The Philadelphia Chapter of the Northeasterners, Inc. was established at the inception of the organization on June 28, 1930, when Philly girls joined with friends from Washington DC and New York City to form a club whose purpose would be “development of the feeling of sisterhood among…personable and cultured young ladies of the East.” Today, the Philadelphia chapter proudly continues to cultivate the fine art of friendship, with 30 active members and eight Lifetime members.
Philadelphia charter members who attended the very first meeting included Forresta Battis, Bernice Dutrieuille, Helen Jones, Vashti Norwood, Phyllis Taylor, Marion Turner, Lela Warwick Jones, and Mary White.
One of the original 50 Northeasterners, Lela Warwick Jones, was a retired schoolteacher who served as the second president of the national club and was also one of the founding members of Jack and Jill of America in 1938.
Another Philadelphia Northeasterner, the late Ruth Wright Hayre, was Philadelphia’s first African American high school teacher and principal, as well as the first woman head of the Philadelphia School Board. As a widowed 80-year-old, she created the Risers program, pledging to pay the college tuition for 116 black 12-year-olds.
Other recent national presidents from our chapter include Sylvia Webster, also the founding president of the Pennsylvania Coalition of 100 Black Women… and the late Anne Marquess Garrott, a longtime YWCA executive director and civic activist, who embodied the deep and loving spirit of friendship that animates our organization locally and nationally.
Today, our chapter has a significant dose of physicians – six in all: we pray for their strength and good health, as they bravely care for patients during the continuing pandemic. We’ve also got bank managers, financial, government and nonprofit executives, entrepreneurs, a sommelier (very useful in a friendship club!), a retired journalist and more. One of our members, now an accountant by day, moonlights as a Zumba instructor: she once was a professional dancer, as well as the first African American woman ringmaster in the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Our new, younger members are accomplished and busy professionals – but in keeping with tradition, they’ve caught the Northeasterner bug. That means they rarely miss and eagerly attend our meetings – essential to keeping our friendships fresh, strong and vital.
We’re all excited to have this new way of staying in touch and learning more about each other. We consider this website to be the latest edition to the memories and keepsakes we’ve been honored to have stored away at the Schomburg museum since 1990.
At ceremony held in April of that year, several charter members were present – including two from Philadelphia, Lucille Minton and Lela Warwick Jones. Another founding member, Beatrice Mair of Washington DC summed up the meaning of membership in the Northeasterners:
“To belong to such a group has added richness and color to our lives. For those fortunate to have been part of the early days, fond remembrances are hidden deep in our hearts…We have a heritage of which to be proud.
“May its seeds continue to bear worthy fruits in the future, and may we keep our friendship flames alight throughout the years.”
We look forward to keeping our friendships burning bright – online, on Zoom and (best of all) in person!
