By Beth Christian Broschart
The Parson Advocate
PARSONS – Members of the Red Hat Purple Majesties shared an Italian Buffet lunch, catered by John Bush of Parsons, recently while meeting at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Parsons. The Parsons Chicks, including Phyllis Carr, Janet Coleman, Diane Dilly, Jane Parsons, Mary Ann Phillips, Linda Tucci and Parsons Mayor Dorothy Judy served as Duchesses for the event.
The group wished a happy birthday to members Gerri Davis, Evelyn Warner, Jane Parsons, Frances Crickard, Linda Tucci, Susie Ware, Sharon McQuain, Debbie Fortney and Pauline Newlon. A few of the group participated in a game, acting like animals, and those present voted for the very best imitation.
Red Hat Purple Majesties member Carmen Holmes said the Red Hat Purple Majesties started years ago when a woman who loved to wear red hats met with a friend for lunch.
“There was a woman who just loved to wear red hats and she read the poem, ‘Warning,’ by Jenny Joseph and she was in a store one day,” Holmes said. “She saw a big red fedora and she bought it for a friend who just lost her husband. She and her friend went to lunch together and she gave her friend the big beautiful hat and told her to wear the red fedora with a purple dress. You can imagine the amazement of the two women who dared to wear red hats and purple dresses.”
Holmes said people came up to the duo and inquired what their group was. “She went back home and thought about it and then started the Red Hat Society,” Holmes said. “It became really popular with a sea of women sporting red hats and purple dresses and going to lunch. Pretty soon it grew into literally hundreds of thousands of women in more than 20,000 chapters in nearly every country in the world. That is how the groups started.”
Holmes said one person recently approached her and asked her what the group does.
“We do whatever we want to do,” Holmes said laughing. “The only rule is there are no rules. There is just something about putting that red hat on your head that makes you go a little bit wild and wonderful.”
The next gathering of the Red Hat Purple Majesties is slated for 11:30 a.m. Sept. 14 at the Lightburns Restaurant at Stonewall Resort. The next Queen Mother or Queen Mothers will be named during this meeting. To make reservations, contact Queen Mother Jackie Bright at 304-636-3554 or Queen Mother Susan Channell at 304-636-7221 by Sept. 10.
