The Regional Fraternity of Brothers and Sisters of St. Francis –61 was established by the National Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order on October 20, 1994. 

The Celebration of Establishment was held Saturday, April 28, 1995, at St. Mary Catholic Church in Greenville, South Carolina. There were seventeen canonically established fraternities at that time. “That all may be one” was adopted as the motto of the region.

The regional newsletter was named Communio – “That all may be one”.

Members of the first Regional Executive Council were:

Minister – Doug Roberson, OFS

Vice Minister – Mary Pollich, OFS

Secretary – Frances Drew, OFS

Treasurer – Nancy Ferro, OFS

Formation Director – Gloria Shriver, OFS

Alabama Councilor – Jane Cusick, OFS

Georgia Councilor – Evelyn Hardin, OFS

North Carolina Councilor – Jennye Taylor Johnson, OFS

South Carolina Councilor – Jacquelyn Lambert, OFS

Tennessee Councilor – Ed Campbell, OFS

Regional Spiritual Assistant – Friar Richard Bellow, OFM Conventual.

Seventeen Years Later July 2011