Today was the October lunch for the KCAOII day group. Lunch with this crew is always fun (check out 94-year-old Iota alum Wini’s pink hair!), but today’s lunch had some extra special touches. First, the lunch was held at Sarah Lowry’s villa. Sarah is in the back row on the left in blue. Sarah is the owner of the rose china pictured below.
The story behind the rose china is tied to both Sarah & Deanna Hensley. Sarah & Deanna both got the rose china as wedding presents after they were AOIIs at KU’s Phi chapter. Both sets ended up in Sarah’s hands after Deanna inherited china from her mother and no longer had the need for multiple sets of china. Now, KCAOII day group meetings are a great excuse to eat in AOII style!
Another featured item at this month’s day group luncheon was this historic AOII bowl brought by Betty Graham. (Betty is in brown sitting on the couch in the picture above.)
At one time, this bowl belonged to Jessie Marie Cramer, a past Phi chapter and AOII International president. Jessie was good friends with Myrtle Brown, who was also a Phi. During their time at KU, Jessie & Myrtle used the bowl during rush for teas held at the house and somehow Myrtle ended up with the bowl after her time at KU. Myrtle’s daughter, Lavonne, was high school friends with Betty Graham, and upon Myrtle’s passing, Lavonne brought the bowl to Betty. Myrtle had willed the bowl to Betty as she wanted it to stay in the AOII family. This antique Bavarian china, gold embossed bowl has been in Betty’s possession ever since. Betty guesses the bowl is at least 100 years old and is looking to send the bowl to AOII Nationals to be displayed as a part of AOII history.
Thanks to today’s day group luncheon, KCAOII has started our collection of items for KC Panhel’s Operation Breakthrough support and we also received more financial donations for the KCAOII Jingle Bell Run team supporting the Arthritis Foundation. Thanks to Day Group Membership coordinator Cherie Smith for organizing today’s day group luncheon.