I know that she's not "famous", but I have always had such awe for Emily Helen Butterfield (one of our founders).
She's in the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame for her accomplishments
http://hall.michiganwomenshalloffame.org/honoree.php?C=0&A=69~133:
- The first licensed female architect in the state of Michigan
- She helped found the Detroit Business Woman's Club in 1912, which was
the first professional woman's club in the United States (and now is part of the Business and Professional Women's Association)
- She served as Postmaster General for a town in Michigan during World War II (which I suspect was quite a rare position for a woman to hold at that time)
- She was an expert in heraldry, and designed the Coat of Arms for multiple fraternities and sororities. Including Alpha Gam, of course. See her Wiki entry for a list - she may have designed your COA!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Helen_Butterfield
- She was a published author and a recognized artist.
- And, of course, she was one of the founders of Alpha Gamma Delta. As an accomplished architect, she designed 2 chapter houses - Alpha (Syracuse) and Chi (Michigan State). I feel honored to have lived in an Emily Helen Butterfield house.
Anyhow, not to go on and on about her, because all of the founders of all of our organizations are important to us historically. But I have always felt a certain special sense of awe for Emily Helen Butterfield - even above and beyond the rest of our 11 founders. The things that she accomplished were so unusual for a woman in her era, and she was such a pioneer for women in the state of Michigan. (Obviously, which is why she's in the Women's Hall of Fame.)
I feel a much stronger sense of pride in her accomplishments than I might for someone who happened to become "famous" in certain other ways.
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