Seymour native Nancy Sargent Hemmer Bishop, 98, recently reached a milestone of 70 consecutive years of service with the Seymour Tri Kappa.

In reality, however, she has been with the chapter for 80 years since May, having joined in 1944 in her final days of senior year at Seymour High School, when there were only two sororities in Seymour.

Tri Kappa is a charity-based organization divided into providences that promotes education and culture through the many projects and events they have created and hosted. Some providences, like Seymour’s, also has an associates chapter, which helped keep members active.

Statewide, Tri Kappa has supported Riley Children’s Hospital, the American Cancer Society and other related causes along with local efforts such as Anchor House Family Assistance Center and Pantry and United Way of Jackson County.

“Although I was initiated 80 years ago, I wasn’t active at first,” Bishop said.

Her stepdaughter, Terrye Davidson, overheard about this milestone and reached out to Bishop, asking if she had any pictures, books or information about her time with Tri Kappa. With all that Davidson gathered, she helped honor Bishop as a “legend” during the sorority’s winter meeting.

To become a member of Tri Kappa, there is no application process. It is an exclusive club where to get in, you must be invited. Those who were invited were all friends of hers due to connections in or around the sororities.

To be invited, the girls must be high school graduates with a good reputation.

When invited, Bishop received a letter with a ribbon, welcoming her into the Gamma Phi chapter. It was understood that, when invited, it was not widely talked about, but still represented by pinning the colored ribbon received to your shirt. The other sorority at the time had a similar process with a differently colored ribbon.

“You tried not to boast about it,” Bishop said. “You tried to kind of downplay it with other kids in school..”

After she was out of school, Bishop was officially made part of the team with a pledge ceremony and initiation ceremony. In the group of women, there were also married women that were initiated, not just restricting those who can be involved to those freshly out of high school. The important thing was to evaluate their candidacy as an active member.

After her initiation, Bishop was off to college.

For some time after graduating, she lived in Indianapolis, where she attended a meeting of one of the chapters there. At the time, her husband found a job opportunity back in Seymour, which brought the couple back to familiar grounds. This ceased her attendance for the Indy chapter, but she knew the right people to talk to for Seymour’s chapter.

“One of the things I did after I was back in Seymour was go to a Tri Kappa meeting,” Bishop said. “It was just the way to get back into things and be part of Seymour.”

In Tri Kappa, Bishop took on many different roles. She has served as president and secretary at both chapters during her time in the chapter. Throughout her involvement, she participated in the various fundraisers and meetings. As president, Bishop led the chapter, making sure everything was in order and keeping everyone on track. While secretary, her main job was to record and report minutes for all of their meetings.

Bishop is a member of Gamma Phi chapter.

Along with Tri Kappa, Bishop still belongs to other groups with scheduled meetings, events and activities. Some of those include All Thumbs Garden Club, First Methodist Church and Embroiderers Guild of America (EGA).

The reason Bishop stuck with Tri Kappa for so long was simple.

“It’s nice to belong to,” she said. “It’s good friends and sometimes, it’s people you don’t see very often. Maybe you only see them at the meetings.”