Red Hat Society | Heart of a Southern Woman

The Royal Red Divas Honor their Retiring Queen—Goodbye Queenie Wahine, Queen of Perpetual Joy and Popcorn Peach Pie!

June 5, 2014 by Helen Holshouser 2 Comments

In May 2014, the Royal Red Divas, a chapter of the International Red Hat Society, crowned their new Queen, Angie Rowe. For their June gathering they honored their retiring Queen. Since I am that retiring Queen, I have to tell you no one’s ever had a better tribute and/or retirement party!

Lace and china!

Beautiful Divas, r to l, guest, back row: Sharon Wright Kittrell, Loretta Highfield, , front row, with pink boa- Adair Williams, Diana Craig, Queen Angie Rowe, and Carol Rafferty

Diva Family Tree

l to r, Dora Pryor, Carol Rafferty, and Linda McLaughlin

Annie Holshouser, Prrincess Sweet Melody for her lovely voice, was unable to join the party this night due to illness. (Helen’s daughter)

First of all, I knew nothing about these plans and was very surprised that they carried it off without my having an inkling! I arrived thinking I was coming to my first meeting as simply a member, ready to enjoy the leadership of our new Queen, Angie Rowe. The Divas had prepared a beautiful, formal tea, with lace tablecloths and china teacups. They had decorated the room to reflect my favorite things! Knowing that I am majorly into gardening and genealogy, the divas had decorated the room like a garden. There was an amazing red and purple arched trellis! Surrounding it and all over the room were a multitude of beautiful flowers. There were pink vincas, purple Angelonia, bright pink and red impatiens, and many others reflecting our colors and my love of flowers. It took my breath away! Displayed prominently was the most incredible piece of art and loving work I have had the pleasure to see in a while. The Divas had collected tiny pictures of Divas who had been in the group over the last 10 years and decorated a family tree with those pictures! It is so beautiful, and these people are so meaningful to me, that I will treasure it always.

I wish you could’ve seen the table laden with tea sandwiches: cucumber, cream cheese and olives, egg salad, chicken salad and more. There were fruit, olives, cheese, croissants, and of course a multitude of desserts. There were scones and clotted cream which were delicious. Of course we live in the South, so there was scrumptious pound cake;. and iced and hot tea in china pitchers and pots which graced our tables along with choices of wine. The Divas had out-done themselves for a second month in a row!

Queen Helen, Queen of PJ & PPP

Dora says, “Remember where you are, act like a red hatter! Show some skin!

Lorna Harris and Linda McLaughlin (l) are happy to see each other!

Queen Angie Rowe in pink, with Lady Diamond-Diana Craig

l to r, Diana Craig, Loretta Highfield, Angie Rowe, and Carol Rafferty

Queen of Vice on right-Sharon Wright Kittrell with our own Diana Craig

The Divas had already presented me with an incredible gift – the gift of this Dragon voice recognition program that I am using at this moment. They had already said such nice things about my 10 years as their Queen that I certainly never expected to be honored in this way. They gave me two beautiful decorative pins to wear. One says “Founding Queen”, and the other says “Retired Queen”. I just love them! As you know in Red Hat “you can never have too much bling!” I think I’ll wear one of them on my hat and one will be pinned proudly to my shoulder for all Red Hat gatherings.

Being Queen of the Royal Red Divas has been one of the most fun things I have ever done in my life! Only health concerns could make me step down. However I am looking forward to joining in as a Diva, and enjoying the energy brought to the group by our new Queen Pinkalovagaga! I think my new name will reflect my genealogical work so now I’ll be Grande Dame Helen of Virginia! I love that name, but will never lose the perpetual joy brought to me by the Royal Red Divas. Thank you Divas! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Love and kisses from your Founding Queen, Helen

This gallery contains 10 photos

An Introduction to a Series of Blogs

Hi, I’m Helen and I’ve been enjoying blogging for almost a year now! I have so much I want to write about, that I couldn’t choose just one area.. I understand that one of the most important things for a successful blogger to do, is to build a sense of community. Well, I’d love that! I am blessed to live in a wonderful neighborhood, middle class, diverse population, with myriad ages and skills! We are a great little community! Professionally I used to be a master’s level psychologist, and in that capacity I had the opportunity to work with a lot of families and groups struggling with very stressful issues. I’m no stranger to that struggle in my own life either. But group therapy is one of the neatest things I’ve ever had the honor to be a part of or conduct. In group, a community builds very quickly. so perhaps doing that for 20 years makes me realize how important and wonderful it is. Hopefully you will enjoy what you read here, or learn from it, or just agree to disagree! Anyway, I hope you will come back and suggest that some of your friends look me up. I look forward to your comments and hope we can begin a good forum.
Because I’m hoping for a diverse group of readers, I intend to write about several different subject matters, in hopes of posting something you might be interested in. But I will try to return to each topic often enough for you to realize the continuity. If you have topics you want me to include, or think would be helpful, I would love to hear your suggestions. The first couple of blog entries will talk about the joys of my own neighborhood. Along with that, I’ll begin to introduce you to my Red Hat Society group- the Royal Red Divas. I have the total joy of serving as Queen of this group! You have to laugh just seeing us all dressed in our regalia! Next I want to blog about abuse and abusers– what happens when you grow up in an abusive family, as I did. Domestic Violence awareness month is coming up, and I want to talk about it! Other subjects I’d like to share are my thoughts on gardening; disabilities; prayer, angels, and blessings. . Hope you have a great day and let me hear from you. Helen