Louise Helen Coburn

Louise Helen Coburn (September 1, 1856—February 7, 1949) was one of the five founders of Sigma Kappa sorority, a pioneer for women's education at Colby College, where she served as the first female trustee, and an accomplished scientist and writer known for writing the two volumes of "Skowhegan on the Kennebec."

She was the niece of Abner Coburn, Governor of the state of Maine from 1863 to 1864, and the daughter of Stephen Coburn, a prominent Maine politician.

Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, became the first New England college to admit women along with men. Mary Caffrey Low became the first female student at Colby, and for two years remained the only one. Eventually she was joined by four other women, and along with Elizabeth Gorham Hoag, Ida Fuller, Frances Elliott Mann Hall and Coburn, Low created Sigma Kappa sorority at Colby on November 9, 1874.

Coburn is known for writing a large portion of the Sigma Kappa initiation ceremony.

Being the only women in the college, the five founders were frequently together. In 1873-74, the five young women decided to form a literary and social society. They were instructed by the college administration that they would need to present a constitution and bylaws with a petition requesting permission to form Sigma Kappa Sorority. They began work during that year and on November 9, 1874, the five young women received a letter from the faculty approving their petition. They sought for and received permission to form a sorority with the intent for the organization to become national.

The sorority's Alpha, Beta and Gamma chapters were founded at Colby. However, Colby has since prohibited sororities and fraternities, ensuring that the Alpha chapter of Sigma Kappa which Coburn initiated cannot exist for the foreseeable future.

Coburn was second-generation attendee of Colby College. Her father, the lawyer and politician Stephen Coburn, had graduated from Colby in 1839. The Coburns, prominent and wealthy, were invaluable to Colby's growth as benefactors of the college. Despite this, 18-year-old Louise was heavily scrutinized for admission to Colby. A professor tested her one day from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon on her skills in Latin and Greek to see if she could measure up to Colby's standards. A scholar, writer, and poet, she excelled in an academic environment and became the second woman to graduate from Colby (the first was Mary Low) and the second Sigma Kappa to attain Phi Beta Kappa status (also after Low). Sigma Kappa was important to her, as it showed that in a college with only men's fraternities, a women's sorority group could hold its own and survive on an equal basis. She entered college and developed a strong belief that Sigma Kappa was destined to live and grow.

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