I About the Sorority I History I

On September 15, 1968 , Lynn King established the sisterhood of Alpha Omega. King’s journey to establish the first and only local of Alpha Omega goes as follows:

As a senior at Notre Dame Academy , in Tyngsboro, Mass., King secretly researched fraternities and sororities. Because of her concealment of the research, King did not find much information. King’s English teacher, Bob Gertz, nickname her “Sunshine,” as every morning in class, she was awake, alert and bright eyed.

While on a religious Catholic-retreat, King saw the letters AW on an altar.  Alpha, which was the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega, the last, combined to signify "the beginning and the end.”  King chose these letters because it was the beginning of her new life at college and recently ended life in high school.

With an old constitution from Kappa Sigma, who was going national that summer, King sat a top a raft at Red Jacket Beach and revised the constitution to form the framework of Alpha Omega. 

As a freshman music major in September 1968, King hung signs around Lowell State asking women to join Alpha Omega.  That October, with the ladies who responded, King discussed the constitution and how the sorority would be run.  The following spring, the new sisters took on offices. King became the first pledge mistress and initiated the first pledge class.  The following semester (fall 1969) Alpha Omega’s second pledge class was initiated.

In 1970 King left Lowell State for political reasons; a radical threatened King for expressing her views. At the time Karen Mishim was president.

In 1978 Alpha Omega started to die out.  There were only three sisters left: Ellie Bouin (Secretary/Treasurer), Patt Biren (Vice President), and Gayle Laverty (President). That year the sorority had no big sisters as a pledge class of nine were initiated, including Cecile Bosse, Kathy Heinze, Chris Horezzy, Paula Potvim, Lisa Thomas, Debbie Vose, Mary Borque, Tricia Crawford and Lynn Grant. Determined to rebuild the sorority, Thomas became president and remained in office for 2 years.  Under Thomas’ direction the sisterhood of Alpha Omega began to thrive, once again.

In 1983 Lowell University was pressuring Alpha Omega to become affiliated with a national organization so someone else, besides the university could be held accountable for the sorority and its actions.  The sisters, on the other hand, wanted to become national for financial reasons.  Alpha Omega wanted a house and a national organization could back just that. In order to maintain who they were and the sorority’s name, the Alpha Omega decided upon the national organization Delta Phi Epsilon.

On April 1, 1984 Alpha Omega was inducted as a chapter into Delta Phi Epsilon.  Many problems arose between Alpha Omega and the Delta Phi Epsilon national office.  One issue was Janet Cunningham's dog, Lilly, who lived with her at her 4 th Ave apartment.  The national office felt a dog did not belong in the apartment because it was considered the sorority house.  In addition, the national office was charging outrageous fees and dues.  The nationals were supposed to find Alpha Omega a house, a while the sorority was running out of money.

In a letter from the Delta Phi Epsilon national office to Alpha Omega it was stated the sorority was to now be called Phi Omega. When election’s rolled around the two candidates up for the presidency, Carolann Holmberg (Miranda) and Beth Houlihan fought a battle that would change the future of Alpha Omega. In the end Holmberg won by two votes. The Delta Phi Epsilon national office, however, wanted Houlihan to be president.  Additionally, the national office said that Valerie Newell and Marybeth Dempsey had not paid their dues and their votes did not count.  Holmberg, Marybeth and Valerie all became blackballed from Phi Omega.

In 1986, Alpha Omega decided to break away from Delta Phi Epsilon.  Three sisters stayed with Delta Phi Epsilon, the remaining sisters, including Karen Greene (Kilroy), Mary Cullen, Rhonda Brassil (Rhealt), Dawn Kinnear, Paula Abney, Pattiann McKluskey, Susan Komporas, Newell, Dempsey, Holmberg and Cunningham formed Alpha Omega again.  These 10 sisters went to the IFSC and asked for another charter, rewrote the old constitution, and elected Holmberg president.

That same year Alpha Omega found a place to call home as they rented the house at 21 Mount Hope St .

The sisters were worried in the fall of 1993 because there was not a pledge class and a lot of sisters graduating in the spring.  A class of eight in spring 1994 gave the sisters peace that the sorority would not die.  Alpha Omega was at an all time high with about 25 active sisters and great alumni support.  In addition the sisters had done a lot of work to the house and it was looking good. The bathroom and kitchen were remodeled, along with new ceilings installed throughout the house.

Despite sister moral at an all-time high, the pledge classes kept getting smaller as each semester passed. In the fall of 1994 there was a class of three, then a class of two, then a class of one.  In the spring semester of 1997 there were only seven active sisters, three of which and three were going Alumni, including Keri Boyd, Bridget Lewis and Lisa DeChristoforo.  Only one sister, Joleen Sylvain, was living in the house at the time.

On top of the frail number of active sisters, the owner of 21 Mt. Hope St. was not putting Alpha Omega’s rent toward the mortgage.  After several warnings the bank repossessed the house that we call “Alpha Omega,” and an auction gave way to a new owner.  At an Alumni/active meeting held on " AW Beach," a decision was made for Alpha Omega to move out of 21 Mt Hope Street .  On June 1, 1997 the sorority officially left the house.

The sisters felt like Alpha Omega was falling to pieces with no central meeting place, with no place to call home and only seven active sisters, including Stephanie Kula, Lucy McRae, Laurie Johnson, Eve Lavendier, Cindy Pihl, Renee Trombly and Sylvain.

In September 1997, alumnus Eileen Mullen informed Alpha Omega that her brother-in-law’s house on Dane St. was for rent. Although the house was on the opposite end of the University Ave. bridge from all the other Greek houses, the sorority felt it was a start.  Four sisters moved into the house, including Laurie Dzengelewski, Johnson, Kula and Trombly moved in.  Alpha Omega’s luck did linger, that semester all the pledges dropped and two sisters, Kula and Sylvain went alumni.  The sisters could no longer afford to rent the house and allowed independents to move in.  Dzengelewski was the only sister that stayed at Dane Street .  Alpha Omega initiated one pledge class of four at Dane Street , but due to privacy reasons, the sisters could no longer hold functions at the house.

In January 1998 six sisters, including Andrea Libby, Jeanine Rodgers, Sandra Valatis, Lavendier, Johnson, Dzengelewski started renting a townhouse in the “reds” on the opposite end of Mt Hope Street .  That fall Alpha Omega initiated a class of eight, including Melissa Burns, Wendy Randall, Elise Schrieber, Andrea Holland, Melinda Nogales, Brooke Johnson, Laina Smith and Lynn Bloomquist, nearly doubling the amount of active sisters. A class of one, Jen Rosing, pledged next semester, spring 1999.

The sorority was beginning to prosper once again. A large class of six was initiated in fall 1999, including LaKeeva Stanely, Vilavone Simmai, Jen McClean, Nancy McKain, Michele Graboski, and Meghan Sarault.  In the spring a class of three was produced, including Catherine DeFelice, Naomi McGaw and Christina Sousa.  Five sophomores pledge during the fall semester of 2000 including Rebekah Giordano, Deniele Morrissey, Rhiannon Marr-Hibbard, Katherine Arnone and Karen Flaherty. The spring 2001 pledge class dropped, but a class of four was initiated fall 2001, including Marci Sweatman, Ginger Dodge, Maya Levitsky, and Laurie O'Neill.  

For the next two semesters no pledges completed the pledging process and Alpha Omega was starting to die out.  The sisters knew it was important to find quality ladies to join the sorority because at the end of the spring 2003 semester all but three sisters might be left after losing actives to graduation or being able to go alumni.

After four dedicated years to the sorority, Schreiber ended up being the only sister to go alumni at the end of the semester. However, Schreiber stayed around and was involved with the sorority, almost as much the active sisters, acting like an advisor.  

During the spring 2003 semester Alpha Omega was committed to finding quality ladies to continue out the traditions of the sorority.  Careful attention was made to ladies who possessed characteristics of being able to finish the pledging process, all while upholding its values and traditions.  With the new initiative a class of four was inducted into the sorority in spring 2003, followed by a lone pledge in fall 2003. Another class of four followed in spring 2004, with each semester there after having a healthy class of ladies to join Alpha Omega.

Today the traditions of Alpha Omega continue.  Although not an enormous group, the sisterhood prides itself on the closeness and family like environment they posses...

-AW-

I About the Sorority I History I