Mystery!
 

The case: My mother's mother (aka Grandmother Davis) died when my mother was 14. I obviously never knew her. As I began to talk about sorority recruitment, my mother went "OH Grandmother Davis was in a sorority. Here is her pin!" The pin is for Alpha Delta Pi ( http://orgs.unt.edu/ADP/images/pin.gif minus the black on the points). She would have gone to college around the years 1936-1941. The only problem is... there was no Alpha Delta Pi sorority in the state. Also, while going through her college yearbooks (talk about dusty) I find she was in a sorority named Sigma Epsilon. I can't find any trace of this sorority...

Anyone have ideas to help me figure out what is going on?

Now..the pin actually has the ADPi letters on it? Or is it just like that without the letters?

Sigma epsilon may have been a local that later became a chapter of a d pi. Your grandmother and other alumnae may have chosen to affiliate with the national. Does your grandmothers college later have a chapter of a d pi?

It has the actual letters.

No, it does not have ADPi on the campus.

Now that I take a closer look at the greek webpage. there is the blerb that says "We have sororities..." and then lastly it names Sigma Epsilon. There is no further information about SE unlike the other organizations.

Perhaps Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities would help. An older edition would probablly have some of the more "obscure" sororities in it. Check and see if you local public library has a copy, or your university library should have one.

Good luck - let us know if you solve your mystery.

I would contact ADPi's national offices and give them this information along with her full maiden name. They can do a search and tell you if she was ever a member, they took over a local at that college, etc.

There is a local sorority listed in the 13th edition of Baird's named Sigma Epsilon. It was founded at the University of Oklahoma in 1931. ADPi doesn't currently have a chapter there but might have in the past.

There's another Sigma Epsilon listed at Beloit. I'll try to find more info.

Just because ADPi is not on the campus currently doesn't mean there wasn't ever a chapter there. Maybe Sigma Epsilon was absorbed by ADPi and the chapter closed sometime later?

Are there any engravings on the back of the pin? Initials, date of initiation, chapter designation?

Okay, ixnay on the U of Oklahoma. Further research showed it to be a men's fraternity.

What state are we talking about here? I have a line on a Sigma Epsilon local that became a chapter of Phi Delta that probably became a chapter of something else from there.

There's a 13th edition of Baird's? What year did it come out?

There is an ADPi chapter at Oklahoma State - is that where Grandmother Davis went to school?

1935

I can't check for engravings right now since I'm at work. I will give you an update on that around 4pm pacific time.

She went to College of Idaho. The name was changed back this year to College of Idaho from Albertson College.

Thank you everyone for your help! My mom and I have been going through the yearbooks we had. The college was smaller than my high school and that is saying something!

My bad. I have the 1991 edition, and for some reason, I thought it was the 11th edition. *blush*

According to our chapter roll, we have never had a chapter within the state of Idaho.

The *only* thing I can thing of is if she was an alumna initiate (I'm not entirely sure when our program was in place). WCsweet<3, I'd be willing to try and do a search through our records, if you send me a PM I can talk to you more about it! :)

Where's skylark? I haven't seen her lately, but she'd probably know as she's a Kappa from there.

All I can glean from a quick search is that Sigma Epsilon has been active at College of Idaho/Albertson since at least the 1930s, and is still active as a local today. I think Miss Idaho from 2 or so years ago is an alumna of SE.

THERE IS SOMETHING ON THE BACK OF THE PIN! I never noticed before or just brushed it off as a manufacturers name! I never knew there would be anything! There is her last name, a number (member number?) and two Greek letters one is alpha and I'm working on the other (its a little faded, but it looks like theta). I'm so glad her last name was on it! My mom was beginning to wonder if someone had given her the pin, which I knew was doubtful! Who would give away letters, let alone your pin?

Okay the second letter was a theta! The alpha theta chapter was at University of Washington! I don't know how she was affiliated with that chapter though... In her activities in her senior yearbook was UW, but she was in College of Idaho's yearbook for all four years... Strange. Thank you everyone for your help! I'm so excited to know this as I never knew much of my grandmother but we have always had a lot in common! We are the only people in my family with blue eyes and I supposedly look very much like her!

I would still contact ADPi headquarters as they may be able to shed light on the situation such as when she was initiated. Did she start at UW, then transfer to College of Idaho? That could explain the ADPi membership and four years in the yearbook at CofI.

Definitely check it out! This is really interesting!

ValpoKD

I just sent an email off to headquarters. :D
This may vary from sorority to sorority but is the number on the back the initiation date or her number?

I can't speak for ADPi, obviously, but I do know that many sororities (way back when) had their roll # and initiation date engraved on the back. It's a shame they don't really do that anymore.

Mine has my initials, chapter of initiation, and initiation date. Do the numbers line up to a date when she might have been initiated?

I was about to post that... my member number isn't on the back, I just have the initials, the greek letters of the chapter of initiation and the date in xx/xx/xx format.

I have an older ADPi pin that has 2 greek letters, what appears to be a first and a last name, and the year (xxxx) so the 4 numbers you see are probably the year of initation

The back has her full last name and since she was dutch, the name is pretty long. Her chapter letters and 7 digits. The numbers could line up with the date she was initiated. The year would be around the time of her sophomore/junior year. The reason that is a little hazy is because she was ill in college and my mother cannot remember when that was exactly, if she ever knew.

The 7 digits are probably the number assigned to her chapter and her scroll number/initiation number. A date would either be 6 digits or 8 digits.

This is an amazing story....

WCsweet<3, do you have any Greek affiliation?

Not as of yet, my recruitment starts in a few weeks. Hopefully after that I will have an affiliation!

Hi everyone... I've been a bit inconsistent with my GC logins lately. I am pretty well connected with what is going on with College of Idaho, to say the least. What is it that you're wanting to know about? Sigma Epsilon in general?