90-year-old woman gets sorority invite

Posted: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 8:02 pm

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 90-year-old Kansas woman whose sorority dreams were disrupted by World War II is finally getting to be a pledge.
Bertie McConnell was surprised on her 90th birthday Saturday with a certificate of membership from Zeta Tau Alpha. She says she was “absolutely shocked.”
McConnell attended several Zeta rush parties in 1941 at Washburn University in Topeka. But everything changed after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
The Topeka Capital Journal reports that McConnell left school to support the war effort by working at the Sunflower Ammunition Plant near Lawrence.
Her daughter, Judith McConnell-Farmer, says her mother never forgot her sorority dreams.
McConnell-Farmer teaches at Washburn, and after sharing her mother’s story with her classes, members of the school’s Zeta chapter worked with their national council to extend the invite.

Published in The Messenger 10.19.11