P. E. O.

The P. E. O. sisterhood was founded January 21, 1869, by seven college girls, students at Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Although established as a college sorority, campus chapters were discontinued when emphasis was placed on the organization of chapters in towns and cities. The P. E. O. Sisterhood is now an international organization with a membership of more than 142,000 women. Almost 3,900 chapters have been organized during its 94 years of growth. The purposes of the P.E.O. Sisterhood are educational and charitable. For many years the major objective of the organization has been to provide increased opportunities for higher education for women. The first educational project of the P. E. O. Sisterhood was its Educational Fund, established in 1907 for the purpose of assisting qualified women students desiring to become self-supporting, to attain an education beyond the high school level. The Fund is a revolving one of over $975,000 from which loans amounting in total to more than $6,205,735 have been made available. Annually approximately 2,000 students are serviced in this way. Founded in 1884, Cottey College, Nevada, Missouri, has been owned and supported by the P. E. O. Sisterhood since 1927. This college, accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and by the National Association of Schools of Music for Junior Colleges, will begin its 79th year in September 1963, with dormitory capacity for 350 students who come from the United States, Canada, and many foreign countries. Believing that education is fundamental to world peace and understanding, the members of P. E. O. established the International Peace Scholarship Program in 1949. Voluntary contributions by the members are providing scholarships for selected women from other countries for graduate study in universities in the United States and Canada. Since the beginning of the program in 1949, 720 scholarships have been given to 458 students from 63 countries, for a total of more than $579,488 to attend colleges and universities. Through these scholarships, P. E. O. is providing these women opportunity for specialized training so they may return to their homelands to serve their own people with greater skill and broader understanding. Chapter AQ, P. E. O., Marceline, was founded April 27 , 1906, and has an active membership of 41. Through more than fifty years, Chapter AQ has supported the educational and charitable projects of P. E.O. on both a national and local community level and feels privileged to have so served.

Sorosis Study Club

The Sorosis Club was organized in 1928 as the first Junior Federated Club in Third District M. F. W. C. under the sponsorship of Sorosis, the first Senior Federated Club in Marceline. At that time a Sorosis member, Mrs. Sig Steiner, was president of Third District and it was through her efforts that club plans were started. A tea was held in the home of Mrs. H. V. Jones to acquaint prospective members with Federation work, and through a Sorosis committee of Mrs. W. B. Couch, Mrs. Wilbur Johnson, and Mrs. Fred Lancaster, the club was organized and known as the Junior Sorosis Club. For the first two years the club sponsors were Mrs. Wilbur Johnson and Mrs. Newcomb Smith. This sponsorship was continued by Mrs. Ola Putman for many years. The following twenty girls were charter members: Vernetta Brown (Slaughter), George Rae Cochran (Murray), Hazel Dieterich (Stover), Maxine Hayden (Buck), Wilmuth Moorman (Reed), Alice Flanner (Gray), Mona Lee Olin (Patrick), Marcelle Patterson (Green), Dorothy Patterson (Morton), Virginia Ramsey (Imlay), Roberta Stanley (Embree), Louise Stanley (Murphy), Wanda Whitney (Wilson), Kathryn White (Bruss), Virginia Williams (Byers), Helen Willian (Earl), Virginia Webb (Green), Vinita Toops (Smith), Marguerite Williams (Knox), Elise Zurcher (Rivera). Of this original group, three are still members: Maxine Buck, Marcelle Green, and Wanda Wilson.During the first twenty years of organization, Junior Sorosis sponsored one of the outstanding social events in Marceline, the annual Spring Formal. In the late 1940’s Junior Sorosis became a Senior club and its name was changed to Sorosis Study Club. Sorosis Study has been active not only in federated work but also in community and welfare service. The club through the years has sponsored Girl Scout Troops, has helped with school projects (purchased the recording machine for Special Education, provided band uniforms, helped buy the stage curtains, assisted at health and dental clinics), has donated to library (books, purchase of water cooler), and helped with contributions to welfare work. The present club project is the hanging of flower baskets in the business section. One of the members, Lucille Myers, has served as president of Third District M.F. W.C. and has also served in many capacities on the State Board. Another member, Marcelle Green, is at this time president of Third District M. F. W. C. Other members have been appointed as district chairmen. The membership is limited to 24, and meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesday.