A Few Brothers Have Spoken.
You answered five brief questions in a survey last month. Here is what you said:
What is your fondest memory of being part of Delta Kappa Epsilon?
- Sitting on the front porch in Fall and Spring with my friends.
- Living in the fraternity house with my brothers.
- Too many individual times to single out one instance. However, my fondest memories are of the good times with my pledge brothers and others in the House. The traditional Christmas party, going through pledge training and Hell Week, parties with the Hot Nuts playing, Mr. Eddie Caldwell taking care of all of us, bulls eyes for breakfast, and on and on.
- Parties. Brothers Eddie Caldwell. Beat duke parade
- Friends, cool fall days/football Saturdays; mudslide weekend; winter fireplace fires; hell week as a pledge was actually fun; weekend getaway prior to its beginning was more fun
- At this point reunions, just because they are the most recent.
- Chi O’s, Pi Phi’s, and Tri-Delts !
- My many friendships, particularly with my pledge brothers.
What are the top 3 things you gained from your Delta Kappa Epsilon experience?
- A home in Chapel Hill, Lifelong friends, Memories
- Lifelong friends, Prestige, Sense of belonging
- 1) Pledge Brother friends for life with great guys 2) A connection to UNC – Chapel Hill, I would never have had or felt 3) Friendships with those in other classes that I still enjoy and fellows I still see after nearly 50 years.
- How to get along with people. The real college experience. Lasting friendships.
- 1.lifelong friendships 2. Sense of being part of a long distinguished history 3. The pleasant times we have as a family now returning some 30 years after graduating
- Friends, great times, community.
- Lifelong Brotherhood, Personal organization to balance fun and study, Group Dynamics.
- Social skills, Network, Understanding of what true friendship is
How would your life be different today if you had never joined Delta Kappa Epsilon?
- It would not be as rich with memories and certainly much less enjoyable without my Pledge Brothers.
- Would not have been as successful
- Less memories
- My Caolina ( the state, and the school ) ties would be much weaker.
- I would not be as complete of a human being.
Share an update (family, career, hobbies, other interesting news) for possible publication in an upcoming mailing.
- I have engaged in a successful blog for people in their 70’s and beyond www.lastgaffe.com. 2000 followers. Also, I have been lucky to have gained some notoriety as an artist www.mikehoyt.net.
- Still enjoying retirement and Jean and I travel as much as we can. Keep up via email and phone calls with many Pledge Brothers. We unfortunately lost two of our Brothers a short while ago: Fred Ball and Avery Duff. A great loss for us and for this world.
- Sold my insurance business for the second time. Sold my interests in Wendy’s. Partially completed dioramas of the zulus and Waterloo.
- Married (still first marriage!) 2 children; living the sweet mountain life in Asheville; President elect UNC School of Medicine Medical Alumni Association
- Class of 1984 had a reunion in Sea Island this spring.
- UNC Alums meet once monthly in the Norfolk-Va Beach area. The last person to show up for lunch has to be the host ( i.e. Pick the restaurant) for the next meeting. First Friday. Purely social.
- My wife, Kristen, and I have 3 sons, Ranny (23) lives and works in Dallas and is a graduate of Ole Miss, Christian (19) is a rising sophomore at UNC-CH and is a DKE, and Peyton (17) is a rising junior at Norfolk Academy. All have made us proud.
As an alumni association, we strive to keep you connected with the Beta chapter long after graduation. What could we do to encourage you to become more active in the association? Perhaps by hosting more fun events? Any other advice?
- Having been active in the organization for so many years and serving as its president, I have burnt out and lost interest.
- I am active in the association but more events for the old guys would be good.
- Can’t seem to contact Gaston Caperton. Please send me his contact info.
- Events are great. Perhaps there should be an Alumni Association Board. Among other things, it could help restore some traditions to the house like DKE pins and other things related to the brotherhood that have fallen by the wayside over the years.
Thank you for sharing your memories and your opinions. Your words mean something to us, brothers. We have heard you and will act on your advice.
Still haven’t taken the survey? Here’s the link.
