Gamma Phi Beta Ada Mae Wilkey Day (Arizona) was the mother of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Her children described our sister Ada as "a tidy package of good looks, competence, and charm. She could fit in at a gathering of Arizona ranch wives or at an elegant party in Washington D.C. She made a hard life look easy. While some of the cowboys taught us that only the toughest survive, (she) taught us that kindness and love can also produce survivors, and in a happy atmosphere."

Excerpted from Lazy B: Growing Up On A Cattle Ranch In The American Southwest by Sandra Day O'Connor and H. Alan Day, Random House New York.