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VOLUME III 0
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JM!UARY 2;:.=, 1917 .,
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NO , 16 0
IN HEMORIA.M Elva Doyle Reed was the first member of i\.lpha Si gr.aa 'Tis saj.d Death l oves Alpl1a to attain the · crmm imperishc>.ble . a shining I?ark. He could not have found in Alpha Sigma !:.. lpha a mor e bear2t1.ful charact er , a mo re belc·ve d member, a mor e widely . . . ~no~n worker, a more effici~nt Councillor . The loss t o Alpha Sigma 1.s 1.rreparable, for there 1.s no one that can ever fill her plac e i11 just the way that she did . Her ta~cing away in the full flush of h e alth from a work that she loved., -frcm a po st where she waf:i rendering a distinct and invaluable service is something to which it i s not easy to be reconciled. It was· her mother who has eased i n a measure the poignant pai n over th e ilioss of her, for it was her mother who said,"She has only gone ahe ad, so a s to be ready towel M1, mo~hers upderste.nd! Heaven is a come her sorority sis te r s •.; sweeter place because Elva Doy l e Reed is there . Alpha Sigma Al pha is so young , having but two years t o its credit since the r ebrr;aniza tion of th e Sorority in No v emb er of _ 1 9 14 , -th at it has not had time to arrange for many of the things tha t from a vital part of long- established orders , It has a s ye~ no burial service , no memo rial servicei no r egul at ions concerning · the wearing of mourning . When, howev e r, the t e legram came announcing the Sorority ' s gr eat loss, your National President sent out instructions at onc e to a ll t:'::e Chapter s. Thes e i nstructions wer e based on the best Hell enic custom, and explained t he offici a l draping of the badge with black_ g rosgrain ri0bon, as we ll as stating th e . length -Df t he mourning po :c::i.o cL The instruc.tions re ached the Ee.st er n Chapters in ·c1.me for -tl1em to wear mourning on the day of t he funeral . Alpha Beta re ce ived vvord dir ec t from Iowa City, and so had an opportunity to add ' a shee.f of na~ci ssi to the spray of whit e chry s anthemums s ent in the name of the national Sorority , as well as t:o be repres e:;.J.ted at the fu:neTa l in Sh e lbyville , Ho., on December 12th, by Ida-A. J ewett, Fa cul ty A dvisor ~ M ~rio n Gardne r Bl ackwell, Stat~ Secr etary , an d Dale Zeller , Chapter Pres1dent . I da Jewe tt, writi n g immediat ely afterwards, stated tha t the funera l at the Me thodist Church was perfect in ev ery detail, that t~e ro were quantiti e s of flowers and hosts of friends, many of whom had lcnown our Elva s inc e chi11:dhood, and all of Y.:hom. spoke of h er l '"'v oly una ssuming v-.:ays, of her sHeet influ ence over ev e r yone wi t ~1 Frh.om -she c.ame in touch. The Iowa Oi t y 1 ~~ irk~ill e and She lbyvill r: ~!<! p ers .O'.l l devo te d much s pace to acc ounts of her "life, while mak i ng Dention of th e unusua l sweet ness of her po ~sona lity . Tho death o:f ·Elva Doyl e Roo d came homo ·wi th peculiar forc e and signific ance: t Alpha Bota 1 for tho Chapt e r ua n in the midst of t ho Initi at i on SDrvice vvhon t ho to l egrc:.m r e2. c h r· ~ !·:i rl<svil~e . and it had a t hand l etters of g re e ting and instru ct i on from her . Theru was no break in tho Scrvi t:.o , becau se those i n- charg e felt that
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