The Gamma Phi Beta Founding Story
Mary A. Bingham: The Aristocrat
Ms. Whitford labeled Mary Alice Bingham (Syracuse, 1874) “the aristocrat.” “Minnie Bingham, the youngest of the four,” she wrote, “had more advantages than the others, was always beautifully dressed, seemed instinctively to know the correct thing to do, and was at ease in any situation.” Mary’s spiritual nature is evidenced throughout her life. She enjoyed carriage rides, particularly at sunset when, as she wrote, “the rosy afterglow pronounced a benediction.” She married Edward A. Willoughby, also from Rome, New York, in January 1883. They had two children: a daughter, Ernestine Bingham Willoughby, born in 1883, and a son, Francis Daniel Willoughby, born in 1887.
