"Ring! Ching, ching!" This meeting of an extraordinary chapter of Pi Beta Phi, which has been gathering for over 60 years, was called to order.

Marian De Lo Ossa, vivacious great-grandmother and original pledge sponsor for her CU chapter in 1938, introduced her sorority sisters, all in their nineties.

"We started out as a bridge club where we talked more than actually played bridge," says Charlotte Croze, class of 1934. Starting out with 22 members from different pledge classes, the chapter sisters took turns hosting evening meetings once a month at the CU campus Pi Phi sorority house. Throughout the years, the group has gathered for joyous celebrations such as engagement, wedding and baby showers and the more difficult occasions of sisters moving or passing away.

Eleanor Benson, who the group lost in 2007, was fondly remembered for her creative and gentle spirit, producing beautiful watercolors and drawings of college landmarks such as Old Main. Other structural dedications include the Winken, Blinken and Nod sculpture, located on the east side of Washington Park, where several sisters donated a brick for the path and the Pi Phi house which remains as one of the oldest buildings on the CU campus and was dedicated in Hazel Gates Woodruff's memory. Hazel's mother, Ruth Gates, was an honorary Pi Phi and very active in the Denver community.

The sisters' personal stories are fascinating and full of Denver history. Ruth Hultan, class of 1938, and Marian's sister-in-law, remembers serving as Queen of Hearts in 1933 and receiving a silver platter of recognition inscribed with all of her sisters' names. She fondly reminisces about going to Greenman's Drug Store and having cokes at the soda fountain and "not being able to afford cigarettes" on her $10 a month budget. The tuition when she was attending CU was $44 a month as a science major and $22 for an undeclared major. She served as a Mortar Board candidate with Margaret Brown, class of 1934, and entered the field of education after graduation.

Margaret "Kuncie" Brown is a Colorado native whose father was the first president of the American National Bank, located across the street from the historic Daniels and Fisher Dry Goods building, on 16 th Street in downtown Denver. Her mother served on the Denver Board of Education and is after whom Kunsmiller Middle School is named. "Kuncie", a nickname that is still affectionately used, continues the legacy of Pi Phis within the family, having two daughters who have pledged. She is currently a member of the International Educational Organization, having served for 72 years, and a member of the Bluebird Circle and the Arthritis Foundation.

Denver history involved many members of Charlotte Crowe's family whose grandfather rode the first Pony Express into Denver. "His route to Leadville in 1863 was treacherous and filled with obstacles." Adding to the difficulties of the job, he was never reimbursed until after his death. Her father founded the Denver chapter of Big Brothers and Sisters in 1918, which still remains an icon in the Denver community.

Marian Howell, class of 1932, fondly remembers her sister, Louise, who pledged the original group of CU Pi Phis. "There is a long line of Pi Phis in our family from my mother, my aunt, two sisters, myself and now two granddaughters."

There were hilarious tales recounted about Ruth's brother, John, teaching Betty Van Bergon how to drive. Betty graduated in 1934 and remembers fondly the Rush Week when the food supply ran out and the trips to the downtown Denver root beer stand which was shaped like a huge wooden barrel. "My worst memory was not being able to eat before a date because of worrying about the onions on the hamburgers!"

Dorothy Stafford, Betty's daughter, is the official chauffeur of all of the ladies to their Monday meetings held every other week and reminisces about the chosen meeting destinations from"quaint" Central City before its present reconstruction to the fabulous family picnics that would occur in the mountains during the summer.

Marian De Lo Ossa, the favorite pledge sponsor, was considered "very adventurous" because she headed directly to New York after graduating and entered the retail industry with a Masters' degree in business, working for well-known B. Altman's and Macy's. Her Colorado history extends from Denver to Longmont, where two medical family members purchased and operated the Longmont Hospital.

Always entertaining, she told stories of sneaking out to the car because smoking was not allowed in the sorority house and of her travels around the world in Europe, Asia, Mexico, the Panama Canal and the Caribbean."I remember being so tall and traveling with four other sisters, equally gifted in stature, of always being asked if we were a women's basketball team."

Other Pi Phi sisters who were fondly mentioned included Jane Smith, Caroline Shreve, Marion White, Margaret B. Law, initiated in the class of 1938, and Sue Dichter, class of 1935.

Marian, well-known matriarch in the Denver area and surprising songstress, then led the group in several choruses of "Ring, ching, ching! Ring, ching, ching!", a Pi Phi sorority song in which all sisters joined to sing and adjourned this very memorable meeting.