Marshall, Dorothy Hummel

A charter member of Beta Epsilon Chapter, Dorothy Hummel Marshall exemplified a life of service to Alpha Phi, and as a writer and public relations expert, she had a mastery of the English language.

Dorothy attended the University of Arizona in the 1920s, where she was part of the group of women who chartered Beta Epsilon Chapter. After earning her B.A. in English, she worked on a weekly radio magazine, for which she wrote a fan and entertainment page. Dorothy married her boss, Cloyd Marshall, and briefly left her writing career to raise a family. Her retirement did not last long, though. During World War II, Dorothy served as the public relations chair for the Chaplains’ Service Corps, and later wrote copy for the radio and a cosmetics firm.

In addition to her writing career, Dorothy held a variety of volunteer roles within Alpha Phi. She was appointed Chairman of Public Relations in 1949, for which she regularly authored articles for the Quarterly and undertook a revision of the manual for new members. In 1951, she combined her two areas of expertise in a presentation to the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) entitled “How Do Fraternity Magazines Further a Public Relations Program?” Following the retirement of an Executive Board member, Dorothy became Vice President of Alpha Phi in 1953 and was reelected to the position for the 1954-1956 biennium. She also began serving as the Fraternity’s delegate to the NPC in 1954. Dorothy’s service was not limited to the national level: she was an alumna adviser to Beta Delta Chapter and the press chairperson for the Los Angeles, California, Alumnae Chapter.

In a profile in the January 1949 issue of the Quarterly, Dorothy wrote that she had a “passion for desert sunsets in blue and rose and purple technicolor, the fragrance of rain on desert sage-brush, horseback riding and swimming.” As her language and long career attest, Dorothy was a dedicated Alpha Phi with many interests and a way with words.