P.E.O. Record
Meet the President - Elizabeth E. Garrels
Elizabeth Garrels, the new president of International Chapter, was born and raised in Osceola, Iowa. She was initiated into her mother's Chapter K, Osceola, Iowa, in 1963. Liz graduated from Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, with a degree in history and social studies. Her husband Richard is also a graduate of Iowa Wesleyan College. The couple settled on a farm near Mount Pleasant and has lived in that same home since their marriage in 1967. Liz is associated with her husband in their family businesses.
Liz dimitted to Chapter Original A, where she is a past president, and then in 1983 became a charter member of her current chapter, NZ, Mount Pleasant. One of her strong P.E.O. interests is assisting on the joint chapters' Iowa Wesleyan College Old Main Memory Rooms Committee. Additionally, she has served Iowa State Chapter in several capacities including the Board of Directors of the Iowa P.E.O. Project Fund, Inc.
Liz is a past president of Iowa State Chapter, having been a member of the executive board from 1990-1997. She was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship Fund in 1997. At the Convention of International Chapter in Milwaukee, September 2001, Liz was elected to the executive board and has served in all four positions. In the 2007-2009 biennium Liz chaired the Special Committee for Membership Advancement.
Liz and Richard's daughter Mary, Chapter OQ, Des Moines, Iowa, is an attorney shareholder with the Nyemaster Goode Law Firm. Mary and her husband Rob have two sons, Henry and Jack. The Garrels' son John is a partner with Accenture in their Management Consulting practice. John and his wife Jennifer, Chapter IM, Barrington, Illinois, have three children, Blake, Colette Elizabeth and Corinne.
Liz is active in the United Methodist Church where she currently leads a women's Bible study group; chairs the Friends of the Harlan-Lincoln House; serves as president of the Mount Pleasant Pi Beta Phi Alumnae Club; and is a member of Chapter DD of the T.T.T. Society. She is a past president of the international Pi Beta Phi Foundation board of trustees, former trustee of Iowa Wesleyan College as well as past president of its Alumni Association, former member of the Board of Directors of the Great River Area Education Agency, and she was also active in leadership with her children in 4-H, Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts.
In her free time Liz enjoys family activities, gardening, historical pursuits and collecting antique spoons.
Liz looks forward to serving the P.E.O. Sisterhood as president and sharing part of her P.E.O. viewpoint. She says, “When P.E.O. was conceptualized in 1869, it began as a support system for its members. These same basic premises of deep friendship and loyalty have sustained sisters for over 140 years. Today—if ever there were a time when women need a support system based upon faith, love, purity, justice and truth, it is now. If ever there were a time when women need reinforcement from like-minded sisters, it is now. I want to be counted as a member who stands firmly for P.E.O.'s strong values against the backdrop of a world often characterized by the acceptance of mediocre standards.
“As we utilize the perspective from P.E.O. history and tradition that relies upon enduring, measured worth, we can be sensitive and responsive to the very real challenges that lie before us.”