The Zeta House
Hear It Calling
Delta Kappa of Zeta Tau Alpha - Our Beginning, 1959
In 1959, five ZTA transfers to LSU banded together and contacted Dean Helen Gordon with the request to start a colony so that they could continue formally sharing their collegiate sisterhood. These transfer students were Miss Janie Sproles, Texas Tech; Miss Merle Stokes, Northwestern in Illinois; Mrs. Edward Fitch of Southwestern in Memphis; and Misses Elizabeth Orman and Bess Smith of Centenary College. She also recommended that they locate their Baton Rouge alums.
National President, Lucille Reese Roberts, contacted two Baton Rouge alumnae, Mrs. Marion Covington Ferguson, and Mrs. Carolyn Berry Simpson and asked them to pursue this interest. Dean Gordon told them to seek out other pledges.
In March,1959 about twelve members of Zeta Tau Alpha met at the home of Mrs. Ferguson. At the same meeting, officers were elected for the Alumnae Club. They pursued with diligence to begin a colony on LSU's campus, among 14 other established National Panhellenic Sororities.
From May 1, 1960 memories by Laura Wilson, Historian, Baton Rouge Alumnae:
“In April of 1959 we received the wonderful news, of the recognition of our colony. All alumnae assisted in the formal rushing of that spring and held a buffet supper for alumnae, new pledges and their mothers after formal pledging. Mrs. H. Winton Jenkins, National Secretary-Treasurer, came to visit us, and the colony. Plans were laid for us to aid the new colony in every possible way.”
On Friday, April 24, 1959, the newly installed colony of Zeta Tau Alpha met at the home of Mrs. John Ferguson for formal pledging. The alumnae were organized into the new Baton Rouge Alumnae Chapter, with Mrs. Marion Ferguson, President; Mrs. Carolyn Simpson, Vice-president; Mrs. Ben Downing, Secretary-Treasurer.
A decorator was contacted and Zeta Tau Alpha now had an official room in the Panhellenic Building. Room #7, a corner room, was decorated in ZTA’s colors, light turquoise blue, silver, and white. The girls lived in the dormitories.
Laura Wilson elegantly recants her memories of the next few months:
“In May we, with the aid of a fine interior decorator, assisted the colony with the décor and furnishing of the Zeta room at the Panhellenic Building. "In June, following local custom, we held a large Coke Party honoring three hundred local high school seniors and their mothers. It was a beautiful party held in the lovely home of Mrs. Margaret Brown, (Beta Iota)."July found us already busy making plans to assist the colony with their first formal rush season. While we talked and planned we kept our hands busy addressing bulletins for the local cancer society and making 19 plastic bibs for the local cerebral palsy center. We also allocated funds for the purchase of a small piece of office equipment needed by the cancer society."Everyone enjoyed working with the colony during late August and early September rushing and we were rewarded with a fine group of pledges.”Shortly before Christmas the long anticipated dream of installation of Delta Kappa Chapter was finally realized. On December 5, 1959 the first pledges of Delta Kappa Colony were formally initiated into Zeta Tau Alpha at a ceremony held in the Zeta Tau Alpha room of the Panhellenic Building. The initiated Zetas from other chapters who had transferred to the Delta Kappa Colony at LSU conducted the impressive ceremony.
Following the installation was an elegant banquet held at the Baton Rouge Country Club with all Delta Kappa members, pledges, national representatives, and local alumnae attending. Serving as toastmistress was Mrs. Marion Ferguson, president of the Zeta Tau Alpha Alumnae Club of Baton Rouge.
The following weekend Mrs. Elliot Chapman, National President and Mrs. Bruce Cunningham Alumnae Director, Province XIII formally presented the charter to Delta Kappa and to the Alumnae chapter. Certificates of Merit were presented to Marion Ferguson and Carolyn Simpson in recognition of untiring efforts and valuable aid in the establishment of Delta Kappa chapter. Certificates of Merit were presented to Marion Ferguson and Carolyn Simpson in recognition of untiring efforts and valuable aid in the establishment of Delta Kappa chapter. These were presented at a luncheon given in honor of our national officers and installation initiates.
The new year got off to a busy start. Plans were made at the January meeting for the final phases of the installation. Personal calls were made on all the lovely ladies whom were invited to become installation initiates and patronesses. Also the alumnae aided in the informal mid-term rushing of the college chapter.
In February, our roster which had boasted of thirty-four members was swelled to fifty-six with the addition of twenty-two installation initiates, initiated on February 20. The following weekend Mrs. Elliott Chapman, National President and Mrs. Bruce Cunningham, Alumnae Director, Province XIII formally presented the charter to the Delta Kappa Chapter and to the Batonr Rouge Alumnae Chapter. We were all extremely proud when the Alumnae Certificates of Merit were presented to Marion Ferguson and Carolyn Simpson in recognition of their untiring efforts and valuable aid in the establishment of Delta Kappa chapter. We were all extremely proud when the Alumnae Certificates of Merit were presented to Marion Ferguson and Carolyn Simpson in recognition of their untiring efforts and valuable aid in the establishment of Delta Kappa chapter.
On the following day, Sunday, February 21, a formal reception was held at la Maison Francaise (The French House) on the Louisiana State University Campus. Five hundred university officials, community leaders and fraternity representatives attended. This ended the first full year.
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