Article by Marcia Darnell
Society – October 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
AS I SEARCHED for my seat at the Creede Repertory Theatre last summer, I found myself among a sea of purple — purple shirts, purple jackets, and purple dresses. When I saw that each of the women wore a red hat, too, I knew I’d found my kind of people.
The Red Hat Society is one of the largest informal organizations in the world. With over 30,000 chapters and no real rules, it’s proof of women’s strength in numbers, and the power of purple.
The “disorganization,” as the club modestly bills itself, was founded by Sue Ellen Cooper of Fullerton, Calif. Inspired by the poem “Warning” by
Jenny Joseph, she and some friends began meeting for tea.
Due to copyright restrictions, we can’t print the entire poem, but it can be accessed at http:alt.venus.co.uk. The poem begins:
When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
And the poem concludes with the narrator deciding to begin her life of eccentricity now, rather than later.
Cooper’s tea group was mentioned in a magazine article in 2000, and the club has since exploded to over 600,000 members, chapters in 22 countries, a funded “hatquarters” in Southern California, and a line of Red Hat merchandise.
“We’ve never advertised,” says Cathy Risling of hatquarters. The club is for women over 50, but younger women may join and wear pink hats and lavender tops. That’s just a suggestion, though. The club’s only real rule is to have fun.
“Now’s the time to have a really good time,” agrees Carolyn Chrisman of the Alamosa chapter, called the Red Hatitudes. “It’s a wonderful thing! We are way fun because we don’t have to do anything. We don’t have to have fundraisers, and we don’t have to have regular meetings, we don’t have officers, we don’t keep minutes.”
Chrisman, the Queen Mother of the Red Hatitudes, says her chapter has about 30 members and has been in existence a little over a year.
“We’ve gone on picnics, and we have members from 50 to their mid-80s,” she says. “We have card parties, just anything that happens to strike our fancy.
“The important thing is that just because we’re getting older doesn’t mean you have to sit back in your drab gray and black.”
In fact, the chapter members wore their purple and red to another member’s funeral.
“She wanted that,” said Chrisman.
Each chapter is headed by a Queen Mother and pays $35 in annual “dooze” to help fund the hatquarters. Exalted Queen Mother Sue Ellen Cooper sends a weekly e-mail address to each chapter. Annual national conventions of Red Hatters began in 2002, the most recent last April in Dallas.
THE ONLINE STORE, the Imperium, sells red hats, purple tops, scarves and other accessories, as well as copies of the poem, “Warning.” The income also goes toward office expenses.
Betty Benson is the Queen Mother of the Leadville chapter.
“We gather at least once a month for lunch or dinner,” she says, “but we also do special things. We went to the yurt at Ski Cooper for lunch last month, we have marched in most of the parades that Leadville has, and for Boom Days we danced. We had a Victorian tea at the Delaware. Those with Victorian outfits wore them, and we invited women from other chapters in the mountains.
“We have a Christmas party, and once a year we have a birthday celebration,” Benson says. “And we try several times a year to meet with other groups in the area.”
The Leadville chapter began in December 2002 and has 23 year-round members and 6 seasonal members.
The Red Hat Mammas of South Fork began with nine members in May 2003, and now boasts 62.
“Our ladies are from all different walks of life, and from all states,” says Queen Mother Sue Henderson. “It’s such a delight to get to know all these ladies that we wouldn’t have an opportunity to.
“We’re not organized and we don’t plan to be,” she says. “We meet for lunch once a month, and not long ago we had a lady who invited us to her home for a salad luncheon. That was fun, so I invited everyone over for a pajama and red hat breakfast. Everybody had a great time with that.”
Henderson said that starting the chapter was simple, and only took a couple of months from the germ of the idea to formal acceptance. Dues are only $2 per year per member.
“Our chapter is a very warm, accepting group of ladies concerned for each other. They’re a very friendly group, very open. They’ve been there. Last year one of our pink ladies (a member under 50) had her birthday and we met at the Swiss Chalet, and had a 50th birthday party, and we had pink balloons tied to everyone’s chair. We presented her with a red hat and we all popped the balloons at the same time.”
The Red Hat Society bills itself as a “nurturing network” for women over 50. As Queen Mother Henderson says, “Now is the time to say, ‘I’m just me, and I accept you just the way you are.'””We have also discovered a ‘mission’ of sorts,” says the website, “to gain higher visibility for women in our age group and to reshape the way we are viewed by today’s culture.”
That seems to be working. The Red Hatitudes of Alamosa were at dinner one evening, says Queen Mother Carolyn Chrisman, “and we had six guys come up and say, ‘You ladies are having so much fun, why are you dressed alike?'”
Whether the mission is fun, companionship, or world domination, the Red Hat Society is a growing force, in purple. (For more information, go to www.redhatsociety.com. The website includes a copy of the poem, “Warning,” a chapter locator, and answers to FAQs about this unique “disorganization.”)
Marcia Darnell lives and writes in the San Luis Valley.