ETA
SIGMA PHI
2003-2004
Officers
Megas
Prytanis
Charlie
McCants
Beta Theta (Hampden-Sydney College)
Megas
Hyparchos
Kelly
Duncan
Zeta Lambda (Loyola University, New Orleans)
Megas
Grammateus
Aaron
Randolph
Beta Pi (University of Arkansas)
Megas
Chrysophylax
Rochelle
Schnyder
Gamma Omega (Baylor University)
Board
of Trustees
Sister
Thérèse Marie Dougherty (2006)
Chair
Beta Kappa
(College of Notre Dame of Maryland)
R. Leon
Fitts (2006)
Delta Theta (Dickinson College)
Anne H.
Groton (2004)
Delta Chi (St. Olaf College)
Thomas
J. Sienkewicz (2005)
Gamma Omicron (Monmouth College)
R.
Alden Smith (2004)
Gamma Omega (Baylor University)
Honorary
Trustees
W. W.
de Grummond
Bernice
Fox
Brent
M. Froberg
Executive
Secretary
C.
Wayne Tucker
H-S Box 68
Hampden-Sydney, VA 23943-0068
434-223-6244
434-223-6045 (fax)
wtucker@hsc.edu
The new officers pose after their installation: (from left) Megale Chrysophylax Schnyder,
Megas Grammateus Randolph, Megale Hyparchos Duncan, and Megas Prytanis McCants.
The Connection CONTINUED
throughout the 1930s. Twentieth Century Fox released Watkins’ Up the River, in which Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart made their feature film debuts in 1930. The comedy Libeled Lady, produced by MGM in 1936 and starring Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Spencer Tracy, is considered by some to be her film masterpiece.
Watkins’ short stories also met with success. Cosmopolitan (at one time a literary magazine) purchased eight stories and published seven between 1917 and 1929. While it is unclear what happened to the eighth, Watkins biographer John Elliott suggests it may have been reserved by the publisher, William Randolph Hearst, for use in a future film.
Considering the economic environment during the ’20s and ’30s, when Watkins was writing most prolifically, it is amazing she built an estate estimated at more than $2 million before her death in 1969. In later years, Watkins focused her energy on the ultimate distribution of this legacy.
Watkins’ life-long interests in classical
studies and creative writing set the
stage for her philanthropic interests. To
this day, students of Latin and Greek in
130 colleges and universities across the
continent compete for Maurine Dallas
Watkins Prizes, administered by the
collegiate honorary society Eta Sigma
Phi. Competitive scholarships also are
available for students attending the American School of Classical Studies at
Athens and the American Academy in Rome, partially due to her benevolence.
At Transylvania,
So if you see Chicago, remember Maurine Dallas Watkins, the fearless, witty, and creative Jazz-Age Theta and “modern woman” whose legacy is still alive — on stage, on screen, and on college and university campuses around the world.
Sources
Chicago: With the Chicago Tribune
Articles
That Inspired It, by Maurine
Watkins,
edited and with an introduction
by Thomas H. Pauly, Southern Illinois
University Press, Carbondale and
Edwardsville,
1997.
Maurine Dallas Watkins Web Site,
mounted
by John Elliott, copyright
1997-2003.
http://www.maurinewatkins.com.
Eta Sigma Phi Web Site and C. Wayne
Tucker, Eta Sigma Phi Executive
Secretary, www.etasigmaphi.us.
“Maurine Watkins discovery important to
community,” Joanne Hammer,
(Crawfordsville,
Indiana) The Journal
Review,
January 16, 2003
Copyright © 2003 The Kappa Alpha Theta Magazine. Reprinted with permission.
