Chapter History
The Inception of Rho Beta Omega Chapter: The Chartering Process
The visionary leadership for establishing a graduate chapter in Natchitoches, Louisiana began long before its chartering in 1987. However, there were not enough Alpha Kappa Alpha women to charter a chapter with so few members residing in Natchitoches at the time. In the early 1980s, Bobbie Anderson, Madeline Valrie, Juliete Moffett, Theresa Hamilton, Beulah Coutee, and Katherine Lovelace performed many hours of community service. These women choose to serve at local day care facilities and nursing home in Natchitoches and Many, Louisiana. Community services they performed would reach into the underserved areas that empowered the people and improved the quality of life for the members of the community.
Later, Bobbie Anderson, Madeline Valrie, Juliete Moffett, Theresa Hamilton, and Beulah Coutee joined Delta Lambda Omega Chapter. These women were able to recommend the following women for membership into Delta Lambda Omega Chapter: Majorie Blackston, Rena T. Clark, Lynette Jones Hall, Zelma Moffett, Joanna Owens, Betty Smith, Linda Wallace, and Nettie Winston.
Two members initiated in Zeta Lambda Omega Chapter. They were Diane Blake Jones and Gladys Revels.
Three additional members joining the chartering group were: Yvonne M. Jones, and initiate of Epsilon Beta Chapter, Stephanie Llorens from Beta Psi Chapter, and Virginia Ratliff, who was initiated in Alpha Beta Omega Chapter. The number of Alpha Kappa Alpha women in Natchitoches flourished.
In the fall of 1986, these nineteen women began to consider the steps to chartering a graduate chapter in Natchitoches.
On August 29, 1987, a charter in the name of Rho Beta Omega Chapter was presented to a group of nineteen distinguished women at the Holiday Inn in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Their chartering was the 101st chapter of the South Central Region and marked their welcoming into the established North Louisiana Cluster of graduate chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Jewel M. Thomas, 17th South Central Regional Director presided over the chartering and installation of officers. She was assisted by Connie Roque Seward, Natchitoches native and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Omega Chapter of Houston, Texas. Janet Jones Ballard was the International President at the time of the chapter’s chartering.
Today, Rho Beta Omega continues to expand on the vision of the chartering group.