Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES • SUMMER 2017 • sai-national.org 10 A LOOK BACK Executive Director Ruth Sieber Johnson and Dr. Leslie Odom Miller, then SAI Listserv director and former National Vice-President of College Chapters, perform J.H. Fiocco's Arioso. Philanthropies Board members Mary K. Traver, Kate Slaboch Kirkpatrick, and Libby Sponholtz prepare name tags for the arriving SAI members in the new office space. At left, Philanthropies Board Chairman Arlene Jospe Veron, National President Ginny Johnson, and Asheville, NC, Vice- Mayor Dr. Carl Mumpower cut the ribbon, officially opening the new national headquarters for SAI. Above, collegiate members line up to represent the seven founders of SAI. [Previously published in the Summer 2005 issue of PAN PIPES] June 12, 2005, marked the anniversary of Sigma Alpha Iota, the international music fraternity founded in 1903 by seven students at the University of Michigan's School of Music. One hundred and two years later to the day, the leaders of SAI and its Philanthropies Board gathered alongside fellow sisters — retirees and college students — for the formal dedication of the fraternity's new national headquarters in Asheville, NC. e headquarters dedication was the culmination of activity to move the SAI offices to its own structure. SAI purchased the building at One Tunnel Road in the fall of 2004. e national office had previously functioned out of downtown Asheville's Public Service Building. e office moved there in 1992 upon the hiring of Ruth Sieber Johnson as SAI's executive director. Prior to her appointment and the office's move to Asheville, the national headquarters was located in Des Moines, Iowa. e staff moved into the Tunnel Road building on February 12 of this year, helped by members of local chapters from Western Carolina University and Mars Hill College. Since then, the building has undergone much renovation to mold it into a proper home for the fraternity and a fitting structure for the encouragement of musicianship. Previously, the building housed a real estate office and was designed to hold dozens of realtors in cubicles and small offices. e existing structure changed drastically between the initial move and the dedication. A major change was the installation of an elevator connecting the two floors. e grounds were also altered radically and now boast more trees, a black iron fence that runs the length of the facade, and – perfect for Sigma Alpha Iota – a rose garden, complete with a fountain... ...At 2 p.m., the attendees gathered under the tent to hear the progress of the fraternity leading to the dedication. National President Ginny Johnson and Arlene Jospe Veron, Chairman of the Board of Directors for SAI Philanthropies, Inc., spoke to the 102 years of the fraternity, the development of the efforts to promote musicianship worldwide, the expansion of the SAI offices to a new spacious building, and the effort to get it ready for this day. en Dr. Carl Mumpower, the vice- mayor of Asheville, remarked on the accomplishment of the organization's thousands of women across the decades, and read aloud a proclamation declaring June 12, 2005, "Sigma Alpha Iota Day." e certificate, signed by mayor Charles Worley, urged "all the citizens of Asheville to honor those musicians who have gone before, those present at this time, and those who will bring music to future generations." Johnson, Veron, and Mumpower then cut the red ribbon stretched inside the tent, officially opening the headquarters. Next Executive Director Ruth Sieber Johnson detailed the search for the new headquarters with the building search committee— Daryle J. Gardner-Bonneau, Virginia A. Johnson, Meline & Dr. Berge Markarian, Jerry Anne & Tom Singletary, and Arlene Veron.

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