Early Pi Phi, Kappa connection at Monmouth just the start of DeTemple's fascinating family history

by Barry McNamara

Monmouth, Ill. (08/19/2026) — Here's a fascinating "Monmouth Duo" story. One of the founders of Pi Beta Phi (Clara Brownlee Hutchinson) and one of the first initiates into Kappa Kappa Gamma (Margaret Pogue Ford) were Monmouth College roommates.

But wait, it gets even more fascinating. The grandchildren of those women were both Monmouth students and were married in 1935.

To zoom out for a moment, it's fascinating enough that the first two women's fraternities in the nation were founded at Monmouth College - Pi Phi in 1867 and Kappa in 1870. That makes them the "Monmouth Duo" and has been a great source of pride for hundreds of Monmouth alumnae through the years. It also puts Monmouth on the map, as sorority sisters from around the nation have planned trips to visit the founding sites of the Greek-letter organizations - Holt House for Pi Phi and Stewart House for Kappa.

Ready for some more fascination? A descendant of both Brownlee and Pogue visited Monmouth's campus this summer to share her story and also learn more about the college and community where so much of her family's history took root.

Margi Tucker DeTemple lives in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, where her husband, Jon, is the president of Harcum College. DeTemple is the granddaughter of Clyde Brownlee Hutchinson and Margaret Eleanor Smith, the aforementioned grandchildren of Brownlee and Pogue. So DeTemple, who wears a near-century-old thespian charm that belonged to Smith on her bracelet, can claim both historical figures as great-great-grandmothers.

"My mother has always told the story," said DeTemple. "She was a Kappa at Northwestern University. Her mother was a Kappa at Monmouth, and her mother (Mary Jane Ford) was a Kappa at Monmouth, and her mother was a Kappa at Monmouth (Pogue)."

To bring DeTemple's family tree into modern times, one of Clyde's children was the late Constance Hutchinson Hardin, a Pi Phi and member of Monmouth's Class of 1971 who married Douglas Hardin '72, the future (now retired) president of Monmouth's Community National Bank - Aunt Connie and Uncle Doug for DeTemple.

Educating 'plucky' women

There are several more Monmouth College connections in DeTemple's elaborate family tree - which is a type of Venn diagram of the histories of Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Kappa Gamma - but a common thread is not only the prominent role that two famous women played, but how many other women followed in their footsteps.

"The fact that so many women in my family were able to go to college is a source of pride for me," said DeTemple, who was given a guided tour of Holt House during her time in town. "Monmouth has always been a strong presence in my life - the fact that women were educated, especially in farm country, considering just how rural it was then. The fathers of the time believing, 'I want my daughters to be educated,' and that education was the No. 1 thing to improve yourself and a way to achieve independence. The women in my family were raised in a way to be strong, plucky," which is defined as being brave, spirited and determined.

DeTemple elaborated on the rural setting of Monmouth in the 19th century, which was also touched on in a recent article about the college's first president, David Wallace. "The Hutchinsons and Brownlees, both of Scottish descent, settled in Monmouth in the mid-1800s, maybe earlier," she said. "The Brownlees moved from Washington County, Pennsylvania. They left a large family behind and traveled with everything they had, crossing the wild. They landed here and became educated people."

Two generations later, Clyde Hutchinson moved back east to New York - according to family lore, reaching that decision while laboring through a farm fence project - but his brother, Dick Hutchinson, continued the family farming business in Biggsville. Four days before President Franklin Roosevelt closed the banks due to the Depression, Clyde's father asked him for a loan, and the $400 gift, which represented all of Clyde's savings, was instrumental in saving the farm.

"I'm really pleased to be here," said DeTemple while sitting in the Wallace Hall office of Monmouth President Patricia Draves. "My mother sent me a text last night that said, 'I'm so incredibly proud of you,' but really, this is the kind of thing I love to do."

(Keep feeling) fascination

Among her duties in Pennsylvania, which include roles as a realtor and Harcum's First Lady, is her position as Harcum's historic preservation officer, which she said carries the unofficial title of "keeper of stories" from the college's alumni. But she's also the custodian of her family's stories, and here are a few others of interest:

DeTemple's great-grandfather, Ford's husband Arthur Garfield Smith (born in 1881 and likely named for not one, but two U.S. presidents), never officially received his Monmouth diploma. DeTemple reports Smith needed to retake his Latin exam to graduate, but the college refused to allow it.
The Alexis Phelps House is an historic home in nearby Oquawka, overlooking the Mississippi River. Along with his brother, Phelps was one of the founders of the town. The Hutchinson family was quite close to the Phelps, explaining so many occurrences of Alexis and/or Phelps in Hutchinson nomenclature, including Alexis Phelps Hutchinson, who was Clyde Hutchinson's grandfather.
One of Clara and Alexis Hutchinson's homes - which still stands - is the house just to the west of Holt House. DeTemple said Clara was a quiet woman, and it was her sister, Emma - also a Monmouth student and Pi Phi - who was more likely to take charge.
Similarly, Margaret Smith was a more reserved librarian, while her husband Clyde had "a big personality," said DeTemple. "They were quite the opposite people. I remember my grandfather teaching me how to fish. He didn't treat me like a girl."
Bert Gowdy, Clyde's best friend and Alpha Tai Omega fraternity brother, gets credit for setting up Clyde and Margaret. Despite their Monmouth connection, the couple met after their time as students.
DeTemple was at her Hutchinson grandparents' home in 1981, modeling her prom dress, when the family received a call about the birth of Alexander Chauncey Hardin. That would be Connie and Doug's son Alex, who is the current president of Community National Bank. "I was really close to them," she said of her grandparents, who both died in the 1990s. "I miss them dearly."

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