In celebration of Alpha Phi’s 150th Anniversary in 2022, we proudly share stories and moments that have combined to create the legacy of sisterhood originally launched by our ten founders and which we still hold dear today. 

This is story 15 of 150.

Founders’ Day

As Alpha Phi set its sights on the future, it was natural to make a point of honoring our past. Before the 17th Convention in 1902, the Board called upon all Alpha Phis to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Fraternity by establishing the custom of Founders’ Day. The day is observed in reverence every year. 

Originally, September 30 was the date chosen for the occasion. Chapters were encouraged to host celebrations and events to mark the importance of the anniversary. “Let us make it a day of Alpha Phi reunions all over the land,” the Board said. “Let it be a day for historical review, a day for remembering each other and our beloved Founders.”

At the Convention in 1904, to accommodate the university semester schedules, the observance of Founders’ Day was moved to October 10 each year, and there it remains to this day. 

There are many ways in which early chapter members celebrated Founders’ Day. The Alpha chapter women laid ivy on Kate Hogoboom Gilbert’s grave. The Gamma chapter sisters went to class wearing bordeaux and silver bows to complement their “bright faces and joyous hearts.” Each year, chapters find their own ways of commemorating the day.

PHOTO 1: 

The 63rd Founders’ Day celebration featured in October 14, 1935 Los Angeles Times clipping with Founder Dr. Clara Bradley Wheeler Baker Burdette cutting a cake at the Beta Delta-UCLA Founders’ Day festivities. Along with Clara (Alpha-Syracuse), the photograph shows Beta Delta-UCLA alumnae Betty Leighton, Carol Ferguson, Harriet D. Patton and Jane Burdsal, all of whom held officer roles with the local chapters.

Some visit the gravestones of our Founders and lay flowers, others use the day to connect collegians with alumnae to symbolize that Alpha Phis’ devotion to one another is lifelong. Many chapters will perform the ceremonies that recognize the Founders and their impact on the women we are today. For the 40th anniversary in 1912, Alpha Phi marked Founders’ Day by hosting a grand celebration that included toasts, banquets and historical retrospectives. 

In 2020, Alpha Phi across the globe gathered virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic to launch the two-year celebration of the 150th anniversary of Alpha Phi (2022). That 2020 Founders’ Day presentation shared recorded remarks from all living past and current International Executive Board Presidents. As part of the lead-up to the 150th anniversary, the Fraternity hopes to hold Founders’ Day gatherings in select cities and will also share ways members may remotely celebrate from wherever they are located.

The Founders are touchstones of Alpha Phi and their commitment to one another continues to inspire us. 

PHOTO 2: 

The front of this Milwaukee Alumnae Chapter Members Founders' Day celebration photograph card features five Gamma Upsilon-Milwaukee alumnae - (left to right) Donna Bubolz Hahn, Sandy Ruehle Neill, Bev Umaske Keller, Judy Kalt Loose and Barbara Born Donohue - with pink umbrellas. The inside of the card explains that the alumnae bought the umbrellas from a fundraiser for Eta Mu-Marquette Chapter on Founders' Day.