The Owl – June, 1908 – Fraternities

I took a detour for a bit but am now back to documenting The Owl, Fresno High School’s yearbook.  I last wrote about The Commencement Number from June, 1908 here.  There are so many photos from this edition that I’m breaking it down into small pieces. 

Next up – Fraternities



Fresno High School students were very involved in activities and as I learn more about their organizations, the more it sounds like a college.  There were even fraternities represented on campus!

Delta Iota Chi was represented, although there isn’t too much information about them.


The names are hard to read so in order to make it easier, they are:  Dorothy Noble, Ann Collins, Bernice Pierce, Lynette Morgan, Marguerite McLane, Elise Hall, Doris Zieske, Leora Schaeffer, Verna Aldrich, Hazel Fisher, Eleanoro Webster, Isabel Hoover, Mila Cearley, Edith Noble, Anna Tupper, Elizabeth Hawes, Bernice Olney, Hazel Beall, Marfreda Danks, Elsie Worswick, Helen Miller, Alice Miller

Every one of them has their hair pulled back and look at the bows!

And then came Gamma Eta Kappa.  Many districts of this fraternity and the Fresno chapter (Lambda) was included in the Alpha District along with San Francisco, Stockton, Oakland, San Jose (my hometown), Santa Cruz, and Sacramento.  There were also representatives from Southern California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and New York.


Albert Becker, Hugh McNulty, Carol Liseby, Blaine Rogers, Floyd W. Cowan, Alfred Becker, Seaborn Phillips, Louis B. McWhirter, Robert Collins, James Beveridge, Chester Minard, George Beveridge, Cuyler Leonard, Penn Cummings, Dick Crawford, John Morgan, Clarence McKay, Ben R. Walker, Ralph Rehorn, Bertrand W. Gearhart, John Phillips, Niel McNulty, Edward Waterman, Will Tupper, Clinton Collins.

Another women’s fraternity on campus was Lambda Theta Phi.


Marcia Edwards, Fredo Olufs, Ietta Wills, Elka Wormser, Margaret Cory, Jeannie Beveridge, Lewella Swift, Hazel Cartwright, Blanche Moore, Margherita Beveridge, Gertrude Swift, Violet Hodgkin, Beaulah Miller, Margaret Kenyon, Marguerite Vogel, Leota Marshall, Dorothea Burdick.


I’m starting to see some of thee same surnames in different organizations – siblings or cousins, I suppose.

And finally Pi Delta Koppa.


Frank Short, Russell Hall, Perry Pierson, James Spratt, Harry B. Paulden, Gus Hoover, Edwin Einstein, Ronald Harris, Kenneth Elmore, George Spratt, Hollis Pierson, Everett Hickman, Alec Robb

What I found particularly interesting about this fraternity entry in The Owl was the Pi Delta Koppa Chapter Roll.



It is so interesting to see all of the schools represented, especially San Jose High School since it was in my hometown.  Our high school, which was fairly new in my day, played sports against San Jose High School and while I realized then it was an older school, I had no idea it was in existence in 1908 (or before).  So I googled it and learned that it is the second oldest public high school in California and was founded in 1863.  Who knew?

* Looks like Lowell High School in San Francisco, founded in 1856, is the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi.