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Founders (left to right) Estelle Leonard (Alpha, DePauw University), Nellie Gamble Childe (Alpha, DePauw University) and Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) pose with Ruth Orndorff Darragh (Gamma, Northwestern University) at DePauw University on Homecoming Day of the 1935 National Convention.
Lois Henderson McLachlan (Beta Zeta, Whitman College, center) poses with founders Estelle Leonard (Alpha, DePauw University, left) and Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) in front of felt-ogram scenes of the founding that she made for the final banquet of the 1951 National Convention in Roanoke, Virginia.
The Founders' Bell Tower was constructed by Alpha Chi Omega as part of DePauw University's new performing arts building in 1976 and dedicated to the memory of the seven founders.
Amy Dubois Rieth (Alpha, DePauw University) was only 15 when she entered DePauw. She studied both voice and pianoforte. She was known as “the little girl with the big voice,” and was selected to sing important roles in school productions. Amy had a quiet and straightforward manner, which belied her fondness for pulling pranks on her Fraternity sisters. Her influence on the Fraternity endured long after she left to teach music in Kansas.
Nellie Gamble Childe (Alpha, DePauw University) studied piano from an early age and, after much deliberation, chose DePauw. She was described variously by her sisters as being gentle, energetic, earnest and friendly, leading a life of “quiet influence for good.” Later in life, she cultivated roses and loved to garden. She said that Alpha Chi Omega had a small beginning, but was built by loyal women with high standards who have achieved “marvelous results.”
Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) grew up in Greencastle, Indiana before eventually moving to Indianapolis, Indiana. She set the example for grace, civility and dignity that defined the Fraternity.
A group of fraternity officers and staff pose together at the groundbreaking for the national headquarters at 8733 Founders Road. They are (front) Executive Secretary Jody Bayer Martindill (Alpha, DePauw University), Controller Elinor Waite Howe (Alpha, DePauw University), National President Adele Fieve Drew (Alpha Lambda, University of Minnesota), Archivist Hannah Keenan (Alpha, DePauw University), (back row) National Treasurer Mary Flood Hutton (Psi, The University of Oklahoma), Lyre Editor Dee Gibson, Program Services Coordinator Ki Manning Reinmiller (Psi, The University of Oklahoma) and Collegiate Finance Coordinator Margaret Boschmann. This photograph was featured on page 24 of the Fall 1973 issue of The Lyre.
The 1985 National Convention was the 100-year celebration for Alpha Chi Omega. The five days were packed with activities, including a special DePauw Day, where attendees packed onto buses in groups and made their way to Greencastle, Indiana, for a tour of campus, a pageant of our founding, a concert by the Founders' Memorial and presentation by National President D'Alice Cochran.
National Inspector Gretchen Gooch Troster (Iota, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, left) and Eastern Province President Helen Wood Barnum (Alpha, DePauw University) pose together in front of the home of Grace Sanderson (Iota, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) in Alliance, Ohio, during the installation weekend of Alpha Eta (University of Mount Union) chapter.
Founder Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) poses by a chair as she tells the story of the founding of Alpha Chi Omega at the 1953 National Convention in Banff, Alberta, Canada.
Founders (left to right) Bertha Deniston Cunningham (Alpha, DePauw University), Estelle Leonard (Alpha, DePauw University), Nellie Gamble Childe (Alpha, DePauw University) and Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) pose with a birthday cake to celebrate Alpha Chi Omega's 50th birthday at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. during the 1935 National Convention. Behind them are National Editor Ted Maltbie Collins (Rho, University of Washington) and National President Ethel Meade Van Auken (Lambda, Syracuse University).
A set of bells, dedicated to the founders of Alpha Chi Omega, sit on the ground as they wait to be installed in the Founders' Bell Tower in the new performing arts center at DePauw University.
Fraternity Executive Director Hannah Keenan (Alpha, DePauw University, center) receives the Good Neighbor Award from Chuckles Chapman and Founder Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) at the Alpha Chi (Butler University) chapter house.
Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) called “Ollie” by her friends, studied piano, violin, cello and double bass. She taught at DePauw for two years while carrying on her studies. In her junior year, she left school to take teaching positions in Anderson and Franklin, Indiana. “I have found no greater happiness in my life than in Alpha Chi Omega,” she said later in life. “All I have ventured to give toward the up-building and uplifting of our fraternity has been from the depths of my heart, and has been repaid in thousandfold by my girls.”
In a portion of a speech given at the 1952 Massachusetts State Day, Ann Burnett Clark speaks about her grandmother, Founder Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University).
