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(1896-1989)
 
(1896-1989)
  
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Rheva Ott Shryock was the last of the Grand Presidents (1936-1940); by the end of her second term she had convinced the Fraternity to drop the term “grand,” saying she thought “grand” was archaic, while the simple “president” was both dignified and distinctive. Interestingly, it was the undergraduates, not the alumnae, whom Rheva had to persuade on this issue.
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Helen Snyder Andres (Steiner), Kappa’s first Field Secretary (now Leadership Consultant) and first Director of Standards, was destined to make Kappa a prominent part of her life, having shared with the Fraternity her birthday, October 13.
  
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The deletion of “grand” from the titles of the officers and from the Council was part of an extensive revision of the Fraternity Bylaws, a process that sparked in Rheva what was to become a lifelong interest in parliamentary law. After her own presidency, she served seven Presidents as parliamentarian (1950-1974). She shared her expertise with other organizations, including the National Panhellenic Congress (1949-1955), the American Association of University Women (1951-1972), and the Girl Scouts (1963-1973), and she wrote several handbooks on parliamentary procedure.
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Just before her 90th birthday in 1997 Helen said, “I’ve lived Kappa. It’s my other family.” Kappa taught Helen many things, “but most of all I learned how to appreciate people. Kappa is very good at that.”
  
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Rheva was genuinely surprised when she was nominated to be Grand President in 1936. She had expected Helen Snyder Andres to run for the office and had thought she would be made director of extension because she had recommended, while serving as Director of Provinces (1934-1936), that such an office be created to divide the director’s workload. (She was also first to propose an Associate Council, composed of Province Officers, and as Director of Provinces, edited several Province Officer manuals, benchmarks for booklets to come.)
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Helen assumed the presidency upon Eleanor Bennet’s resignation, and she became a force in unifying Fraternity programs on standards, scholarship and finance during her term (1935-1936). Helen pledged Beta Pi Chapter in 1926 where she was Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board member and vice president of her class. She attended the 1928 Convention as delegate and became a Co-organizer (the forerunner of Chapter Consultant) at Gamma Upsilon, British Columbia, in 1930.  
  
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She also served as Vice President of Lambda Province in 1931 and Province President in 1932, and was instrumental in the installation of Delta Beta Chapter at Duke, where her husband, Richard, was a faculty member.
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In 1932, Helen became a traveling Field Secretary, an experience she later called “one of the most significant of my life…I worked with dedicated Kappa officers who helped me bring the best of Kappa practices to our chapters.” In her 1932 report, she said she “stressed good chapter organization, correct ritual, fine standards, strong chapter discipline, good assimilation of pledges, individual responsibility, cordiality and good manners, scholarship in its broadest sense…” –  all of which still apply today.
  
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As an undergraduate, Rheva had been chapter President at the University of Pennsylvania and majored in chemistry. In 1921, she received a Master of Arts degree. She taught for many years at a number of institutions, including Johns Hopkins University from 1950-1958.
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She met her husband, Eugen Andres, Jr., on a blind date; he was a field secretary for Phi Gamma Delta. He died in 1975. Later she married Joseph Steiner.
  
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Women’s history was a subject dear to Rheva’s heart. She foresaw the importance of continuing education for women and created such a program while president of the Association of Alumnae, University of Pennsylvania (1960-1962).
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When she became Director of Standards in 1934, she embraced “the fine idea of relating standards and ideals closer to actual existence.” It is singularly significant that Kappa chose to devote an office to standards and Fraternity education. As director, Helen wrote an article on chapter standards for each issue of The Key maintaining that the Fraternity had a wonderful opportunity to make itself invaluable if it would cultivate fine standards and truly cultural living and thinking. “The greatest criticism of fraternities is that groups are not realizing the possibilities in the intellectual development of their members,” she said.
  
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While Grand President, Rheva convened what was the first Convention south of the Mason-Dixon line in 68 years (in Hot Springs, VA) and suggested Vanderbilt for extension 37 years before Epsilon Nu was installed. She saw the need for a Kappa retirement home and was responsible for the purchase of Hearthstone in Winter Park, Fla., which opened in 1938. In addition, Province Officers manuals and a House Director manual were written and The Fleur-de-Lis, which contained letters from Council to alumnae, was published. The 1938 Convention saw the start of a new bequest program. And at Sun Valley, conventioneers were promised a free day for the first time.
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During her short term as Director of Standards, Helen had much to do with the development of pledge education, chapter techniques and standards. When she became Grand President, the nation was still in the Depression, and she credited Kappa scholarships with keeping many young women in college. Hearthstone was developing and Helen saw its value for alumnae in the future.  
  
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Rheva had hoped to have Nora Waln, Beta Iota, Swarthmore, a writer living in England, as keynote speaker at Sun Valley, but Nora’s world was already at war. A Nora Waln Fund for refugee children was proposed by Helen Bower, Beta Delta, Michigan, Editor of The Key, and upon completion of her term as Grand President, Rheva became its first chairman. Seven years later, Rheva received the Liberation Medal (now housed at Fraternity Headquarters) from King Haakon of Norway for Kappa’s work in providing layettes for babies, part of the Nora Waln project.
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Helen chose not to run for a full term of office; she had been pregnant during part of her term and gave birth to a daughter in December 1936. Yet she continued her service to Kappa. She became Panhellenic Delegate from 1936-1940 and Scholarship Chairman from 1940-1946, supervised Graduate Counselors (Chapter Consultants) from 1946-1948 and became Director of Chapters from 1948-1950. She was also Ritualist and served three years as President of the San Jose Alumnae Association, which she helped to start.
  
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Rheva received the Alumnae Achievement Award in 1962 and the Loyalty Award in 1968. In her honor, the Shryock Gavels, presented by the Philadelphia Alumnae Association, are awarded at Convention to alumnae associations serving Kappa chapters with distinction. She had one son and daughter, who also pledged Beta Alpha (as did Rheva’s sister). In 1982, at the installation of Zeta Iota, Villanova, Rheva remarked, “I believe I must be the link. Here I am at the installation of our newest chapter, and yet I also touched hands with Louise Bennett Boyd.”
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Helen also worked to further the petition and installation of Delta Chi Chapter at San Jose State University, where her daughter, Vivienne, served as President. Helen received the Loyalty Award in 1980.
  
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At the end of Rheva Shryock’s administration, Fraternity Council changed to include for the first time a Director of Alumnae, Director of Chapter Organization, Director of Chapter Programs, and Director of Membership and Panhellenic (eliminating the Director of Provinces and Director of Standards). The Field Secretary was no longer a Council position.
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“I only hope future Kappas may have the same influences from the Fraternity that I have had – the privilege of knowing top caliber women who can speak well, think well, give loving consideration to others, use their talents in an effective way and generally raise the quality of the lives they touch.”
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Helen gently passed away January 6, 2000. She had seen the new century.
 
   
 
   
 
[http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/pages/Category:Rheva_Ott_Shryock Media related to Rheva Ott Shryock]
 
[http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/pages/Category:Rheva_Ott_Shryock Media related to Rheva Ott Shryock]

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