For Stella

"Of all the blessings we count over, it seems to me none is greater than the consciousness of belonging to a family of thousands of sisters." -Stella George Stern Perry


From the first day you & three other women
brought this sisterhood to life
you stayed true to your word,
lived up to the standards & expectations
which you set in stone for others to follow.
You made declarations which still endure,
promises which have never been broken.

Your life was the values you lived by
day in & day out, unceasingly;
your life was the standards you set
for others & you stood by them
unswervingly.

Your life was about staying the course,
keeping on in learning lessons
both new & old: you showed us
that the need to learn more about life
didn't have to end after graduation.

Your life was about answering
the beckoning call, the charge
of leadership, what any true leader
should learn & know by heart;
your life was about constant
devotion to service
for the greater good of all.

So it was & would always be:
your life was a beacon of integrity,
a nonesuch for others to follow.
To this very day your words
still speak volumes, much more
than one will ever know -
a simple devotion to some worthy end.
Devoting your life to a worthy cause,
you stood for what you believed in,
enduring in your very aims & motives.
And so many more are doing the same.