History

"A desire and a will was about all at the start when we first got people together on October 27, 1949," writes Lois Liebeskind' 52, founder of the Wellesley Widows, in a letter to future members . As a sophomore, Lois was on the verge of quitting the Wellesley College Music Department. Theory classes and regular attendance at Chapel several mornings per week, plus Sundays, threatened her musical will. At the suggestion of her mother, Lois created her own option. She and Bette Bettman '52 organized a series of "sings" at Zeta Alpha House, advertised by word of mouth and popular spots such as the "Well." By January of 1950, the Wellesley College Octet - Lois Liebeskind, Bette Bettman, Florence Benson, Katherine Pargellis, Judy Viedt, Frances Hazelhurst, Joan Borkow, and Marcia Braman - was born.

The octet arranged and rehearsed in Billings, and asked Miss Judith Welles, a junior teacher in the Biblical History Department ("as no one in the Music Department would go to bat for us") as a faculty advisor. The octet had its debut on April 22, 1950 at the Freshman Prom in Alumnae Hall. By the next year, the group had performed at sophomore Father's Day in flapper dresses ("our first big success"), tryouts for Wellesley Pops ("our first big flop...I guess we didn't make it"), and the Alumnae Reunion Show. That same year, the octet eventually became known as the Wellesley Widows from a connection to the nickname for the wives of golf players, "golf widows." The group now donned white blouses and black skirts, and opened every performance with "We are the College Widows," a song borrowed from the Yale Whiffenpoofs' "Mimi the College Widow."

Over the last 60 years, the Widows have recorded twelve albums and toured around the world to places like Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Mexico, California, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Woodstock Chilifest. They have also had the honor to perform with well-known artists such as Vienna Teng and Rachael Yamagata and to sing at the White House, the Smithsonian Museum and Boston Symphony Hall. Over 200 Wellesley Widows now inhabit the world. Widows have performed with a cappella groups nationwide, and many have gone on to start new groups after graduation.

Today, the Widows are known to perform in all black as their name dictates and have adopted Paul Simon's "American Tune" as their traditional Widows' Alum song. Their repertoire crosses over several genres and they are proud to carry on a tradition of fine musical entertainment to audiences all over the United States.