It all started with a group of five women who wanted to dress up and meet for a cup of tea.
The women, all over the age of 50 and sporting red hats and purple clothing, chose to convene at what is now the Spring Field Banquet & Conference Center in Fullerton. They playfully made up terms and rules for the group, thinking it would be whimsical to continue to organize gatherings.
The women didn’t know it then, but the Red Hat Society’s first chapter was established on that April day in 1998.
Seventeen years later, there are about 20,000 RHS chapters established worldwide, made up of approximately 70,000 women.
“There’s nothing like girlfriends. Husbands and boyfriends come and go, but girlfriends don’t,” said Sue Ellen Cooper, founder of the RHS. “It’s so valuable to have a core group of women that you can just be yourself with.”
Cooper, now 71, graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 1968 with a Humanities and Social Sciences degree. In 2004, the university lauded Cooper for her accomplishments and she was named a recipient of CSUF’s Vision & Visionaries alumni award.
Her husband and daughter are also alumni of the university.
After graduating from college, Cooper was married and began building a family. In the early 90s, she and a few friends started a mural painting business.
The idea of wearing red hats and purple clothing came in 1997, when Cooper had to buy a gift for a close friend’s 55th birthday.
“I knew that she wouldn’t like something normal so I thought about that famous poem,” Cooper said. “I thought I’d get her a red hat and tell her that we have to get old but we can do it our own way.”
The poem Cooper referred to is Jenny Joseph’s “Warning.” The first line of the poem reads, “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple/With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.”
“In my mind it was just this quirky little thing that we were going to do,” Cooper said. “I hadn’t foreseen on gathering any other people.”
Word of the organization spread quickly. Soon, more women wanted to participate in the group where women sported red hats and wore purple clothing whenever they congregated.
“The first time we went out there were five of us. By the third or fourth time, there were 18,” she said.
The typical RHS member is a female at least 50 years old, although there are exceptions.
Females under 50 may join the society, but wear pink hats and lavender clothing. “Reduations” are held to officially introduce women over 50 into the RHS.
Women have bonded over retirement, the illness or death of a husband or loved one, or over sisterhood, Cooper said.
“It quickly became something much deeper,” she said. “And we try to foster that, to encourage that.”
RHS chapters gather at least once a month for meals, tea, potlucks, to visit museums, take day trips, watch a movie or simply play board games at one of the member’s homes.
“Just because we’re grown up now doesn’t mean we don’t love playing princesses, having tea parties and all that stuff,” Cooper said.
Along with the monthly gatherings, the RHS also hosts annual conventions.
“Looking back, at any point it could have just fizzled,” Cooper said. “Nobody was trying to fan the flames.”
“I am honestly most proud to be a part of it,” she said. “I’m very proud of what’s come of it.”
The original red hat Cooper wore to that first gathering in 1998 is now in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
She paid $7.50 for the hat.
“It’s amazing; I still can’t believe it,” she said. “I had bought that hat in a thrift store in Arizona on a whim.”
Although Cooper concedes to having had more than 50 red hats in her possession at one point, she has narrowed her selection down to 12 favorite hats.
And what exactly does the founder of the RHS look for when selecting a hat?
“Well, it has to be flattering,” she said. “A lot of women say that they can’t wear hats and that’s not true. Everybody can wear a hat, you just have to find out what suits you.”
Contact the writer: amarcos@ocregister.com
