Its this weekend y’all! Homecoming is October 25-27, 2024.
Here’s our schedule of events.
I hope to see you at the House.
Visit here for the University’s schedule and to register.
AEKDB
P.S. Here’s some recent pictures of the Memorial Courtyard in use. Thanks to all who supported this effort!
UPDATE: July 20, 2024
Due to the effects of Hurricane Beryl, Brother Bob Lain’s memorial service was postponed from July 11 and will now be held at 2 PM on August 1st, with a reception to follow.
The location for the service is St Martin’s Episcopal Church-Chapel, 717 Sage Road, Houston, TX 77056.
If you plan to attend the reception, RSVP to Mariah at 720-239-3673 so they have an accurate count for food.
You can see Bob’s obituary here.
Our brother Robert E. “ Bullet Bob” Lain, Jr. entered the Iota Chapter Celestial on June 23, 2024. He was welcomed by his brother Tommy (initiated 5/15/72) and his pledge brother and best friend Craig Graham (initiated 9/9/74) into the big Kappa Sigma Brotherhood in the sky.
Bob was initiated on September 9, 1974. He loved Galveston, the beach, and fishing, and he was an excellent bowler, holding the honor and receiving a ring for a perfect 300 game. He also holds the dubious honor of being the only brother to crash his car into the fraternity house’s front doors. Bob loved Iota and its tight brotherhood, dedicating his time and energy to the betterment of the chapter. He was instrumental in the planning and executing Iota’s Centennial in 1986. Bob had a good sense of humor and loved BBQ and seafood. He struggled with multiple medical issues and unfortunately succumbed to them at age 69. News of Bob’s memorial service will be posted at a later date.
AEKDB
Brother Bob
Bob, Scott Harpst, Pat Sparks
Bob and Iota brothers in 2013
April 12-14, 2024
Alum Weekend April 12-14
April 12-14, 2024.
Details to follow.
Friends & Brothers,
The courtyard construction project has been completed!
Join us at the Kappa Sigma House at 4:30 PM, Saturday September 23rd during Homecoming for a special dedication event.
Stick around for BBQ and refreshments.
– Erik
P.S. Homecoming registration (though SU) closes September 12. Click here to register online.
P.P.S As always, even if you don’t register with SU, you can still join us at the House!
Hey brothers! In case you haven’t heard, we are building a patio! It will be dedicated to the memory of our lost brothers. Construction has begun, and we will hopefully complete it before school starts in late August. Hopefully fully funded too!
The patio will include a vertical smoker, grill, prep station, benches, lighted walls and electrical/USB outlets. The lamp posts at the eastern entrances will have bronze dock lights. Our crest and letters will be prominently displayed on the front walls. The stone will be one-color concrete pavers to match the limestone on the house. The walls will look like the one design renderings pictured below.
Construction is being professionally done by Stone Deck, one of the Austin area’s premier patio builders. They have completed many projects around Georgetown, including at Southwestern University.
The total cost of the patio will be $75,000. We have raised about $47,000 so far! Only 28K to go! We can do it! We are counting on you, brothers, who have not yet stepped up to the Kappa Sigma plate. There are pledge classes out there with zero contributions! Hey, come on, we are all in this together!
Everybody knows our Iota brotherhood is one of the strongest around. Let’s prove it! There is a place to donate at the very bottom of this site. Please do it now! Let’s make our new courtyard the talk of the SU campus!
AEKDB
Erik
Donations can be sent by mail to Chris Mathers, Alumni Association Treasurer, 1124 24th Street, Galveston, Texas 77550, or by credit card (see below).
Check out more renovation photos and info on our plans on the site.
Use and share this link to donate money to the porch project: iota-chapter-alumni-assoc-inc.square.site
The Active Chapter will host alumni brothers, friends, and family this Spring over the weekend of April 1st at the House.
Brother Erik Harpst reminds us that this tradition began in 1973 — time flies!
Active Brothers and Co-Alumni Chairs Josh Tenorio and Aiden Gomez promise via their email newsletter that, “activities have been planned throughout the weekend that will allow Greek alumni from several decades to engage with our current chapter members. Don’t miss out on all of the fun, including our annual softball game!”
A post on this website from a decade ago provides some word associations which might trigger nostalgia in you (as it does for me).
Softball. Grilled meats. Family. Tim. Friends. Brothers. Southwestern. Old stories. Power tools. Russell. Pledges. Musical instruments. Marshal. Green grass. Norwood. Composites. New memories. Pat. The San Gabriel river. Fire. Sausage links. Erik…
Add the names of your PBs and Big Bros, your favorite SU and G-town places, and the experiences you treasure to that word string… and maybe, we’ll see you in April to share stories and make new ones.
Planning to attend? Feel free add a comment below and let us know.
AEKDB
Greek letters added during recent house improvements
Our dear brother Brad Francis passed away on May 27, 2022.
Brad was a pledge in Fall of 1992 and was initiated along with brothers Jeff Jones, Mike Ooi, Bret Starr, and Joel Stone.
As an active, if my memory serves, Brad was among the greatest House Managers the chapter has ever known.
I encourage you to read Brad’s obituary here, it nicely captures the range of talents and interests Brad was famous for and notes the equally wide range of people that have known and loved Brad and who are mourning his loss.
All are invited to Brad’s family for a celebration of his extraordinary life on Saturday, June 4, 2022 at 10:30 am at Our Lady of the Rosary Cemetery at 330 Berry Lane, Georgetown,Texas 78626, in the Forest Garden area.
A Celebration of Life with lunch and refreshments will immediately follow nearby at the Kappa Sigma House at Southwestern University, 1003 McKenzie Drive, Georgetown 78626.
CORRECTION (2/26/23): This post previously misrepresented Brad’s pledge class. Thanks Brother Joel Stone for the correction.
Greeting, Friends & Brothers:
UPDATE March 6, 2021: We regret the omission of Henry Furler from the list of those joining the Chapter Celestial.
The post provides a digest of news from the past few months.
Since our last post about Brother Richard Kalmbach — who passed away in late September — we received news of two more brothers joining the Chapter Celestial.
Anton (Tony) Fraps IV passed away on October 24, 2020
Bob Rork, alumnus and former trustee passed away on December 29, 2020.
Henry Furler, a young brother from the Iota Class of Spring 2017.
Our condolences go out to family, friends, and brothers during this time of sorrow.
The actives welcomed ten young men into the chapter as part of the Spring ’21 Pledge Class.
Iota Chapter Spring Class of 2021
To kick-off the new year, the active chapter launched a campaign to fund house improvement projects — a nice compliment to deferred maintenance and upkeep supported by the House Corporation. Visit the GoFundMe page below to support the campaign.
Are you missing live music? Yeah, me too. Check out recent installments of Kevin McKinney’s Friday Freak-in on Facebook for the next best thing to being there.
That’s it for now. Stay warm and safe y’all.
AEKDB,
JG
Richard Wayne Kalmbach
Find Richard’s full obituary here for details on visitation and funeral services. Friends and brothers can also share memories, as did Brother Bob Lain:
I knew Richard from Robert E Lee High School (he was one year ahead of me) and later I attended Southwestern University where Richard was an active member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity, which I joined in 1974. I worked closely with Richard and have many fond memories. God bless along with my prayers for Richard and his family.
We extend our condolences to Richard’s family, friends, and fraternity brothers.
UPDATE 3/18: Southwestern made the obvious call to cancel Greek Weekend in response to to COVID-19 pandemic. Iota Alumni Weekend is accordingly cancelled this year as well as an in-person event on campus and at the House.
Since we’re all going to get used to social distancing for awhile, we invite any and all ideas to nurture the bonds of brotherhood and fellowship via our digital tools over the coming weeks and months. Do any brothers out there want to create a virtual Alumni Weekend experience? I’ve heard stories of friendly poker tournaments over Zoom among co-workers and friends.
As a reminder to our extended Iota community, if you are need, please reach out for help. If you have help to give, offer it. We’re all in this together.
Be well. And please, please, please, keep your distance!
AEKDB
—————
For Greek Reunion here is the plan:
Friday April 3rd
8:00 pm Greek Hospitality House
Catch up with your fraternity brothers and sorority sisters and fellow Greeks at the Hospitality House. Must be 21+ to enter.
10:30pm Social at the House with the Actives
Saturday April 4th
10:30am Donuts and coffee (chapter meeting)
11am Cullen Tower Signing
A minimum gift of $10 gives alumni and or seniors the opportunity to climb the narrow, spiral staircase to the Cullen Tower to sign your name on its historic stone walls. Roy and Lillie Cullen Building, Room 300 (3rd Floor)
11:30 am–1:00 pm Greek Barbecue
Greek alumni and students get together to reconnect and socialize. A complimentary lunch will be provided to those who register. Greek Awards will be announced at noon. Fraternity Row
2:30pm Iota Chapter Kappa Sigma Alumni vs Actives Softball Game
Williamson County Regional Park North Field @ 3005 County Rd 175 Leander TX 78641
9:00pm-Midnight Chapter Socials
SAVE THE DATE!
Southwestern Greek Reunion Weekend will happen Saturday April 4th.
Greek Weekend is a biannual event for all Greek alumni. It coincides every other year with Iota’s Annual Alumni Weekend which has been going strong for over 40 years.
The annual Iota Active vs. Alumni Softball Game will take place at 2:30pm on Saturday.
More details to follow.
AEKDB
Excerpted from Tyler’s Facebook post, August 5th:
I’m Tyler Anderson, this semester’s Alumni and Communications Chair. I just wanted to take a minute to thank all of you who intend to come to Alumni work weekend. We’ve got a lot of plans for this coming semester, and I’m glad we have such an active group of alumni to help those happen.
For those of you who can’t make it, there’s other ways to help! This semester we’re going to try and replace a lot of the older things in the house that have either stopped working or need repairs — like the dishwasher, the bathrooms, and the showers. We’ve put together a GoFundMe page to make it easy for your donations to directly contribute to what needs to be fixed. On that page you’ll find a clear list of everything we’re taking a look at fixing.
Additionally, any brother who donates more than $100 will have something in the house dedicated to him — something we will mark with a label-maker. If you want to come by on Alumni Weekend to see your name in laminate text on a cabinet door or microwave, all you have to do is click on that link below and help out.
Here’s that link:
https://www.gofundme.com/kappa-sigma-iota-floor-fund
We’re appreciative of everything you guys are doing, and we hope to see you this coming weekend, or over Alumni Weekend. Thanks so much, guys!
-Tyler Anderson
First, the summer tradition continues.
If you’ve never trekked back to G-town to sweat it out at the House with some Iota’s finest from across the decades, consider joining in.
The Iota experience lives on. It’s truly lifelong and year round.
Second, there’s plenty of work anyone and everyone can accomplish.
Specialized skills are welcome but not required.
There’s landscape maintenance such as trimming of trees and bushes.
Inside, there’s a reliable dose of floor repair and maintenance, interior painting or touch up, bringing the kitchen back into code compliance, and such.
We’ll update this one or add a post with any specific special projects to be completed this year.
Finally, you should know when to show-up and how long to stay!
Plan on joining friends and brothers from Saturday August 10 from 8am to 5pm.
There’s often a dinner out at Walburg Saturday night, everyone’s invited, and a final wrap-up on Sunday.
Bonus item:
If contributions of time and energy are not possible, consider a monetary donation of any amount via Iotachapter.org. Just click on the Paypal link.
And finally, enjoy some snapshots of summers past:
The Iota Alumni Association received word of the passing last week of Brother and retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Gerald W. Sylvester, recently of Montgomery, Texas.
Brother Sylvester was initiated in 1957. He was the big brother of Jeff Allen. His son, Jim, also became a Kappa Sigma at Texas State University (formerly Southwest Texas State), initiated in the Spring of 1983.
Brother Sylvester was among a distinguished group of alumni who received Fifty Year pins during the Iota 125th Anniversary celebration in 2011.
In recognition of his lifeline dedication and support of the Iota Chapter, the Alumni Association will dedicate our gathering this year to Brother Gerald Sylvester.
Alumni Weekend 2019 is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, April 5th and 6th.
We received word from Gerald’s family that services will take place on April 6th. As we get further details, we’ll add them to this post.
The Iota Alumni Association is proud to announce that current active grand master, Dillon Betros, has been awarded both the Kappa Sigma Iota Endowed Scholarship and the Lori and Erik Harpst Endowed Scholarship.
Dillon is a Senior from Cameron Texas and majors in French.
The two endowed scholarships have enjoyed generous support from alumni and friends of the chapter. The Association sends a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has contributed to these funds since their inception.
The Kappa Sigma Iota Endowed Scholarship goes to deserving students with a financial need and helps cover tuition.
The Lori and Erik Harpst Endowed Scholarship goes to deserving students with a financial need and covers the cost of student housing — such as the rent paid to live in the fraternity house.
We invite you to make an end of year contribution to either or both of these funds through the Southwestern online portal.
To make a donation by mail, remit with specific instruction for either one to: Southwestern University, P.O. Box 770, Georgetown TX 78627-0770.
This has truly become a summertime tradition. These gatherings are a big part of the Alumni Association’s continued stewardship of our beloved House. It’s an effort to start the school year off with our House in the best shape it can be. Erik, Pat, Russell, Blake, Norwood, Joe, Alan, so many others have made this an annual event. Thank you all!
How can you help?
Join the fun! Anytime during the day of August 11 and early on August 12.
What work can you help with?
Landscape maintenance, trimming of trees and bushes, floor molding following floor repair, interior paint
When again?
August 11 and 12
Anything else?
Yep, there’s always some fun events planned before and after the work.
Pat has the opportunity to host as many as 10 folks at the Round Rock Express game on Friday evening — with a Bob Schneider concert to follow. Just add a comment to this post or reach out to Pat if you’re interested.
If contributions of time and energy are not possible, consider a monetary donation of any amount. Just click on the Paypal link to the right.
A cold and wet weekend kept the Actives and Alumni away from the softball field and indoors. But it did not dampen their spirits.
The alumni defeated the actives in an epic game of dodge ball.
Photos by Russell Ramsey
