Maddie, Jenny, Sydney at The Depot in Seaview, 5-22-26.

Maddie. my 17-year-old-first-cousin-twice-removed (my Uncle Willard Espy’s great-granddaughter!) has been visiting here with her mother, Jenny Hansen.  As Jenny and I were getting acquainted, she mentioned that her grandmother, Virginia Brantley, had gone to Redlands in California — maybe in 1932.

Senior Picture – Beverly Alice Brantley, Column Two, Fourth from Top

“1932?” I said.  “That’s the year my mother graduated from the University of Redlands!” And both her brothers, Edwin and Willard, had graduated from there in 1930! I have all of their La Letra yearbooks here somewhere.”  And so we dug them out.  Plus  my father’s, as well.  We had multiple copies for some years and at least one copy for the years 1927 thru 1933!

Senior Picture – Helen-Dale Espy, 2nd Column, 2nd from Top

“Maybe my grandmother and your mother knew each other,” Jenny said.  “My great-grandmother might have known my great-great aunt Dale?” Maddie asked as she joined us in our search.  It was Jenny who found her grandmother’s senior picture first on page 27 of the 1932 LaLetra: Beverly Alice Brantley, A.B. Speech; KHZ; Georgia State College 1 and 2.  AND on the very next page was my mom’s picture: Helen-Dale Espy, A/B Religious Education; KHZ; YW. President 4; Cabinet 2,3; Y.W. Asilomar Division Council Member 3,4; Class Vice President 3: Christian Activities Committee: Ticket Manager Junior Night.

KAPPA PI ZETA Sorority Helen-Dale Espy (My Mom) – Middle Row, 4th from left. Virginia Brantley (Maddie’s Great Great Aunt) – Bottom Row, 2nd from left.

My mind boggled.  I’m sure it was Jenny who said, “And look!  KPZ!  I think they were in the same sorority.  Do you know what KPZ is?”  I hadn’t a clue — Stanford women had ‘outlawed’ sororities shortly before I attended — it was one of the reasons I applied.  (That and the 3 men to 1 woman ratio — not because I was especially interested in meeting a man; I was interested in being recognized as intellectually competitive. (Sigh!  But that’s another story)

Finally on page 128 (why was there no Index or Table of Contents in this yearbook?!) we found Kappa Pi Zeta Sorority — established in 1926, Colors “Old Rose and Silver.”  And there in the middle of Row Two was my mother and in Row Three, just five pictures away, was Beverly Brantley!  Not only did they know each other, they probably knew each other very well.  After all, there were just 21 young women in each of the campus sororities.

La Letra – University of Redlands Yearbook, 1932.

How I wish my mother and Willard were still alive so that I could share this great discovery — so they could meet the remarkable Maddie who, it turns out, had forebears on both sides of her family who knew one another!  (I can’t help but wonder if Willard, himself, that old Casanova even at an early age, might have dated Berverly. The mind boggles at the possibilities.  But, no.  Beverly had gone to school in Georgia for her first two college years; by the time she arrived at Redlands, Willard and Edwin had graduated.)

And, lest I forget… let’s hear it for yearbooks!!