To learn more about The Red Hat Society click on
me!
Welcome to our web site
We are
an official Chapter (Chapter ID 36212) of the Red Hat Society.
Queen -
Jan Wells
How The Red Hat Society Started
While visiting a friend in Tucson several years
ago, Sue Ellen impulsively bought a bright red fedora at a thrift shop, for no
other reason than that it was cheap and, she thought, quite dashing. A year or
two later she read the poem "Warning" by Jenny Joseph, which depicts an older
woman in purple clothing with a red hat. Sue Ellen felt an immediate kinship
with Ms. Joseph. She decided that her birthday gift to her dear friend, Linda
Murphy, would be a vintage red hat and a copy of the poem. She has always
enjoyed whimsical decorating ideas, so she thought the hat would look nice
hanging on a hook next to the framed poem. Linda got so much enjoyment out of
the hat and the poem that Sue Ellen gave the same gift to another friend, then
another, then another.
One day it occurred to these friends that they were becoming a sort
of "Red Hat Society" and that perhaps they should go out to tea... in full
regalia. Since the narrator of the poem threatens to "...wear purple and a red
hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me...", they decided they would each find
a purple dress to complete the image.
The tea was a smashing success.
Soon, each of them thought of another woman or two she wanted to
include, and they bought more red hats. Their group swelled to 18, and they
began to encourage other interested people to start their own chapters (18 women
don't fit well around a tea table. One of their members passed along the idea to
a friend of hers in Florida, and their first "sibling" group was born.
Sue Ellen's fondest hope is that these societies will proliferate
far and wide. We have now held two successful Red Hat Society conventions-
entire hotels filled with women of a certain age wearing red hats and purple
outfits! Could world domination be far behind?
"Ode to
the Red Hat Society"
by Sue Ellen Cooper
A poet put it very well. She said when she was older,
She wouldn't be so meek and mild. She threatened to get bolder.
She'd put a red hat on her head, and purple on her shoulder.
She'd make her life a warmer place, her golden years much golder.
We read that poem, all of us, and grasped what she is saying.
We do not need to sit and knit, although we all are graying.
We think about what we can do. Our plans we have been laying.
Instead of working all the time, we'll be out somewhere playing.
We take her colors to our hearts, and then we all go shopping
For purples clothes and hats of red, with giant brims a-flopping.
We're tired of working all the time, and staying home and mopping.
We order pies and chocolate fudge, and rich desserts with topping.
We crown ourselves as duchesses and countesses and queens.
We prove that playing dress-up isn't just for Halloween.
We drape ourselves in jewels, feathers, boas, and sateen.
We see ourselves on television and in magazines.
We laugh, we cry, we hug a lot. We keep each other strong.
When one of us goes out for fun, the rest all go along.
We gad about, we lunch and munch, in one big happy throng.
We've found the place where we fit in, the place we all belong.
Carefree Ladies 
