Rick Neel '73: DTD at MC #33

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Hello everyone,

I’d like to start off by wishing all of you a Happy Holiday season. May your Holidays be happy and healthy for you and your family. And may 2007 be the best year yet for all of you. With that in mind, I’d like to share a link with you. If you didn’t receive it from Marietta College in an email, check this out. It was put together by Chris Devine ’04, enjoy it. http://www.marietta.edu/advancement/ecard/

I have received several comments from guys over the last week or so, and will share them with you here. Also, I have some address additions and a correction for you. As usual, please check out the alumni address list at the Delt website. Hops has kept it as current as possible, and everything I get, I send on to him.

Here we go with the notes from brothers.

Lance Koved sent:


Rick,
You are doing a great job with this. I have enjoyed seeing a lot of old names.

That’s one of the major reasons I do this. Hope that you took a minute, Lance, to drop some of them a note. Bet that they would like to hear from you!

Ted Smith responded to me with the following note concerning my last email.


Thanks for your very nice compliment about me making you feel comfortable as a pledge. You were always a cool pledge and a good guy!
Ted
That’s what I like to hear, Ted, it means that people are reading this thing. Thanks!

Speaking of Ted Smith, Jess Raines sent me this email concerning Ted and Channel 10 in Columbus. Is this is what networking is all about? :-):

Rick,

Thanks for bringing and keeping us together. After your last e-mail I have just contacted Ted Smith trying to get my 22,000 animated Christmas lights featured on 10TV. Hopefully, Ted will come through.


Let me know what the results are, Jess! Hope that it works out for you and gets Ted some GREAT ratings.

Bruce Miller sent me the following copy of a letter he sent to the chapter via their Web site:

Dear Brothers,

I was very impressed when I first read Brother David Borrelli’s essay concerning diversity in the June edition of The Rainbow. After reading the letters to the editor concerning David’s essay in the September issue, I have been reminded that times haven’t changed a lot in much of our closed-minded society.

From the first days of Beta Delta Epsilon, the local fraternity that would later become Epsilon Upsilon, the concept of brotherhood was quite clear. Our idea of brotherhood in 1966 centered on an acceptance of young men of integrity who would do more than just participate in Chapter activities. They would also commit themselves to support and encourage each other and to work for the betterment of the greater college community.

In those first years we pledged athletes and scholars, musicians and geologists, writers and biologists, teachers and economists. We did not pledge men because they were — or were not — white, black, Asian, Christian, Jewish, gay or straight. But all of those “types” did become brothers and all added their individual strengths to the solid foundation of our Chapter.

I am proud of our Chapter’s history. My pride has been renewed by the Chapter’s continuing academic excellence and by your accomplishments in the community. But I am especially proud of your commitment to our most important tradition: the ideal of a brotherhood that is never compromised by labels, that accepts a man for his worth, respects him for his efforts and values him for his contributions.

Fraternally,
Bruce Miller
BAM ’70


I guess that I wasn’t really done with the diversity article. Not that it is a problem. For me, whatever you guys want to talk about, I’m all in favor of.

From Chapter President Craig Sundstrom we get this:

Just wanted to let you know that as finals are wrapping up, a few of us are working on assembling a full inventory of our Ritual equipment. It’s been particularly busy the last few weeks, but we haven’t forgotten. At that point, we’ll be able to know exactly what we’re after.

Thanks for everything!

Craig Sundstrom


That is a good thing to hear. Remember, we are in the middle of a fundraising effort for new ritual equipment for the chapter. Please consider sending a check to: The Crescent Colony of Marietta Inc. make a note on the check that it is for the new ritual equipment. Send it to Bob Ferguson at 507 Wooster St., Marietta, Ohio 45750. Thank you.

Alexander Kalkhofer (an undergrad) sent to me:

Rick,

I love all the effort from the Alumni and especially yours, Rick. I am really excited for the 40th anniversary. It is going to be my first year as an alumnus.

I just want to let you know that we as well are getting ready for the 40th here in the house. Recently I rounded up some guys to get all the pledge paddles we could save (some were ruined by the flood.)

I have made several trips to Wal-Mart to get paints, stains, hanging materials or other things needed to make this house rock, even though I don’t think the school is going to reimburse me for my expenses. I have already clear coated must of the paddles and hung them up on the wall upstairs.

I know our brothers are going to love to see their paddles taken care of. Also we have added a few Delty painting to the walls, I am sure you would all approve. I am going to try to talk to Hops to see if we could get a virtual tour or pictures of the house. However I just want to thank you because even though you all are not here, I can feel the connections as brothers to help us be the best we could be and have a rockin' 40th!

Nice to see that the undergrads are getting excited about OUR 40th anniversary. Hope that the same can be said about you all. Remember, it is in October 2008. Make your plans now.

Along that line, I have a thought to throw out for your consideration. What do you think about setting up a display of memorabilia of items of interest from different eras? For instance, my Big Brother has often said that he wants to send back his jersey from the early ’70s. I have a glass from a formal during my years. What do you have? Do you think that it would make a nice display at our 40th?

Finally, I have some names for you to add to your email lists. Hope that someone here is that brother that you really want to talk to!

Lee Boveroux (I owe you a huge apology. I have had your name in my addres slist for a long time, but you haven’t been included in any of my mailing lists! Sorry, Lee), James Berry, Trevor Brown, Pete Campbell, Brian Dobis, Russ Keller, J.J. Nekoloff, Mark Nye, Richard Schneider, Doug Stewart, Joe Wood and Johnathan Young.

Among the names I listed last week looking for email addresses, Hartsy sent me this name and snail mail address. Drop him a line and ask for his email address. Steve Vietze: 2310 Glen Drive, Maysville, KY 41056. I’m going to skip asking for help this week. Mainly because I have to check off the names I have already asked for, so look for a new list next time.

Best wishes to you for a happy holiday season. Have a good week, I’ll write to you after the holiday!

Rick Neel ’73

Rick Neel '73: DTD at MC #32

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Good afternoon everyone,

It has been a rather productive week I have to say. No really earthshaking news to be reported. But quite often that is preferable to the exciting kind, for that is quite often bad news! I have received several new email addresses and updated ones, that I have forwarded on to Hops, so the email list on the Chapter Web site should be up to date (http://www.marietta.edu/~delts/alumni/index.html), be sure to check it out and contact someone you miss hearing from.

I also got some messages from a few of the guys. So lets get them out to you. I know that you are much more interested in what the alums have to say.

Ted Smith writes:


I don't know if I responded last time (I meant to) ... but here's some info:

I am in my 35th year as a producer-director at Channel 10 (WBNS-TV) in Columbus. I direct live newcasts in the early morning (5 a.m. & 7 a.m.), plus write, produce and direct commercial, and public service announcements.

Married ... three sons, three step-sons. Andrew Rosendale, my youngest stepson is a senior at Marietta.

I work the same shift at the station with Delt Brother J.P. Clowes '93, who is a technical director/audio operator.

My wife, Jennifer, is a special education teacher in SouthWestern City School system.

IT WAS GREAT TO HEAR A MENTION FROM TOM TINTERA.
Hey, Tommy!

TED SMITH '71

It was really nice to hear from Ted, he was the chapter president when I pledged. And he really helped make me feel welcome.

Kevin Oliphant '90 wrote:


Hey buddy! Its Ollie!

Fergie called me and said you were not able to send emails.

Send me some e mails. I should receive them now. If youre still rejected call me at 304 485 5555. Ask for Kevin Jr.

Keep me informed about whats going on and i hope to make it up for a meeting in Febuary

I have had Kevin's email address for a while now, but it kept getting rejected by AOL. It is fixed now, so he will be getting any messages that you send to him. Thanks Ollie!

Chris Kurtz '93 sent this message:


The other evening I had the opportunity to spend some time with John Mainella, DTD Director of Development.

He and I had a great chat about the Fraternity nationally and also about Epsilon Upsilon. He told me about the Delt Edu program that national has started and that EU is one of the chapters chosen. He mentioned that the chapters chosen are tiered and that "EU blows the rest of them off the map."

Always good to hear things like that. He says our guys are really impressing the folks at Central Office.

We spoke briefly about the articles in the Rainbow that our chapter has been dealing with. He says that there have been some very positive reactions to the Diversity articles. In general he seemed to indicate a more pro than con breakup in reactions.

We talked about some other things including ritual equipment. According to John, the Central Office doesnt have sets of equipment to purchase. In fact they encourage chapters to build there own. As far as specs there aren't really any other than generalizations. So style and design are open to interpretation.

Other subjects we covered included more global concerns. For instance the Fraternity is trying to work on the branding of the fraternity in national sense. They are also continuing to develop Delt Edu, including a better name for the program.

That's about it from here. Not sure how much of that info you already knew but I wanted to share. Hope all is well. Let me know if there is anything I can do as far as research for the equipment.

Fraternally
Chris Kurtz '93

That is an exceptional message about our chapter. And I was so glad to read it. It shows that the guys are doing things right. Perhaps it means that we are on the verge of winning another Hugh Shields award, wouldn't that be special?

It does bring to mind a project that we are attempting to do. Replace the ritual equipment at the chapter. Most of it is original equipment and after 38 years of use needing replacement. The undergraduates are supposed to get with us with estimates as to what is needed to do it right. They have their hands full right now with finals, but Ihope that we get some information soon. We have discussed this in previous posts. Basically what was said is that the equipment can be as elaborate or simple as we wish to make it.

At this point, we are in the fundraising mode. Please consider sending a check to Fergie. Whatever you can afford will be much appreciated.

We have over 200 brothers on this email list. So if everyone sends just $10, we will have over $2000 to spend on equipment. (Please don't just assume that someone else will send the gift, do it yourself!) That would give the chapter ritual equipment that we can really be proud of. I ask you all to consider making a donation.

Make your check payable to: Crescent Colony of Marietta Inc. and note on your check that it is for ritual equipment. Send it to Robert Ferguson, 507 Wooster St., Marietta, Ohio 45750

Here are some new and updated addresses, thanks to the guys who have kept us in mind. Also, welcome to the new men.

Just a quick update on what my purpose is in doing this. Originally, I simply wanted to try to assure a HUGE turnout for our 40th anniversary as a chapter, in 2008. This is still a big goal of mine, so I hope that you will keep Homecoming 2008 in mind. The tentative date is in blog #30.

But now I hope to be helping developing a strong alumni group and facilitating the ability of all of us to keep in touch with each other. With that goal in mind, please send me any brothers email address that you may have that we don't.

Here's who have been updated to the alumni email list, which is available at http://www.marietta.edu/~delts/alumni/index.html:

Eric Gustafson, Greg Evans and Bob Kubota.

Here are some names that I need help finding. If you know any of them, please do one of two things. Send me their email addresses, or send them this email and ask them to send it to me themselves! Thanks.

Peter Rosenberger '67, Dr. Joseph Cohn '69, Tim Roark '72, David Mogill '77, Donald Sirrell '83, Steve Vietze '89, Jimmy Long '93, Brent Blackburn '97, Rob Keber '01, Charlie Wachunas '06.

If you are in contact with any of these guys, please help!

I am sending these emails to a few deactivated and depledged guys. I have been instructed to remove you from my address lists. I will be doing that before I send my next email. If you wish to stop this from happening you will need to get in contact with Fergie and/or Jon (Hartsy) Hartshorn and get them to reconsider you on an individual basis.

Have a good week, keep sending me updates to share with others.

Rick Neel '73