P.E.O. Record
How We Met
I am from Chapter DC in Mesa, Arizona.
I was a caregiver for my sponsoring sister, Mary, and that is how we met. Mary had had a kidney operation and needed some extra care when she returned home. I was recommended to her by another lady in my community whom I had taken care of after a hip operation.
Both Mary and the other lady were PEO members. I expressed a genuine interest in PEO when I saw how these ladies received many visitors and cards while recuperating. As a caregiver for several elderly ladies, I noticed that many of them were pretty much alone and quite lonely. The PEO ladies, on the contrary, were surrounded by loving support. WOW! What a difference.
Mary sponsored me into her PEO chapter about one year later in 2006. It has been a very positive experience.
Unfortunately, Mary is now very ill with terminal cancer and I'm not certain that she would live to see an article in print, if indeed there will be one.
Snowbirds Meet in P.E.O.Groups
When my husband and I retired and decided to go south to Arizona for the winters, I thought my P.E.O. life would be sadly interrupted. The good news is that there is a P.E.O. sister waiting for us, no matter where we travel. For those of us who are “snowbirds,” we are allowed to form P.E.O. groups.
Groups are formed where members are away from their homes and their chapters. They do not initiate. They pay dues to their home chapter, but most groups impose a small fee to help with expenses. They don’t have a required number of meetings. They may or may not have projects. If you spend three months or more away, I would encourage you to look for a P.E.O. group or to form one yourself.
I was driving around Chandler, Arizona, looking for an address for a P.E.O. meeting. I came to a large parking lot that was full. I drove around and around for several minutes and noticed another car doing the same. In time, we both found parking and headed toward a clubhouse where the meeting was held. We spent a short time finding an entrance. Carol Coulter, U, Hamilton, Illinois, introduced herself and asked, “Are you looking for the P.E.O. meeting too?” It was the beginning of a wonderful friendship.
We discovered not only did we have P.E.O. in common, but a multitude of other similarities in us and in our families. It was December and Carol invited me to lunch. In talking, we found we were both born in December and our husbands were both born in March. We also discovered that my son and her husband were both in the asphalt business. As our luncheon closed, we both pulled out a mirror to touch up our makeup and we laughed to see we both held the same lipstick. Those were fun coincidences.
It didn’t stop there, however. As our friendship grew, we learned that we had both been school secretaries. We both started out at the elementary school level and worked our way up to the administration office. We both worked as soda jerks in high school.
In time, Carol and I and a few others in our “over 55” development started a P.E.O. Group. It flourished to over 25 and included other small developments nearby. It was a wonderful way to get acquainted in our communities and to say hello to other P.E.O. sisters from around the United States.
When you meet a P.E.O. sister, you may not find the similarities described above, but you will find quality, integrity and beauty in your P.E.O. sister. We are so fortunate to have a “family” waiting for us wherever we travel, move or visit. It is truly a gift.
Amazing Grace:
Song for a Heavenly Sister
Grace and I, as wives of university professors, met in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, at the University of Southern Mississippi some 33 years ago. The timing is easy to remember. I was pregnant at 29. Grace and Walter Osadchuk already had their family established. However, Grace, going on 43, had just learned, much to her surprise, that she was pregnant, too.
Before the babies were due, my husband Steve and I joined the church where Grace and Walter were active members of the choir. Grace’s youngest daughter, Elecia, and our son, Derek, grew up together, fast friends.
One day Grace called with an invitation to tea. She and Jane Lee, both P.E.O.s, wanted to start a Hattiesburg chapter. They wanted to explain to me what P.E.O. was and wondered if I would be interested. They didn’t have to explain. I already knew of P.E.O. My dear mother-in-law was a member in southern California. I gratefully accepted.
Many years ago, Grace and her family moved to Midland, Texas, and her family of sisters continued to grow. But even apart, sisters endure as long as life endures and, permit me to add, beyond.
This then is how I met my sister, saw how precious she was, shared with her some toils and snares. Her faith was bright shining as the sun. Grace always said she would be ready for heaven because, having been an orphan, she was finally going to be with her mother there. Well, at the end of 2007, Grace was led home. And now she sees.
P.E.O.—Icing on the Cake of Lifelong Friendship
I was formally adopted into the Sisterhood with Nan in 1998 when she attended my initiation into Chapter GX (later split into Chapter IB). Upon my retirement and move to Fredericksburg, Texas, Nan sought out the P.E.O. chapter through The P.E.O. Record, called the president and recommended me. To Nan, this was another step in our bonding as sisters.
Our Sisterhood has a long history. Nan and I met on the first day of school of our second grade year. We laugh when we remember racing with our chairs to the reading circle to sit by a certain little boy. Fortunately we can’t remember who won the race, but knowing us, we probably sat on each side of him.
Thus began our almost sisterhood which has continued to this day—through elementary, junior high and high school, roommates in college, attendants in our weddings, childbirth and swapping of offspring, deaths of parents, joys of grandchildren and every other major or minor event in our lives. I have a bond with her chapter FM sisters in Lake Jackson and she knows many of my GX and IB sisters.
Nan and I have never been apart since that day in elementary school, maybe in miles but never in heart. P.E.O. Sisterhood was the icing on the cake of our lives which have had so many layers. It is sweet!
Sisters Keep in Touch for over 50 Years
When I saw the invitation in The Record to write about how I met my P.E.O. sister, I thought of Lois Halverson and decided to write to you. We are “old” sisters who met 50 years ago at our church. Lois joined Chapter F in 1948 and I joined in 1963. We share happy memories of being active members. We found we both love to read, cook, bake and play bridge and have spent many delightful hours doing all those activities. Lois moved to Sioux Falls because of health reasons and to be close to her daughter. I miss her so much but we keep in touch by telephone. We are both 91 years old. Love you, Lois!
Work Provides Opportunity to Meet P.E.O. Sisters
In the fall of 2003, I was active with other P.E.O.s working toward the formation of a new daytime chapter in Reno, Nevada. At the same time, I was involved in “Lifescapes for Seniors,” a memoirs writing program sponsored by the Washoe County Library System through a grant from the University of Nevada, Reno.
In considering possible new sisters, I found two ladies in the same program that I felt had the P.E.O. qualities we were looking for.
Barbara Drake was not familiar with P.E.O. I gave her a couple of copies of my P.E.O. Record and talked with her about our projects and our commitment to women’s education.
I was surprised when I talked with Connie Kvasniska, the other lady. She had been a P.E.O. for years, but had been inactive for a few years.
The three of us all became charter members of Chapter AL in February 2004—Barbara as an initiate, Connie as a reinstated member, then a dimit, and I as a dimit from another Reno chapter. Barbara and I learned that we were sorority sisters too—she from Illinois and I from Oklahoma. Connie and her husband have since moved back to Kansas where she dimitted right away to a chapter and has since become a charter member of a new chapter. We are very grateful that we can keep our close friendship going because of email. How’s that for GROW(ing)?