P.E.O. to celebrate 150 years in birthplace MP

P.E.O. International will kick off its sesquicentennial celebration where the sisterhood was founded right here in Mt. Pleasant.

On Monday, Jan. 21, members are invited to visit the birthplace of P.E.O., pay tribute at the graves of the original founders and celebrate in style with a birthday dinner.

'To think it all started here. That's just the amazing part of the story,” Elizabeth Garrels said, member of P.E.O. Chapter NZ, past president of the Iowa State and International chapter, and current chair of the Sesquicentennial Celebration.

In a nutshell, P.E.O. is a friendship society, Garrels said. P.E.O. was founded with the belief that women could continue to learn, better themselves, and share fellowship and friendship.

P.E.O. was established on the campus of Iowa Wesleyan University by seven women on Jan. 21, 1869. The original founders were Mary Allen (Stafford), Alice Bird (Babb), Hattie Briggs (Bousquet), Alice Virginia Coffin, Suela Pearson (Penfield), Franc Roads (Elliott) and Ella Stewart.

These seven women inspired other women who carried P.E.O. forward.

'It was those other women, who we call the Builders, in Mt. Pleasant and at Wesleyan, who saw the value in what a support system for women meant and felt it was worth expanding beyond Mt. Pleasant,” Garrels said. 'It had pretty significant, rapid growth.”

P.E.O. was founded following the Civil War. Women had sustained life at home as the men went off to fight, Garrels said.

'Women had a newfound confidence that they could have meaningful interaction and purpose beyond home-fire duties,” Garrels said.

P.E.O. was born during a time when women couldn't write a check, Garrels said. P.E.O. was there to step in and help women who didn't have the financial means to help themselves.

There are three P.E.O. Sisterhood chapters in Henry County with about 275 members total: Chapter NZ, Chapter OX, and a chapter in New London.

P.E.O. serves a quarter of a million women in 6,000 local chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in six Canadian provinces, Garrels said.

P.E.O. has given over $321 million in financial assistance to more than 105,000 recipients since 1907.

A Sesquicentennial

The 150th anniversary celebration of P.E.O. in Mt. Pleasant is only the first of many members-only sesquicentennial events held throughout 2019.

There will be a lot of guests in town for the anniversary party in Mt. Pleasant on Monday, Jan. 21, Garrels said.

Members will begin the day by paying tribute to four of the seven founders of the P.E.O. Sisterhood who are buried in Mt. Pleasant. The other three members are buried in Newton, Pella, and Cleveland, Ohio.

Current and past officers from the P.E.O. Iowa State Chapter will convene for a luncheon in the Union Block building at noon. The Iowa State Chapter oversees Iowa's 400 local chapters with 19,000 active members.

The Union Block building was chosen for this event because a lot of IW's campus life happened there around the time the P.E.O. Sisterhood was founded, Garrels said. From graduation ceremonies to literary society meetings, the Union Block building was an important meeting space for IW students at the time.

A Matinee

Following the luncheon, P.E.O. members are invited to a dramatization in the chapel on IW's campus that will bring the founding members to life, said Kimn Hassenfritz, chair for the dramatization.

The dramatization was written by members of P.E.O. Chapter NZ. They began meeting during the summer of 2017 to research the seven original founders and put together a production that showcases how 'radically” different these women were from other girls during that time period, Hassenfritz said.

'The stories of the women and how talented they really were and the fact that they did this over 150 years ago still is with us today,” Hassenfritz said. 'I go back to these girls who were so young at 17- and 18-years-old who were doing something so different from most girls their age and going to college, of all things.”

As a fairly new P.E.O. member, Hassenfritz found researching the founders enlightening. Children are always creating secret groups and clubs, but the P.E.O. founders created a sustainable organization, Hassenfritz said.

'It's amazing how this little club has grown and still is alive. It's a living organism,” Hassenfritz said.

The dramatization is cut into four vignettes. The first scene is excerpts from each founder's journal.

'This is a time you get to know the women through their first-person accounts,” said Kadie Johannson, member of P.E.O. Chapter NZ who will be playing the part of Dillon Payne, the narrator. 'I think telling the story in a play is a way that brings it to life and makes it easier to learn about the members as an audience member. I know these women better now because of this play.”

Cast members include Lea McCormick, Bev Alderson, Deborah Mascarenas, Kadie Johannson, Missy Sitar, Pat Heusmann, Patty Madden and Hassenfritz.

Walking In Their Footsteps

After the dramatization, attendees will tour Old Main on the campus of IW in the exact location and on the exact day where P.E.O. was founded 150 years ago.

In the music room in Old Main, P.E.O. members will hear the story again about how P.E.O. was founded.

They also will tour the P.E.O. Memorial Building on IW's campus. The building was built in 1927 as a joint venture between IW and P.E.O. IW donated the land and P.E.O. paid for the building for $100,000.

IW used the main floor of the P.E.O. Memorial Building as a library and university offices. The top floor was used for P.E.O.'s executive offices until 1960.

Eventually, both IW and P.E.O. outgrew the space. P.E.O.'s executive offices were moved to where they are currently located in Des Moines. IW built a new library building and renovated the P.E.O. Memorial Building into office space and currently uses the main floor as an art gallery.

A Birthday Party

All local Henry County P.E.O. chapters will come together for a birthday dinner at 5 p.m.

The dinner is a replica of one of the first big parties thrown by P.E.O. at Christmastime in December 1870, which was at the Brazelton House Hotel. A turkey dinner will be served complete with birthday cake and singing happy birthday, Garrels said.

Finally, the celebration will end in IW's chapel auditorium with a candle-lighting ceremony presented by the sisterhood's international executive board.

Executive board members from Ohio, California, Idaho, Kentucky and Arizona will be in Mt. Pleasant for the ceremony. Members across the continent will be able to tune in to a livestream, courtesy of IW, in real time on P.E.O.'s website.

'It's an amazing story that all started here,” Garrels said. 'We are justifiably proud and honored to be able to share this story.”

Why Be A Member?

Garrels joined P.E.O. when she was 18-years-old. It was an important support system for her family and something both her mother and aunts were a part of.

'It was something I looked forward to becoming,” Garrels said. 'The support system for yourself is very valuable, then what we can do as a community is even greater.”

Throughout its 150 year history, Garrels said P.E.O. continues to have a timeless quality while remaining timeless. P.E.O. still is relevant today, Garrels said. It still does what the founders intended, acting as a support system for women and helping them achieve higher education.

'It meets the needs of the times and lives in the world we live in,” Garrels said. 'We do take care and steady change to stay relevant.”