Greek Relatives
 

My mom and I had a discussion about rush last weekend and I am wondering, how many of you have family members that were greek or if you were the first?

In my family only my mom (KKG) and my sister-in-law (ADPi) but nobody else (and they are all college grads). My brother rushed but hated it and dropped out.

My father is a Beta Theta Pi. My sisters are both Pi Phis-- also Ohio Epsilons like me. I was chapter secretary when my younger sister was initiated!. My niece (daughter of my older sister) is a Chi Omega.

Let's see...

My two cousins were Phi Kappa Tau's, and my uncle was a Pike. My cousin was a Phi Mu, but she had to deactivate. That's basically it for my family. :)

BTW, I do have a second or third cousin who was a Tri-Delt at Butler, but I'm not sure how far down the family line I was supposed to go. ;)

I think I am the first in my family. No one else has really gone to college. And yes of course they all believe the stereotypes about Greek life. *sigh*. My mom is funny though she is a recently retired teacher and she used to get all excited because some of the newer teachers were Deephers or had a sister who was a Deepher.

I'm the first to get initiated, my dad pledged SAE but quit. I think it was because of my dad, he used to always take me down greek row at UNM, that I wanted to be in a sorority so bad!

Suzi

My father is a DU and my cousin is an ADPi.

I have a HUGE extended family! (The old man is one of 15 and my mom is one of 7, grandma is one of 12).

A few years ago at a family reunion in GA, I saw almost all of the Divine 9 being represented! :D

One cousin I am closer to (the daughter of my favorite uncle) is a KKG

The whole D9 is represented in my family as well. I'm the 1st NPC greek EVER :)

My mom was a Chi Omega. My dad was a charter member of Delta Chi. Both were at Georgia Southern University. One of my uncle's was greek but I don't remember his fraternity...both grandfathers were greek. One was a Sigma Chi the other was a SigEp. And my grandmother was a Delta Gamma.

My dad is an Alpha Tau Omega and my aunt is a Phi Mu. I think that is all thats in my family, since my whole dads side of the family was born in Cuba or Spain, and on my moms side, it was only my aunt, although my mom was a little sis to SAE.

As far as I know, I'm the first in my family. I think in the colleges my family's gone to, Greek life just hasn't been there much. Like my mom went to a women's college that banned Greek life back early in the 1900s.

So I'm the first! My parents were sort of opposed at first but now they love the sorority.

I'm not a Pi Phi, but can I play too?

I joined thinking I was the first in my family to go Greek. Then, after being in my sorority for about 2 years, I came home for spring break wearing a Sig Ep shirt my boyfriend at the time had given me. My daddy said, "I was a Sigma Phi Epsilon when I was in college." :eek: I was pretty shocked. Turns out, he pledged Sig Ep the semester before he was drafted into the Korean War (he had been an initiated brother for like 2 months when he got drafted).

Shortly thereafter I found my sister was in a sorority in college, but it was a local.

daughters--2 AOIIs, 2 Chi Os

dad--SAE, Sigma Chi--both at once, don't ask!

cousins-DZ, KKG

nieces-1 Phi Mu, 3 AOIIs

My dad was a KA, one aunt (and her daughter) were KKG, and three other aunts and all of their daughters (2) were Thetas. No other Pi Phis ...

ETA: All are still alive and well and proud of their respective orgs, as am I, despite my improper and unintended use of the past tense. Thanks dakareng!

I'm the first. My sister initiated into my chapter 2 years later.

This might seem petty but our Pi Phi membership is for life. You are a Pi Phi, and unless you choose to resign you will always BE a Pi Phi.... it bugs me to no end to have college graduates say "I was a Pi Phi" or "I was a Kappa". Angelove, your aunt and cousins ARE Kappas, your other aunt and cousins ARE Thetas... alumnae such as myself and Carnation express our lifetime commitment, and encourage others to do the same but it starts with not saying "I was a member of XYZ" but saying "I am a XYZ" and being proud of it.

OK-- I'll step off my soapbox now

Karen, I know what you're saying, but I doubt that any of us meant to say that our relatives aren't members for life (or ourselves for that matter). I know in my post I used past tense. I believe we just use it without thinking. I know I probably do, but in NO way do I ever want to suggest that I'm not a Pi Phi for life. I'm darn proud to be a Pi Phi. :D

Along those lines: I know our local newspaper automatically changes the grammar. A friend of mine was getting married and put that she is a member of so and so sorority, and the newspaper changed it to "was a member" on their own.

umm this might be a stupid question... but What is Divine 9???



and im the Only Greek in my Family.. my parents were really confused when i told them i was joing a sorority, they didnt go to college (millitary) and my mom thought the was THe sorority she didnt realize the was more than 1!!! but.. hopfully ill be the first of many greeks in my fam

NPHC...there's 9 Fraternities & Sororities in that council. It's the historically African-American organizations. These organizations are:

Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha
Delta Sigma Theta
Kappa Alpha Psi
Zeta Phi Beta
Phi Beta Sigma
Sigma Gamma Rho (which was founded at Butler! :D)
Iota Phi Theta

hope that helps! :) (I'm a Panhel nerd...our Panhellenic council shares an office with AKA and SGRho @ Butler)

thanks! i learn somthing new every day

I am the first to go Greek in my Family WHOO! but my sister is an Honorary Pi Phi at the University of Idaho. All of her friends were pi phis, it just wasn't her thing to join, so they claimed her as an Honorary Pi Phi. My boyfriend's family has a lot of greek, i consider them family as well. He's a Phi Delta Theta, his Uncle is a Phi Delt as well, his dad a Sigma Chi and his Mom a Theta. His brother is also in a fraternity in Seattle, but i can't for the life of me remember. Anyway!

pi phi love,
...colleen*


P.S. i also heard that in the South, if you haven't been a legacy for decades, there's really no way you could get into pi phi, or any other sorority for that matter. True?

From what i heard, not true, but it def does help...... but greek life is Huge in the south esp. pi phi from what i heard and its very competitive....

Not true, we did have tons of legacies go through rush (sometimes over 100) but usually ened up with about 10 per pledge class. It of course helps to be a legacy but you can get a Pi Phi bid or bid at any other group in the south without being one.

Mea culpa ...
 

re: using past tense - I know, I know - it bugs me too and I know better than to type it like that but I was in a hurry and not thinking clearly. Upon further reflection, I can see that I was the only one on this thread who did it - eek! And it's not petty at all - to the contrary, I think it promotes alum involvement. Thanks for jumping on the soapbox and keeping me clean, Karen! :cool:

Well, I was thoroughly convinced that I was the first in my family to go greek....until my dad mentioned my grandfather had told him stories about having letters painted on his chest in alcohol and lit on fire during initiation....

Sadly, my grandfather died before I was born, and my dad couldnt remember the fraternity name. He attended George Washington University in DC...sooooo I emailed ALL THE FRATERNITIES at GW asking if they had a member with my grandfathers name...and sure enough...the president of Sigma Phi Epsilon emailed me back saying he had been initiated in February of 1924 :)

I ordered a SigEp pin and wore it for my last year as an active PiPhi beneath my arrow to show my pride in my family's greek history :)

....letters painted on the chest in alcohol and set aflame...wonder if the Sig Eps still do that! :p

I'm the first in my family to go greek that I know of. IT was a huge shock to them because they thought if anyone was going to be a "sorority girl" it would of been my older sister. She went to UVA and well "fit" the "typical" sorority girl( blonde hair, blue eyes, gorgeous). Imagine their surprise when their sophomore VT daughter told them she was rushing. MY lil sister is going to Tech this coming year and I hope to make her a legacy. :)

I am the first member of my family to attend college, and thus the first to go greek! Actually, two of my cousins currently attend GVSU, but they are not greek. My great-aunt attended Hope College, but I highly doubt that she was in a sorority there, and they are locals, anyway, so it wouldn't have helped me at Hillsdale! :)

However, I do have a little sister who is 15 and will hopefully go through recruitment at her college of choice in a few years. If need be, I'll write her an excellent Pi Phi rec! ;o)

..pretty interesting story.. Today I went to a family get together.. it was at our family house and pool... we have an old old house in the family that we keep up for tours and such.. well its probably been about six years since I have been in the house (that was like high school)..

well we were walking through today and I looked over and saw a wooden plaque type thing with a darker wooden heart on it. On the heart was a skull and cross bones then right over top the letter sigma phi epsilon. I asked one of my older family members who is a sig ep? My great (great ?) grandfather was a founding father at U of R.

I never knew that anyone in my family was greek except for one cousin.. I found this pretty neat..

I am the only Greek in my family, my sister almost went Chi O when she was in school but decided not to.

Also, on a side note, PiPhiGirl2005: I am from Zeeland originally! I live on the other side of the state (2 years now). I would consider finishing school at GVSU if it weren't for the whole no chapter of Pi Phi thing. It's so cheap! :) I am just surprised that someone from that same area is a Pi Phi! Woot! :)

I thought I was the only member of my family who belonged to a fraternity until my dad started talking to me about a secret 'club' he belonged to in Chile before he moved to Canada--turns out my daddy was a freemason :) My lil sister joined pi phi last year and upped out active sister legacy count to 3. I'm already priming my brother to go greek, even though he won't be in univeristy for another 2 years...what can I say? I'm gung-ho.

Hurrah for West Michigan! :) GVSU is in dire need of a Pi Phi chapter, in my humble opinion. Mostly so I can be an active alum in the West Michigan area.

arrowgirl, what school are you at now?

Ah yes, and on Saturday, my dad mentioned that his great-aunt had been in a sorority. Needless to say, I am now on a quest to figure out which one, just for kicks. :) And he didn't think that little fact would be of any interest to me!

Well, I went to Knox College (Galesburg, IL) but had to stop due to financial reasons - I could probably pull off paying for GVSU, living with relatives, except . . . No Pi Phi. You would think since it is fairly big school, it would get on the ball . . . :p Right now I'm in the Detroit Metro area, and I really really miss West Michigan. Everything is infinitely nicer there.

There is a chapter at Western Mich and alum clubs in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids so there are Pi Phis in the area and ways to be active as alums but I've not heard of any possibilities for expansion at GVSU. How big is the greek system there?

From the GVSU website:

FRATERNITIES:
There are 9 fraternities at Grand Valley --
Alpha Sigma Phi, Alpha Phi Alpha, Delta Sigma Phi, Theta Chi, Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Lambda Beta, Sigma Pi, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Phi Beta Sigma

SORORITIES:
There are 9 Sororities at Grand Valley --
Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Alpha Sigma Tau, Delta Zeta, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Kappa, Sigma Lambda Gamma, Sigma Sigma Sigma

arrowgirl, one of my good friends from high school goes to Knox! I didn't know until recently that there was a Pi Phi chapter there, or I would have bugged her to go through recruitment!

On the GVSU note: Hillsdale (my school) is way expensive and Grand Valley has a great football team. I say we colonize there A.S.A.P. so we can all go to school for cheap and still be active Pi Phis. ;)

(Just kidding, I know it's not that simple!)

And you're right, West Michigan is infinitely nicer than the rest of the world. :)

And Hillsdale in the fall is absolutely gorgeous. I loved visiting the chapter and campus, and usually came in the fall because it was such a nice drive coming from Toledo. I was CPP for Michigan 1995-2000.

Greeks in Family

Mom: AOII Alumna Initiate at Ole Miss
Younger sister: AOII at Ole miss
Grandmother: AOII at Newcomb of Tulane
Great-Grandmother: AOII at U of Tenn-Knoxville
Aunts: Kappa Kappa Gamma at LSU
Great-grandmother: Kappa Alpha Theta at Newcomb of Tulane
Great-Aunt: Kappa Alpha Theta at Newcomb of Tulane
Father: Delta Tau Delta at LSU
Grandfather: Delta Tau Delta at Tulane
Great-Grandfather: Phi Gamma Delta at U of Tenn-Knoxville
Cousin: DEKE at Alabama
Uncle: Sigma Nu at Mercer
Cousin: Chi Omega at Ole Miss
Cousin: Kappa Delta at Ole Miss
Cousin: AOII at South Alabama

I have two second cousins who were Pi Beta Phi's at Alabama, if you count second cousins....

^ wow!!! that's quite a list :)

my grandmother and aunt are both chi o's from UNC-chapel hill and my grandfather is a kappa sigma from chapel hill.

I was the first to go Greek in my family. I don't think they really believed it until I came home from break wearing letters, heh.