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This copy of sheet music for "Sunlight," a study written for piano students by Alpha Chi Omega Founder Estelle Leonard (Alpha, DePauw University), includes her signature on the front.
The only original badge known to still be in existence, this badge belonged to Founder Bertha Deniston Cunningham (Alpha, DePauw University) and was created in 1885. The 3/4-inch badge features 28 pearls and seven garnets. Unlike many later badges, which feature twisted lyre strings, the strings on this badge are flat. Each new chapter is presented a replica of this badge for the chapter president to wear during her term. The president's badge is then passed from president to president.
Anna Ryan (Wells) (Alpha, DePauw University, left) poses with Alpha Chi Omega Founders Olive Burnett (Clark) (Alpha, DePauw University, center) and Bertha Deniston (Cunningham) (Alpha, DePauw University, right).
This article provides biographical information on Alpha Chi Omega Founder Estelle Leonard (Alpha, DePauw University) and includes a photograph.
This brief article discusses a picnic in honor of Nellie Gamble Childe (Alpha, DePauw University), the last living founder of Alpha Chi Omega, and includes a photograph of Childe.
Amy Dubois Rieth (Alpha, DePauw University) was only 15 when she entered DePauw. She studied both voice and pianoforte. She was known as “the little girl with the big voice,” and was selected to sing important roles in school productions. Amy had a quiet and straightforward manner, which belied her fondness for pulling pranks on her Fraternity sisters. Her influence on the Fraternity endured long after she left to teach music in Kansas.
Anna Allen Smith (Alpha, DePauw University) lived her entire life in Greencastle, Indiana, and was childhood friends with Bessie Grooms Keenan (Alpha, DePauw University and Olive (Ollie) Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University). She was always interested in music and was the youngest student to do advanced work at DePauw's School of Music. She was just 15 years old when Alpha Chi Omega was founded. Anna was the Founder most associated with Alpha chapter and until her untimely death in 1932, she knew every initiated Alpha (all 700 of them).
When Bertha Deniston Cunningham's (Alpha, DePauw University) parents decided their musically advanced daughter should continue her studies at DePauw, she had to play for Dean Howe to determine just how advanced she was. She went on to become the envy of the school’s music students because of her composing skills. She also was an accomplished performer and successful teacher in the School of Music for 10 years. Hers is the only one of five original badges that exists today.
Nellie Gamble Childe (Alpha, DePauw University) studied piano from an early age and, after much deliberation, chose DePauw. She was described variously by her sisters as being gentle, energetic, earnest and friendly, leading a life of “quiet influence for good.” Later in life, she cultivated roses and loved to garden. She said that Alpha Chi Omega had a small beginning, but was built by loyal women with high standards who have achieved “marvelous results.”
Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) grew up in Greencastle, Indiana before eventually moving to Indianapolis, Indiana. She set the example for grace, civility and dignity that defined the Fraternity.
Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) called “Ollie” by her friends, studied piano, violin, cello and double bass. She taught at DePauw for two years while carrying on her studies. In her junior year, she left school to take teaching positions in Anderson and Franklin, Indiana. “I have found no greater happiness in my life than in Alpha Chi Omega,” she said later in life. “All I have ventured to give toward the up-building and uplifting of our fraternity has been from the depths of my heart, and has been repaid in thousandfold by my girls.”
Fraternity Executive Director Hannah Keenan (Alpha, DePauw University, center) receives the Good Neighbor Award from Chuckles Chapman and Founder Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) at the Alpha Chi (Butler University) chapter house.
Founders Estelle Leonard (Alpha, DePauw University) and Bertha Deniston Cunningham (Alpha, DePauw University) pose together at the 1937 National Convention in Glacier National Park.
Founder Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) poses by a chair as she tells the story of the founding of Alpha Chi Omega at the 1953 National Convention in Banff, Alberta, Canada.
In a portion of a speech given at the 1952 Massachusetts State Day, Ann Burnett Clark speaks about her grandmother, Founder Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University).
Founder Bertha Deniston Cunningham (Alpha, DePauw University) poses in her living room with 16 war books and five Alpha Chi Omega scrapbooks.
Founders Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University, seated left) and Estelle Leonard (Alpha, DePauw University, seated right) play piano while Patricia Lyons Pointer (standing left) and Beverly Brantner Price, both pledges of the Alpha Chi (Butler University) chapter, sing from a book of Alpha Chi Omega songs. The event was the Beta Beta (Indianapolis, Indiana) alumnae chapter's Founders' Day celebration. The photo was taken by George Tilford for the "Indianapolis News."
Founder Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) poses with Jean Sorenson Daiker (Alpha Rho, University of Idaho), who served as a page at the 1953 National Convention in Banff, Alberta, Canada.
Founders (left to right) Bertha Deniston Cunningham (Alpha, DePauw University), Estelle Leonard (Alpha, DePauw University), Nellie Gamble Childe (Alpha, DePauw University) and Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) pose with a birthday cake to celebrate Alpha Chi Omega's 50th birthday at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. during the 1935 National Convention. Behind them are National Editor Ted Maltbie Collins (Rho, University of Washington) and National President Ethel Meade Van Auken (Lambda, Syracuse University).
Founder Bertha Deniston Cunningham (Alpha, DePauw University) sends her thoughts to Beta Beta (Indianapolis, Indiana) chapter and reminisces about old times.