1889
The Beta Rose “The flower of the Fraternity is the rose. It was adopted in 1889, at the semicentennial celebration of Alpha held in Oxford. (Note that this was the chapter’s anniversary celebration, not the semi-centennial convention.)
“A true Beta lady…” — Son of the Stars, 1992 Edition
Beta was the first fraternity to select a flower as an emblem, and we owe it to a very special Beta girl. Leila McKee, at that time the dean of the Western College for Women in Oxford, and a true Beta Lady, Beta daughter, Beta sister and Beta Sweetheart, selected the rose from a bush growing on the Western College campus [veranda of Peabody Hall]. From the time she was a young lady she continually wore the badge of her sweetheart John Young Craft, Centre 1881, who died in 1878 as an undergraduate. These original flowers were of a deep shade of pink, and were of the “June rose” or “Queen of the Prairie” variety.” —The Faithful Home of the Three Stars, pg. 353
Beta Brotherhood | page 66