This “Centennial Moment” was presented by Carol Nemitz at the Saturday morning business meeting at Convention of International Chapter in Saint Louis.
The 20th Convention of the Supreme Chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood met on September 26-29, 1911, in Saint Louis, Missouri, 100 years ago.
All the convention members were entertained at the Buckingham Hotel and its annex, the Monticello Hotel. Most of the P.E.O.s attending from out of town arrived by train at Union Station.
The 1911 convention was the first convention to be called to order as Supreme Chapter because when the 1909 convention was held in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, the name was changed from Supreme Grand Chapter to Supreme Chapter.
Winona Evans Reeves presided at the 1911 convention in Saint Louis. Winona Evans Reeves is a name all P.E.O.s should know. This woman served our sisterhood in leadership roles for 65 years:
- Initiated into Chapter A, Mount Pleasant, in 1889 (only 20 years after the founding)
- Graduate of Iowa Wesleyan College—1891
- President of Iowa Grand Chapter—1904
- President of Supreme Chapter—1909-1911
- Editor of the The P.E.O. Record— 1918-1949 (31 years)
- Reeves Hall at Cottey College named for her
- Honorary Doctorate, Iowa Wesleyan College—1942
- Wrote “Volume 1—The Story of P.E.O.—1869-1923” “Volume 2—The Story of P.E.O.— 1924-1936” “As We Were Saying” (Collection of her addresses)
At the time of the 1911 convention, four Founders were still living— Alice Bird Babb, Franc Roads Elliott, Suela Pearson Penfield and Mary Allen Stafford—but none made the trip to Saint Louis.
At the 1911 convention,
- for the first time a processional was used to open convention;
- charters were granted to Oregon State Chapter and Chapter A, Vancouver, British Columbia;
- a Board of Trustees for The P.E.O. Record was established;
- the word “dimit” was adopted to define transfer from one chapter to another; and
- Chapter A, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, was designated as Chapter Original A.
Winona Evans Reeves was a forward thinker:
At the 1947 convention, she recommended the Executive Board of Supreme Chapter prepare an amendment for the 1949 convention to change the name from Supreme to International. The motion was defeated at the 1949 convention, and the change to International did not come until 1979.
It was recorded at the 1911 convention there were 411 active chapters and 12,075 active members.
The P.E.O. Register in the archives in Des Moines records 164 delegates for the 1911 Supreme Chapter Convention.
Today, 100 years later, we meet in Saint Louis for the 2011 convention with 5,983 active chapters; 240,808 active members; 1,500 voting members and more than 3,600 registered for this convention.
Mary Osmond, Editor of The P.E.O. Record, wrote in the November 1911 issue following the convention in Saint Louis:
“These Supreme Conventions are expensive things—it is well known the last one cost $3,000.”
One hundred years ago, the 1911 convention in Saint Louis was presided over by a person who graduated from the founding site of our sisterhood, Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
Now, 100 years later, a graduate from the founding site of our sisterhood, Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, is presiding over the 2011 convention in Saint Louis—Elizabeth E. Garrels. 
