Doolittle Red Hat Divas keep ‘active’ in activities

By Aida Ahmed

Monday, Aug. 22, 2011 | 2 a.m.

The Doolittle Red Hat Divas Society is not your average senior citizens group.

They don’t play bingo or organize bridge games; instead, they go dancing at nightclubs and play slots at Strip casinos.

For fiesty 80-year-old Lucille Bryant, who goes by the title “Queen Mother,” the group is about living up to its motto: “Spreading love is our aim, having fun is our game,” she says with a smile.

Bryant leads the group of women who “play dress up,” wearing red hats and purples dresses aiming to empower women to stay active as they become senior citizens. She started the Las Vegas chapter of the national Red Hat society in 2005 at the Doolittle Senior Community Center. It was natural because many of the women were using it as a place to meet other seniors, she said.

The national organization started 1998 when Sue Ellen Cooper, now the “Exalted Queen Mother,” gave her friend a red hat and a poem when she turned 50 to cheer her up about her age. That’s when the only requirement was created: Members must be at least 50 years old.

According to Bryant, just 14 women attended the first Doolittle Divas meeting. Six years later, there are more than 50 members. (Nationally, the Red Hat Society boasts more than 70,000 members.)

Ninety-year-old Pearl Williams, the oldest member in the group, was honored last week at the organization’s sixth anniversary party. She said age doesn’t stop her from “going and playing the machines” with the other ladies.

Sitting in a room full of red hats, next to her only daughter, 70-year-old Lottie Robinson, also a Red Hat Diva, Williams said she is thankful that she can still partake in “diva” activities.

“We go all around,” Williams said. “I had a good life and I thank the Lord.”

And she really means “all around.” The divas’ photo archive of their ventures shows them at their own senior prom, doing the cancan dance at Harrah’s and participating in an Indian powwow.

Of course Bryant says the ladies participate in more docile activities, such as the occasional afternoon tea or going to movies, but they try to keep their get-togethers adventurous.

And for those too young to wear a red hat? Women under 50 can join the “Pink Hatters.” Once they turn 50 they will “reduate” to a Red Hat, Bryant said.

“It gives them something to do,” Bryant said. The ladies “don’t have to sit at home taking care of the grandbabies all day.”

After all, there’s no harm in grandmas having a little fun.