HAMLET – If you are a lady of at least 40 years of age whose favorite colors are red and purple and you “play well with others,” then we have just the club for you!
Formed in California in 1998 by California artist Sue Ellen Cooper and currently overseen by CEO Debra Granich, the Red Hat Organization is designed to offer an outlet for the energy and zest for life that senior ladies still retain but might not otherwise be able to capitalize upon.
According to the Red Hat Society website, the movement took on a life of its own shortly after the initial action by Cooper. While in Tucson and searching for a unique gift for a friend approaching her 55th birthday, Cooper came across a red fedora that she purchased for $7.50. A well-known Jenny Joseph poem entitled “Warning” begins “When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple with a red hat which doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.” It was this phraseology that inspired Cooper and her friend to pursue their “golden” years in a colorful, carefree manner.
While the “red hat” designation is reserved for ladies aged 50 or over, with those in their 40’s being relegated to “pink hat” status until they come of age, it is technically possible for women of any age to join the Society of the Red Hat.
Regardless of the exact number of years that have passed since one’s birth, the Red Hat Organization facilitates the continuation of youth and fun without any agenda to speak of. “We just get together to have fun,” says local Queen Valeria Lunceford. “It doesn’t matter who or what you are as long as you can get along and focus on enjoying life.”
The Red Hats are more abundant than you may think. Richmond County alone has eight separate groups or “chapters” throughout Rockingham, Hamlet, and Ellerbe and they all work closely with their respective senior centers in those locations.
While generally affiliated with the Richmond County Aging Services and the four respective Senior Centers in the towns of Richmond County, the Red Hats are a unique and independent group of ladies in their own right. “We are totally separate from the senior centers,” says the Queen. “Although they certainly do a lot for us, and us for them, there is no official obligatory connection between us at all.”
The individual chapters of Red Hats are generally a relatively small band of women; this particular team of “Glamour Chicks” is comprised of the following ladies (their years as a Red Hat denoted): Queen Valeria Lunceford (10 years); Vice-Queen Joyce A. Santos (11 years); Sandra Sweatt (9 years); Mary Baker (2 years); and Daisy Brown (2 years). Members not present at this monthly meeting include: Edith McLauren, Beth McQueen, and Lucy Muse.
As an example of what the Red Hats do, a recent conference in Myrtle Beach perhaps epitomized the spirit of the organization. Wearing the mandatory colors of red and purple, the women (sorry guys, but it IS just all women) devised, constructed, and assembled their own individualized hats (all red, of course) and ancillary garb from materials as varied braziers and pizza boxes.
“We are always looking for new members,” says Vice-Queen Joyce Santos, herself an 11 year veteran of wearing the red hat. Annual dues of $20 cover miscellaneous group expenses and allow the members to register for the “big” events that are held periodically throughout the year and around the country, if not indeed globally.
“We are actually an international organization,” says Santos, “and we encourage the travel and interaction that many of us would not otherwise get to experience.”
As an example, there is an upcoming Red Hat “Funvention” scheduled for September 14-16 in Winston-Salem. The registration deadline of July 31st is rapidly approaching, and the fee for the three day event is $170. Accommodations are available at a discount with the Best Western Plus on University Parkway, but are separate from the convention cost itself.
So, if you are a fun-loving lady of 40 years or more who wants a “new perspective” on how to have fun and be “young again in spirit,” perhaps you should consider contacting one of the Red Hat groups so that you, too, can experience the life of a Red Hatter lady!
Meetings for this particular chapter are held the last Thursday of each month at 5:00 p.m., usually at Hudson Brothers’ Deli in Rockingham.
For more information, contact Valeria Lunceford at 910-582-6885 or Joyce Santos at 910-995-5859.
