DTD at MC #34

Happy New Year!

I hope that all of you had a happy and safe New Year’s Eve. Here we are in 2007 and Marietta College is about to come back in session. This means a new team of officers are about to take control of the chapter. To all the new officers, good luck and work hard to take the chapter to even higher level.

Since a lot of you have to put in vacation requests early in the year, I thought that I would send along some Delt dates for you to consider.

Our annual golf outing is the last weekend of April. April 28th is the exact date.

Randy (Awk) Williams has pledged to be there so he can witness first hand my golf prowess. Be sure to be ready to join him in the revelry. Even if you don’t play golf, there are other things to occupy your time. Perhaps we can talk Awk into giving one of his “famous” study room dissertations, as Rick Kramer has requested. I think the working title that Rick suggested was; “Viagra, Delt Friend or Foe”

It has been suggested that it would be a good weekend for the Alumni and Undergraduates to get together to build new ritual equipment. This brings up our ongoing fundraiser. We are collecting funds to build this new equipment. Please consider a donation, any amount will help. Make your check to: Crescent Colony of Marietta Inc., send the check to Bob Ferguson at 507 Wooster St., Marietta, Ohio 45750 . Thank you!

Homecoming 2007 is October 19, 20, 21. Plan now to come back to Marietta and see all of us. Plus, on Sunday morning, the annual tackle football game between the undergrads and alumni takes place. The alumni need some new blood to extend the winning streak, some of the players are getting a bit long in the tooth.

On the same note, the tentative dates for Homecoming 2008 is October 24, 25, 26. This is the homecoming that I am focusing on. Our 40th, make plans to be there. If you have any memorabilia from your era, consider bringing it along so we can have a display.

The undergrads have told me many times, if you happen to be near Marietta at any other time of the year, stop by. They always want to see and/or meet alums.

I have heard from several guys since my last email. And as Bob Exten wrote, everyone likes to hear about the guys they went to school with, so please keep that in mind and send me notes as things happen in your lives. Or even if you just want to say “Hi”. So lets start with the notes I have received.

Peter Weiner (my little brother) sends this note:

Just want to bounce back the Season’s Greetings and wishes for Happy Holidays. Unfortunately we didn’t make the sojourne to the area this past year but if all goes well we will next year. I’ll keep you posted and hopefully we’ll be able to hook up.

Say Hey to Earl.

Peter

Did you see that note to you, Mike Lowe? Drop Peter a note. I hope to see you this sometime this year Peter. Let me know.

Lee Boveroux sent this along, and I have to say, thanks for absolving me of my screw up. We have 196 email addresses, and one snail mail address, now. I have had to break them up into 3 lists, so I must have missed him somewhere. You can get the full list at: http://www.marietta.edu/~delts/

Sorry for a late reply to your personal comment below, but apologies aren’t needed on your end. I have been getting your notes, and I appreciate them. In fact, it allowed Mike Tita to get in contact with me again, after quite some time.

Hope you continue to enjoy your holidays.

Lee

Jon Bolden sent this note:

Thanks for all your hard work with the Delt alumni update emails. Reading them is a great way to stay involved with the EU chapter and remind you that you are a Delt for life. Great work, Rick.

Brother Bolden ’05

It’s the truth, Jon. You are a Delt for life, and even if some years go by where you aren’t involved, you can pick it back up again.

Ashley Wollam sent the following, and I was really touched by it. I have no idea why the undergrads should talk about me “daily” but he did mention something that I liked. The comment about how the undergrads are learning the value of the alums. Thanks for the not Ashley.

Echoing Brother Kalkhofer, I also wanted to offer you an ardent “thank you” for all your hard work. It occurs to me that you might not be fully aware of just how much the undergraduate brothers look up to you, because even though your name is mentioned nearly everyday within the chapter house’s walls, you’re simply not around to hear it. In fact, we owe many alumni a great deal of thanks for the examples they set, as we use them to inform chapter character, policy, and practice on a regular and consistent basis.

Personally I find one of the greatest assets of Epsilon Upsilon to be its quality of legacy; we understand — or at least, are coming to understand — the immense importance of knowing where we come from in order to better understand where we are, and ultimately, where we are going. I sincerely doubt many other chapters or
organizations could make that claim, and I’m radiantly proud of my brothers (old and new, familiar and unknown) for taking this lesson to heart. Bravo on a job well one, and an example well set.

Onward,

Ashley Wollam ‘08
Guide, Epsilon Upsilon

Here is the note I mentioned earlier from Bob Exten:

Rick,
I can only support what the other brothers have said about the monumental job that you have done to revive the enthusiasm that we all shared at the Delt house in Marietta. I look forward to your e-mails, and enjoy hearing names like Bruce Miller, Ted Smith, and Lance Koved. Bruce’s recent letter was eloquent in recalling that we all were confronted with changing our attitudes about people, and calling them brother. Thanks for all your hard work.
Bob

I agree with Bob about the letter that Bruce Miller wrote, it was an important reminder of how things don’t really change except sslloowwllyy. You can read that letter, in case you missed it, at our Blog Site: http://mcdeltalumni.blogspot.com/

Shawn Selby sent this note in response to a letter from Alex Kalkofer last email.

Alex,

I have just finished editing Rick’s most recent post on the Web site.

I was pleased to read that you are undertaking an effort to restore the pledge class paddles that were damaged in the flood.

I first saw those paddles back in April at the spring alumni weekend when Ashton took me down into the basement.

It took literally every bit of strength I had not to break down and start sobbing then and there when I saw how bad they had been damaged and how some were ruined beyond repair, especially the paddles from pledge classes that were already alumni by the time I had pledged, meaning they were real “artifacts” in EU history.

I took the opportunity to help Ashton and Hunter identify pieces and parts of different paddles that we had come across, but I was totally heartbroken, especially seeing the paddle from my own Little Brother’s class so heavily damaged.

I was also angry. I was angry at the carelessness and callowness of whichever Undergrads prior to the flood had thought that it would be a good idea to store these paddles in the basement.

I was also angry that they had been forgotten about. That there had not been any attempt to retrieve them from the basement before, during or immediately after the flood.

I’m sure in your restoration work you’ve probably thought about how much less the damage would have been if they had been retrieved and restored sooner.

The irresponsibility which caused these paddles, these pieces of EU history to be damaged, to me damages Brothers’ place in EU history. I can’t imagine being one of the Brothers from the Class of 1993 and coming back into the house and seeing his pledge class paddle so damaged that his name is no longer visible on it. It is almost like he didn’t exist.

And that is a shame.

But as damaging as all of this has been, there is some good coming out of it.

It is both very mature and responsible of you to undertake a restoration.

The end result will be a measure of healing for both the affected Alumni and for the current Undergrads who are seeing that the Chapter isn’t about them, but about everyone who has come before and who will come after.

You have my deepest appreciation.

The college probably will not reimburse you. Email me the total of how much you have spent and save the receipts. You should be reimbursed by House Corp. Failing that, I will make sure you are reimbursed.

Fraternally,
Shawn Selby ‘92

I think that Shawn is being a bit harsh here. I’m sure that the brothers that stored the paddles in the basement never thought there would be a flood that bad, and when it did happen, there was a lot of other things for people to think about. It is true though that those paddles are an important part of chapter history and it is nice that they are being restored. I have seen them over the years myself and they are pretty impressive. I know it is not something that was done during my years, but it is still a special part of our history. Good luck with your project, Alex.

I didn’t receive any new email addresses this week. Any brothers that you are in contact with, please send this to them and request that they get in contact with me so I can add them to my lists.

Here are the names I need help with this week: Steve Newton ‘66, Robert Weidenfeld ‘70, Geoffrey Dean ‘77, James Berry ‘80, Adam Pyles ‘85, John Morein ‘91, John Simone ‘96, Leonard Labriola ‘03.

Sorry this is so long, have a good week and a great 2007.

Rick Neel ‘73