The Men of Chi Omega Convention

by John Shain, 

Husband of former S.H. and current Chi Omega Foundation Treasurer, Melanie Maxwell Shain

Going to Convention?

Of course, I am going to Convention. I wouldn't miss it for the world. As soon as Melanie gave me the dates I cleared my calendar and started thinking about the good friends, new names, Chi Omegas, and the activities that I could participate in: Cardinal and Straw Day, the Woman of Achievement Dinner, the President's Banquet, Revelry, and a golf outing. Who wouldn't want to watch over 1,000 women hear of the achievements of 174 chapters across the country in the opening business meeting and Presidents Parade?! It is truly amazing to see what is happening on college campuses and communities across the country.

After more than 30 years of attending these Conventions, I constantly am in awe of the achievements of the entire Fraternity. These members are the future leaders of our country: somewhere there is a President, a Supreme Court Justice, a Senator, a member of Congress, an astronaut, a business leader, an artist, a community leader, or a leader in education. Whatever endeavors they pursue, they will be just like the Chi Omegas before them in achieving success and giving back to their Fraternity and their communities.

As a husband, I was taken aside over 30 years ago by Hal Dabbs, former S.H. Roselyn T. Dabbs' husband, and was welcomed into a fraternity of strong supporters of Chi Omega. In the beginning, it was a small group of us, fewer than five at my earliest Conventions. As family and business activities have allowed, this group has grown to around 50 friends and family members at the last Convention. We have diverse ages and backgrounds, yet we share a common bond of support for Chi Omega, in addition to realizing how Awesome it is to be a small participant in the entire Chi Omega experience.

Our group gets together frequently during the Convention. Over the years, lifelong friendships have been made. Our time alone is during the Model Initiation, which we cannot attend. When we get together we often talk about "What can we do?" A few years ago, with broad leadership across the group, we came up with the idea that we could be a permanent part of Chi Omega’s past and future by creating our own auxiliary group. Borrowing the theme of cardinal and straw, we created a group which everyone participated in that night, which was to fund and name "The Last Straw Suite" in the Chi Omega Executive Headquarters in Memphis. We knew this was the last unnamed guest room and it needed to be named appropriately. Now there is plaque in the suite with 23 names of the participants and donors.

So the question this year is “what is next?” Only after an evening with friends will we know! See you there!!!!