I forgot.

Great posts, but....
 

These are wonderful posts from lots of great people, but I still haven't found out about Sally Ride! Any Pi Phis out there who can confirm that she's in your organization? If you're not sure, no problem - I've loved all the comments! The ones about Betty Crocker and Aunt Jemimah were funny. BTW - did you know that Mrs. Campbell, of Campbell Soups was a Kappa? Next time you pop open a can of tomato or cream of mushroom soup, check out the fleur-de-lis!
- Prunetacos

Another US astronaut, Judith Resnik, had been a sorority member from Carnegie Mellon. I think it was AEPhi which was no longer on campus by the time I was an undergraduate. She was killed in the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion in 1986.

If you want to take some intiative yourself, most, if not all, NPC sororities have a link that'll take you to a listing of their distinguished alumnae. I'd think content on an HQ's website can be considered official content. :)

Judging from earlier posts and visits to official HQ websites, you can rule out Sigma Kappa, Pi Beta Phi, and Kappa Delta. I can say and I know for sure that she's not an Alpha Gamma Delta either. You got 22 more to check out if you want.

Judith Resnik was indeed an AEPhi.

20...she's not an AOII either.

We can claim Jan Davis, but not Sally Ride.

19!

Acutally Mrs. Campbell was most definitely not a Kappa. Nowhere in our history or database does Kappa claim her has a member. There is no "Mrs. Campbell" even. More likely, the fleur-de-lis on the label is a tie into the award the soup won at the 1900 Paris exhibition, the medal of which is also on the Campbell's soup labels.

Process of Elimination
 

Sally Ride....not a Chi Omega.


18!

EDUCATION: Graduated from Westlake High School, Los Angeles, California, in 1968; received from Stanford University a bachelor of science in Physics and a bachelor of arts in English in 1973, and master of science and doctorate degrees in Physics in 1975 and 1978, respectively.
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For those who collect the Baird's books, what were the sororities present at Stanford from 1968 to 1973? Once known, that will narrow the field considerably.

None. They returned in 1978.

Right, but she could have been initiated as an alum.

Right, since I mentioned Laurel, but not Sally, I think we've established that she's not a Gamma Phi Beta.

17


.....Kelly :)

Not an ASA

16.


(Although the Teacher from October Sky is...the actual teacher from the true story, not the actress).

Thanks...and an apology
 

I've Googled "Sally Ride" and "sorority" and no specific sorority pops up, just the fact that she's a member. Most other famous people, their GLO comes right up. I owe an apology to the Ladies of the Golden Key. Wikipedia's entry for notable Kappas has listed Mrs. Campbell as an alum...guess not. Sorry, my mistake.
- Prunetacos

It doesn't, and hasn't for quite some time. There are guidelines used by those who update the Wikipedia page on who constitutes as notable Kappas. Misinformation is usually quickly deleted or corrected.

Another Greek urban legend. methinks. Why think I so?

Joseph Campbell founded the company in 1869, one year before Kappa was founded. It didn't start making soup until 1897, but the suggestion and process for making soup came from John Dorrence, the nephew of the company's general manager. The can label was suggested by companty exec, Heberton Williams, who derived the red and white label from the Cornell football team. The gold medal on the can is an award from the Paris Exposition. (All of this info can be found at the Campbell website.)

One other thing -- when I googled, it appeared that every Kappa chapter site that mentioned this connection referred to Mrs. Campbell simply as "Mrs. Campbell." Seems like if she really was a Kappa, someone would know her first name. Also seems like she might be mentioned on Kappa's national site, which she is not.

The reality is that fluer-de-lis were common ornaments around the time that the label was designed, and someone probably realized that gold fluer-de-lis complemented the Paris Expo medal nicely.

ETA: Sorry. If I had kept reading I would have seen that this had already been addressed. But I will note that my google search turned up quite a few Kappa chapters perpetuating this Greek urban legend.

I will confirm that Sally Ride is not a Pi Beta Phi-- our recent issue of the Arrow had a feature that confirmed (or dispelled) myths about famous individuals who are/ were Pi Beta Phi members and the website has a complete listing. We'd be proud to claim Sally Ride, if she really was a member but she isn't.

Since someone else mentioned Suzanne Sugarbaker (you can feel free to duck if you so desire but I'm not throwing anything), she did say she is a Mississippi Beta Pi Phi... that is the chapter at Ole Miss. While she IS a fictional character, the show's use of a trademarked name and accurate identification of a chapter must have been with consent-- the reference is included among the 'facts'. Mrs Parker and Mrs. Wrigley were NOT Pi Phis... their husbands just liked arrows ;)

Local Honorary or service sorority?
 

I wonder if Sally Ride was a member of a local, honorary or service sorority(??) If she were in my GLO, I'd be telling the world!

Piece of trivia - Pat Schroder, congresswoman from Colorado who briefly had an "exploratory" run for President in the Democratic primaries of 1988, was a Chi Omega. (It's in her autobiolgraphy.) Does anybody know what Hillary Clinton was in? I've heard that Bill Clinton was an Alpha Phi Alpha, but not completely sure on that.

Bill Clinton is an Alpha Phi Omega.

Hillary was not in an NPC sorority

I think that Hilary is a member of Beta Sigma Phi. IIRC, a co-worker showed me a write up about her in their magazine.

Hillary Clinton is an Honorary Brother of the Alpha Beta Chi (SUNY/Plattsburgh) chapter of Alpha Phi Omega. :D

I seem to recall another thread where it was decided that Clinton was not in an undergraduate fraternity, then was a Rhodes Scholar and studied in the UK, but that he might be an honorary Alpha Phi Omega.

Does that seem right to anyone else?

Point of Information:

Pat Schroeder IS (not "was") a Chi Omega. She was initiated into our Pi Beta Chapter at Univ. of Minnesota. She was named a "Woman of Achievement" and gave an outstanding speech at our 1992 Convention.

Nope. He pledged Alpha Phi Omega, Mu Alpha (Georgetown) chapter as an undergraduate.

Well shut my mouth! I personally have been passing those rumors around for well over twenty-five years. Now in my defense, I was never corrected otherwise on my so called "knowledge of famous Pi Phis" by either family or friends who *are* Pi Phis.

Don't feel bad... you aren't the only one to play the telephone game with misinformation that some creative person dreamt years ago. I seem to remember sisters collecting Parker pens just because of the arrow clips on them. The piece in the Arrow is the first time I've seen it in writing that it's a myth, although I'd heard it from our Archivist when we were surfing chapter websites.

I do believe that every Pi Phi at Kentucky had a Parker pen and chewed - never in public mind you - Wrigley gum.

Well, Mrs. Wrigley may not have been a Pi Phi, but Mr. William W. Wrigley was a DEKE. My Pi Phi sister smugly tells me that DEKES tend to naturally gravitate toward Pi Phis (unless of course they happen to be insufferable older sisters) so who knows, she might have been a Pi Phi wannabe, or perhaps pledged but did not initiate...

Kappa Kappa Gamma Headquarters (and more specifically, the women in charge of technology) have been trying to fix the chapter websites. However, due to yearly officer turnover, graduation, and neglect of sites, "Mrs. Campbell" is still mentioned on chapter sites.

Okay, so I did some research.

Wikipedia states that Sally Ride was born in 1951, and she attended Swarthmore College for awhile but then recieved her BA from Stanford.

So, I'm assuming she was an undergrad around 1969-1973.

Both Swarthmore and Stanford did not have sororities at that time. Both Stanford and Swarthmore abolished them in the 40's, and Stanford did not allow sororities back on campus until 1977.

It seems, maybe, that Sally Ride was never a sorority member at all. These kinds of rumors tend to perpetuate... I mean, I'm constantly hearing that Michelle Pfieffer was an ADPi, but she was never initiated.

They sure do.

Maybe it was Michelle Pfieffer who left her badge on the moon...

And does that mean that Catwoman is an ADPi??;) :p

I'm still waiting for some sorority to claim Cleopatra as a famous member. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say she's a Sigma Kappa because of the snakes.

True, but Phi Sigma Sigma has that whole Sphinx thing going.

Maybe they should both claim her and fight it out. :D

I heard she left her badge on the moon. They should send someone up there to see which one it is.

Chi O's Pat Schroder
 

I regret that I used the past tense ("was") rather than the present tense ("is") of the verb when describing the relationship of former Congresswoman Pat Schroder to Chi Omega.

I sometimes be English not write so goodly.
- Prunetacos

Mrs. Campbell and KKG
 

By the way, a search of websites turns up dozens of references (including Baylor and U of Kentucky KKG chapters) to Mrs. Campbell and Kappa.

As someone already pointed out earlier, the Fraternity's Web team is working on correcting that information on chapter websites, but with officer turnover and limited womanpower, it is a difficult task.

Just because it's on some chapter's site on teh intarweb doesn't mean it's true.