Invitational Tea

For the first few years of our chapter, members were invited to join the chapter by invitation of their friends and new members came in during any of the monthly meetings. Originally they were called associate members and later, as the group became more defined, the name was changed to provisional members. Each provisional had a sponsor and at one point there was a short-lived expectation that there be two sponsors for each one.

In 1958 the proposal was made to have a Provisional Membership Tea to introduce new members to the organization. The first one was held on September 14, 1958 at the home of Jane Murphy, the chapter President at that time. Joan McDermott and Evelyn Dannemiller were the co-chairmen for this event.

Each year since that time there has been a welcoming tea for the provisionals. All members were invited to attend the earlier teas, but in 1966 as the membership expanded, limited invitations were extended to only the provisionals, their sponsors, and the executive board. The current format includes an invitation to all of the past presidents as well as those listed above. During the tea a welcome is given by the President, and the Provisional Chairman outlines the requirements for the provisional year and briefly explains some of the activities of the chapter. During the early years a slide show about the life of Mary Virginia Merrick, the founder of the National Christ Child Society, was also shown.

Until 1968 these teas were held in the Fall, but in 1969 it was moved to the Spring with the plan that the new provisionals would then become active members the following year at the Corporate Communion Luncheon. The first Spring Invitational Tea was held at Jo Witt's home on May 18, 1969. The teas continued to be held in late April or early May until 2001 when they were moved to early August.