Lindsey Draves, the Long Island Alumnae Chapter's VP Finance, became a Tri Delta at University of Maine where she majored in Elementary Education and graduated with a BS in 1972.
During Lindsey's collegiate years, there were anti-war demonstrations against the Vietnam War at colleges across the country and University of Maine was no exception. Lindsey clearly remembers a huge Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) demonstration on the campus. And during that time, Lindsey said that all students felt the impact of the Kent State shootings in May of 1970. Also while she attended college, Maine was the first college in the country to have an abortion loan fund for female students, although the closest legal state at the time was New York.
At Tri Delta, Lindsey was the chapter's Trident Correspondent. During her senior year, she became Secretary, and recalls taking notes at every meeting as well as being responsible for revising the chapter bylaws.
Lindsey notes that at that time all the sororities had uniforms that everyone wore every Monday evening, the night sororities held their weekly meetings. Tri Delta's outfit was a light blue matching sweater and pencil skirt. While Lindsey was a collegiate, Tri Delta wisely voted to eliminate these uniforms, and the other nine sororities followed suit.
None of the sororities on the Maine campus had houses, only the fraternities, so Lindsey lived in a dorm. One year she arrived back at school to find that her roommate had decided to move off campus, so Lindsey was in need of a replacement before being assigned someone. She learned that Sandy, also a Tri Delta, needed a roommate too, so they agreed to be roommates. In a sorority of 70 women it's not possible to know all of them equally well, so they were both taking a risk. But Lindsey was happy to report that it worked out better than they could have anticipated, "Sandy and I became close friends as well as being sisters. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding, and we continue to stay in touch although we don't see each other very often as they live in Atlanta."
The year following graduation, Lindsey went on to graduate school (when her grandmother volunteered to pay for it), and received a MEd in Remedial Reading. She then lived in Bangor, Maine, and worked for two years as a remedial reading specialist where she coordinated the program for a rural Maine school district comprising five towns, each with an elementary school.
Lindsey eventually decided to try something other than teaching, and moved back to New York (she grew up in Manhasset). She found a job in the media/market research department of a magazine publishing company. It turned out to be a perfect fit, and she spent many years on that side of the business until shifting from companies that use the research (to sell advertising) to those that create it. She now works as Director of Special Projects for Mediamark Research & Intelligence. MRI is the leading provider of magazine audience and multimedia research data in the United States. MRI data have become the basic media-planning currency for the majority of the media plans that are created each year by national advertisers and their agencies.
Lindsey joined the Long Island Alumnae Chapter in 2005 after receiving an invitation to a Maine Tri Delta reunion. The invitation made her remember how much the sorority and her sisters had meant to her, so she decided to investigate the LIAC. Lindsey attended the reunion at Maine and enjoyed seeing so many sisters she had not seen since college. One of them, Diane (originally from Wantagh), was President when Lindsey was Secretary, and they have really enjoyed reconnecting. Lindsey says that another Maine reunion is planned for 2011.
As for the LIAC, Lindsey really likes the variety of women who make up the Chapter--of all ages and different colleges. Says Lindsey, "They are women I would not have had the opportunity of knowing without Tri Delta." Lindsey is very active in the Chapter as VP Finance and attends many events throughout the year. She celebrated her Silver Circle milestone in May 2008, and was one of four LIAC members who were first recognized for this special honor during Pansy Breakfast.
Currently living in Glen Cove, Lindsey says that she loves to travel and notes that even as a kid she would go anywhere with anyone. Some of her more recent travel destinations include France (Paris and Provence), Italy (Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Amalfi Coast), London, Montreal and Quebec, Prague, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Copenhagen, as well as multiple places in U.S. She also enjoys theater and dance and tries to attend as many performances as her budget will allow.
