Marjorie Jane Benson pledged the Gamma Alpha Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at Kansas State University on October 11, 1939 and was initiated over a year later, on October 19, 1940. When I pledged Kappa, the pledge period was the fall semester; we rushed in August and were initiated in January. Today, the pledge period doesn’t even last a semester. In Marjorie’s day, it lasted over a year!

Marjorie got a perfect score on her pledge exam!

This pledge final was tough! I would wager that most actives these days would not be able to pass this. It was seven pages of information!

I won’t go into the contents of the Western Union telegrams. They were sweet. Robert A. Martin went to fight for his country in World War II. I don’t know if he made it home, but I sure hope he did. However, Marjorie did not marry Bob.

Marjorie “Midge” Benson Sheldon, 95, of Amarillo died Monday, Jan. 4, 2016.

Midge was born May 2, 1920, in Tecumseh, Neb., to Bob and Mary Benson. She went through the Sabetha, Kansas school systems and graduated from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. Midge was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and Chapter CM P.E.O. She taught vocational homemaking in the Sabetha school system for five years.

In 1945, Midge married Jack Sheldon. They were parents of a daughter, Jan, and a son, Jeffry. The family moved to Amarillo in 1960. Midge was a member of Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, where she taught Sunday school, served as president of Women of Saint Peter’s, and was a member of Altar Guild for 50 years, including being sacristan.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Jack; and a son, Jeffry.

Survivors include her daughter, Jan Allen of Bellville; and a daughter-in-law, Diane Sheldon of Lenox, Mass.

Amarillo Globe-News, Jan. 18, 2016