Our Notable Sisters in KD
Pearl Sydenstricker Buck
Theta-Randolph Macon
is the renowned author of over seventy books -- novels, short stories, plays, biography, autobiography, translations (from Chinese), children's literature, drama, essays, journalism and poetry. She is the first American women to win the Nobel Prize in literature; she also won a Pulitzer Prize, the Howells Medal, an election to the National Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and a dozen honorary degrees. Her novels continue to be read around the world, in English and in scores of translations. Buck was very active in the American civil rights and women's rights movements. She published essays in both Crisis, the journal of the NAACP, and Opportunity, the magazine of the Urban League; she was a trustee of Howard University for twenty years, beginning in the early 1940s. In 1942, Pearl and her husband founded the East and West Association, dedicated to cultural exchange and understanding between Asia and the West. In 1949, outraged that existing adoption services considered Asian and mixed-race children unadoptable, Pearl established Welcome House, the first international, inter-racial adoption agency, In the nearly five decades of its work, Welcome House has assisted in the placement of over 7,000 children. Buck is the adoptive mother of six bi-racial children herself, in addition to other two daughters, founded Welcome House to help other bi-racial children grow up in the love of a family.
Georgia O'Keeffe
Beta-Chatham Episcopal
Recipient of the nation's highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom. While attending Chatham (Virginia) Episcopal Institute from 1903 to 1905, Chatham's principal and art instructor, Elizabeth May Willis, recognized and encouraged O'Keeffe's interest in art. In her senior year, O'Keeffe served as art editor of the school yearbook Mortar Board. As early as the mid-1920s, O'Keeffe became recognized as one of America's most important and successful artists, known best for her large-scale depictions of flowers as if seen close up. By the fall of 1915, while teaching art at Columbia College in Columbia, South Carolina, O'Keeffe attempted to discover a personal language through which she could express her own feelings and ideas; she began a series of abstract charcoal drawings that are now recognized as being among the most innovative in all of American art of the period. O'Keeffe continued to work in oil until the mid-1970s, when failing eyesight forced her to abandon painting, although she continued working in pencil and watercolor until 1982. She also produced objects in clay until her health failed in 1984. She died two years later, at the age of 98. O'Keeffe's legacy continues at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Kappa Delta is a proud supporter of the museum's Art and Leadership Program for Girls.
Claudia Kennedy
Alpha Delta-Rhodes
Kennedy is the United States Army's first female three-star general and highest ranking female officer in Army history (now retired.) Lt. During her career, she received numerous awards and decorations, including the Legion of Merit (three Oak Leaf Clusters), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Medal (three Oak Leaf Clusters), the Army Commendation Medal (three Oak Leaf Clusters) and the Army Staff Identification Badge. In 1998, Kennedy was presented with the Living Legacy Patriot Award, as an extraordinary leader of the United States Army, representing all exceptional women of the U. S. Army. Kennedy has held a variety of command and staff positions throughout her career. Key assignments include: Commander, 3d Operations Battalion, U.S. Army Field Station Augsburg, Germany; Commander, San Antonio Recruiting Battalion, U.S. Army Recruiting Command; and Commander, 703d Military intelligence Brigade, Field Station Kunia, Hawaii. She has served as Operations Officer, U.S. Army Field Station Augsburg, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command; Staff Officer, Directorate of Training, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, Washington, DC; the Director of Intelligence, G2, Forces Command, Fort McPherson, Georgia, as Deputy Commander, U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca/Assistant Commandant, U.S. Army Intelligence School at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. She was confirmed by the Senate for promotion to Lieutenant General and Assigned to the position of Deputy Chief of Staff at Headquarters, Department of the Army, Washington, DC for intelligence as of May 21, 1997.
Bonnie Dunbar
Sigma Iota-Washington
Dunbar, a Space Shuttle Astronaut, was inducted into the Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame, one of five women in the world so honored. With five NASA Space Flight Medals, Dunbar has logged more than 1,208 hours (50 days) in space. She served as a mission specialist on five space flights, spending over 761 hours in space on just 3 of her 5 spaceflights. Dunbar is considered one of the most experienced female astronauts in the world. Her space missions include the: STS 61-A in 1985, STS-32 in 1990, STS-71 in 1995, Payload Commander on STS-50 in 1992, and STS-89 in 1998. The 1992 mission was a two week assignment aboard the Microgravity Laboratory. During this mission, the crew conducted several experiments on space manufacturing. In February 1994, she traveled to Star City, Russia, where she spent 13-months training as a back-up crew member for a 3-month flight on the Russian Space Station, Mir. From October 1995 to November 1996, she was detailed to the NASA JSC Mission Operations Directorate as Assistant Director where she was responsible for chairing the International Space Station Training Readiness Reviews, and facilitating Russian/American operations and training strategies. Currently, Dunbar serves as Assistant Director to the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) with a focus on university research. Dunbar is a private pilot with over 200 hours in single engine land aircraft, has logged more than 700 hours flying time in T-38 jets as co-pilot, and has over 100 hours as co-pilot in a Cessna Citation Jet.
Donna Stone
Lambda-Northwestern
Stone is the founder of the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, now Prevent Child Abuse America, one of Kappa Delta's national philanthropies. The agency led the way in building awareness, providing education and inspiring hope in the effort to prevent the abuse and neglect of our nation's children. Stone served as president of the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation, board member of the National Council on Philanthropy, Child Welfare League of America, Juvenile Protective Association and the White House Fellows Board. She was appointed by President Ford to the President's Advisory Board and the Board of Trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Preforming Arts in Washington, D.C. Her philanthropic vision and legacy continues today through the W.Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation, Prevent Child Abuse America, and the Kappa Delta Foundation.
Patricia Wood Barnes
Delta Delta-Troy
In 1989, Sister Schubert (dubbed "Sister" by a sibling) was baking her now famous rolls in the kitchen of her home for her small catering business and for friends and family using recipes belonging to her grandmother and other family members. That year, she donated some of her rolls to the food fair at her church. She filled 80 orders; the next year, 200; and the following year, 300. Today Sister Schubert's Homemade Rolls is a multi-million dollar corporation owned by the T. Marzetti Company with Sister and her husband running the business. Her rolls can be found in the freezer section of grocery stores in more than half the states in the U.S. Sister was presented the Woman of Achievement Award at the 2005 convention.
Patricia Polito Miller
Sigma Upsilon-Indiana
Co-founder of Vera Bradley Designs, former Secretary of Commerce for the State of Indiana and CEO of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, recipient of Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year award, founder of the Vera Bradley Breast Cancer Foundation. Awarded the Distinguished Alumni Service Award for her work with the Indiana University School of Medicine and the IU Foundation, where she serves on the board of directors. She has also been named both the Indiana Business Leader of the Year and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the Year. In 1997, Patricia Miller was recognized by Kappa Delta Sorority as a Woman of Achievement.
