Delta Pi Delta members meet at the Glenview in Naples

For the final meeting of the 2013-2014 year, members of Delta Pi Delta met at the Glenview at Pelican Bay in Naples, Florida. Arlene “Scottie” Flatley was our hostess. In honor of Phyllis Verrone and her fiancé, John Lampman, members planned a little surprise by providing Phyllis and John with their best recipes and handy kitchen utensils in time for their marriage on June 7 of next month. Phyllis promptly gave John the recipes. Members also got to serenade Phyllis and John with the Alpha Chi “Sweetheart Song,” an AX song we don’t get the opportunity to sing very often. 

Our special guest presenter was Jeanne Bradley, who was the Executive Director of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in Washington, D.C., from 1979 to 1991. Jeanne regaled us with stories about raising funds for MS while rubbing elbows with the rich, the famous, the powerful and the influential. Jeanne brought along some interesting mementoes of her days in Washington, including photos of herself with easily recognizable personalities. Jeanne was quite a good story-teller, and she was quite a good fund-raiser, too, having raised more than 35 million dollars while she was at the head of the MS Society. She now lives in a retirement community in Naples, Florida. 

After the meeting, Scottie, who lives at the Glenview, invited everyone to come up and  take in the panoramic views from her high-rise penthouse apartment.

Fresh orchids, fancy flower-motif napkins and the Alpha Chi lyre

The orchid bouquet

Fran, Shirley, Alycia and Brenda and more fresh flowers in the centerpiece

Donna, Darlene, Jane and Denny

Barbara, Carolyn and Rosemary

Jackie, Nancy, Sue and Betty

Sandi and Ann, AX alums from Purdue, who have only recently become acquainted with each other

Doris and Anne

Scottie and Jean, and Allison and Jeanne, our Guest Presenter

Fashionista Allison, in floral jeans we all wish we could wear as well as she does

Lyndy, John and Phyllis

Brier was our waitress. She is also an Alpha Chi in her junior year at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, located in central Florida

John and Phyllis during the Sweetheart Serenade

Surprise gifts for Phyllis and John

Our lunch, a chicken-mushroom crepe with fruit and a wheat berry side serving. The dessert was a chocolate ice cream/brownie concoction to die for.

Jeanne Bradley at the mic

The audience greatly enjoyed Jeanne’s anecdotes about life in our capital.

Jeanne Bradley

Jeanne’s mementoes
The vase behind the photos contains freshly-picked gardenias, whose smell was glorious. Shirley brought each member a gardenia as well.

The Social List of Washington, D.C., “the Green Book,” lists the most prominent Washingtonians from the ranks of business, law, government, philanthropy, technology, and more. It has been published by four generations of the same family since 1930. Selection to the book is by invitation only; however, nominees require a second sponsor and are subject to approval by The Green Book Governing Board. I never knew a list like this existed, much less was published annually.

Frank Sinatra and Jeanne in the center of the pic

Barbara Bush and Jeanne

Elizabeth Taylor on the left and Jeanne on the right

Jeanne on the far left and Rosalynn Carter in the center

Zsa Zsa Gabor looks stunning in this photo with Jeanne.

Delta Pi Delta Members Visit Artis-Naples

On April 12, 2014, members of Delta Pi Delta Alumnae Chapter met at Artis-Naples, the home of the Naples Philharmonic and The Baker Museum. Members first assembled in the courtyard of the Baker Museum on a beautiful spring day in Naples, Florida, before having a catered buffet lunch. 

After lunch, the first exhibit we saw was “Museum to Scale 1:7,” which is a collection of approximately 70 diorama  mini art galleries devoted to Belgian artists and art movements. Each exhibit, approximately 3 feet wide by 2 feet high by 2 feet deep, is an art gallery conceived by the artist and composed of his own work, miniaturized to a scale of 1/7. The installations were fascinating and a lot to absorb because there were so many artistic subjects and styles represented. “Rediscovering Egypt” is an exhibit from the Daheesh Museum of Art of New York City. The “rediscovering” part happened after Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798, which inspired scholars, artists and archaeologists  to visit Egypt and explore its ancient and contemporary culture. The exhibit includes original engravings and orientalist works from the Daheesh Museum. The last exhibit we visited was “Florida Contemporary,” which features local photographers, painters, sculptors and graphic artists and looks at trends in the art scene.  The Chihuly sculpture hangs in this gallery.

Ernest Trova sculpted a series of armless male figures over five decades. “FM6 Walking Jackman, ” one of his highly polished metal sculptures, is in front of the Naples Philharmonic.

Six almost life-size figures radiate from a cube. They are armless and featureless. The sculpture is a later rendition of Trova's Falling Man series, one in a series of nine.

Another highly polished metal sculpture in front of the Phil

Nancy at the entrance to the Baker Museum courtyard
The sculpture at the entrance gate is by metal artist Albert Paley.

This figure sits atop a column in the courtyard of the  Baker Museum. The sculptor is Hanneke Beaumont, a Dutch-born sculptor. The name of the sculpture is “L’ennui” or “Boredom.”

Esther and Valary waiting for our group to assemble before lunch

Allison, Sandy, Ann and Phyllis

Denny and Pat

Phyllis and Allison

Pat and Esther

Nancy, Barbara, Amy and Rosemary

Sharon, Teddy and Ann

Sandy, Rosemary and Donna

Carol and Mary

Phyllis, Brenda, Phyllis, Sasha, Sandy and Shirley right before the luncheon started

Kathy, Donna and Lillian, who were all in the same
AX alumnae group, Eta Tau Eta, in the Cleveland, Ohio, area.

Sasha and Phyllis in the buffet line

Co-presidents Shirley and Ann

Darlene in Easter colors

Birthday Girl Linda

Ronda, last month's Birthday Girl

Jackie, Sandi and Peggy

Kathy with art work--everywhere you looked was a piece of art, even in this corner

The domed glass and steel structure of the Figge Conservatory

The Figge Conservatory

Our group waiting to enter the museum

An exhibit from the “Museum to Scale” by Frank Maieu. If you look closely, you can see various artists portrayed in a humorous manner. Van Gogh, with a bandaged ear is right in the center of the exhibit on the "paintbrush cross." Salvador Dali is to his right, and Picasso is to his left, among other artists.

The lobby of the Naples Philharmonic

A Dale Chihuly sculpture, “Red Chandelier,”

 in the “Florida Contemporary”  exhibit in the west gallery of the Philharmonic