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→The Early Years (Excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity: 1870-1976)
Dreams of a permanent home began to take shape by 1920 when lots were purchased and plans made for the present house at 1134 University Avenue at a cost of $21,000. Mae Fry, at one time a member of the Colorado legislature, was president of the newly formed Building Committee, supervised house construction and furnishing, and continued her interest in the chapter for many years.
Others brought distinction at this time. Pattie Field was United States vice consul to the Netherlands (the second woman and the first from Colorado to be accepted in the diplomatic corps). Lucia Cassell Patton, illustrator, and Estelle Rust Dinwoodey, etcher, gained national recognition. Poet andscholar Irene McKeehan, Ph.D., was a distinguished professor of English at the University of Colorado for over 30 years. Boulder resident Margaret Read has had a long and eminent career as an architect and was the Fraternity architect when property in Florida became Kappa's Hearthstone in 1938. Close to 75 per cent of Beta Mu's membership at this time was from Denver, the rest mainly from Colorado towns, providing a strong base in rush. Nearly every rush plan had been tried during Beta Mu's first 25 years and by the 1930s it had become a complicated system of summer parties and formal calls preceding the fall week of teas and dinners. Expensive decorations, costumes, and entertainment were required, and rivalry was bitter. Increasing membership called for a house addition in 1939, a large recreation room which brought new informality to the Colonial structure. The Building Committee was now incorporated as the Beta Mu Building and Alumnae Association, and included dedicated Boulder alumnae (association chartered in 1937) among House Board officers. In 1939 Dr. Robert L. Stearns became the University's sixth president and brought inspired leadership for 13 years. His Beta Mu family included wife (Amy Pitkin Stearns) and four daughters (Judith Stearns Caughey, Amy Stearns Goodell, Marion Stearns White, and Barbara Stearns Wooten). Dr. Stearns was keynote speaker at the 1940 Sun Valley Convention, and Beta Mu enjoyed one of its finest hours by winning the Standards Cup. During World War II years Beta Mu instigated the equipping of all sorority houses as Red Cross relief stations, and limited social functions to buy war bonds. House decorations and Homecoming floats discarded in favor of patriotic decorations for the student union. To provide for the new Colorado University Navy schools an accelerated program was inaugurated. Students returned the end of October with a weekend for rush and the second day of classes for pledge day. Beta Mu sent gift boxes overseas and to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, and during the campus drive for supplies for war-torn Europeans, assembled the largest contribution. In 1946 Nettie Schwer Freed, after long service as a county superintendent of schools, was, at 65, elected Colorado State superintendent of public instruction. She served until the age of 70 when she received a special citation from the governor. During the 1940s Dorothy Martin, Ph.D., began a distinguished career, becoming professor and chairman of the Psychology Department. In 1962 she received the Robert L. Stearns medal for superior teaching and exceptional service to the university. Enrollment had soared at the end of the war and Beta Mu membership changed to 49 per cent out-of-state girls. Numbers forced a simpler rush- ice water teas replaced elaborate entertaining. Panhellenic urged affiliation and chapters grew top-heavy with pledges. Increased officer and adviser vigilance were called for. A special upperclassman retreat for evaluation began then and became a tradition. It was a difficult period but the chapter learned the art of assimilation. During this time the Fraternity Council acquired two more Beta Mus. Eleanore Goodrich Campbell served as director of Alumnae 1948-52; and director of membership 1952-56. Josephine Yantis Eberspacher was Fraternity vice president 1952-54. By Spring, 1956, the chapter was back on top, winning both the campus and Denver area Panhellenic Scholarship Cups, with the highest average ever attained by an organized group at Colorado University. At the 1956 Convention, Beta Mu was runner-up for pledge training, and two years later won the top award. The 1956 Convention brought the chapter its finest honor: Eleanore Goodridge Campbell was named Fraternity president. By now the chapter was providing room and board for its first foreign student, from Norway. Since then others from Sweden, Hungary, Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece, and the Netherlands have made Beta Mu their home for a year. With two rented annexes space was needed again, and by the sale of debentures to alumnae, another additon was made possible. Once again the house board was commended. The dedicated Boulder advisers, the two alumnae groups, and the Mothers' Club have together met every need of the chapter. Alumnae are kept abreast of active news by the news sheet, the ''Beta Mews''. Beta Mu is versatile, represented always in class honoraries, campus productions and publications, and class and university offices.
==Highlights of 2011==