalized and multiplied. They wanted to perpetuate that beautiful something that
bound them together. It was their desire that this particular loyalty that motivated
them should endure, should bind, and inspire others. This was their expectation for
us.
So today in 2010 we stop to remember our Founders and to ask ourselves if we’ve
been accountable to the tasks asked of us as members. Take time to remember our
pledge. Think back to your initiation and those first feelings of loyalty and devotion.
Tell others proudly that you are a member of Alpha Omicron Pi, where ever you go.
You never know when you will meet a stranger who in an instant is a sister when she
finds out you are an AOII and she announces that she is an AOII too. Find a way to
give back, financially and with your time. Stella, Jessie, Helen and Bess would expect
no less and would be proud to know that their cherished sisterhood is flourishing and
blooming.
Fraternally with love,
The 2009-2011 Executive Board
Barb Zipperian Karen Galehan Susan Danko
Krista Whipple Linda Grandolfo
Allison Allgier Rebecca Herman
Gayle Fitzpatrick Kathy Jensen
