of Mary Caffrey Low.
Two years later Mary was joined by four more women: Elizabeth Gorham
Hoag, Ida Fuller Pierce, Frances Mann Hall, and Louise Helen Coburn.
These five young women bonded over their unique experience. A mere year
later they decided to form a literary and social society founded on the
principles of life-long friendship, intellectual and spiritual
fulfillment and service for the greater good. On November 9, 1874 Sigma
Kappa was formed. Our first constitution limited membership to 25
women. The original group was known as Alpha chapter and as our
sorority grew, Beta chapter and Gamma chapter were also established at
Colby College. However, growth was not curbed outside the walls of
Colby College. In 1904, Boston University installed the Delta Chapter,
making the way for Sigma Kappa to have a national presence. Sigma Kappa
became a national sorority on April 19, 1904 and subsequently joined
the National Panhellenic Conference. Today we have 107 chapters is 36
states and 120 alumnae chapters in 40 states, all comprised of 148,592
members and growing.Famous Sigma Kappas
- Margaret Andrews, Chi: inventor and experimental engineer, improved the engineering of dishwashers, inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame.
- Fay Burnett, Sigma: first nutritionist for Weight Watchers International, writing its first maintenance plan.
- Linda Cross Dowdy, Epsilon Epsilon: creator and owner of Barney, the popular purple dinosaur featured on PBS, authored the best-selling children's book, Barney Goes to the Zoo.
- Anna Harper, Lambda: 1931 Wimbledon tennis champion, National President of Sigma Kappa from 1939 to 1942.
- Susan Johne, Alpha Chi: Kentucky State senator, 1994.
- Judith Guest la Vercombe, Alpha Mu: author of Ordinary People, which has since become a motion picture.
- Betty Jo Peacock Hay, Sigma: president of the National Mental Health Association in 1986, received such honors as the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health Award and Public Citizen of the Year.
- Lauren Roman, Theta Zeta: plays Laura Kirk on the daytime drama, All My Children.
- Rhea Seddon, Lambda: mission specialist for NASA, first flight into space was aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985, taking her Sigma Kappa badge on her flight.
- Margaret Chase Smith, Alpha: first U.S. woman senator, first woman to sit in both houses of Congress, recipient of the U.S. Air Force's most prestigious award, the American Spirit Award and Presidential Medal of Freedom Award.
- Ashley Welkos, Gamma Theta: plays Jessica Forrester on the CBS daytime drama, The Bold and the Beautiful. Her stage name is Maitland Ward.
- Sarah Weddington, Zeta Nu: first woman elected from Austin to be a member of the Texas House of Representatives in 1972, assistant to President Jimmy Carter, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court for Roe v. Wade case, which she won in 1973.