A mom away from mom

Singing “Happy Birthday,” Sigma Chi fraternity members crowded around Jill Lovell Friday afternoon.

“What are you, 20?” one asked.

“21,” Lovell said with a smile.

“We’re going to the bars!”

Lovell, who actually turned 63, is Sigma Chi’s house director –– one of the few among University of Minnesota’s more than 30 fraternities.

The position’s responsibilities vary depending on the chapter. Lovell spends her time maintaining the house, monitoring the budget, coordinating events and sometimes serving as an adviser.

The fraternity pays for the position through membership dues, and some house directors have free board in addition to their paycheck. In the Sigma Chi house, Lovell has her own living room, bedroom and bathroom.

While house director is the official title, Lovell and others in her position are informally called “house moms.”

“They call me ‘mom’ most of the time,” said FarmHouse’s house mom Mary Ann Bannerman. “I like that.”

Bannerman, a University alumna with 30 years in youth development under her belt, has worked at the fraternity for six years. She got the job shortly after retiring, when her nephew — a fraternity member at the time — suggested she apply.

“It was a complete shot in the dark,” she said.

The process involved three different interviews with the fraternity members and several informal visits to see if she could relate to the chapter.

“She’s more than a house mom –– she’s kind of our adviser, and she’s there for a lot of life advice,” said Isaac Salfer, FarmHouse president.

When she first moved into the house, fraternity members wouldn’t let Bannerman clean. She said had to fight to get to clean the room next to hers. And though she helps with cooking the evening meals, her main job is to make the dessert.

“She kind of adds a woman’s touch to us, which may be weird to some fraternities, but it’s nice for us,” Salfer said.

FarmHouse international bylaws require each chapter have a house director.

“At FarmHouse, we like to be known as the gentlemen of campus, and I think [Bannerman is] kind of a big reason why,” Salfer said.

Meanwhile, Sigma Chi got a house director as one of the requirements set by Donald Freeberg — an alumnus who purchased a second house for the chapter.

Lovell is originally from Alexandria, Minn., and came to the city to find work. For decades she’s been running her own house cleaning business. But she’s been with Sigma Chi for 14 years — and loves it.

“I try to explain it like when I get them, they are like little flowers,” she said. “Their mom and dad planted them, and they have these nice solid roots, and then I get to feed them and water them and watch them grow and bloom.”

The house’s bustling atmosphere doesn’t bother Lovell, who helps coordinate many of the Sigma Chi’s social events like the Sweetheart Ball.

“It makes me laugh to hear them down there just chuckling and a-hootin’ and a-hollerin’,” she said. “It just makes me smile.”

Lovell said she was first attracted to the position because of the way she saw the members treat the house mom before her.

 “Who else at my age can say they live at a frat house?”