Derby Town Divas
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 Wednesday, December 17, 2003 |
Red Hat clubs are red hot Women have freewheeling fun in 30 area groups By PATTI SMITH |
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That all changed a few months back when Edwards, who lives in Ballardsville, went to the senior citizens center in Buckner and found the Oldham County Red Hat Society.
 A variety of Red Hat Society merchandise, including pins, earrings and glassware, is available in the gift shop at Baptist Hospital East. (PHOTOS BY KEITH WILLIAMS, THE COURIER-JOURNAL)
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Before long she bought herself a red hat, a purple outfit and paid dues of $1.50 to join the local chapter of the national club, which a small group of friends in Fullerton, Calif., started less than three years ago.
The club, now international, has more than 15,400 chapters — 30 of them in Jefferson, Oldham and Bullitt counties. Local women have said that being involved has provided them with fun, companionship and a feeling of liberation.
"There's a lot of lonely people out there," Edwards said. "I think something like this will help them. It helped me, anyway," she said as she sat with about 12 women wearing purple outfits and bright red hats, enjoying lunch at Our Best Restaurant in Smithville. Later, the group went shopping for gifts.
About once a month, Red Hat Society women don their "uniform" and go out for lunch or dinner, have tea, celebrate a special event or even take day trips and vacations together — a tradition that started with Sue Ellen Cooper of Fullerton.
Cooper, now 59, bought a red fedora in the mid-1990s and later read the poem "Warning" by British writer Jenny Joseph. The poem talks about a woman growing old and wearing a purple dress and a red hat, "which doesn't go."
Cooper said she liked the idea of the liberated older woman so much that she bought a red hat and a copy of the poem for each of her good friends, and they started going out regularly, wearing their hats and purple dresses.
When people asked who they were and what they were doing, Cooper said, she would explain — and within months, the idea had spread by word of mouth. Cooper then found herself organizing a national headquarters where red-hatters could get information and "stay connected," she said.
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Cooper said she never imagined that her outings with friends would turn into an international organization with thousands of members in the United States, hundreds in Canada and others in 14 additional countries, including Mexico and Australia.
"I'm awfully glad it happened, but I can't say that I had the foresight to do it," she said, adding that it amazes her to hear stories like Edwards'.
"It's very gratifying," she said. "I didn't see the potential for all the ways it could be used."
The Derby Town Divas, a chapter founded by Pam Myers of Hillview in Bullitt County, recently went to a Cracker Barrel restaurant in their purple pajamas and red nightcaps.
"It's just a way to get out there and be silly," said Myers, 52. "It doesn't matter how silly you are. In fact, the sillier the better."
Her chapter includes women from Bullitt and Jefferson counties and also from Southern Indiana — although that area has chapters of its own.
"We just have fun. That's what it's all about," said Mary Leche of The Kentucky Ya Ya's in Shively. "When you have on red and purple, it sort of picks your mood up and says, `Hey, let's have a good time.' "
Christie Powell, a pink-hatter, helped Norma Kennedy, 80, of La Grange, start the Oldham County Red Hat Society. Powell said its first outing was to a thrift store where the women could collect some purple clothing and accessories.
The group, now 18 months old, has 18 members, who range in age from 25 (Powell) to 95 (Nell Merchant of La Grange).
Another Oldham County group, which got started last March and calls itself the Red Hot Hatters, has about 25 members — one of whom, Daisy Jenkins of Pewee Valley, is 100 years old.
This chapter's organizer, Peggy Jones, 71, said she loves the camaraderie.
"I have met so many people I never would have met any other way," she said.
New groups are springing up in Jefferson County; one is Born to the Purple, whose "Supreme Old Broad" is Lynn Shea, 71. Each chapter has a Queen Mother, usually the organizer, who gives herself a silly title.
"I don't take myself too seriously," Shea said, adding that the society helps her get together with close friends more often. "Without it, you might not stay in touch so much."
Gift shops and department stores are catching on to the Red Hat Society movement, said Debbie Skaggs, manager of the gift shop at Baptist Hospital East. She said several employees are members and asked about pins and jewelry to wear with their purple outfits.
Now Skaggs carries those items, plus scarves, throws that say, "I'm a Red Hat mama," pillows and other items she has seen at gift shows for shopkeepers.
The Red Hat Society has its own online store at http://www.redhatsociety.com/
Occasionally, various chapters will meet for a group gathering either locally or at the national convention, which will be in April in Dallas.
Several members of the society said it helps keep their minds active, friendships alive and calendars full of enjoyable things to do.
"If you stay in the house, you're not going to make friends, and you've got to have friends," Edwards said.
