TheNusLetter

The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International Nu Chapter #13 Area 7 Alpha State, Texas
Volume 21 No. 7
April 2015
Hays & Blanco Counties

The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International promotes professional

and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education.
Leading Women Educators Impacting Education Worldwide
Editor: Mary Nabers
mmbnab@gmail.com

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

First Baptist Church, Kyle Texas
Dinner: 6:00 pm, Meeting: 6:30 pm
Nu Chapter is 85!
A Celebration of Nu Chapters Birthday
Dress of the DayHats and Gloves to
honor our History
with Music Through the Decades!
Dr. Barbara Davis Wins Award

The Texas State Organization and Nu Chapter of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, are
proud to present Barbara with a Member in Print Award for her article, Navigating the Roles of
Leadership: Mentors' Perspectives on Teacher Leadership. Her article featured Gracie Rocha, another
recent Nu initiate.
The certificate will be presented in San Antonio at the Opening Session on Thursday evening, June
25th at 7:00 p.m. We would be honored with your presence in San Antonio to receive this
award. Congratulations on your achievement. Nu Chapter hopes that many of us can be there to
cheer Barbara as she receives this award.

*****************************************************************************
International President Lynn Schmid: 85 Years and Beyond:
Advancing Key Women Educators for Life
State President Nancy Newton: Expand the Vision:
Educate, Inspire, Encourage
Challenge: How can NU Chapter carry out Presidential themes?
We can look to the next 85 years, finding ways to carry on DKG vision, making DKG relevant for
key women educators in the future

Straight from Sandra

April, the month of rebirth. Arent the wildflowers gorgeous? And, this is only the beginning of
them. Interesting how something so seemingly insignificant can make such an impact when they
all come together. Thats the way I feel about our Society.
Each of us go our separate directions each day and fill our lives, and hopefully others, with rich
and wondrous things. At the end of the day, do you feel fulfilled? Do you feel you missed out on
something? Are you satisfied with your day?
Think of what happens when each of us come together at our meetings. We each offer one
another bits and pieces of our day. We each have a different approach to world issues and
perhaps even everyday issues as well. We celebrate good times and grieve the sad ones and by
each, we show how much we care and mean to each other. But, when we work together as a
unit, we feel like we can change the world. Just look at the big difference we have created for
those seeking help at the Womens Shelter.
Your contributions and your collective gathering to create our Operation Washcloth bundles will
bring joy and new hope to someone not as fortunate as you. When we arrived at the February
meeting, we each had two or three different types of items to donate and they alone may have
seemed insignificant, but once we started sharing and putting them together, they made a huge
statement. Loretta Eiben had prepared a beautiful basket in which the bundles were deposited
and later presented to the Womens Shelter director, Marla Johnson. Ms. Johnson was pleased to
receive the basket of bundles and I was/am proud of you for YOU made it all happen.
Together, we can make a differencenothing insignificant about us. Way to go Nu
members! Keep on being wonderful YOU and continue bringing joy to others, just as our beautiful
Texas wildflowers do each day.

Happy Birthday
Henrietta Smith won the February Birthday Gift.
March Birthdays: Tonda Frady, Diane Graeaber, Patricia Mangold
April Birthday: Barbara Pevoto

Member News
65 Years! Nadyne and Thurman celebrated their
65th wedding anniversary on March 6. What an
accomplishment! Congratulations, Gartmans!
Sallye Baker had melanoma cancer surgery along
with plastic surgery and removal of a lymph
node. She will get node results Apr.2. My son says
I look as if I was in a knife fight. The incision is from
just under my left eye almost to the corner of my
mouth.
Mary Nabers went to Galveston for Match Day for
granddaughter, Meagan. She was matched with her
first choice! She will do her residency in Knoxville at
the teaching hospital of the U of Tennessee after
graduating UT Medical School in Galveston on May
30, another Big Day!
Robin Estepps husband John had a close call with an infection that affected his kidneys, liver,
and other organs. It was life threatening because he has no spleen.
Henrietta Smith and Cindy Sultemeier succumbed to the oak pollen and were down for the
count, having to miss the TRTA Convention.
Kathy Carriker organized all the volunteers for TRTA Convention and Ruth Spear made 100
red scarves for volunteers! Many Delta Kappa Gamma members attaended both comvention
meetings and Rally Day at the Capitol.
We extend our sympathy to LaVerne Rydel on the loss of her husband, Grover Mitchell.
Charlotte Evans is off with her hubby for April in Paris!

State Convention, June 25-27, Grand Hyatt, San Antonio

If you have not reserved a room, plan your carpool.
This year everyone will bring her own tote. So look through your old totes and pick your favorite
to take to San Antonio. Past totes that you do not hold dear may be turned in to be given to
first timers. If you are new to Nu Chapter, try to attend the state convention. It will give you a
new perspective about the scope and depth of DKG, beyond our chapter activities. We Are Only
ONE PART OF THE BIG PICTURE. San Antonio is a great convention town.
http://www.dkgtexas.org Save this address to your favorites. Its where you find the
answers.

Membership Report
Evelyn Barrett, Chair.
Two completed applications have been submitted to me. I am including information about each
applicant in this report so that you will have some knowledge of each at the earliest possible time. My
proposed timeline is as follows: present the names and a summary of these womens biographicalprofessional information in this report and have the chapter vote at the April meeting. With a positive vote, I
hope to have an orientation in late April or early May and then have an initiation at the May meeting. This is
exciting: I cannot remember our having two initiations in one year. Yea Nu!!!

Angie Lassitter
Some of you met Angie last year when she received a TRTA grant to be used for materials in her third grade,
bilingual classroom. This year she has been selected as Teacher of the Year at her elementary San Marcos
elementary school. She serves on the Red Ribbon Week and Cinco De Mayo Committees at her school , the
SMCISD Curriculum Council, and she teaches all subjects to those third graders. Angie belongs to the Texas
Classroom Teacher Association.
Angie has a Bachelors Degree in Spanish Education and has been employed by San Marcos CISD for three
years. Prior to that she worked as a substitute teacher in the Hays and San Marcos districts. Before moving to
Hays County, Angie did an internship at Waco High School and served as a teaching associate at Midway High
School and at Mountainview Elementary School, Kindergartenall the Waco area. In addition she was on the
Deans List three separate occasions while at Baylor University.
Angie volunteers in her community: she helps children from the Redwood community with their reading in
the summers; she works with families in the Giving Hope San Marcos program during the Christmas season;
and during the summers she has gone to Regent Care, San Marcos, with a group from her church to give
manicures to the elderly.

Cynthia Marion
Many will remember Cynthia from the travel program she presented last year. She currently owns
TravelPhileTours in Wimberley. Her academic /teaching career is varied. She holds a Master and Bachelor of
Arts from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She has studied at Loyola University of ChicagoRome, Italy and University of Maryland, Munich, Germany.
Much of Cynthias teaching experience has been in corporate education where she worked as a representative
for various software companies, both in sales and teaching how to use the products. In addition, she has
taught in China and Japan. She also had administrative jobs for the Department of Air Force and the
University of Maryland while in the Far East. In Texas she was an adjunct faculty member of the Dallas County
Community College District, Dallas Texas. At that time, she taught the college level survey history classes in an
online format as well as being a classroom teacher at both the college and high school level.
Her professional memberships include these: WBENC Southwest Council-Marketing Committee and Altrusa
Intl Association of American University. At the local level (Wimberley) she is a member of the Steering
Committee Citizens Alliance for Responsible Development , Wimberley Civic Club, Wimberley Institute of
Cultures, and the League of Women Voters. Cynthia volunteers at the Wimberley Chamber of Commerce
Visitors Center and for the Wimberley LIONS Club.
And she speaks Mandarin Chinese, Italian, and French!

Spotlight on Kathy Carriker

Kathy Carriker grew up in Austin, Texas on the banks
of Waller Creek near the Hancock Golf Course. She
counts herself the luckiest child in the world to be
adopted soon after birth by native Austinites Jay and
Kitty Patterson. It was a great adventure for her to
grow up on Waller Creek when it was still pristine.
The neighborhood was full of children, and they spent
hours exploring along the creek for a mile or more in
each direction. Parents never seemed worried about
child predators or pollution in the early fifties! A loud
bell at 6:00 p.m. called Kathy in for supper.
Kathy attended Robert E. Lee Elementary and then
went on to Baker Junior High and the old Austin
High School on Rio Grande. (Kathy's parents both
attended Baker and Austin High in the 1920s!) Kathy
got a degree in Elementary Education from Texas
Tech in Lubbock, Texas in 1971.
Kathy went on World Campus Afloat during the
spring semester of her junior year in college. The floating campus went from Los Angeles in January to Hawaii, Japan,
Thailand, India, various ports in Africa, Morocco, Spain, and Portugal. Kathy found seeing the Statue of Liberty in New
York Harbor the grandest sight of all at the end of May!
Kathy enjoyed twenty-three years in the classroom. She taught Kindergarten through 5th grade. Most of her career was
spent in second grade in Roby and Hamlin, Texas. She loved the children and the experience. Kathy retired from
Georgetown I.S.D. in 2004 to take care of her elderly mother and moved into her new home on a ranch outside Dripping
Springs that October. Now that Kathy is retired, she is busier than ever volunteering for several organizations in Hays
County and traveling with her husband and friends.
Kathy took out nine years in the middle of her career to support her husband Steve during his time as a public servant.
They moved from Roby to Austin from January through May every other year for eight years while he served in the Texas
Legislature. Their second child, Karen, was born May 1, 1982 on his first election day! The next session Stephanie was
born but, thankfully, NOT on Election Day! Their older brother, Jake, took it all in stride. Kathy returned to teaching in
Roby when Stephanie began kindergarten, and Steve continued to serve in the Legislature until 1995. The Carrikers
actively farmed cotton, wheat, and milo plus raising cattle on their Roby farm while he was in the Legislature. It was a
busy time!
Kathy was initiated into the Gamma Tau Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International in 1993. She held several
offices, including President. She transferred to Iota Phi in Georgetown, Texas in 1997 and moved to Hays County in 2004,
where she found her forever Nu Chapter! When Kathy first joined DKG, her mother shared that she had typed the first
bylaws for Delta Kappa Gamma at the direction of Annie Webb Blanton while working in the Stenographic Bureau at
U.T. Kathy's mother always admired Dr. Blanton.
Delta Kappa Gamma has brought Kathy new friendships and personal growth. She feels privileged to be a part of Nu
Chapter and Delta Kappa Gamma!

DKG Members are Women Who Care

April is Sexual Assault
Awareness Month and Child Abuse
Prevention and Awareness Month.
Because of recent athletic and
collegiate publicity about sexual
assault, the nation is tuned in to the
problem as never before.
Throughout the month of April, a
number of activities are planned by the
Hays-Caldwell Womens Center,
highlighting this very important cause. In February Nu Chapter prepared hobo kits for
HCWC to give to women who have suddenly been forced to leave home and seek safety. But
our responsibility to women and children who are victims does not stop there. It is a continuing
commitment. To promote sexual assault awareness, Take Back the Night will be presented at
Texas State LBJ Theater on April 13. And finally, Denim Day will be April 29. On that day
businesses and organizations and individuals are to wear denim in support of awareness.
An equally important designation for April is Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness
Month. Today teachers are required to report instances of child abuse. It is part of our
commitment to children in our care. Wear Blue Day was April 10, to raise awareness of
child abuse. Blue Sunday, for churches to raise awareness, was April 12.
Just as members of Nu Chapter brought personal toiletries and tied them up in
washcloths to give to battered women, we
have a further commitment in helping to
stop sexual assault on women. In
particular, young women should be able to
attend school or hold jobs without having
to be afraid of sexual assault.
It is common for homes in which
sexual assault is present for child abuse
also to be a problem. As members of Nu
Chapter, committed to all aspects of
women and childrens lives and education,
each of us should make a point to wear
denim on Wednesday, April 29. We
need to send a clear message: Stop Sexual Assault. Stop child Abuse.

In February We Honored Past Presidents

Kay Bollinger brought her mother, former president Loraine

Younger.
Loretta Eiben presents Barbara Pevoto a gift.

Former Presidents Pat Tingle, Evelyn Barrett, and Wanda Frix

NM former state president
Nadyne Gartman

Sandra Morales, presint Nu president and

former president of her Corpus Christi
chapter

Charlotte Evans won Robin Estepps pie

Check our webpage for a other presidential photos

Book Review
By Mary Nabers

Mysteries for History Lovers

I have recently discovered Margaret
Frazer, who writes finely crafted mysteries
set in the 1400s. One series features Dame
Frevisse, a nun at St.Frideswide convent.
Sometimes the murder comes to the
convent; sometimes the nun goes to the
murder setting. Either way, the reader is
treated to a good mystery in a thoroughly
researched medieval setting, where who
would have thought it information is
gleaned from many pages. There is always
something new to learn. These titles always
start as somebodys tale, as The Novices
Tale, The Outlaws Tale, The Hunters Tale.
(It worked for Chaucer, didnt it?)
The other series features a troupe of
actors traveling around the countryside, so
that new characters and landscapes are
presented in each one, as well as a new
murder. The main character is Ellis, who
himself has a mysterious background and
would just as soon no one knows his Oxford
student background. It is hard to conceal
his intelligence, however, and he solves the
murders. This series title always starts with
A Play of Somebody or something, as in A
Play of Isaac, A Play of Dux Moraud, A Play
of Knaves. Just as in the Dame Frevisse

novels, there is much information about

medieval life and people to be learned.
(Most castles featured a higher or lower
step in a staircase to throw off attackers.)
And how plays were crafted and presented
with so few actors (no women) is amazing.
There is much backstage information.
Another aspect is that Frazer
emphasizes the tenuous position of women
in medieval times. She points out that
women were at the mercy of men, first
their fathers, uncles or brothers, or their
overlords if they were wards, then their
husbands. They were practically sold into
marriage for position or fortune; they could
be beaten into submission; they had no
recourse. The surprising fact is, though,
that they accepted this way of life without
question. And fortunately, many marriages
were happy. Frazer shows it all.
Another side of Frazers novels then
emerges: Is murder ever justified? Should a
murderer always be brought to justice?
What is justice?
Today we take forensics for granted.
Who can get away with murder if there is so
much as a drop of saliva or a single hair left
behind! These murders are solved the oldfashioned way: acute observation, intuition,
perseverance, sly questioning. If you have a
bent toward Medieval times, you will enjoy
these novels. If you are a murder mystery
buff, you will enjoy them even more.

Looking Ahead
April: Wear hats and gloves to the meeting to remember all Nu Chapters founders and birthday
(Kyle)
May: Remembering Our DKG Founders (Blanco)
June: Convention in San Antonio!

AN ASTEF EDUCATIONAL
TRAVEL ADVENTURE

An Educational Travel Adventure Sponsored

by the Alpha State Texas Educational Foundation
Program # 11376 - Savannah's Rich Heritage, Remarkable History
and Memorable Music
Sunday, October 11, 2015 to Friday, October 16, 2015

PROGRAM SUMMARY
Part demure Southern belle, part New Orleans jazz man,
Savannah is where graceful plantation homes, charming
public squares and stately live oaks stand alongside lively
Blues venues and Gothic cemeteries filled with ornate
headstones and eccentric ghost hunters. In some ways
dignified and in others playful, the city is uniformly
beautiful and goes out of its way to embody Southern
hospitality and charm. Hit the streets and squares of
Savannah to discover what makes the city special, from low country geography to Civil War history
and a mosaic of residents past and present.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Uncover colorful history from generals to ghosts during museum visits and expert-led walks
through the historic district. Relax to the rhythms of yesteryear as you pay tribute to Savannah
native Johnny Mercer during a private recital of his music. Taste distinctive Savannah flavors during
an interactive cooking class with a noted chef.

PROGRAM PRICE

Double Occupancy: $1,045

Single Occupancy:
$1,330

Note: Program price includes $50 donation to ASTEF.

Program Price Includes:

5 nights of accommodations
13 meals: 5 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 4 dinners
8 Expert-led lectures
4 Field trips
3 Performances
Group travel and transfers throughout the program
Group Leader to accompany you throughout the program to handle all logistics
Modest gratuities, taxes and destination fees
The Road Scholar Emergency and Travel Assistance Plan, including 24-hour assistance for medical
and other emergencies

To join fellow members of the

Texas State Organization of Delta Kappa Gamma
on this exclusive learning adventure to Savannah,
please call Road Scholar toll free at (800) 322-5315,
reference Program # 11376 Savannah's Rich Heritage,
Remarkable History and Memorable Music
starting on October 11, 2015 and
please note that you are a DKG/ASTEF Member.

See you in Kyle at the First Baptist Church

On April 21 at 6:00 for
A Birthday Party!
Celebrate the 85th Birthday of NU
CHAPTER
With hats and gloves and Music of the Past.

A Reminder: BE AWARE: Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Month

*All graphics from

Microsoft Clip Art,
Google Images, or DKG
web file