History of Elizabeth City Chapter
FIFTY YEARS AND COUNTING
During the week of March
5-11, 1962, the infamous Ash Wednesday storm was battering
our mid-Atlantic and northeast coast causing over $200
million in property damage and killing 40 people, and the
Elizabeth City Chapter of National Epicureans was to be
installed that weekend.
Virginia State College friends,
Valerie Word Vaughan and Helen Marshall Caldwell along with
Mollie Majette Beasley and Georgia Long Smith, were in a
dilemma because they had spent many hours putting plans in
place to bring the presence of National Epicureans to
Elizabeth City. Gloria Cooper, Queenie Ferebee Boyd,
Wilhelma Cooper, Ethel Harrell Fox, Louise Harris, Lillie
Cooper Perry and Vivian Sharp Trent joined them in this
effort. They, with the help of Eppies Laureta Vaughan
Matthews and Katherine Bennett of the Petersburg Chapter,
had selected March 10, 1962 as the date of installation.
Because Elizabeth City was in the direct path of the storm,
the U.S. Coast Guard had declared the National Guard Armory
unavailable for private use. In those days, the National
Guard Armory was the only place in town that was large
enough to accommodate a group that size. A delectable menu
was in preparation. Stylishly beautiful garments had been
purchased. Festive and fun activities for an elegant weekend
had been meticulously planned. So, what to do! What to do!
WHAT to do!
Highly motivated by the expectation that the
other ten Chapters would be in attendance, this energetic,
innovative and determined group of very close friends (along
with their husbands) would not be thwarted and decided on
what to do and proceeded to forge ahead. Ether Harrell Fox
offered her small ranch style home on Roanoke Avenue for the
celebration where they could, (and did) "eat, drink, and be
merry".
Despite the fact that the weather was most
uncooperative and the roads were treacherous, Helen Harvey
of Danville, VA - National President and Katherine Bennett -
National Vice President arrived with members of the
sponsoring chapter from Petersburg, VA along with Eppies
from Richmond, VA and representatives from each of the other
eight chapters. They, heroically, managed to propel
Elizabeth City Chapter of National Epicureans into
existence: Saturday, March 10, 1962.
We, the eleventh
chapter of National Epicureans, Inc., integrated the Outer
Banks of NC with the first ever "Colored" event in
northeastern North Carolina at the Carolinian Hotel in Nags
Head, NC. In June 1990, we gathered at the Hilton Waterside
in Norfolk because there still was no hotel facility in
northeastern NC that could accommodate the modern Epicurean
gathering. In 2013, we again, were away from home, but at
the Renaissance in Portsmouth, VA hosting our third National
Conclave.
After 50 years of existence and with only
two of our original eleven dedicated Eppies - Mollie Beasley
and Helen Caldwell and two of our original dedicated Eppos -
T.V. Beasley and Bobby Vaughan - boosted by our newer
dedicated Eppies and Eppos, we have grown to truly value the
sentiments of the Greek Philosopher, Epicurus: "Friendship
goes dancing round the world, announcing to all of us to
wake up to happiness" and "Let us live while we are alive".