From collection Member List
Although Jessie Pepper Padelford was a member of Alpha Chapter (1892) at Colby College where her father was the president, she is even more closely associated with Mu Chapter. When her husband, Frederick Morgan, was offered a teaching job at the University of Washington, they trekked across the country and made a new home in Seattle. Morgan embarked on a 41-year career at the university, where he would eventually serve as the dean of the graduate school and have a building on campus named after him.
But Jessie Pepper Padelford’s influence, too, left a lasting mark at the University of Washington. She served as a mentor to women on campus, a friend to all students, and an active participant in the community. She was a board member of the campus YWCA, founded the City Panhellenic, and was a member of the Seattle Garden Club, the Washington State Arboretum Society, the Seattle Art Museum and the president of the University of Washington Faculty Wives Club.
Jessie was also instrumental in bringing Sigma Kappa to the university. It was in her living room where organizational meetings took place and where she and Vera Brown Bean guided the writing of the petition to install a chapter of Sigma Kappa at the University of Washington. It was installed on April 29, 1910, and Jessie helped the first members find and rent their first chapter house. She was active in the Seattle Alumnae Association and the Puget Sound Association Corporation Board, which oversaw the Mu Chapter house. When Mu Chapter purchased their first home in 1919, it was just a block away from the Padelford house, and Jessie remained a steady presence for the girls of Mu Chapter.
Mu Chapter and the Seattle Alumnae honored Jessie in a number of ways over the years, including with a portrait painting in 1952, which still hangs in the Mu Chapter house. In 1954, the Seattle Alumnae established a scholarship fund named after her, awarded to an outstanding upperclasswoman at the university. In 1962, she was asked to turn the first ceremonial spadeful of earth at the groundbreaking for the Jessie Pepper Padelford wing of the Mu Chapter house.
Jessie was known for her grace and generosity. When a reporter noted that she had a reputation for being “grand” with the students, she replied, “But they have been grand to me!” And when the same reporter commented on her having been a teacher, she replied, “Yes, and I learned a great deal, too.” She spoke at the dedication of the Sigma Kappa Lodge as a memorial for Dorothy Louise Anderson, who had died while a member of Mu Chapter, and Jessie’s words also expressed her own mission, dedicated to “things that are of lasting worth…the spirit that dwells here will help you in its gentle, silent way to prize friendship and sisterly love, and will temper your gaiety with thoughtfulness and peace…you will go forth strong in spirit, glad in heart, and ready for service.”
Jessie Pepper Padelford died in 1967 at age 93.
But Jessie Pepper Padelford’s influence, too, left a lasting mark at the University of Washington. She served as a mentor to women on campus, a friend to all students, and an active participant in the community. She was a board member of the campus YWCA, founded the City Panhellenic, and was a member of the Seattle Garden Club, the Washington State Arboretum Society, the Seattle Art Museum and the president of the University of Washington Faculty Wives Club.
Jessie was also instrumental in bringing Sigma Kappa to the university. It was in her living room where organizational meetings took place and where she and Vera Brown Bean guided the writing of the petition to install a chapter of Sigma Kappa at the University of Washington. It was installed on April 29, 1910, and Jessie helped the first members find and rent their first chapter house. She was active in the Seattle Alumnae Association and the Puget Sound Association Corporation Board, which oversaw the Mu Chapter house. When Mu Chapter purchased their first home in 1919, it was just a block away from the Padelford house, and Jessie remained a steady presence for the girls of Mu Chapter.
Mu Chapter and the Seattle Alumnae honored Jessie in a number of ways over the years, including with a portrait painting in 1952, which still hangs in the Mu Chapter house. In 1954, the Seattle Alumnae established a scholarship fund named after her, awarded to an outstanding upperclasswoman at the university. In 1962, she was asked to turn the first ceremonial spadeful of earth at the groundbreaking for the Jessie Pepper Padelford wing of the Mu Chapter house.
Jessie was known for her grace and generosity. When a reporter noted that she had a reputation for being “grand” with the students, she replied, “But they have been grand to me!” And when the same reporter commented on her having been a teacher, she replied, “Yes, and I learned a great deal, too.” She spoke at the dedication of the Sigma Kappa Lodge as a memorial for Dorothy Louise Anderson, who had died while a member of Mu Chapter, and Jessie’s words also expressed her own mission, dedicated to “things that are of lasting worth…the spirit that dwells here will help you in its gentle, silent way to prize friendship and sisterly love, and will temper your gaiety with thoughtfulness and peace…you will go forth strong in spirit, glad in heart, and ready for service.”
Jessie Pepper Padelford died in 1967 at age 93.
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