Remembering Betty Gilmore Woods

With heavy hearts, we share the passing of former ZTA National Panhellenic Conference Delegate, Betty Gilmore Woods, on Saturday, Aug. 3, in South Pasadena, California.

Mrs. Woods is universally recognized as the creator of what would become NPC’s Release Figure Method for Structured Recruitment. Using a $10 hand-held calculator, she developed the method in 1967 while assisting the four NPC groups at California State University, Fullerton. Now, RFM is the standard for campus Panhellenic Associations across the country, equalizing the recruitment process and bringing as many women as possible into sorority membership.

“Betty was universally loved by her sisters in ZTA and NPC,” said ZTA NPC Delegate Laura Ladewig Landers. “She leaves a legacy for the entire sorority world that continues to strengthen all of our chapters across the country."

Mrs. Woods was initiated at ZTA’s Beta Epsilon Chapter at University of California, Los Angeles on our Founders’ Day, October 15, 1949. She served as a Province President from 1965 to 1974, NPC Alternate Delegate II from 1974 to 1984, NPC Delegate from 1984 to 1988 and NPC Alternate Delegate I from 1988 to 1999. She also served as a Mentor to three chapters from 1997 to 2004. She received the Certificate of Merit in 1962 and her Honor Ring in 1968.

ZTA and the fraternity/sorority community have honored Mrs. Woods for her role in developing RFM. She received our Louise Kettler Helper Award as the outstanding alumna of the biennium in 1990 and the Vivian Ulmer Smith Recruitment Award in 1998, our Centennial year. Kappa Delta Sorority presented her with its Order of the Diamond Award in 2004. She also received the Jackson Anson Award from the Association of Fraternity Advisors and a Special Recognition Award from NPC.

She is survived by her husband of 67 years, William Woods; daughter Mary Brown; son Bill Woods; daughter-in-law Rebecca Woods; son-in-law Drew Brown; grandchildren Stina Ross, Katie and Annie Woods, and Woody and Kyle Brown; and great-granddaughter Cordelia Ross.

Memorial services for Mrs. Woods will be held at 2 p.m., Friday, Aug. 16, at the Church of the Angels in Pasadena, California. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation for a scholarship fund in her memory.