Red and Purple--New Fall Colors

Grant County Journal
January 17, 2011
Red and Purple—New Fall Colors
Written by Janet Warren
When I was 35 and living in Colorado Springs, long before I ever had a notion I would one day be old, I bought a t-shirt imprinted with a poem by Jenny Joseph. It starts like this:
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
A few years later in Fullerton, California, Sue Ellen Cooper, gave a copy of Jenny Joseph’s poem, along with a vintage red hat to one of her friends, Linda Murphy, who was lamenting her “fifty-ish” birthday. Linda loved it so much, she gave a red hat and the poem to some more friends. On April 25, 1998, the friends decided to go out for tea dressed in purple dresses and red hats. Little did Sue Ellen know that something magical would happen. From the little tea that started out as a “playful reminder not to take aging too seriously,” grew The Red Hat Society, the largest international social organization for women.
Little did I know, when I bought my t-shirt, I would someday be living in Ephrata, Washington, talking to Em Corkins, the Queen of a chapter of The Red Hat Society. Em told me there are 70,000 chapters all over the world. Growing from a few friends in 1998, to a global organization less than 15 years later is nothing short of phenomenal.
When Em started her chapter in Ephrata in 2002, she contacted 32 businesswomen she had worked with. According to the Official Handbook for Queens, this is called gathering your court. Out of those potential court members, 20 joined Em’s chapter, Les Chapeaux Rouge. A spin-off chapter, The Sassy Hats, was started by Shannon Woodiwiss, the owner of Curves. Spin-Offs are encouraged by the Red Hat Society because it’s all about having fun and the Society nudges women with like interests to form a chapter. For example, most of the members in Les Chapeaux Rouge are retired and meet on the third Monday for lunch. The Sassy Hats are mostly still employed, so they meet on the first Saturday of the month for lunch. As Shannon said, “We don’t just say ‘let’s do lunch,’ we DO lunch.” And they do lunch dressed in their purple dresses and red hats. The members who haven’t reached the pivotal 50th birthday are called Pink Hatters and wear lavender dresses and pink hats. Shannon’s daughter, Krystal Ruiz, came into Curves while I was interviewing Shannon. I asked her if her mother ever embarrassed her with dressing up in red hats and purple dresses. Krystal’s answer was, “No she doesn’t embarrass me, but it wouldn’t matter if she did. She’d still do it.” Shannon’s reply to that? “It goes both ways.” Shannon loves to collect old hats, purses, scarves and jewelry. She says that dressing up makes her feel like she’s acting in a play.
Em has a vice-queen (not queen of vice) Laura Paulson. Em and Laura are very vivacious ladies who meet the criteria of Red Hat Society members, which is: “Hey, we’re not done yet.” There are very few rules in the Red Hat Society. In fact, they don’t have meetings, they have gatherings, get-togethers and events. Meetings are way too boring. Even their conventions are called Funventions. The Red Hat Society holds Funventions all over, the next big one being in New Orleans.
Only women are allowed to become members of the Red Hat Society. There is a reason for this. The whole idea behind being a Red Hatter is to have fun, be silly, and giggle. As Em said, “Bring even one man into the group and it changes the attitude. Makes it more reserved.” I get that. Most men would prefer not to be there anyway, and are happy their wives have an outlet for girl things.
Em told me about another chapter, Grant County Red Hatters. Lucille Moore is the Queen of that chapter. Think about this. Three chapters just in Ephrata. As my age has transposed from 35 to 53, I understand why women gravitate to these kinds of groups. Society tries to tell us we are old, but we know better. We are just coming into ourselves. We aren’t shy about the things that embarrassed us in our youth. We want to experience things we may not have been able to do while we were raising families.
Recently, Mike and I were sitting in the Seattle airport waiting for our flight when I struck up a conversation with two ladies traveling together. They had on red and purple regalia, so I knew they were Red Hatters. These women were in their 80’s, widowed, and not content to sit in their rockers. They were traveling to a Funvention. I said to Mike, “that’s the kind of old lady I want to be.” Of course, my smart-aleck husband said, “What? Widowed? Using my retirement money to travel?” But you women out there get it, don’t you? We know what the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas, meant when he penned: Do not go gentle into that good night. We want to feel like we’ve lived, and had some fun doing it.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.