Alice Bird Babb

On January 21, 1869, Babb and six other female students at Iowa Wesleyan University founded the P.E.O. Sisterhood.^[3] Babb wrote its constitution as well as its oath, was the first of them to take the oath, and was the first president of the first chapter.^[1][4] Babbs said that she wrote the oath in the "Holy of Holies", in reference to a spare bedroom.^[2] She served for three years as president. Shortly after graduating from the university, Babb started working as a high school principal.^[1] She became a professor of Greek and Latin at Iowa Wesleyan University.^[2] Babb was known as a lecturer who used "wit" and "scholarly presentation".^[1] As the P.E.O Sisterhood grew, she became chairman of a committee that made laws for the sisterhood. While living in Iowa for 36 years, Babb worked in the P.E.O. Sisterhood Chapter A and she was awarded with a diamond-studded star. For 20 years, Babb was in charge of annual senior class plays at Iowa Wesleyan University until she moved to Aurora.^[1] Babb said, "I earnestly hope the true spirit of P.E.O. will not be smothered in form, but that the original idea of kindliness, helpfulness, and charity will forever exist, and thus we will become a potent factor in the world’s welfare."^[2]

In 2013, pianist and P.E.O Sisterhood member Jill Kremer composed a CD of seven songs that matched the personalities of the seven founders.^[5] On August 27, 2022, P.E.O. Sisterhood members in Wyoming acted out the founders of the sisterhood with members portraying the seven founders.^[6]