In Memory Of Barbara Tanner

[TSteven]

In Memory Of Barbara Tanner
Sigma Chi's first International Sweetheart passed away April 10, 2005

Sigma Chi mourns the loss of a leader and role model. Barbara Tanner [Kappa Alpha Theta], Sigma Chi’s first International Sweetheart, who passed away peacefully on Sunday April 10, 2005 in Tucson, Arizona.

In 1948, Barbara was chosen as International Sweetheart from six finalists at the 47th Grand Chapter, which was held at the Olympic Hotel in Seattle. She received the crown and had her first dance as Sweetheart with Significant Sig John Wayne, Southern California 1929. “The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi” was such a popular song at the time that Barbara’s crowning made the front page of newspapers across North America. She was also pictured twice on the cover of Ladies’ Home Journal.

The International Sweetheart of Sigma Chi is a woman who serves as a role model for all of our brothers. She possesses an understanding of the values and ideals for which the White Cross stands and exemplifies these values and ideals in her daily life. As a role model to Sigma Chis, she inspires and motivates brothers to be gentleman of a higher standard and to put character into action. Undoubtedly, Barbara set the standard for all International Sweethearts, and she has brought great lustre to the Cross.

In Barbara’s honor, Sigma Chi has made a donation to the First Church of Christ Scientist in Tucson. Barbara was very active in her church, and her family has asked that any donations be directed there. The address is below.

First Church of Christ Scientist-Tucson
Attention: Clerk
3035 E 5th St.
Tucson, AZ 85716

© 2005, Sigma Chi International Headquarters

[mmcat]

Wow. Quite the passing. It's amazing where it started. Learned something new today.

[honeychile]

My sympathies for the passing of a cultural icon. Barbara Tanner seems to have been a fantastic woman!







PS - Significant Sig John Wayne's daughter, Aissa Wayne, is an Alpha Delta Pi from USC.

[NutBrnHair]

When my family sits around the piano at holidays, my step-father (born in 1921) always loved to sing "Sweetheart of Sigma Chi."

He was never in a fraternity (which speaks to the broad appeal of the song in the 1940s!)

[TSteven]

"The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" (Click to play)

THE SWEETHEART OF SIGMA CHI

When the world goes wrong, as it's bound to do
And you've broken Dan Cupid's bow
And you long for the girl you used to love
the maid of the long ago

Why light your pipe, bid sorrow avaunt,
Blow the smoke from your alter of dreams
And wreathe the face of your dream-girl there
The love that is just what it seems.

The girl of my dreams is the sweetest girl
Of all the girls I know
Each sweet co-ed, like a rainbow trail
Fades in the after glow

The blue of her eyes and the gold of her hair
Are a blend of the western sky

And the moonlight beams
On the girl of my dreams
She's the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi.

© 2004, Sigma Chi International Headquarters

A Way-Brief History of "The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi"
From an article introduction in The Magazine's Winter 2000-01 issue

Let's start with the song. Recorded by dozens of vocalists-including matinee idol Rudy Vallee-arranged by scores of orchestras, a hit of the Big Band era, and title to two Hollywood movies, "The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" had humble beginnings: it was born from a young Sig zoning out in class.

As legend has it, Byron D. Stokes, Albion 1913, wrote the song's lyrics during an afternoon lecture in the spring of 1911. A few hours later, he handed them off to chaptermate F. Dudleigh Vernor, 1914, who set them to music while seated at an Albion chapel organ. The song premiered at the chapter's 25th reunion shortly thereafter. From there its melody traveled to other chapters, and then to the world. (GIs carried the melody through World War II, leaving it echoing in the ears of the peoples of Japan and Korea, Sweden and Germany, Italy and Australia.)

Thirty-seven years later, at the 1948 Grand Chapter, the Fraternity had its first election of an official International Sweetheart of Sigma Chi. Michigan State's Barbara Tanner [Kappa Alpha Theta] was selected from six finalists. The event made the front page of newspapers across the country.

Although the aura of the song differs from its original intent-Stokes wrote it not as a moony love letter, but as a paean to what he called "the ideal brotherhood"-the song's melody, its lyrics, its title, all remain linked to our Fraternity's identity. The song can be heard at chapters across North America, in groups of brothers young and old, at weddings, at Formals, on the steps of sorority houses. It is indeed an anthem.

© 2004, Sigma Chi International Headquarters