Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton ’77 and Carol Morley Beck ’77 lived together in the Chi Omega house almost 50 years ago. On Oct. 12, they reunited for the first time in that same house to celebrate the Rho Gamma chapter of Chi Omega’s centennial celebration, commemorating a century of cardinal and straw sisterhood on Hillsdale’s campus.

“I think we think of alumni and older women in the 50s and 60s who were in Chi O as a concept, and it was different seeing them in person. It made it more real, and it made the centennial more meaningful,” said senior Anna Tenzca, Rho Gamma’s alumni relations director. “It was really beautiful to see people come back to an organization to celebrate how it has touched everyone’s lives, and it made the concept of alumni more concrete.”

Knowlton and Beck represent one of many reunions – 175 active and alumna members attended the centennial celebration. The event included a luncheon featuring speaker Missy Ganaway Pask from the Chi Omega national governing council. Alumnae also toured the house, exchanged stories, and tailgated together before the homecoming football game.

“I loved hearing about everyone’s own path in their lives, like the woman I was sitting next to who publishes children’s books,” Tenzca said. “She was so fun, and she was open, and she wanted to reminisce about her crazy college stories, and she wanted to hear mine. We totally would have been friends  in college.”

At the luncheon, Centennial Board President Ronda Deer ’60 was surprised with a lifetime achievement award from Rho Gamma in recognition of her exceptional contribution and commitment.

“I was very surprised and very honored to receive this award,” Deer said. “My love for Chi Omega, especially Rho Gamma, runs deep, and I have loved giving back to what Greek life has given to me.”

The chapter has been saving money for this celebration since the 75th anniversary celebration. Co-chairs Deer and Kristen Tomasic ’08 spearheaded the event planning committee from the decorations to the menu to the invitations and the grassroots social media reminders.

“It adds a little bit of stress, because it’s a personal event, it means so much for people to have a good time and really feel like part of the sisterhood in the community and feel the celebration,” Tomasic said. “It’s not just an everyday event. It means a lot to so many people. There’s a little bit more pressure for everybody to come together and think of all the generations that you want to make sure it’s special for.”

Despite the labor, Tomasic said it was worth the work.

“It’s a once in a lifetime; none of us will see 200,” Tomasic said.

The centennial planning committee included 14 members. The tailgate was organized by the President of the Chi Omega House Corps Lee Tonnies ’75.

“Chi O is a family,” Tonnies said. “Those of us who live close get a chance to know all the members, which is important. But they don’t because they’re far away, so it’s wonderful to see that everything that was important 50 years ago is still important.”

Liz Eberline Redpath ’74, Mary Daman Wesche ’75, and Sheila Main ’75 remembered their years as active Chi Omegas. Wesche was the President of Chi Omega during the 50th anniversary celebration.

“I started out as house manager, so I had that lovely job of reminding all the girls of the stupid things they were doing in the house without them getting mad,” Wesche said. “Then somehow I became president too.”

Wesche reminisced on the use of her presidential power to prank her sisters before she graduated.

She and one other senior who graduated in December convinced everybody with a fake postcard that Winnie Bowker, the President of Chi Omega nationals at the time, was coming to Hillsdale for a visit. They sent girls to the airport dressed in Chi Omega gear with signs, before receiving a call a couple hours later that Bowker was never scheduled to come.

“It was talked about for a long, long time,” Wesche said.

Redpath traveled for the induction of her husband Ian Redpath ’72 into the Hillsdale Athletic Hall of Fame and to see old friends, but Facebook only goes so far.

“It was a wonderful group of girls that were like a family group, and I made lasting friends,” Redpath said. “It just means a lot, and now with Facebook, we can reconnect. Unfortunately, there’s a lot who can’t because they’re not there. And then if they’re on Facebook, they don’t put their maiden name.”

Several alumnae remembered a time when women had to wear dresses to the dining hall on Sunday. The women of Chi Omega found a loophole.

“We all got maxi coats and put them on over our pajamas because we refused to get in a dress on Sunday morning to go have breakfast,” Karen Newman Labadie ’73 said. “Now, you could just wear pajama pants anywhere.”

Beck was an adviser for the house, so on top of seeing old roommates, she was excited to see the girls she oversaw throughout her time.

“I’m friends with a lot of them on Facebook from when they got married, to when they had kids, to when they’re now working,” Beck said. “And so I might not recognize them but they will know me.”

Recently graduated alumnae also returned to see the women they once saw almost every day. Mary Ann Powers ’24, who now works as the executive assistant to Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn, described the experience as both perfectly normal and surreal.

“I love seeing all the different generations that have gone through this house and hearing their stories,” Powers said. “and getting to share this common experience and treasure that we all hold dear.”

Tenzca shared similar sentiments from the event.

“It was just really touching to see everyone, regardless of age, getting along and being genuinely happy to talk to each other,” Tenzca said.