| Doubtless a heavy heart accompanied Norma Wells when she left her Beta sisters in 1913 for the unknown regions of Puget Sound. But when that fall she enrolled at the University of Washington, memories of her mother chapter did not obscure her quick appreciation of the suitability of this rapidly growing institution as a fertile field for a chapter of Alpha Phi. She knew it, and when her hand touched that of Anne Burren, formerly of Kappa, her convictions launched into action; for with the discovery of a sister what had seemed an enormous task assumed the proportions of a difficult but possible one. Then, too, she was enthusiastically abetted by alumnae living in Seattle and Tacoma, who deplored the fact that every large national fraternity was represented on the campus with the exception of Alpha Phi. Moreover other women's fraternities had been established for years. After careful deliberation, it was decided that Alpha Phi could overcome the handicap of lost time only by avoiding the usual method of chartering a local petitioning group and, in its stead, by adopting the more unusual procedure of selecting the seven girls necessary to form a chapter from the non-fraternity women of purpose and attainment. |
