By Mark Ambrogi
The Red Hat Society is alive and colorful in Hamilton County.
Carmel resident Lorraine Bonewitz had learned of it from visiting a Red Hat Society store in Branson, Mo., and she and a friend from the East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis thought it would be fun to start a chapter at home.
“We decided we would like to wear red hats and purple dresses and do something fun,” said Bonewitz, who holds the title of Queen Mum of her local chapter.
So the group, called the YaYa Sisterhood, started with four women in 2004, soon grew to eight and has now grown to 14. Most of the women are friends from the same East 91st Street Church. Most live in Carmel area and a few are from Fishers.
The women meet on the third Thursday of each month for tea and lunch.
“Most of us do a lot of volunteer work in our community and our church,” Carmel resident Martha Stutzman said. “We thought would it be fun to get together for lunch without having to do anything, just enjoy each other’s company. So that’s what we do.”
The group meets at each other’s homes, restaurants and naturally any tea shops in the area. The most recent gathering was held Oct. 23 at Tina’s Traditional Old English Kitchen in Carmel, which is owned by Tina Jesson, who moved to the Indianapolis area from England in 2008.
“The Queen Mum coming to a British tea shop — what better could it be,” Bonewitz said.
Stutzman was the hostess for the event. The hostess usually brings a small gift for the women. Stutzman’s gift was red fascinators.
“Women don’t like hat hair from wearing a traditional kind of hat, so I took a cue from Kate Middleton (Duchess of Cambridge), who wore the little fascinators on the side of her head,” Stutzman said.
Stutzman said it took two days to make the fascinators. She made 18 so the members would have a choice.
“It’s just a fun, creative outlet,” Stutzman said.
The criteria for Red Hat Society membership is that women are 50 or older. Bonewitz, 70, said the average age of her group is about 75.
Lois Lee, a Fishers resident, became a member about four years ago.
“I had several friends who had invited me and when I was getting ready to retire I knew I was going to be free during the day,” Lee said. “Most of the women I know very well and we’re good friends. It’s great to be together.”
Red Hat Legacy
The Red Hat Society was started by artist Sue Ellen Cooper in California. It began when Cooper gave a friend a red hat and a copy of Jenny Joseph’s poem “Warning” in the fall of 1997 for her 55th birthday. The poem, which takes a good-natured approach to aging, begins: “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple. With a red hat that doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.”
Per her friends’ request, Cooper repeated the gift a few times and the women eventually bought purple outfits and held a tea in April 1998.
Martha Stutzman said the idea of the red hats and purple dresses is “we are free to be who we are.”
According to the Red Hat Society website (www.redhatsociety.com), the group grew to more than 40,000 chapters worldwide in the first five years.
