Delta Gamma - University of Missouri

MU MESSENGER 4 D elta Gamma membership for me revolved completely around Mu chapter and our chapter house; I had little concept of Delta Gamma on an international level. My college days were wonderful, and I treasure my DeeGee friends and memories. In those days, all members were required to live-in. I spent three years carrying my dresser drawers between the house and the annex and loved it. (Well, maybe not the room changes.) I participated in "rush" skits, worked on various committees and supported my sisters, but I wasn't an executive board officer. I just did not want to work that hard. While my two best friends, chapter president Carol Rost '78 and vice president of pledge education Carla Yates Willis '78, spent their college days with DG policies, responsibilities and Conventions, my turn to step up came as an alumna. I was just out of college and settled in South Carolina with my dream job when Delta Gamma came calling. I began as a local advisor, and soon found myself serving as a Province officer and working on committees at Executive Offices. When I was living at 900 South Providence, I never considered that one day I would have a daughter or that my daughter might become a Delta Gamma. I cannot begin to describe what it meant to me when, in 2012, my daughter pledged Eta Kappa chapter at North Carolina State University. Whitney became the eighth Delta Gamma in our family, joining Georgine Anagnos Sheridan '72, Stacey Penelope Sheridan '09, Mary Vassely Vlahoplus, Epsilon Chi '86, Diane Anagnos Caldbeck, Alpha Lambda '69, Kelly Alana Caldbeck, Alpha Lambda '96 and Megan Caldbeck Niklawski, Alpha Lambda '01. So that Delta Gamma will remain strong on all of our campuses, our family supports Delta Gamma capital campaigns at Alpha Lambda, Drake University; Eta Kappa, NCSU (where Delta Gamma is building our first chapter house in North and South Carolina); and now at Mu, Missouri. In our family, we know that we are blessed to be Delta Gammas for life and members of the finest women's fraternity in the world. In the Bonds, Alexis Vlahoplus Maloney '78 alexismaloney@aol.com For Hope. For Strength. For Life. Delta Gamma for Life I will receive my 50-year Cream Rose at Founders Day in March 2016. Reflecting back, I can see that my lifelong connection to Delta Gamma has been one of the most important influences of my life. Entering the University of Missouri could have been an overwhelming experience, coming from the tiny town of Grant City, Missouri, where my high school class was the same size as my DG pledge class. I set off on this adventure with my best high school friend, John Barker, who pledged Beta Theta Pi and introduced me to his pledge brother, Jim Lamy. I returned the favor and introduced him to my pledge sister, Lucy Smith Barker '66. We were in each others' weddings. We held an alternative high school reunion this past summer over lunch in Harlem, New York. Who could have predicted that? The match making continued with Jim and me, connecting my pledge daughter, Chrissy Autz Swartz '68, to her Beta boy, Marc Swartz. We visited them this summer at their home in Maine. These friendships and many others have not skipped a beat although life experiences and geographies have varied greatly. I have attended every five-year reunion of the Mu chapter of Delta Gamma at Mizzou and I treasure the memories of every one. Wise and supportive DG upper-class women pointed me toward the path of campus leadership and scholastic achievement. Those skills and accomplishments provided a strong base of confidence, which served me well during my brief career as an educator/ administrator and my lifetime work in the telecommunications industry. Work was our lives for many years and we moved anytime the offer was extended. We were fortunate to be able to retire in our mid-'50s and enjoy permanent summers at our seasonal homes at the New Jersey Shore and Florida's Gulf Coast. Delta Gamma alumnae involvement has been a treasured constant in our nomadic life. I have been a member of seven DG alumnae chapters, serving as president in the Summit/ Westfield (New Jersey) and Sarasota (Florida) chapters. I was elected to a Delta Gamma national assignment for three years and have attended seven biennial Conventions. I was an enthusiastic supporter of every financial campaign that Mu DG has proposed: Ship of Dreams, Lectureships in Values and Ethics, and Lamps of Knowledge. I am 100% behind the Mu capital campaign for a our new chapter house. I was an early donor and involved in the initial planning on the campaign committee, but have have had to step back since being diagnosed with Stage 3 Alzheimer's disease last December. It was such a joy to make contact with many sisters I knew in the '60s and to solicit support for this effort while I was still able to do so. Please consider by giving any amount to have your name included among those of us who can fondly say "I remember." Jim has promised to bring me to the house dedication if at all possible. I may not know where I am or who you are, but it will be a great joy to be back in that happy place, wearing my anchor badge still chained to the Beta shield for a photo on the Burnham Road entrance steps where we were "pinned" in 1967 before heading in for the DG candlelight ceremony at curfew. Lovingly in the bonds of Mu Delta Gamma, Susie Gromer Lamy '66 Susie Gromer Lamy '66 Shows Support for Beloved Mu Chapter DG

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