From the Summer 2005 Edition: prioritypeople.org

Girls just want to have fun!" that simple message from singer Cyndi Lauper is the guiding principle behind the Lord's Handmaidens Red Hat Society in Lexington, Ky.for Susi Burton, a Lexinton dentist, the message is also from the Lord.
Susi says," In April 2004 I felt the Lord nudging me to begin a fellowship for women who just wanted to have some fun.... I was finding women coming outof the woodwork who were just overwhelmed with there careers, giving to there families { and churches}, but who had no time for themselves, just to enjoy the company of other women."

Months before that, Major Connie DeMichael of the Salvation Army had planted a seed in Susi's mind about "Red Hat" societies that were springing up around the world. The inspiration for the movement came to founder Sue Ellen Cooper from a poem called "Warning" by Jenny Joseph, who wrote,"When I am Old Woman I shall wear purple with a red hat...."

And the women who attend intentionally do that, as the Red Hat Society website puts it, because they are "deciding to greet middle age with verve, humor, and elan. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life...."

At the time of the Lord's nudging, " Susi didn't remember what DeMichael had said about the red Hat Society. But several encounters she had reinforced the need for a new kind of women's group. One morning at a prayer breakfast, Susi heard a woman talking about her desperate need for friends:

She had had a brain tumor, her husband had left her, she had lost her job, and she was dealing with aging parents.

A couple of days later, Susi, a soldier(member) of The Salvation Army Church in Lexington, had lunch with another soldier, who expressed the need for fellowship. The next day a patient told Susi she was so busy with all she had to do that she just wanted to have a cup of tea and some "girl-talk".
So Susi began to look into affiliating with the Red Hat Society and started a chapter with just four women.

"Each chapter can do its own thing, "Susi says, "Mine is designed for Christian women in the community. We have a devotional and time of prayer for our needs and concerns-then we have fun!"

The chapter, now 42 women strong, dontheir red hats each month for gatherings, which have included trips to Broadway play, picnics and antiquing outings, talks from professionals about diabetes and overactive bladders ("that was a hit!" Susi says), a "Barbie doll night" to celebrate the doll's 50th anniversary(with dolls dressed in - what else!-red and purple), a Red Hat Fashion Show Luncheon (with profits going to the Lexington Salvation Army Family Shelter), and a tour of a Toyota plant (above).

"We wanted to take that red convertible home, but they just month, I shake my head and wonder what the Lord is up to with all of this," She says. "He told that I was going to show women how to have some fun in their lives, and I was going to learn along with them.... From dentistry to a Red Hat-who would have thought?"

Susi Burton's life and ministry were featured in the Winter 2001 issue of Priority!