ALPHA EPSILON PHI - Operation Support Jews in the Military

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Winter 2009
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ach year AEPhi women graduate all across the country with plans for the next chapter
of their lives. They start new careers, move to new cities or countries, attend graduate
school, plan weddings; the possibilities are endless. Since the beginning of Alpha Epsilon
Phi, almost 100 years ago, this has been the case. Women have been empowered by their
college experiences and the activities they participated in, and the friendships they’ve made
have shaped who they would become, whether they knew it or not.
This has certainly been the case for four very different women this year. While their stories are
as different as can be, and the generations span decades, these women exemplify ideals Alpha
Epsilon Phi has been touting all these years. We are pleased to share their stories with you now
in hopes that whether you are a young college student, recent graduate, or alumna in the prime
of life, you will be inspired to follow your dreams, your heart and your light.
Connected Through Sisterhood
By Sarah Wilkes Schwartz (Phi)
Sarah Wilkes Schwartz and
Valerie Wallad Maisner
We met on a typical sunny southern
California day at a UCLA alumni
gathering in June 2007. Before the event
got started, alumni were mingling, and I
began talking with a woman named Val.
As we got to know each other, I shared
that when I was on campus most of my
extra curricular involvement had to do
with my sorority, Alpha Epsilon Phi,
where I served as chapter president. She
paused and said, “Sarah, I was in AEPhi
and was Phi Chapter president, as well.”
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Valerie Wallad Maisner pledged Phi
Chapter in September of 1955. It’s
hard to explain, but, although our age
difference was evident, our connection
was immediate. Without even comparing
our lives, we knew so much about each
other. Even though our experiences in
AEPhi were 40 years apart, we were
sisters. We were connected. I know many
of you have experienced that feeling
of connecting with someone in a more
meaningful way because that person is
a sister too. It is truly amazing. As we
continued to talk, we realized how much
we had in common. We shared stories of
our time in the sorority, on campus, in
the work world, and also of our volunteer
commitment to UCLA.
Several months after our first meeting, I
received a phone call from Val inviting
me to be a member of Gold Shield. Val
is currently president of Gold Shield,
an organization made up of UCLA
alumni who have served their university,
communities, and professions with
distinction. The organization’s roots
are firmly imbedded in a tradition of
service to UCLA. It was truly an honor
to be invited to join this prestigious
organization.
It wasn’t just that the invitation touched
me; it was that this experience was
facilitated and given to me by one of my
sisters. As I stood next to Val at the new
member luncheon this past June, I felt
honored and proud. Day to day we might
not think about our connection to AEPhi,
but it runs deep and runs forever. I was
lucky. I connected with Val nine years
after graduation and met a tremendous
role model. She is an extraordinary
woman living a wonderful life and
exemplifying AEPhi’s values even to this
day. I hope to follow in her footsteps
and maybe one day influence a younger
AEPhi sister in the same way.
Winter 2009
Dreams Do Come True
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (Epsilon Alpha)
remembers her days in AEPhi fondly
at Michigan State University in the late
1960s. A young Jewish woman from
a predominately non-Jewish world,
Phyllis recalls going through rush (now
called recruitment), and knowing she
only wanted to be in Alpha Epsilon
Phi. She became an AEPhi in 1966,
and lived in the sorority house for two
years, before graduating early in 1969.
Dancing in the basement to Motown was
a regular occurrence, as was waiting up
for her sisters as their evening curfew
approached. She was in college during
a pivotal time in American history, the
forefront of feminism, and she worked
hard in school and thrived as a journalist
for Michigan State’s newspaper.
Like many women of her generation,
Phyllis met and married her college
sweetheart, Mitchell R. Miller, who,
whether she knew it or not, at the
time would lead her on a life-changing
adventure. And one that would provide
inspiration for her newly published
novel, Mrs. Lieutenant: The Sharon Gold
Story, a look at four newly married
and very different young women who
come together in Ft. Knox, Kentucky, as
their husbands go on active duty in the
US Army in 1970, just after the Ohio
National Guard kills several Kent State
University students during the volatile
time of the Vietnam War.
The book is based on Phyllis’ life as a
new Mrs. Lieutenant. “My husband
did indeed start Armor Officers
Basic training at Ft. Knox, Kentucky,
in May of 1970, and I did go with
him even though the army didn’t say
he could bring his wife,” said Zimbler
Miller. “I took material from that
time as well as material from when
we were later stationed in Munich,
Germany, and mashed the material
together to create the novel.” There
are even some mentions of the
character Sharon’s college sorority,
Alpha Epsilon Phi.
Winter 2009
From the pages of Mrs. Lieutenant:
“Rainbow lights darted from the large
pear-shape diamond on Bonnie’s
left hand as she tore into yet another
package. Sharon could visualize
the night Bonnie announced her
engagement to her AEPhi sorority
house at U of I. The same type of
ceremony took place regularly at
Sharon’s AEPhi sorority house at MSU.
The house mother announces on the
loud speaker, “Everyone come to the
dining room now. There’s a candle
ceremony.”
They all rush down the stairs dressed
in their pajamas or robes, hair set in
curlers, barefoot or with slippers, and
stand in a circle alongside the dining
room tables. Then the electric lights
are turned off and a single candle
lit. The sorority president passes
the candle to the girl on her left and
around the circle the candle goes once
for good luck. Then if it stops before
making a complete second circle,
the girl who blows out the candle is
announcing she’s pinned. If the candle
is on its third trip around when the
lucky girl blows it out, she’s engaged!
Bonnie blows the candle out on the
third circuit. Everyone exclaims and
hugs her. She takes her engagement
ring out of her bathrobe pocket and
slips it on her finger for all to admire.”
Phyllis Zimbler
Miller
Phyllis worked on this book for more
than 20 years, optioning it first to
movie producers, but the project lost
interest through the years. As the years
passed, Phyllis was more determined
to “preserve this slice of women’s social
history because all the Vietnam novels
and movies she knew give only the men’s
perspectives.” And through the past 20
years, women who read a version of the
manuscript liked the story, while agents
and editors at publishing houses said “no
way.” One editor said that the story was
no longer relevant because there was no
longer any racial prejudice in the U.S. A
successful literary agent who had been
the wife of an officer liked the manuscript
but said: “I won’t be able to convince
editors in New York to buy the project.”
Phyllis’ friend had believed in the book
for many years and one day forwarded an
email from an acquaintance who was self
publishing her book through a print-ondemand (POD) publisher. Phyllis had
heard of POD before, but never thought
of it. She realized she was going to be 60,
and realized she wasn’t going to wait any
longer. She knew she’d have to do the
marketing herself, but she’d done it
before when her Jewish holiday book,
Seasons for Celebration, was published
in 1992. So within days of her epiphany,
she was off and running, choosing
BookSurge, Amazon’s POD unit.
This past April, only days after the final
approvals for the book were complete,
her husband and friends surprised
Phyllis with a surprise birthday party
with close family and friends from
throughout her life, and a special guest
– 40 copies of Mrs. Lieutenant.
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Now working non-stop on
book promotions, virtual book
tours and blogging about her
experiences, Phyllis is living her
dream. And, along with her
daughter, she has created www.
queensofbookmarketing.com,
website full of resources to
any writer promote and selfpublish their materials.
“If you’re waiting for someone to say
yes to you,” says Zimbler Miller, “for
whatever it is, look around and see if,
instead, you can say yes to yourself!”
To read more from Phyllis, visit her
website http://mrslieutenant.blogspot.com,
and to get a copy of her book, visit
www.amazon.com.
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An AEPhi in Africa
Justine Amos (Epsilon Theta) graduated
from American University in May 2008
with a degree in international studies
focusing on development issues in Africa.
As part of her major, she studied abroad
for her entire junior year, half in Nairobi,
Kenya, where she also volunteered in a
children’s home, and the other semester
in Durban, South Africa. She traveled
and studied and fell in love with Africa
and spent much of her senior year
figuring out how she could get back.
She found her answer; the Peace Corps
Volunteers, a group that does everything
from women’s empowerment in Kenya
to English instruction in Malawi. With
fond memories of her high school
English teacher, who had also served in
the Peace Corps, Justine applied. By the
time she interviewed (November of her
senior year), she was confident that the
Peace Corps was the perfect combination
of everything she was looking for in
post-graduation plans: working with
kids, Africa, development, travel and the
opportunity to do something productive
with her education. After a lengthy
application, interview and medical
screening process Justine received her
invitation in May 2008 to do Community
Health HIV/AIDS Education in
Swaziland, which she excitedly accepted.
Still living off the excitement of her
acceptance, Justine got another piece
of good news. She learned that Serena
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Parcell (Epsilon Theta), her sorority
sister, was in the same program. It
was amazing that the two of them had
been chosen for the same program,
considering how small it was in
relation to the Peace Corps as a whole.
Swaziland is a tiny land-locked
country in Southern Africa bordering
mostly South Africa and a bit of
Mozambique. It is a very conservative,
predominately Christian society with
very high unemployment and widespread
poverty. An absolute monarchy ruled by
His Majesty King Mswati III, Swaziland
has a population of just over a million
and, alarmingly, the highest rate of HIV
infection in the world. The statistics vary,
but about 31% of women at neo-natal
clinics tested positive for HIV and the
rate of transmission from mother to child
is 14%, most of which could easily be
prevented. Because the impact of HIV/
AIDS on Swazi society is so enormous,
Justine’s job as a Community Health
HIV/AIDS Educator with the Peace
Corps runs the gamut from setting up
community neighborhood care points
(NCPs) that provide meals for orphans,
to teaching “life skills” in primary and
high schools, and assisting with the
distribution of ARVs at clinics.
Justine has found that since she had lived
and traveled throughout Africa before,
she had an idea of what to expect. She
had some experience with the language
Justine Amos (left) with
Serena Parcell at the Pea
ce
Corps swearing in ceremony
in Augus t 2008
and with the pace of life. “I’m used to
being stared at and called “umlungu,”
(white people) and I’m not surprised
when a woman hands me her baby to
hold on a kombi (a small bus). I came
into Swaziland and Peace Corps with little
concrete expectations and it seems that
every minute of the last three months has
been a learning experience.”
After two intense months of studying
Siswati and learning about Swazi
culture and HIV/AIDS, Justine moved
in with her permanent host family
in the southern region of Swaziland
(Shiselweni). She has her own oneroom house, pit latrine, and a single
electrical outlet. “My family is huge and
absolutely fantastic. Right now, there’s a
3-year-old dancing to Phil Collins with
my headlamp strapped to her head and
a 4-year-old putting all 20 of my hair
clips in my hair at the same time, and my
community has been very receptive to my
presence.”
Winter 2009