Mu Chapter, Monmouth County

Organized April 19, 1969

The history of Mu Chapter is rooted in the evolution of Gamma and Zeta Chapters. Because of the wide geographical areas served by Gamma Chapter, Zeta Chapter was created to provide a chapter for educators who worked or lived in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Due to excessive traveling distances, the members recognized the need for a chapter in each county. With the help and guidance of Elizabeth Schiller, State Expansion Chair, plans were made to form Mu Chapter for Monmouth County. The installation of Mu Chapter, Alpha Zeta State, was conducted on April 19, 1969, after the initiation ceremony in the Crystal Room of the Hotel Dennis at the state organization’s annual convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The charter members included 33 who transferred from Zeta Chapter and 4 initiates who were inducted at the time of the organization. The organizational meeting was held in the Oak Room of the Hotel Dennis following the convention banquet.

At that time the following officers were installed:

President, Joyce Clark First Vice President, Abba H. Daniels

Second Vice President, Kathryn R. Short Recording Secretary, Lillie Ham (Hendry)

Corresponding Secretary, Anna P. Dorne Treasurer, Jane H. Polhemus.

The first two meetings of Mu Chapter were joint meetings with Zeta Chapter, and on December 2, 1969, Mu Chapter held its first solo meeting. In 1970 Mu Chapter requested and received approval to incorporate Upper Freehold Township within its geographical boundaries. In the years following expansion, the two chapters were closely associated through the sharing of Recognition Awards for 2 years, joint theater parties, and joint meetings once a year through 1979. In 1979, Mu Chapter celebrated its 10th anniversary jointly with Zeta. Following this commemoration, joint meetings were discontinued by mutual agreement because of the increased size of each chapter.

Programs are planned to align with the announced Delta Kappa Gamma theme and to encourage Mu members’ personal and professional growth and service. Programs are designed to support and stimulate retired and working women professionals in education. Topics have included garden tips and craft lessons; book talks; current education concepts, materials, and classroom strategies; literacy volunteer training; women’s and community health issues; and women’s rights and responsibilities in a democratic society. These topics were expanded during the new millennium to incorporate digital and global ideas and applications. As reported in Alpha Zeta State’s 50th Anniversary chapter history summary (1988), most of Mu meetings in its first two decades were dinner meetings at restaurants, and a covered-dish supper was held at a community hall once a year. As restaurant prices rose, the place and type of meetings became more diversified, with increased use of brunches, snack sessions, and dessert meetings. Throughout the 1990s, regularly scheduled meetings were supplemented by monthly informal lunch or dinner outings to help members get to know one another better. By the early years of the 21st century, restaurant meetings were reduced to one or two annually and often included a cooking class presented by a professional chef. Members’ homes, schools, and program-specific sites served as locations for all other meetings.

Information above is taken from the Diamond Anniversary History of the New Jersey State Organization of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International submitted by Kathleen Froriep, PhD, State Archives Chair, 2012.