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 18 of 150.

Founder Fact: Elizabeth Grace Hubble Shults

Known most frequently by her middle name, Grace, Elizabeth Grace Hubble Shults was part of the Original Ten who dedicated themselves to creating a society of women, but what else is known about this Founder? Read on to learn more about Grace.

Born March 9, 1850 in Rochester, New York to parents Dr. James Hubbell and Marie G. Hubbell, Elizabeth Grace Hubbell applied herself and took education seriously. Her family were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She graduated from the Rochester Free Academy at 13, the same year her father passed away, and three years later was teaching at the Rochester Collegiate Institute. While there, she also made a point to continue her own education. She enrolled in a preparatory course at Genesee Wesleyan Conference Seminary and then entered Syracuse University in the fall of 1871.

At age 22, she was the eldest Founder and the only one old enough to legally sign the Fraternity incorporation documents. She was glad to be part of this group of women dedicated to encouraging one another in their pursuits of excellence. The Los Angeles Times obituary described Grace as "a woman of exceptionally bright intellect and of unusual literary culture."

Refining her knowledge was not her only focus. The day after graduating from Syracuse, on June 29, 1876, Grace married her classmate and beau, James Henry Shults (1851-1928) of Cortland, New York. A member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, James earned a BA and MA before receiving his medical degree from Syracuse in 1888. The couple was wed at her family home in Rochester. After graduation, she taught classics at State Normal School in Cortland, New York before working as a private tutor in math and the Classics. Grace also contributed to periodicals and, following their move to California, she served as president of the Pasadena Shakespearean Society. She turned down other offers of teaching, although her husband did become an educator, in favor of the family life.

A sister through-and-through, Grace kept in touch with Clara Bradley (Alpha-Syracuse) and Alice Lee McDowell (Alpha-Syracuse), who were also living in California. The care she showed her sisters naturally extended to her family as well.

At some point during their early family years, the Shults moved to Northeast Ohio and settled in the Cleveland area. Grace loved having a family, but her happiness was, sadly, stripped from her with the devastating loss of their first daughter, Eloise. Eloise passed at 10-months of age after an illness. The sadness that filled her after Eloise's death was crippling and contributed to the deterioration of her health. She filled her life with the people who mattered most - her family, her friends and her Alpha Phi sisters.

Grace lived to only 45 and joined the Silent Chapter on December 1, 1895 in Pasadena, California. Her family and all of Alpha Phi grieved her absence. Of Grace, no "rarer tribute can be paid to the memory of the life that is closed, than an earnest effort on the part of each member to emulate its beauties and make them a part of her own soul-life," the spring 1896 Quarterly mused. "Thus alone can we realize the true meaning of the Sisterhood of Alpha Phi, which she labored to found, and which has risen up to call her blessed."

Members embraced Grace's memory and ensured her legacy would not only live with the continuation and evolution of Alpha Phi, but also in the hearts of members united in friendship. She was also honored and her memory enshrined on a bronze tablet that was installed in the Alpha House during a renovation project launched around the time of Grace's death. When it was unveiled in 1896, placed next to the memorial windows, Grace's name, and the names of all members of the  Silent Chapter to that point, were memorialized forever. 

She was cremated and her ashes are interred at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio, where Eloise had passed away. Her husband is buried nearby, as are all of their children, Elbert Hubbell Shults (1878-1896), who passed the year following his mother; Eloise Grace Shults (1880-1881), who died due to health problems as an infant; Clarence James Shults (1883-1981) and Maybelle Harriett Schults Hill (1886-1979).

In mid-to-late 1990s, the Cleveland area alumnae community and member Joan Norris Graham (Beta Omicron-Bowling Green) raised funds to provide a headstone that honors Grace as a Founder of Alpha Phi. The site is often visited by area Alpha Phis for reflection, to pay respects and in celebration of Founders' Day.

PHOTO: Elizabeth Grace Hubbell Shults