Bertie McConnell, a 90-year-old Kansas woman, got an unexpected surprise on her 90th birthday last Saturday – a certificate of membership from the women of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority!
Bertie attended rush parties at Zeta Tau Alpha in 1941 at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. She loved the Zeta women (she called them “just so sweet”), but money was tight because of the war and she worried that she would be unable to pay the $40 dues. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, she was required to put her dreams of sorority life aside.
To help support the war efforts, Bertie left school and started working at an ammunition plant. Soon after she was married and had children. She never returned to school.
Bertie’s daughter, Judith McConnell-Farmer, is a professor at Washburn University and often tells her mother’s story to her students, noting that her mother never seemed to let go of her dreams to be a sorority girl.
For Bertie’s 90th birthday, Judith reached out to the women of Washburn’s Zeta chapter, asking them to sign a card for her mother. The chapter president took the request a step further and contacted Zeta’s national council. The sisters of Zeta were able to present Bertie with a certificate of membership at her 90th birthday party last weekend.
Bertie joked that she would love to help the chapter, but that they may have to hurry to get her involved. She is the Zeta’s oldest pledge to date.
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/bertie-mcconnell-90yearol_n_101…
http://www.knssradio.com/90-Year-Old-Woman-to-Join-Sorority/11198988
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/oct/15/70-years-later-chance-finally-j…