Fast forward a few months later when Linda Murphy, a close friend of Sue Ellen's, was about to celebrate her 55th birthday. Sue Ellen presented her friend with a framed copy of the poem "Warning" along with a cute red bowler which she had found in an antique shop. The idea was that Linda could hang the poem on her wall and suspend the hat on a hook next to it. The gift was a huge hit and Sue Ellen reproduced the same (different style hats of course!) to several more of her friends for their 50-something birthdays throughout the year. It soon became the anticipated gift among Sue Ellen's circle of longtime friends.

With the words from the poem in their minds, Sue Ellen and friends thought that perhaps they should find something purple to wear and go out in public in their purple and red finery. So in 1998, they descended upon a local tea room looking quite fetching in their colorful regalia. Something magically happened that afternoon. Whether it was the outfits, the aura of playing dress-up, or just their own amusement at their perceived daring, they realized that they had more fun together than they had had in years. This historically became the very first gathering of the Red Hat Society (RHS).

Someone said that afternoon that Sue Ellen was a queen for thinking the whole thing up and she quickly seized the notion, and declared herself "Queen Mother." She proclaimed that everyone else should have a title as well and began dubbing each one accordinly Linda became the "Vice Mother," Cheryl became the "Hysterian" (historian) and keeper of the scrapbook, etc., etc., etc.

When Linda told a friend of hers, Nancy Manning, about their group, Nancy immediately gathered several of her close friends and formed a sister chapter in Florida. Word of the group began to spread and before long they were featured in Romantic Homes magazine in a 4-page spread entitled "Growing Old Playfully." Sue Ellen began receiving emails from the magazine's readers asking how they and their friends may play too. A few months later, "the Orange County Register," a major local newspaper ran a featured article about the founding chaper of the RHS. The article was picked up by a national wire service and the response was amazing. The popularity of the Red Hat Society was propelled forward at a speed that seemed to accelerate daily.

In June, 2001, a few hundred red-hatted Southern Californians boarded a train to San Juan Capistrano for a day of shopping and fellowship. Florence Henderson, along with a camera crew from the Today show went along as well to document the event. The segment was aired in September of 2001 and stimulated the growth of the RHS more than ever thought possible.

At this point in time, it was necessary for Sue Ellen to move the Society's operations out of the study in her home and into a small office nearby. She hired her first employee to help answer emails, letters, charters, etc. Before long, more work staff was required and office space had to be expanded to accommodate the increasing workload.

In April 2002, the first national convention of the RHS was staged in Chicago with over four hundred attending. The following spring, May 2003, the second national convention took place in Nashville, Tennessee. This time, the attendance increased to two thousand. Today, the Red Hat movement has increased to over 1 million strong.