A Time to Remember “Home,” it is said, “is where the heart is.” In celebration of seventy-five years of “recognizing and supporting the professional efforts of outstanding women educators,” members are invited in July 2023, to come home to Kansas City, MO, where it all began in 1947. In the issues of the KAPPAN leading up to the International Convention, we will share those “memories in the corners of our minds” of the years since Agnes with cookies and punch in her car trunk drove across the country to spread the news of the new sorority for teachers. We want to hear your memories of those times. Susan Pelchat, Past International President, sat down over lunch with Ruth Walsh, Past International President, to discuss the days of gloves and hats and passwords.
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uth Walsh served as Grand President during a time of shifting paradigms. “Change is as inevitable as surely night follows day, and either we become stunted by it or we grow,” she cautioned in her President’s address at the 1989 International Convention in Nashville, TN. “To meet the personal needs of members, we must be cogent – we must be relevant – we must adapt – or we will not survive.” Attendance at Ruth’s convention was record-setting for Alpha Delta Kappa, with 2671 participants. Forever young, Ruth Holland Walsh is the oldest living Past International President of Alpha Delta Kappa. She was initiated into CT Zeta chapter on October 21, 1967, twenty years after A∆K was established. Within ten years she became Zeta chapter president, after which she served at the state level and its six-year presidential track (1978-84). In 1983, she was elected Grand Vice President for the Northeast Region and held her regional conference in Hershey, PA. She offered for Grand Chaplain in 1985. For twenty-two years, she served continuously in one office or another. Ascending to the office of Grand President-elect in 1987, Ruth served AΔK as Grand President during the 1989-91 biennium. Her theme for the biennium was “Alpha Delta Kappa: Entry to Excellence” with a key as her logo. To Ruth, Alpha Delta Kappa was the key, and a person’s participation in the organization was the energy required to move them along the road to excellence. “They chose ME,” Ruth emphasized repeatedly. “I was so proud to serve and to represent this wonderful organization of outstanding women educators. I just couldn’t believe they would choose me as their leader, and I knew I had to prove I was worthy of their confidence.” Ruth admits the anticipation and the job itself were overwhelming at times, but she pushed forward and persevered to complete her job and to meet her own high stan10
dards. Her interactions with members on an individual basis will long be remem75 Years of bered. She walked around the room, every room, shaking hands and saying hello to those who had gathered for meetings or meals saying, “Hello, I’m Ruth Walsh, and I’m delighted to make your acquaintance.” Ruth couldn’t emphasize enough how important it was for members to meet leaders/officers on a more personal level. Ruth found a mentor in Mayme Chin. They did a lot of talking outside of formal meetings. Ruth loved that Mayme could find humor in just about anything they did. Mayme would laugh and laugh, but she would be sure to share the important things people needed to know. She was very meticulous about A∆K work, and Ruth held her in high regard. Ruth’s biennium was the first to stress a “Focus on Membership”. The boomerang logo reminded people that what they radiate to members comes back to them via positive involvement in and enthusiasm for the organization. The Focus on Membership team developed many documents about membership, including the purse-sized tri-fold brochure currently used to provide awareness of A∆K. Jan Page, IL Upsilon, served as Grand Sergeantat-Arms. She remembered that Ruth would meet every night with a core group to tell them what was planned for the next day. Ruth always wanted everyone to be informed, no surprises. As a rookie, she was amazed that Ruth would choose her to be so involved. “She didn’t know me from Adam, but she accepted me and encouraged me as part of the team, which she did with everybody,” Jan shared. “Ruth told me, ‘You’re not here just to get coffee or run copies. You have to be involved in discussions that will lead to decisions later on.’” Ruth was inclusive, instructive, and encouraging. Even if activities did not involve her directly, she would write notes of congratulations or support when leaders stood out to her. Communication wasn't easy. Ruth remembered her fingers being worn to a frazzle writing letters and using the telephone for many long distance calls for which one might be charged ten cents a minute or more, depending on how far the call reached. Face to face discussions were held at biannual Grand Chapter meetings where everybody had a chance to speak, and everyone participated. “We served at a time when women were not often given the chance to lead. But as we met and got to know so many marvelous educators, there was no question but that women were so very capable of leading,” Ruth bragged. Ruth was taken with the wonder of A∆K. “The Focus on
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Sisterhood
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