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→The Early Years (Excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity: 1870-1976)
The independent spirit of the house was seen in a number of interesting ways. There was no brass nameplate on the door; the telephone was answered by a repetition of the number "204", not "Kappa Kappa Gamma"; every Tuesday "outside girls" were invited for dinner; and many girls who were campus leaders did not wear their keys.
One year the chapter was so small that it appeared that only two girls would be back in the fall. Those two came to be known as Beta and Omega.
Financial conditions were often poor; but these conditions improved steadily. By the fall of 1925, a new house at 15th and Alder Streets had been built at a cost of about $37,000, for the lot, house, furnishings and landscaping. This original building has been remodeled three times. In 1974, new additions doubled the size of the kitchen, provided any apartment for the housemother, increased the sleeping porch area, and included a sun porch. Fifty-eight members can live in the house very comfortably.
During World War I, spare time was devoted to Red Cross work. During World War II, blood was donated and scrap metal was collected. A German war orphan was adopted and sent letters and gift boxes. During the 1960s community service in Eugene was considered more relevant and fund drives and parties for underprivileged children were co-sponsored, usually with a men's fraternity. In 1965 the chapter won the Oregon Citizenship Cup given to the organization outstanding in scholarship, leadership, and service to the university, community, state and national government.
Some of the chapter's recent community work has been with underprivileged children and working at the senior citizen center.
In 1942, five of the six seniors in the house were elected to Phi Beta Kappa. The 3.003 grade average in 1965 was the highest ever achieved by an Oregon group. The chapter was received many scholarship trophies.
By the middle 1960s a choice of 48 graduate and undergraduate degrees was offered at Eugene. The medical and related schools were on the Portland campus. Superior students were given the opportunity to take part in the "Honors College," a unique program offering the advantages of a small school, with seminars and research programs. In May, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson and the National Science Foundation awarded a grant of four million dollars to the university. Oregon was the first state university to receive a large federal grant to aid in its development as a top educational center.
Some chapter traditions have been lost, such as the joint Founders' Day celebration with Gamma Mu, and the Christmas Serenade with white candles, white collars, and sacred songs. Apple Polishing, a party for favorite teachers; a Kappa-Pi Beta Phi dinner when keys were worn slanted and arrows straight; activity paddles for active freshmen; the blown-out candle to announce an engagement; and the spring awards banquet were continued into the mid-1960s.
A revolving Emergency Loan Fund was started by the Eugene alumnae in 1945 in memory of Hazel Prutsman Schwering, Oregon's dean of women, who was a Beta Omega. These alumnae contribute greatly to the house and to the morale of the chapter. The mothers' clubs of Eugene and Portland and the Portland alumnae continue to make utilitarian and decorative contributions.
Prominent members have included Louise Allen Holmes, an advertising executive; Nancy Wilson Ross, a novelist; and Dorothy Duniway Ryan, a free lance journalist. Other outstanding Beta Omegas include botanist Lilla Irvin Leach, fashion coordinator Cathleen Tharaldsen Catlin, pediatrician Dr. Margaret Tingle, and educator Hazel Schwering.
The stamina which enabled Beta Omega to find boarders and to keep the chapter going when it thought that only two girls would be making up the entire group, and the independence of spirit which has characterized the chapter from the start, can be seen today.
==Highlights of 2011==