STEVE
SCHOLFIELD photo
Dressed in
their trademark red hats and purple dresses, members of the
Red Hat Society enjoy lunch at Craig's restaurant Princeton
Avenue in Brick. |
For at least one
day each month, these women don't think about their age. Instead,
they toast one another over wine, laugh loudly in public and proudly
wear their red hats and purple dresses.
After all, they are the Red Hot Mamas.
The Mamas are one of 74 official Ocean County chapters of a
larger group called the Red Hat Society, a relatively new
organization for women over 50 to celebrate their age. The society
believes older women should not be bolder, not meek and mild;
specifically, that they should (and do) wear red and purple together
and leave their cleaning supplies and knitting needles at home to
enjoy luncheons and plays.
The idea for the Mamas was first mentioned among these women last
year after someone saw a mention of it on television. From there, it
escalated. Although the women who started the group have known one
another for years, they also invited their neighbors and people they
knew through volunteering at the hospital, bowling and other
activities.
"We liked the idea that when you are a certain age, you can do
anything you want," said 75-year-old Toms River resident Vi Tauro,
Queen Mother of the Red Hot Mamas chapter, which has about 20
members.
The Red Hat Society began several years ago, when California
resident Sue Ellen Cooper bought a bright red fedora at a thrift
shop while visiting a friend in Tucson, Ariz.
More than a year later, she read "Warning," a poem by Jenny
Joseph that tells the story of an elderly woman wearing purple
clothing and a red hat.
Cooper immediately decided to give her friend, Linda Murphy, a
vintage red hat and a copy of Joseph's poem. Murphy enjoyed the idea
so much that she gave the same gift to another friend.
The idea caught on, and eventually the women realized they were
becoming something of a "red hat society." They wore their hats,
bought purple dresses as described in Joseph's poem and went to tea.
The group continued to grow, and eventually one of the members
passed the idea to a friend in Florida, where another chapter was
founded. Now, six years later, there are more than 20,000 Red Hat
Society chapters, including the 74 in Ocean County.
When Lynne Porter logged onto the Internet more than a year ago
to find a Red Hat Society near her Brick home, she did so because
she believed she was "at the age where a little fun should be in the
works." But Porter soon found that there were no chapters in Brick,
and that those already established in northern Ocean County,
including the Mamas, were closed to new members. The Red Hat Society
suggests chapters stay in the range of 20 members.
STEVE
SCHOLFIELD photo
From left:
Roselyn McCallion, Peggy Davis and Betty LaCour, all of Dover
Township, ignore any aches and pains during a social outing
with their peers. |
So Porter, now
61, decided to begin her own chapter, the Society of the Regal Red
Hatters from the Queendome of Brick. As a present, her daughter gave
her a red hat and paid for her mother to begin a chapter.
The Regal Red Hatters officially opened Monday and already,
Porter said, she has received e-mails from two people interested in
joining. Porter said she expects her group, now one of nine in
Brick, to have its inaugural meeting in June.
Boon to clothing stores
Last spring, John Gallaher, co-owner
of four Silver Threads women's clothing stores in Ocean County,
recognized that it might make good business sense to sell red hats
and red and purple jewelry. After all, he said, Red Hat societies
were popping up locally, and he thought the products might sell.
Now, one year later, Gallaher said he has a separate Red Hat
Society department in each of his four stores. He sells red and
purple boas, scarves, handbags, dresses, blouses, knit shirts and
even a capri set, many with pictures of red hats.
"People were asking for it, so we gave it to them," Gallaher
said. "It's really doing great."
For Eileen Bennett, the decision to establish a Red Hat Society
chapter in Tuckerton, making her Queen Mother of that group, came
out of frustration. Bennett, 69, said she was tired of the
responsibility that went along with the other various groups she was
involved with. In one, Bennett said she was the secretary. In
another, she was the recorder. All the work, Bennett said, made her
forget that she was retired.
But the Red Hats are different. The approximately 20 women in her
chapter each take turns planning events, leaving Bennett with little
more to do than enjoy herself.
"They see us coming, and they say, 'Look out,' because they know
we're loud and they know we're fun," she said. "I love it."
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