DTD at MC #46

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Hi Guys,

Well today is Marietta's graduation. So there are a number of new men joining the ranks of us "old guys." Welcome guys. Please be sure to send us your new email address when you get it, remembering that MC is going to delete your current one in the future. We are glad to have the new blood also to help the alumni football team continue it's domination of the undergraduates.

I have an announcement to make. I will be moving back home to Marietta, hopefully by the end of the year. My company is preparing to open a store in Marietta, and I will be transferred to it when it opens. I'm pretty excited to be able to go home. When you come to town for whatever reason, give me a call, so we can get together.

The chapter Web site has some pictures of our golf outing/ritual equipment building day, check them out at the Web site. You can see my magnificent golf swing - not (I understand that I was named a "greek freak" because the guys didn't care for it).

I have received some notes from the guys since my last email, so lets get to them, and see what the alums have to say. Joshua Downey sent me the following note, thanks for updating your address Joshua. And the best of luck with going out into the "cold hard world."


Hey there Rick,

My name's Joshua Downey. I just wanted to make sure to get this out of the way while I'm at it and to update your email list while I'm ahead. I'll be a graduating senior coming up and I wanted to make sure that you had my other email as this account will be stopped 6 months after graduation. My other email is staratsjd@aol.com I believe. If it's wrong I'll let you know soon. Also, to help you take this one off the mailing list, it's downeyj@marietta.edu. Thanks, and look forward to hearing from ya. Keep up the good work with this!
Joshua Downey

Steve Fox sent me the next note, and I am happy to forward things for any of you, if you wish. But for your use, the chapter Web site has our address book, with all of the addresses we have. It is password protected, with the password being; **removed**

Hey Rick, would you be able to send me Ted Smith's e-mail address? I would appreciate it.

Steve Fox

Robert Gibson sent me the following note, and as I've said before if you feel a brother may not wish to be included in these emails, forward them to him and let him make up his own mind. I hope that we can get everyone included, but I realize that may not happen. All we can do is try, so thanks for the effort Robert.


Rick,
Dennis McNaboe is a Dean at Alderson Broadus College in WV. I'll see if I can get an email address out of him that I can share with you.


Steve Pouliot sent me the next one, and just like he is interested in finding out about "Madbax," I'm sure that John would be interested in finding out about Steve, can someone help us out here?


Rick,
I would love to know what John "MADBAX" Baxley is up to.

Steve Pouliot


Smitty sent me the next question, and I'm sorry that I don't have much of an answer for him. I guess that most of my energy is focused on the 2008 homecoming (our 40th) but if the undergrads would like to share any plans with me, I'll be sure to post them.

Hey Rick,
I know we hve date for Homecoming, Oct 19-21, but do we have a list of things that we are planning as certain events? Also are we doing a large joint venture with a local hotel for the amount of alumni that will be attending this year? Just a thought.

Nick Smith a.k.a. Smitty '00


Finally, I got a note following up on the youtube video from the last email. Dave Broome sent me this heads-up about another music video from one of us. Jon Bolden has one of his original compositions posted on youtube. I really hope that you check it out, Jon is a pretty talented guy, in my opinion. Care to tell us something about this video Jon? I'd love to post something from you.

Rick,

Your last e-mailing included a 'heads-up' from Chris Kurtz about the music video that was filmed in the Delt house at MC. The Athens, OH-based group 'Flinch' apparently made that video 2 or three years ago! The undergrads seem to have forgotten to mention that interesting tidbit to us old dudes. In any case, in the "related" videos on the youtube page which shows that video, there is another one... one of our very own alumni, Jon Bolden (class of '05, I think) has a very impressive music video. Normally, I'd be reluctant to highlight someone else's accomplishments without their input, but hey, its already on youtube (and its
really good).

Dave Broome '88

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LR_2GqsTxFE&mode=related&search=

That's about all I have this week, we are going into the summer, so I won't have any input from the undergrads, all I will have to talk about is what you guys send me. So it's up to you, help me out.

The names of the "lost brothers" I need help with this week are: Gordon Turner '71, Neal Mettler '74, William Snyder '74 (he's been lost since I was an undergrad, last I heard he had moved to Houston), Greg McComas '77, David Duffy '80, David Caldwell '87, and Jimmy Martinez '87.


Have a good week, and to the undergrads, enjoy your summer.

Rick Neel '73

DTD at MC #45

Saturday, May 19, 2007

(This email was written on May 5th. Sorry it took so long to get it posted)

Hello everyone,

Well I am back from Marietta and a wonderful time there. The weather was nice, and I didn't freeze as sometimes happens to this desert dweller. Got to meet a bunch of the guys. And we had a better turnout for the golf than I expected.

I have to admit that I got my butt handed to me by AWK (and everyone else!) Darrell Pritchard was right, I left my shots here in Tucson. We did have a good time though. All 7 of us.

We got started on the Ritual equipment, but didn't get it finished. There were a couple of issues that we failed to take into account (does that really surprise anyone?) But what we did do makes me know that it will be pretty special when we get done. Hope that you all make it back to Marietta to see what the equipment looks like. It will be nice.

I took a few pictures of the work as well as the golf group. They have been left in the capable hands of Hops and Hunter, so they should make it to the chapter Web site sometime. Just don't expect them right away, the guys have finals and "Ferg Fest" to keep them busy for the next couple of weeks.

I did get a couple of notes since the last time I wrote. So lets get on with them.

Andy McIlivane '93 sent me the following.

Hi Rick,

Are you looking for Dean Kilton? He lives and works in Columbus, Ohio, doing his sports management thing at the exercise facilities at the Easton shopping complex.

Andy McIlvaine, DTD `93

I had an address for Dean, and sent him a note. He told me that he would prefer that I not use that address, and he would send me a more appropriate one. He hasn't yet. So any of you who are in touch with him, remind him will you?

Chris Kurtz sent me the following note, and I really suggest that you check it out. It is really neat. Also, I have to send my congratulations to Chris on the birth of his daughter. That is a pretty good excuse for not playing golf.

Rick,
Im not sure if everyone already knows about this but a band called Flinch (not sure if its made up of chapter guys) has a music video on youtube filmed at the house. Pretty cool way to see the house. I liked it a lot. Send my kudos to the guys at the house. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3QzesDiMv8
Chris Kurtz '93

PS: Sorry I couldnt make it to the golf outing. My wife and I had our second child (Katherine Rose) on April 26th. Her brother Evan turned 2 just 5 days before. Its been a bit busy.
Chris Kurtz '93



Some bad news, if true. I asked Hops to check it out through the college. But Ted Smith sent me this note about one of our founders.

Rick,

I hope I'm mistaken, but I thought I read somewhere that ROGER COFFMAN '69 passed away several years ago. I hope I'm wrong.

Ted Smith

Let's see who I need help finding this week ... Mark Ewald '72, Larry Brown '74, Peter Denio '78, Jeff Myers '81 (past president), John Baxley '86, Eric Strickland '94.

That's enough for this week. Hope that you all have a great weekend, and I'll talk to you soon.

Rick Neel '73

DTD at MC #44

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Hello again everyone,

Just a short note today, because I'm busy packing and getting ready for my trip to Marietta. I'll be there BRIGHT AND EARLY Wednesday (I have an overnight flight from Tucson). Hope that you have all made your plans and contacted Matt Dole to let him know that you are coming.

I got the schedule of events for the weekend. Remember, we are building the ritual equipment this weekend, hope you have made plans to help with that. Bob Kubota, seems to me that you are very handy with a hammer and saw! Here is the schedule that I got from Hops.


Hey Rick,

We finalized the schedule for Alumni Weekend; it is also posted on the Web site (http://www.marietta.edu/~delts/alumni/news.html).

Friday, April 27, 2007

Meet and Greet at the Shelter (5-8pm)
Unveiling New Letters Ceremony (6pm)
Build Ritual Equipment in Chapter Room (7-9pm)


Saturday, April 28, 2007 (Doo Dah Day)

Alumni Golf Outing (TBA)


Sunday, April 29, 2007

Breakfast at the Shelter (10am)
Finish Building Ritual
Equipment (11-2pm)
If you see any problems or conflicts, please let Nick and me know, and we'll try to adjust the best we can.

Cya within the week,

Hops

Our last email garnered some responses concerning Goose's note. I'll include them here, as well as his response. It's nice to know that it generated some interest. Let me know what you think.

Tim Parsons sent this note:


Why can't we alumni do an Adopt-A-Delt program?

There must be brothers in the Epsilon Upsilon Alumni Universe that can chip in to help guys on campus become part of our brotherhood. Just think of the experience and lifelong friendships we gained as undergrads. Why can't we pass that same joy onto others by helping others pay their dues. Why not a scholarship fund? C'mon, I know there are people out there are looking for a way to contribute to the house. We all realize that in order for the house to be there in the future it surely needs a few brothers left on campus. So, let's open our wallets and help a brother out.

Tim Parsons

David Broome sent this letter to express his feelings on the subject:


Goose,

I am writing in response to your 'call-out' (via Rick Neel's alumni-wide email broadcast) to any EY alumni who may have fundraising ideas for the Chapter.

Let me get to the point: I don't have any fundraising ideas; my only memories are of volunteer activities in the community - which is certainly still the case for the Chapter today. I have no idea where the Chapter got money in the 1980s, but college didn't cost over $32,000 a year, either (I know, inflation, etc).

Your request for ideas from alumni about fundraising opportunities is an excellent place to start, and hopefully some ideas will be forthcoming. However, you also indicated that "we [undergraduates] are not asking for alumni donations," to which I answer: "Why not?"

To explain: Alumni know quite a bit about being asked for monetary "contributions" in a way that undergraduates may not be aware of ... yet. Both Marietta College and DTD International are VERY diligent about making regular requests for money. At least three or four times a year - sometimes more - we get friendly requests (usually by mail, but the College also does the phone-a-thon fund drive at least
once a year) for "contributions." With all those requests going out, sometimes, some alumnus somewhere takes the bait (myself included).

Epsilon Upsilon Chapter of Delta Tau Delta, however, has not - to my knowledge in the 19 years that I've been an alumnus - ever, even once, made an appeal for money. And, unlike Marietta College or DTD International, our Chapter does not have thousands of alumni - nor (to date)any wealthy alums who are willing to designate a generous percentage of their fortune in their last will & testament when they die. To make the "contribution" process as straightforward as possible, both MC and DTD International provide a customized statement of current level of giving - and giving history - and even a pre-addressed envelope to send the check back in. To alumni this information falls under the "no kidding, so what else is new?" file, but undergraduates could probably take a few pointers from those two instututions when it comes to "getting all you can" out of the alumni.

MC and Delt International have every right to seek contributions from their alumni and, in my view, so does Epsilon Upsilon.

Unless there is some written rule that prohibits the undergraduates from specifically seeking financial contributions from their own alumni (and I re-HE-eally don't think there is), I feel that a formal appeal for "alumni contrubutions" -if only once a year - could be well worth the effort. Face it, the Chapter is currently succeeding in ways that were unimaginable in some previous eras, and a major anniversary year is approaching. You've earned the right to ask.

Again, hopefully there will be responses regarding fundraising ideas. As for making direct requests for alumni contributions, please give it some serious thought. For further indepth ideas in this regard, I remain available. I don't have fundraising experience, but I do have plenty of experience being asked for money ... which (this being the case for all of the other alumni) could nonetheless prove helpful.

Fraternally,
David Broome, class of 1988

Goose responded to David this way:



Brother Broome,

This is Brother Kitson. I really appreciate the speedy response and compliments at the Chapter's progress and thank you for helping to lay the foundation that we stand on right now. As far as asking the alumni for money, the undergrads have felt that asking the alumni for money might take them away from wanting to be a part of this process that Rick has been working so hard on to bring us all back together. Maybe it's because we don't have the thousands of alumni or anything, but we don't want to ask of our alumni financially.

We've discussed the idea before of possibly doing a "Delt Pledge" where alumni would pledge an ammount per new pledge we got or initiated, as well as attempting to establish a Delt Scholarship based on need and accomplishment. Both ourselves, Ferg, and the couple alumni agreed that it would not be in our best interest to pursue asking the alums and risk becoming another organization simply asking for the alumni to give as we really honor the idea that being a Delt is life-long. The Undergrads asking for the money just isn't something that we're willing to do right now.

However, if any of those ideas for fundraising seem like something you think the alumni would like to begin to undertake - I don't think it's unfeasible for House Corps to look for alumni donations for that. Rick has also been CC'ed from your
email as well as this response.

Thank you so much for the concern about the current Chapter. It helps to know that so many people have a vested interest in the how we do. It makes it known that it's that much more important.

Fraternally,John "GooSe" Kitson

I forwarded Tim Parsons note to Goose and he sent me this response. Please note that the Undergrads are not looking to get us back to Marietta so they can get money out of us, they sincerely want to see the Alumni come back to visit them. And I can vouch for that, I make it back to Marietta 2 or 3 times a year, and have yet to be asked for money (except for the ritual equipment fund drive - and that was my idea).

Thanks Brother Neel,

I responded to Brother Broome's email and CC'ed you to it. The undergrads really don't want to head up asking for funds from alumni - that's not the reason we are looking to bring them back and I don't want to give them any reason to think that's the reason. If the alumni would like to start something, I would suggest House Corps taking it over and then becoming the group that decides criteria and need and the like.

If this gets unveiled, however, I'd like to have some sort of undergrad base of
fundraising that could be done to bring with it so it doesn't seem like we aren't doing anything to help ourselves as well.

Once again and as always THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP WITH EVERYTHING,

John "GooSe" Kitson

I do have an idea for a fundraiser to try to help the guys, and I'll go over it with Goose this weekend. If any of the rest of you have any ideas to help them out, please send them to the Chapter.

One last thing, then I have to get back to the suitcase. I understand that some of you may be in contact with a brother and are hesitating to send me their address. I understand that completely, we all get enough crap in our inbox to make us hesitate. Not to mention protecting a friend's privacy. If that is the case, please just forward these emails to them and allow them to make up thier own minds. (And if you get this in that manner, please drop me a line and let me add you to our mailing list.) Also, remember that our 40th anniversary on the Marietta campus is in 2008 and we want a HUGE turnout of Delts. Thanks for helping.

See you in Marietta, have a great week.

Rick Neel '73