We are saddened to report the passing of Brother Randy Lankford this past Saturday, February 18th, in Galveston, Texas.
As reported in the Galveston Daily News, a Memorial Celebration of Life will be held from 2:00 pm until 5:00 pm Saturday, February 25, 2012 at his residence in Galveston.
You can find Randy’s full obituary, a very colorful read, here: http://galvestondailynews.com/story/295126/
Georgetown, TX – The Active Chapter has announced that Alumni Weekend will be held over the final weekend in March, the 30th and 31st. The schedule for meetings, softball, and other weekend activities will be announced soon. Save the date!
Brother Larry Rydell, a lifelong resident of Williamson County, died today at the age of 75. Larry was a 1960 graduate of Southwestern.
Visitation will be Friday, February 10th from 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. at Providence Funeral Home in Taylor. Memorial services will be held Saturday, February 11th at 3:00 P.M. at Hutto Lutheran Church in Hutto.
Editor’s Note: thanks to Brother David Wilson for sharing the news of Brother Rydell’s passing.
Greetings Iota Brothers,
We are Douglas Thayer and Stephen Brown, Iota Fall ’10 pledge class, and we’d like to help you with your next technical project. We’re both artistically as well as very technically inclined: Stephen is a third year computer science major with a background in software development and web-design, and Douglas (a senior) is a top-notch graphic designer with experience in a range of print and digital media. Our experience working together closely through the chapter means we can accomplish your project to your specific needs within a reasonable timeframe.
We have a particular reason for appealing to the brothers of Iota for your business – both of us are at Southwestern on a combination of loans and scholarship and are having trouble paying our chapter dues. The proceeds from our work would given entirely to the chapter treasurer in order to pay our dues in full and allow us to remain active members of the chapter. We’re open to any kind of project, but here’s a list of some of the things we do well:
-Web design (personal or business oriented)
-Software development
-Graphic design and corporate Logos
-IT work and computer repair
-Custom computer construction
-Mobile and tablet application development
-Home and business network setup
This list is by no means comprehensive! Our primary goal is to, by any way possible, pay our dues to the chapter and be in good standing. Please contact us if you have any project (technical or not) in mind and we can work it out – we’d be glad to do some landscaping too! We have a portfolio available upon request if you are interested.
We look forward to meeting all of you that we haven’t yet at the 125th next month!
AEKDB
Stephen Brown
4109197945 or browns at southwestern.edu
Douglas Thayer
8057045575 or thayerd at southwestern.edu
We learned this week of the recent passing of Brother Roger Davidson.
Roger was well known and loved by brothers of every generation.
Brother Alan Haworth reflected, “I remember, Roger came down in the summer of ’07 and helped us paint the house. I think he was 83 at the time. Flew down from Colorado to be there, helping rebuild the house. He was also John Tower’s roommate and best friend. He was at the Tower tree dedication in the early ‘90s when the Tower library was dedicated. Roger was a great man, a faithful brother, and steadfast in his dedication to Kappa Sigma. He will be missed but never forgotten!”
You can read Roger’s obituary from The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction, Colorado here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/gjsentinel/obituary.aspx?n=roger-edward-davidson&pid=154010417
Please feel welcome to add your good words to in the comments to this post.
Brothers,
I hope this letter finds you well on this October 12, 2011, the 125th birthday of The Iota Chapter of Kappa Sigma. We have a grand celebration planned for the weekend of November 4-6.
We are getting concerns and complaints that Iota’s Celebration is too expensive.
We are adding two categories to the registration to make it more affordable. There is no memorabilia included in either one. The alumni “Basic†is $85. The guest “Basic†is $75.
The new registration form has these additions. If you have already registered and have sent in your package and would like to change, let us know and we can do that.
Memorabilia will be for sale at the event on a first come first serve basis.
Our celebration is 3 weeks away. Southwestern will order food for the banquet depending on the numbers we give them. We will order our refreshments on the same numbers so help us out and don’t delay.
I hope this letter will help clarify any doubts and lead to a successful gathering of the brothers and their friends on November 4-6. Events like these come once every 25 years so call your worthless pledge brothers and make sure they will be there. Iota Chapter has a totally remodeled house just waiting for a celebration! Let’s give it one that will be remembered for years to come!
Happy Birthday Iota!
AEKDB
Erik Harpst
The 125th organizing committee and committee member Alan Haworth recently announced Soulhat will play Saturday night at the House as part of the 125th Anniversary celebration.
For many, Soulhat needs no introduction. For those who came before of after the 1990’s here you go! http://soulhat.net/
We are going to hold the bi-annual EC retreat at 11 a.m. on 8/13 at the newly renovated house. Please let me know if you can attend via email or add a comment to this post. I’ve talked with the actives, and we should have nearly everyone.
We’ll have quite a few things to discuss. A rough agenda appears below. Let me know if you have any thing to add or remove.
House Updates
– Updates on renovations
– New House policies/rental agreement
125th Anniversary/Homecoming
– Dates and Info
Brotherhood Development
– Discussion
Please forward on to other alumni that would be interested in attending.
Thanks,
Tim
from Alumni Adviser Tim Stapleton
FINAL WORK WEEKEND – Don’t miss your chance to leave a lasting (positive) impression on the on the house. Saturday, August 6th will be the next, and hopefully final, work weekend at the house. We still have a lot to do to ensure the house is ready for the new school year.
For those of you artsy folks, we have lot of paint prep work that needs to be done, but if the outdoors is more your thing, we have a lot of earthwork and gardening too. I’m sure we can find something up your alley!
Work will be going on all day, you can’t get there to early, and you can’t get there too late. Any time at all you can contribute will be greatly appreciated.
If you like working with your own tools, we can always use extra shovels, paint brushes, rollers, sand papers, blue painting tape, steel wool (various grades), water blaster or pressure washer, pruning tools, wire cutters, and strong backs. Be sure to label your tools before arrival.
There has already been a lot of volunteers who have already given a lot of their time and energy, it would be great to see you there.
RSPV via Facebook here:Â http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=169201776472278
What: Masters of Destruction (MOD) Weekend Part 2
Where: The House
When: Weekend of June 4th; sun-up to sun-down
Who: All actives and alumni are invited and encouraged to join the effort – that means you! Norwood Williams and Joe Abel are leading the effort.
How: Skills, sweat, tools, teamwork, and lots of fun along the way.
Why: The remaining tear work to be done includes: the head (another layer of sheetrock and flooring need to be removed), flooring in the kitchen needs to be removed, the carpet and possibly the subfloor in the old house mothers room needs to be removed,and a new deck put down. We need to do general ground works, etc.
Read Joe Abel’s report of MOD Part 1 here.
So please if you can come, come!
Brothers,
We have started work on the Chapter house that was built in 1961.
Last weekend on May 21st we tore out the head (major leaks, and plumbing problems}; we also tore out the tile and some of the cabinets from the kitchen. We cleaned the grounds, chunked old couches, tore up sheetrock, old walls, and discovered more problems but none of them are structural. The old house is solid! Unbelievable!
We have a written contract with a contractor, reputable and on the spot. We’re redoing the head, the kitchen, replacing the North and South double doors, repairing all exterior doors upstairs and downstairs, fixing or replacing all the upstairs interior doors. We are putting new tile down with new sub flooring in the head and the kitchen. Repairing the fire suppressant system, and re-finishing the parquet floors.
We are having another work weekend on the 4th of June, all alumni and current Sigs are invited to come and help. The things we need to do is more work in the head (another layer of sheetrock and flooring need to be removed), flooring in the kitchen needs to be removed, the carpet and possibly the subfloor in the old house mothers room needs to be removed, and a new deck put down. We need to do general ground works, etc.
So please if you can come, come.
[For questions] Contact Norwood Williams, he is the project manager for the remodel for the alumnus and the contractor Joe Gilbreth. I think we have an opportunity to get the young guys involved and maybe get some of their input and help during the project. We want to get this thing done by August 1st to have it ready for the fall semester and the 125th. We will have a painting weekend to do sometime in July when the contractor finishes the major work.
AEKDB
Joe Abel
Let’s all welcome the Spring Pledge Class of 2011 as our newest initiates: Blake Carrera, Julius Young, Phillip Smith, Austin Smart, John Barfield, Chaz Sanders, Drew Snyder, Justin Gonzales
They’ll have a their work cut out for them replacing this lot…
Our Newly Graduated Seniors: John Walmsely, Daniel Knoll, Dario Bocanegra, Andrew Ivy, Mike Sullivan, Zachary Carr, Jack Frazee, Brandon Ramirez, John (Johnny B) Burton, Ben Atkins, Lance Turri, David Shinpaugh, Sam Allen, and Quinten Daniel…
Congratulations to you all!
Photo credits:Â Kate Steinbach
From Brother Joe Abel:
This is a call to all the brothers of Iota to pony up for the remodel of our old House.
We are going to redo the Head, Kitchen, replace the Main Doors south and North, repair all the other exterior doors, replace some of the room doors upstairs, do some electrical work etc. We will have to rent a rolloff dumpster for the tear out on May 21st and have it there for the remainder of the job. We are going to have to bubble wrap the composites and store them in a climate controlled storage until we are done. Plus we will have to have a painting weekend sometime this summer to put the finishing touches on the house. We have a good contractor for the job and Norwood and I will supervise the activity, so we should not have any thing get past us.
We estimate the cost to be $ 75,000.00. This should cover the whole job. Believe it or not there is actually some stuff that has held up since the work in 2007. I have thrown is $2500 to get us started, so everybody who can afford to give something please do so.
Alan Haworth is the EC member responsible for fundraising for the House Corporation.
AEKDB
Joe Abel
Editor’s note: Use the Donate button on Iotachapter.org to make a credit card donation, or mail a donation via check to Alan Haworth, 9135 Drumcliffe Ln., Dallas, TX 75231
Iota Alumni News interviewed Brother Erik Harpst by email:
What’s the tear down all about?
“We will completely remodel the kitchen and upstairs bathroom among other things. We need all the hands that we can possibly get. All composites and historical items will be removed from the house and put in climate controlled storage. This will be the first of many work weekends until August. We have a contractor to handle the big stuff.”
When will it begin?
“We will begin tear out on Saturday May 21.”
Why are we doing it?
“Our old house is a half of a century old. It needs to be in the shape worthy of a chapter that is one of the oldest in the Kappa Sigma Fraternity, and ready for a couple hundred brothers and their friends to attend a historical celebration.”
Who’s in charge?
“Joe Abel is the Committee Chair of remodeling and will supervise the effort.”
Where should we stay?
“Suggested hotels in Georgetown are Country Inn and Suites and Comfort Suites.”
UPDATE 4/15: Weekend Schedule
Friday Night: House is open for alumni & guests. No formal activities.
Saturday:
10:00 AM: Welcome – enjoy coffee & donuts at the House
11:00 AM: Alumni / Active Meeting, planning for Iota’s 125th, house improvements, state of the chapter, report from the alumni association
Noon: Lunch – please plan on making a contribution for lunch, suggested at $15.
2:00 PM: Softball (see link below)
8:00 PM: House open for alumni and guests.
The Alumni Weekend XXXVIII (38 for those who don’t read Roman) is this weekend. April 15-17, 2011. We will start the ball rolling for the 125 Year Anniversary (November 4-6) and have tons of fun. Saturday as usual is the big day, great for the family, with with BBQ, softball, and sunshine.
See you at the House!
See who’s coming on the Facebook event page for Alumni Weekend.
Softball Field: Southwest Williamson County Regional Park (Address:Â 3005 County Road 175, Leander, TX, 78641)
We have the privilege and honor to officially announce the 125th Anniversary Celebration for the Iota Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. The celebration will take place during the weekend of November 4-6, 2011 on the campus of Southwestern University in conjunction with the SU Homecoming festivities.
We have a full schedule of events planned, from casual to black-tie formal, from social to uniquely fraternal. Here’s a preview:
As Fall approaches, look for emails from us with more details, additional activities, and calls for action. For now, we encourage you to do the following:
If you have questions or need assistance in making plans, or if you would like to assist, please contact Erik Harpst or Scott Hanson. We look forward to hearing from you soon and to seeing you in November (if not before).
AEKDB,
Erik Harpst & Scott Hanson
Erik: loeran(at)aol(dot)com
Scott: j_scott_hanson(at)yahoo(dot)com
P.S. As a reminder, we strongly encourage you to make hotel reservations now. If you haven’t been back in a while, SU Homecoming draws a large crowd, so rooms are already going fast. Here are some hotel picks we’ve had good experiences with in recent years:
* Comfort Suites – Ask for the SU Homecoming Discount – 512.863.7544
* Country Inn & Suites – Less expensive (and nice) than Comfort – 512.868.8555
* Holiday Inn Express – New property, not as conveniently located – 512.591.7890
* This site claims to have 10 other G’Town Options: www.tripadvisor.com
