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DKG Practice/Program

DKG Connections Across the

Border

By Dianne Caron and Priscilla McFarland

Delta Kappa Gamma organizations in the state of Maine, located in the northeastern corner of the United
States, and the province of New Brunswick, Canada, which borders Maine on its north and east, have a
unique relationship. Decades before Avenue M’s recommendation that DKG should “create and promote
opportunities to connect locally and globally” (Jacobs et al., 2023, p. 39), chapters in Maine and New
Brunswick were meeting and sharing programs on a regular basis. These women were embodying the first
of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International’s seven Purposes, “To unite women educators of the
world in a genuine spiritual fellowship” (“Purposes,” 2024). Provincial and state organizations in New
Brunswick in Canada and Maine in the United States have embodied these themes of connecting and
fellowship since the early 1960s through their annual gatherings that have alternated between venues in
each country.
The original cross-border meetings were held during luncheons and continued to 2018. Each meeting
featured a guest speaker or tour. For example, in 1962, Lambda Chapter, located in Maine’s easternmost
county that borders New Brunswick, hosted members from New Brunswick in Calais, Maine, for lunch
and a talk on “Human Relations.” In 1978, the two groups met in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, where a
member of Lambda, Marion Bagley, delivered a presentation on “The Impact of TV Violence on Youth,”
and, in 1987, the two groups met on Campobello Island. The island is located off the southern coast of New
Brunswick and is connected to Lubec, Maine, by a bridge. The attendees toured the Roosevelt Cottage, the
summer home of past U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1998, a luncheon was held in Milltown,
New Brunswick, across the border from Calais, Maine. The speaker’s topic was “The Importance of
Humor in our Lives.”
The New Brunswick-Maine connection gradually expanded from the original annual luncheon
meetings to include participation in other events. Over the years, New Brunswick members would attend
some of Maine’s statewide meetings, such as the “Stretch Your Teaching” professional development

Members from Maine and New Brunswick gather for the 2019 cross-border conference.

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