SORORITY HOLDS BIG CONVENTION IN CAPE

Some 600 members of Beta Sigma Phi converged on Cape Girardeau this weekend to share old memories and make new ones during the sorority's state convention.

Walter W. "Bill" Ross III, son of sorority's founder and president of the Beta Sigma Phi's International Council, said he was impressed by the turnout.

"The only convention that's larger is California, and that's because of the population there," Ross said Saturday. He and his wife Marilyn, a member of Beta Sigma Phi, live in Kansas City. "Missouri's convention is larger than the Texas convention. That's quite something."

Ross's father founded the sorority in 1931. It is the largest women's organization in the world.

"I think the growth is remarkable, when you consider that it started in Abilene, Kan., with seven members and now there are 13,000 chapters in 24 countries with a quarter of a million members," he said.

Ross said he expects the organization's growth to continue. "I think our future's going to be bright, useful. Look what the organization's done here in this community. It's amazing," he said.

Local chapters of Beta Sigma Phi are active in numerous community service projects, including working with Vision 2000 on their beautification projects and with the Cape Girardeau Public Schools community planning meetings.

Some 200 members and guests toured Cape Girardeau. The tour, organized by the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, included stops downtown and at several shopping and historic sites.

Ross got a chance to discover My Daddy's Cheesecake while his wife shopped downtown.

"You have the best cheesecake here! I got to stay there while (Marilyn) shopped and there was nobody there to tell me how fattening it was," he said.

"It's been wonderful. This is the best convention," Marilyn Ross said.

Convention co-chairs Judie Herbst and Carole Calvin said they were pleased with the convention's progress.

"This wonderful man told us that in all the countries and provinces, this has been the best convention," Herbst said.

"It's been a really heartwarming response to our convention and we're very pleased with it," Calvin said.

The sorority last held its statewide convention in Cape Girardeau in 1985, she said, and the response was so favorable, members wanted to return. Beta Sigma Phi was the city's "first-ever" state convention, Calvin said.

The convention started Friday night at the Holiday Inn Convention Center and continues through today. The theme for this year's convention is "Rolling on the River" and several Mississippi River cities are featured as "destinations," including New Orleans, Natchez, Miss., Memphis, Tenn., and Cape Girardeau.

Beta Sigma Phi is a social, service and cultural sorority. There are 11 chapters in the Cape Girardeau/Jackson area, Calvin said, and more than 650 chapters in Missouri.