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 Angels exist
but sometimes, since they don't all have wings, we call them Friends.
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Supporting Members Queen:
Queen Do Little
Ladies:
Arlene Fontana
Barb Chumney
Bonnie Bartsch
Bonnie Sawyers
Carla Flinner
Cathie Hauenstein
Connie Lamson
Connie Loy
Denise Mathie
Donna Moschella
Donna Pavlicek
Dottie Shott
Fran Jenkins
Gloria Betz
Helen Schirack
Jan Plaskett
Joanne Ballou
Joyce Davis
Karen Schoeppner
Laura Phillips
Linda Buchner
Linda Carden
Linda Goulden
Linda Nussbaum
Maggie Hooper
Marlene Albrecht
Mary Eggleston
Moe Greathouse
Pat McCarty
Peggy Galligher
Peggy Sheridan
Pinkie Guillan
Rocio Strohmeyer
Rose Sutara
Sally Hall
Sandy Rose
Sue Ann Mincks
Sue Watterson
Ode to the Red Hat Society
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"Ode to the Red Hat Society" by Sue Ellen Cooper
A poet put it very well. She said when she was older, She wouldn't be so meek and mild. She threatened to get bolder. She'd put a red hat on her head, and purple on her shoulder. She'd make her life a warmer place, her golden years much golder.
We read that poem, all of us, and grasped what she is saying. We do not need to sit and knit, although we all are graying. We think about what we can do. Our plans we have been laying. Instead of working all the time, we'll be out somewhere playing.
We take her colors to our hearts, and then we all go shopping For purples clothes and hats of red, with giant brims a-flopping. We're tired of working all the time, and staying home and mopping. We order pies and chocolate fudge, and rich desserts with topping.
We crown ourselves as duchesses and countesses and queens. We prove that playing dress-up isn't just for Halloween. We drape ourselves in jewels, feathers, boas, and sateen. We see ourselves on television and in magazines.
We laugh, we cry, we hug a lot. We keep each other strong. When one of us goes out for fun, the rest all go along. We gad about, we lunch and munch, in one big happy throng.
We've found the place where we fit in, the place we all belong.
Sue Ellen Cooper
Exalted Queen Mother
IT ALL STARTED WITH A POEM
The Red Hat Society resulted from the giving of one birthday gift.
In November 1997, Sue Ellen Cooper of Fullerton, CA presented her dear friend, Linda Murphy, with a red hat that she had found at a thrift store and a copy of the poem
"Warning" by Jenny Joseph.
The original intent was that Linda hang the hat next to the framed poem, as a reminder to loosen up as she got older.
Friends of Sue Ellen's expressed an interest in receiving the same gift as they reached their 50th birthdays.
On April 25, 1998, Sue Ellen and four of her friends dressed in their purple outfits and red hats and went out for tea.
They had so much fun that they dubbed themselves the "Red Hat Society" that very day.
Linda told a friend of hers in Florida about the group and she started a similar one in her small town.
It was fun being "sister chapters," but there were no plans to spread the word or promote expansion until the summer of 2000, when both chapters were featured in a nation home decor magazine.
A few months later, a story in a local paper was picked up by a wire service and word spread like red and purple wildfire.
Since then, the Red Hat Society has grown by leaps and bounds.
by Jenny Joseph
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
© Jenny Joseph
Souvenir Press Ltd., Warning:
When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple, Jenny Joseph,
2000 Published Souvenir Press Ltd, London
