For those of you who don't know, we lost a dear sister & friend yesterday. She was a member of 3 different Red Hat Chapters (Sworn Sisters, Fancy Feathers & Lace (Queen), & Victorian Angels). I have pasted the link to her obituary at Sturtevant Funeral Home in Portsmouth VA below. As a Red/Pink Hat Sister, I'm sure her husband would appreciate any comforting words you may be able to offer in her guest book. She is listed as Dianna Parkinson. She was known to us as Gail. Let's show her husband how strong our sisterly love is. http://www.sturtevantfuneralhome.com/index.cfm In Red Hat love & friendship, Queen Sherry of Sworn Sisters For some reason some of you cannot use the link. You may have to copy & paste it into your web address window. If that doesn't work, email me & I'll forward the link to you. Thanks to all those who are taking the time to do this. It means a lot to us all! My email address is SherArlene@cox.net

Follow up to this is added to the end of the original. For those of you who live in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, our Red Hat chapter, Sworn Sisters, would like to participate in the Neptune Parade on 9/27/08 in Virginia Beach VA. We will be walking, actually marching, as the parade coordinator suggested would be the proper terminology for us to participate. It starts at 16th Street & runs North on Atlantic Ave. I’m currently waiting to hear back from the coordinator with the details so I’m not sure of how long the parade route is but I’m thinking maybe two miles. Our chapter is a very small chapter & many of our women are unable to participate due to various health problems. Therefore, I’m inviting you to join us in making this a fun event & just think, you’ll get to meet many new Red Hat sisters. If any of your sisters are in wheelchairs, then decorate the chairs & bring them with you. That way, they’ll get to participate in all the fun. We were going to try to do a float but decided that we couldn’t meet the specifications required by July 1st. Please pass on this information to your Red Hat chapter or any Red or Pink Hatters you think may be interested in this. Once I get all the info, I will send a follow-up email to those who feel that they may be interested. For now, I’d like to have a count of how many of you would like to attempt this. I think it would be fun to show off all our Red/Pink Hat attire, our colors, bling, glitz & glamour. The more we go overboard with our attire, the better it will be & we’ll definitely be crowd pleasers. Please respond back to me by next Friday, June 20th. If I need a count sooner, then I’ll add to this blog. I’m excited about this & I hope when you read this, you’ll be just as excited as I am. Looking forward to hearing from you & possibly meeting you. Neptune Festival, Saturday, 9/27/08, 11:30-1:00 Good evening Red/Pink Hat Sisters, I spoke with the man in charge of the parade & he put an application in the mail to me today. I have to return the application to him by mid July. However, for now, I can give him an estimated count of how many ladies will be participating. I would like to know how many ladies will be joining us by September 5, 2008. Also, if you could provide me with your chapter name & a phone number in case we need to contact you that would be great. If the count increases a lot, then I’ll call him back with the new count. I did ask about how long the route was & he said that it was 16 blocks long, which was just a little shy of one mile. I also requested that we be put near a band & he stated that would not be a problem. As far as parking, I’ll have to find out later where we should park but he said all day parking is $7 in the garage. I really don’t plan on being in Va Beach all day but it would probably be better if some of us could carpool. I’ll also have to find out where we should meet so I’ll keep in touch with the coordinator & obtain the information to relay to those of you who respond to me as the event gets closer. Hope you’re as excited about this as I am. Please let me know by September 5th or earlier if you plan on participating. My email address is SherArlene@cox.net Who knows, we may want to make this an annual event. In Red Hat Friendship, Queen Sherry Sworn Sisters