History
Delta Gamma was founded in 1873 in Oxford, Mississippi, at the Lewis School for Girls by three young women who were unable to go home for the Christmas break. Together, Anna Boyd, Mary Comfort and Eva Webb created a club of "mutual helpfulness."
They chose the Greek letters Delta and Gamma because of their desire to "Do Good." It remains Delta Gamma's motto today and a driving force in all we do. Delta Gamma is a sisterhood built on a commitment to making the world better through not only service, but also a deep appreciation for each individual.
What started with three women in Oxford, Mississippi, has since grown into an international Fraternity with 150 collegiate chapters and more than 215 alumnae groups. Delta Gamma's sisterhood continues to inspire women through the values that were built into our very first Constitution. Article II, written by our Founders in 1873, states:
"The objects of this Fraternity shall be to foster high ideals of friendship among women, to promote their educational and cultural interests, to create in them a true sense of social responsibility and to develop in them the best qualities of character."
While the Constitution spells out the values of a Delta Gamma woman in Article II, you can't tell the story of Delta Gamma without speaking of hope. The original pin of the Fraternity was the letter "H," which the Founders meant to stand for hope. A few years before she died, Founder Mary Comfort Leonard described the first pin:
"We went to a local jeweler and had our pin made-the letter 'H,' which stood for hope, for we hoped great results and have not been disappointed…" - The Shield
Delta Gamma Fraternity does not discriminate in its membership selection on the basis of race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, color, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, physical disability or other characteristics protected by state, provincial or federal law. Membership is open to all individuals who identify as women. Those selected for membership in Delta Gamma must have good scholarship, be of good character and standing, have an interest in activities that will enhance the academic atmosphere at the college or university, and have a sincere desire to contribute to the work of Delta Gamma.
All efforts are in place to guarantee those selected for membership in Delta Gamma have good scholarship, are of good character and standing, have an interest in activities which will enhance the academic atmosphere at the college, university or community, and have a sincere desire to contribute to the work of Delta Gamma. The Executive Offices will continue to work with the individual chapters to ensure that all policies and procedures are followed at all times.
For a complete list of our policies, please visit our library.
Houston Northwest Delta Gamma Alumnae Chapter
The Founding It was in the year 1976 when eight DG’s found each other and started a monthly bridge club in the northwest Houston area. It is doubtful that those eight saw themselves as forming another alumnae group located in subdivisions off old “Jackrabbit Road”—the name of the street 20 miles from the city of Houston itself, and later changed to FM 1960. A few of the original bridge club moved away and new members were added, but the eight members who remained and talked about forming a DG alumnae group in our area were Jan Bowers, Jenny Burson, Joe Ann Honeycutt, Yvonne Jones, Suzanne Kelley, Annice Nanninga, Sue McAfee and Carole Wilkinson. These members felt that most Delta Gammas in this area were out of contact with the members in the other parts of Houston whose chapter meetings were a long distance from our places of residence. However, we do need to mention that a few members in this northwest area were members of Memorial or Central alumnae chapters. These eight DG bridge players who seemed to enjoy visiting more than the actual playing of the game had a plan, a feeling of promise and an eagerness to know other DGs close by. Discovering more and more alumnae, a spark of sisterly love and friendship kindled and grew into forming a Hope Group. At the time we became a Hope Group in September, 1977, the name implied that there was hope that one day we would develop into a full-fledged DG alumnae organization. A letter from the Fraternity Vice-President: Alumnae, Ruth Sager, stated that EO was proposing that the term “Hope Group” be incorporated in our Delta Gamma Constitution, by officially recognizing this type of alumnae opportunity. (The proposition was made at the 48th Delta Gamma Convention in 1978, and an amendment to the constitution was passed showing the numbers for DG organizations as follows: Hope Group—4+ members; Association—10+ members; Chapter—20+ members) Joe Ann Honeycutt agreed to be the Hope Group “contact” and later served as the president of the group. After obtaining a printout from EO listing the DGs from the zip codes in our NW Houston area, each name was called. (The printout is tabulated from the Anchora mailing list and includes all Delta Gammas who receive our publication.) There were 38 DGs present at the first meeting of our Hope Group—a get-acquainted coffee held at Cypress Creek Library hospitality room, September 9, 1977. As suggested by our PAC, we paid dues of $10.00 to the Houston Memorial chapter and they paid our per capita dues to EO. We started an Aunt Hannah program and we were one of he organized groups forming the Houston Northwest Panhellenic Association. Since we had four meetings that year as a Hope Group and we had 16 to 38 members present at each meeting, we decided we should ask EO to let us become an alumnae chapter, skipping the normal progressive step of becoming an association. On March 2, 1978, we had a special “called” meeting with the Province XI PAC, Pat Swearingen. Sixteen of our 25 members were present. We voted to become a chapter. Once again we decided that the most satisfactory way of accomplishing our goal would be to acquire another printout, this time including the zip codes for Kingwood, Humble, and The Woodlands/Conroe area. The above mentioned members with the help of Gayle Bailey, Moe Ruhl and Julie Cutter called the printout. By-laws were written and approved by the PAC and directories were typed and printed. As we programmed for the future, we tried to make a special effort to reach out to every Delta Gamma in our Northwest Houston area.
