Alabama State Chapter History

Alabama P.E.O. history began in the late 1920’s when Stella Knapp, BV, Oklahoma moved from Iowa to Auburn, Alabama, with her husband, the president of Auburn University. By 1930 she and Harriet P. Seal, I, Florida, who also moved to Auburn from Iowa, received consent to select a charter list.

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Stella invited twenty women to her home, told them about the sisterhood, and asked them to sign their names if they were interested in becoming P.E.O. members. Twelve women did so. These women, together with Stella Knapp and Harriet Seal, formed the charter list for Chapter A, Alabama, which was organized by Hallie Newell, Organizer of Supreme Chapter, on March 24, 1930, in the Knapp home.

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New chapters developed slowly, but an Alabama State chapter became a possibility twenty-nine years later, when Chapter J, Huntsville, was organized, becoming the tenth chapter in the Alabama subordinate territory. On January 8, 1959, delegates from the ten chapters met in Auburn for a convocation and organization of the Alabama State Chapter by the Supreme Chapter, the highest body of P.E.O. at that time. In 1980 by vote of the Supreme Chapter in convention, the name of the Sisterhood was changed to the International Chapter.

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At that time the organization of new chapters was the responsibility of the Organizer of the Supreme Chapter and the charter for newly organized chapters was presented to a delegate from the chapter at the next Supreme Convention. Alabama chapters A through J, as subordinate territory chapters, and the Alabama State Chapter, all received their charters at Supreme Conventions. Chapter K, organized May 19, 1961 was the first chapter in Alabama to receive its charter at an Alabama State convention.

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A State chapter was a new world to Alabama P.E.O.s. Instead of a small group of sisters, there were ten times as many within the geographical area. There were new bylaws, statewide officers, a different type of budget that called for travel within the state and to Supreme Convention, and a long-range planning committee to set the trend for Alabama P.E.O.s. For details and memories about the first sixty-five years of P.E.O. in Alabama, see The First Sixty-five Years. The P.E.O. Sisterhood in Alabama, by Mary Isabel Wilson, Published by the Past State Presidents, Alabama State Chapter P.E.O., 1997. Each Alabama Chapter President has a copy in the President’s box.

By Elizabeth Y. Davis

Past President, Alabama State Chapter

There are 42 chapters in Alabama, with an active membership of 1,319. Chapters, locations, and dates of organization are listed in the table below.

(*membership total is as of Mar 1st, 2024)

P.E.O. Chapters in Alabama