Gravely Speaking

Clear Creek Christian Church Cemetery, Clear Creek, Indiana

On February 19, 1864, the Knights of Pythias, founded by Justus H. Rathbone, became the very first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an Act of the United States Congress.  The society is based on the Greek story of friendship from 400 B. C. between Damon and Pythias, members of a school founded by Pythagoras. 

According to their Website, Pythians: promote cooperation and friendship between people of good will, find happiness through service to mankind, believe that friendship is essential in life, view home life as a top priority, show an interest in public affairs, enhance their home communities, respect and honor the law of the land, and expand their influence with people of like interests and energy.

The metal marker above features many of the symbols that are significant to the Knights of Pythias.  A knight’s helmet, with a falcon (a symbol of vigilance) sits atop a shield with three letters, “F”, “C”, and “B”, which stand for their motto, FRIENDSHIP, CHARITY, and BENEVOLENCE, surrounded by swords, battle axes, and a spear, representing the weapons that were used against their enemies.

The marker below is rusted, pitted, and ravaged by weather, but several of the Knight’s symbols are displayed on a shield, still clearly visable, such as the three letters, “F”, “C”, and “B” and the crossed battle axes.  The marker is also topped with a knight’s helmet.  What is not clear is whether or not the helmet carries the falcon on the crest or a sprig of myrtle which symbolizes love for the Pythians.

There are more than 50,000 members in over 2,000 lodges worldwide.

Ames Cemetery, near French Lick, Indiana

Frazier Cemetery, Harrison County, Iowa

Ordinarily a post like this would attempt to unlock the mystery of the marker.  In this case, the letters P.E.O. are to remain a secret, the members of the organization are not to devulge what the letters stand for.  After some research on several Websites and blogs several theories were floated.  One blogger wrote that her mother’s P.E.O. meetings were on Wednesday nights and because her father had to cook on those nights, her father handily nicknamed the organization “Papa Eats Out“.  Other bloggers suggested less tongue-in-cheek names, such as, “Protect Each Other” and “People Educating Others“.

Though the meaning of the letters isn’t clear, what is known is that P.E.O is a philanthropic educational organization that was founded by seven Iowa Wesleyn College women students–Mary Allen Stafford, Ella Stewart, Alice Bird Babb, Hattie Briggs Bousquet, Franc Roads Elliott, Alice Virginia Coffin, and Suela Pearson Penfield–at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on January 21, 1869.  P.E.O was the second sorority established in the United States. 

P.E.O. has grown to 250,000 members with chapters around the United States and Canada now headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa.  The P.E.O. International Website lists six endeavors that the organization funds, as their Website states, to help “women reach for the stars“.   

P.E.O. funds the Educational Loan Fund for women who need financial assistance; International Peace Scholarship for women from around the world pursuing an higher education degree who want to study in the United States or Canada; Program for Continuing Education to provide need-based grants to women the who have had their education interrupted and are returning to support themselves and their families; Scholar Awards to provide merit-based scholarships for women pursuing doctorial degrees or post-doctoral research; Star Scholarships which grants $2,500 awards to graduating women on their way to college; and Cottey College, a liberal arts college established by P.E.O in 1927, at Nevada, Missouri.

Frazier Cemetery, Harrison County, Iowa

The mission statement of the Fraternal Order of Eagles reads:

The Fraternal Order of Eagles, an international non-profit organization, unites fraternally in the spirit of liberty, truth, justice, and equality, to make human life more desirable by lessening its ills, and by promoting peace, prosperity, gladness and hope.

Founded February 6, 1898, by six Seattle, Washington, theater owners John Cort, John W. and Tim J. Considine, Arthur Williams, Mose Goldsmith, and Harry Leavitt organized as “The Order of Good Things”.  Within two months, in April of the same yer, the fraternal order changed its name to The Fraternal Order of Eagles and adopted the American bald eagle as their emblem.

The Eagles organize local chapters into aeries, so named for the nests of eagles which are usually high and difficult to access.  Nearly since their inception, the Eagles have lobbied for causes important to the organization, such as the creation of Mother’s Day in 1904, later in the 30s for Social Security, and in 2006 to keep the two words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.  The Eagles also contribute to many charities, such as, St. Jude’s Hospital, a Disaster Relief Fund, Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa, Art Ehrmann Cancer Fund, D. D. Dunlap Kidney Fund, among others.

Clear Creek Church Cemetery, Bloomington, Indiana

 Women’s groups of Eagles began forming as early as 1927, the first in Pittsburg, Kansas.  By the time The Fraternal Order of Eagles officially passed bylaws creating The Ladies Auxillary in 1951, hundreds of them already existed.

Frazier Cemetery, Harrison County, Iowa