AEA President Hellen Rhodes Grubb, Theta-welcomes sisters to the 5oth Golden Jubilee Convention, left; AEA Founder, Mary Emma Griffith, top; AXO Founders, Bertha D. Cunningham, Estelle Leonard, Nellie Gamble Childe, and Olive Burnett Clark with 50th Jubilee cake, center; Advertisement for Ye Ole Pierce Mill, the site of AEA's first Tea, and photo of the Mill today, right;
Mary Emma Griffith, AEA founder and National Secretary, left photo on the right; Myra Jones, AEA founder and National Treasurer, right photo on the left
Commemorative Beta Rho and Gamma Theta brick stones on the patio outside of AXO Headquarters
From Bertha Deniston's 1934 - 1935 scrapbook!
Our Story
Alpha Epsilon Alpha’s story began on April 23, 1915, when Myra Jones and Mary Emma Griffith, both members of Lambda chapter, organized AEA as a chartered alumnae club. AEA was one of ten Alpha Chi Omega alumnae clubs organized that year, following a 1914 National Council decision that alumnae groups must exist for one year before becoming chapters.
That September, AEA began its year with a tea at Ye Old Pierce Mill in Rock Creek Park. Founder Mary Emma Griffith later wrote in The Lyre of hopes for a “successful and prosperous year” as the young club welcomed new members.
During and after World War I, AEA continued its altruistic work in the Washington, D.C. community, providing assistance with local housing needs, supporting an orphanage, and contributing to Alpha Chi Omega’s national philanthropy.
AEA also left its mark on the broader Fraternity. When Alpha Chi Omega established its first Permanent Central Office in 1922, AEA founder Mary Emma Griffith served as secretary-editor and oversaw its administration.
In 1934, nearly two decades after its founding as an alumnae club, Alpha Epsilon Alpha was installed as an alumnae chapter by National President Ethel Meade Van Auken, Lambda, in the Garbo Room of Washington’s Shoreham Hotel.
The following year, Alpha Chi Omega celebrated its 50th anniversary with the 1935 Golden Jubilee Convention. The convention journey began in Indiana, continued through West Virginia, and concluded in Washington, D.C. AEA’s first chapter president, Helen Rhodes Grubb, Theta, welcomed sisters from across the country and hosted tours of the nation’s capital. Among the visitors were Alpha Chi Omega founders Bertha Deniston Cunningham, Estelle Leonard, Nellie Gamble Childe, and Olive Burnett Clark. The Shoreham Hotel hosted the convention banquet.
More than a century after that first gathering in Rock Creek Park, Alpha Epsilon Alpha continues to bring Alpha Chi Omega women together in the Washington, D.C. area through sisterhood, service, leadership, and connection.