Soror Bessie Foster Cephas was born in Martinsville, Virginia. She graduated from Freedmen's Hospital School of Nursing, Washington, DC, in 1931. She worked in school nursing in Virginia and Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. On May 1, 1949, she organized Kappa Chapter, Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Inc., in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Soror Cephas died September 25, 2000.