Beta Sigma Phi will honor 2024 sweethearts

 The new year of 2024 is moving right along and Weiser’s four chapters of Beta Sigma Phi Sorority have each selected one member to honor at an upcoming Beta Sigma Phi Sweetheart Dinner. 

 A non-academic sorority, Beta Sigma Phi was founded in 1931 in Abilene, Kan., under the name “The National ‘What to Read’ Club.” Over the decades, the organization expanded and is now found in the United States, Canada, and 30 other countries.

 Locally, the Sorority’s members not only enjoy the social and cultural aspects of belonging, but are very often found helping out with numerous community events, such as Red Cross blood drives, the annual Weiser Memorial Hospital Festival of Trees, and celebrating Weiser Memorial Hospital’s first baby of the year with a basketful of gifts for the newborn.

 The sweethearts:

Jan Mullins

 Selected by her close friends in the Nu Masters Chapter, Jan Mullins joined Beta Sigma Phi 12 years ago, after a 20-year career with the City of Weiser.

 Mullins and her husband of 62 years, Gary, moved to Weiser in 1971, raising their three children here, but losing one of their daughters to cancer just four years ago. They have six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

 Mullins enjoys volunteering, golfing, and likes to travel.

 “I like to paint with watercolors, learning fluid art, and I love to update furniture,” she said. “And, of course, gardening.”

 Mullins said she has held many offices within the Nu Master chapter, and has served on many committees.

 “Beta Sigma Phi opened a new chapter in my retirement life,” Mullins added. “I read that sisterhood is a powerful thing. It’s for sharing, laughter, and for healing, and means to never be alone. It’s all that and more.”

Connie Wrenfrow

 A seven-year member of the Laureate Phi Chapter, Connie Wrenfrow has served as chairman of both the chapter’s Sunshine and Ways and Means committees, as well as being part of the Social and Cultural Committee, and Service Committee. She is also an alternate on the local Beta Sigma Phi City Council.

 Wrenfrow describes herself as a housewife, which might be a simple way of saying she is in management.

 She and her husband, Bill, have two grown sons, Joe and Mark, and four grandchildren, Lexie, who is a freshman at the University of Idaho, Mark and Parker, a senior and eighth grader, respectively, in Ontario, and Wyatt, a Weiser eighth grader.

 Wrenfrow describes her hobbies as quilting, camping, and sewing.

 Speaking to what Beta Sigma Phi means to her, she said, “Friendship, sisterhood, and getting together with other women, sharing the ups and downs of life.”

Naomi Field

 Joining the Delta Omicron Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi just a year ago, Naomi Field is the current treasurer of the chapter, as well as the Sorority’s City Council treasurer.

 Keeping track of books comes naturally to Field, after growing up in the family plumbing business, Weiser Plumbing, and working as its bookkeeper until her retirement at the end of 2022. She now serves as the part-time secretary at the Weiser Christian Church.

 Field graduated from Weiser High School in 1977 and married her high school sweetheart, Rick, the following year. The couple raised their children here, and their daughter Cathy works for Addus Home Health. Their son, Jeff, worked in the family business until its closure with Naomi’s retirement, and now works for Superior Water and Air in Boise.

 Cathy and her husband Anthony live in Weiser, as does Jeff and his wife Kyndra, and their three children, Adriana, Sheila, and Joey.

 Field’s favorite hobby is working in her yard, “taking care of my many grapes,” she said. “I even enjoy weeding!”

 Looking back at her first year in Beta Sigma Phi, Field said, “I really enjoy the opportunity to be a member, and appreciate my sisters in my chapter, plus getting to meet my sisters from other chapters.”

Anna Loos

 Xi Nu chapter’s Anna Loos has been a member of Beta Sigma Phi for 20 years, saying she continues to enjoy meeting other ladies, volunteering alongside and doing things in the community with her sorority sisters, and always learning from others.

 She has served the chapter in the role of vice-president, as well as other positions through the years.

 Loos has worked in healthcare for 36 years, assisting and caring for residents at Weiser Care of Cascadia.

 She and her husband of 44 years, Don, have two daughters, Cathy and Sarah, seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and another great-grandchild due this summer.

 Loos’s interests and hobbies, in her spare time, include reading, playing bingo, gardening, and going on outings with family and friends.

 Congratulations to each of the 2024 Beta Sigma Phi Sweethearts.