The Links, Incorporated
A Brief History of The Southern Area
The Southern Area of the Links, Incorporated came into existence on the Monday after Easter, April 19, 1948 at 1:00 P.M.* with the organizing of the sixth club – Rocky Mount-Wilson-Tarboro. The establishment of this group came after more than a year of intense planning and activity by the founders of The Links, Inc., Links Sarah Scott and Margaret Hawkins, and their seven friends of the Philadelphia Club. They felt it was time to expand their organization into the south. This duty was given to their friend Julia Delaney of Raleigh, NC and Link Doris Joyner Reynolds, who became a member of the Philadelphia Club late in 1947 (Link Reynolds was born in Winton, North Carolina).
Julia Delaney discussed this with her daughter, Nan Delaney (Hines) Johnson, who lived in Wilson, North Carolina. Nan felt that eastern North Carolina was an ideal place to extend the chain of friendship. With the help of her friend Ann Armstrong of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, five friends from Rocky Mount, five friends from Wilson, and one friend from Tarboro, North Carolina were named and this began the Rocky Mount-Wilson-Tarboro chapter of the Links, Inc. Julia Delaney brought her cousin, Link Doris Reynolds of the Philadelphia Club, to Rocky Mount to induct the thirteen ladies into the first southern club of Linkdom. Link Doris Reynolds administered the pledge in an impressive candlelight ceremony to Ann Armstrong, Marguerite Armstrong, Sallie Armstrong, Nancy Bowens, Esmeralda Hawkins, and Jessie Pash of Rocky Mount, Grace Artis, Addie Butterfield, Norma Darden, Ethel Hines, Nan Delaney Hines, and Vera Shade of Wilson, and Helen G. Quigless of Tarboro.
Even though the Club was organized in Rocky Mount at the home of Esmeralda Rich Hawkins, and initially called Rocky Mount-Wilson-Tarboro, the name later changed to Wilson-Rocky Mount-Tarboro because the inspiration from the idea of having this group came from Nan Delaney (Hines) Johnson of Wilson, NC, who served as the first president of the club.
One year later the Raleigh Links Club formally organized at noon on the Monday after Easter, April 18, 1949 at the home of Mayme R. McCauley. Link Doris Reynolds of the Philadelphia Club directed an impressive initiation ceremony. Julia B. Delaney, organizer, served as the first president of the club, which became the second Southern Area Club.
All Clubs were later called Chapters of The Links, Inc. Currently there are 275 chapters in The Links, Inc.
In 1954, The Links, Inc. was decentralized into four geographic areas: Eastern, Southern, Central, and Western. Chapter growth was maintained by having existing chapters sponsor chapters in other cities. For example: the Raleigh Chapter sponsored the 3rd chapter in the south-Winston Salem Chapter in 1950, and the Wilson-Rocky Mount-Tarboro Chapter sponsored the Charlotte Chapter (#14) in 1955. Later this rule was limited to a radius of 25 miles
The Southern Area has grown from two chapters in 1949 to 75 chapters in seven states, the Bahamas and the Republic of South Africa in 2004. There are 8 chapters in Alabama, 18 in Florida, 14 in Georgia, 1 in the Bahamas, 8 in Louisiana, 5 in Mississippi, 14 in North Carolina, 6 in South Carolina and 1 in South Africa (3 units). Prior to 1965 West Virginia and Texas were part of the Southern Area. Chapters are numbered in the Southern Area from 1 – 75.
Of the 13 National Presidents, 5 of them were elected president while residing in the Southern Area. Links Pauline Weeden-Maloney, Helen G. Edmonds, Julia Brogden-Purnell, Regina J. Frazier, and Patricia Russell-McCloud, J.D.
Seven National Assemblies have been held in 5 different Southern Area cities.
1. Bluefield, West Virginia in 1954 (when part of the Southern Area)
2. Atlanta, Georgia in 1957 and 1980
3. Nassau, Bahamas in 1964 (Hosted by the Greater Miami Chapter
4. New Orleans in 1972 (Hosted by the Baton Rouge Chapter, and 1996 (50th Anniversary)
5. Miami, Florida in 1988
6. The 2004 National Assembly will be held in Atlanta, Georgia.
The first Southern Area Conference was held in 1955 in Charleston, SC. Since that time, 36 area conferences have been held in 29 Southern Area cities with two in Charleston, SC, two in Orlando, FL, two in Jackson, MS, two in Charlotte, NC, two in Birmingham, AL and one in Bahamas. The 2005 Area Conference will be held in Orlando, FL
Area Conferences and National Assemblies were held annually until 1975. After such time, meetings were held biennially and Area Conferences convening in odd-numbered year and National Assemblies convening in even-numbered years.
Southern Area Conferences held since the publishing of Volume II of the Southern Area History book are:
35th Charlotte, North Carolina 1999 (April 7 – 11)
(Charlotte Crown Jewel, Piedmont)
Golden Anniversary
Area Director: Joyce M. Dixon
Conference Theme: “Launching Golden Linkages”
36th Birmingham, Alabama 2001 (April 18 – 22)
Area Director: Nancy Shade-Anderson
Conference Theme: “Celebrating Our Journey Of Friendship and Service”
37th Nassau, The Bahamas 2003 (June 17 – 22)
Area Director: Nancy Shade-Anderson
Conference Theme: “Celebrating Our Journey:
Strengthening Global Sisterhood”
38th (Future) Orlando, Florida 2005 (April 26 – May 1)
Area Director: Margaret T. Johnson
Conference Theme: “Setting an Agenda for Success”
There have been 16 Southern Area Directors (who once were titled Area Chairmen).
1. Link Bernice Martin 1955 - 1957 - Southern West Virginia, WV
2. Link Georgia Schanck 1957 - 1958 - Orlando, FL
3. Link Esmeralda Hawkins 1958 - 1961 - Wilson-Rocky Mount-Tarboro, NC
4. Link Linda Reddick 1961 - 1965 – Orlando, FL
5. Link Maude K. Reid 1965 – 1969 – Miami, FL
6. Link Gladys D. Wood 1969 – 1973 – Greensboro, NC
7. Link Julia B. Purnell 1973 – 1978 – Baton Rouge, LA
8. Link Juanita Johnson 1978 – 1981 – Tallahassee, FL
9. Link Regina J. Frazier 1981 – 1984 – Miami, FL
10. Link Martha Boone 1984 – 1985 – Wilmington, NC
11. Link Carolyn C. Washington 1985 – 1987 – Vicksburg, MS
12. Link Barbara Moore 1987 – 1991 – Durham, NC
13. Link Katie P. Bell 1991 – 1995 – Montgomery, Al
14. Link Joyce Dixon 1995 – 1999 – Cocoa Beach, FL
15. Link Nancy Shade-Anderson 1999 – 2003, Greenville, SC
16. Link Margaret T. Johnson 2003 – Present – Jacksonville, FL
Highlights of activities in the Southern Area since Volume II of the Southern Area History was published include:
1998 – 1999 Link Joyce Dixon, Area Director
• Volume II of the Southern Area History was published in 1999.
• Chapter began using Archival Retention Schedule in 1998.
• The Linkages to Life (an organ tissue and bone marrow donation awareness program), a 1998 initiative of the Southern Area, was structured by Link Barbara Dixon Simpkins, National President, as a national focus at the four Area Conferences in 1999. On July 6, 2000, the 270 chapter delegates in attendance at the Thirty-second National Assembly voted unanimously to make it a National Signature Program.
• The 50th Southern Area Anniversary was celebrated in 1999.
1999 – 2003 Link Nancy Shade-Anderson, Area Director
• The first Southern Area Conference Coordinator, Link Cozetta W. Buckley was appointed in 1999.
• The First Link e-mail publication, Link Lines was inaugurated in 2000.
• The first Southern Area E-mail and Fax Directory was distributed to Chapters in 2001.
• The first Southern Area Conference Planning Guide (to assist Chapters/Clusters planning to host an Area Conference) was distributed to chapters.
• The first Southern Area Leadership Conference was held in Jacksonville, Florida in 2002.
• The 37th Southern Area Conference (hosted by The Nassau Chapter was held in Nassau, Bahamas in 2003.
2003 – 2004 Link Margaret T. Johnson, Area Director
• The first template for the Southern Area work plan was designed for elected and appointed members to submit a work plan (used for communication, fiduciary, and planning purposes and as a basis for quarterly status reports) in 2003.
• The first Area with 100% e-mail coverage of all elected and appointed positions was completed (will improve communications process) in March 2004.
• The Athens, Georgia Chapter was established in April 2004.
No history of the Southern Area is complete without its programs and services. A simple perusal of the 50th Anniversary Journal 1996 – 1998, Volume I of the Southern Area History 1949 – 1989, and Volume II of the Southern Area History Book 1948 – 1998 reveals the work of the foot soldiers in the Links program fulfillment. “These foot-soldiers are those dedicated, civic-minded, professional, educated chapter members and their energetic inspiring chapter presidents,” as once stated by the Link President Helen Gray Edmonds.