“When I try to tap my feelings about KDR, I keep thinking of two things: “Home and Family.” I courted my future wife Nancy there, and she was the Zeta sweetheart. We were married at Penn State (40 years ago this April) and several brothers attended our wedding. Fred Crim was a member of the wedding party and my brother Wes was best man. How could you not love a group of guys names: “Hemp, Dolt, Chiz, Rope, Fish and Fugsy?” I’ll always remember the feeling of returning to school after each summer break. It was one of returning home to my brothers. Other young men should experience that feeling also. That’s why I gave.”
–C. Frederick Keffer ’68
“Touch football before rush dinner…Annie’s home-cooked meals…basketball and football IM championships…traversing dangerous intersection across the state for Thon contributions…oldies at 45 rpm…the best little sister program on campus…”He’s taking her to the Formal?”…trying to turn back the hands of time…the Nittany Rat…birthday week…$45 semester golf passes…brotherization parties…the “truth”…the same “gripes” from the same brothers at every house meeting…platforms for elections… trying to capitalize on tailgating…listening to PSU football on the radio (no CATV)…annual room picks…Ken Cramer’s bellowing voice…manipulating the ‘list’ for parties…borrowing the cable signal…finding another brother is taking the same class as you…the weekly Saturday morning BS session..”real” french fries…calling my folks from the phone booth every Sunday…”what is a Consul anyway?”…harvesting Mountain Laurel for the Rose Formal…IM football plays on index cards…Cartoon jamming “Lola” on a humid Saturday afternoon…rundowns…the annual slide show for Seniors…evening trips to Meyer’s Dairy…borrowing stuff and generally returning it…punt in the front yard…Agents, Stonies and Cherries…giving a damn about the condition of the house…making it all work together…They were some special years and the best lessons of my life.”
–John Burke ’82
“It’s been over 50 years since I graduated from Penn State and Zeta Chapter. Looking back over those years, my best memories are of the 3 years spent as a pledge and brother at KDR.
During my freshman year, fraternities were the last thing on my mind. Engineering was a difficult program for someone who came from a small country high school and I almost flunked out. My cousin, Bob Burns ’52, was Rush Chairman at Zeta and needed to fill the pledge class coming in during the fall of 1952. He invited me out to the house for dinner and a couple of parties. I didn’t drink beer and wasn’t much for socializing so I really didn’t fit in that well. When my name came up for a vote during the house meeting, there were some brothers who didn’t think I was fraternity material. But, Bob needed to fill the pledge class, so I was given a bid.
The fraternity sent letters to all the new pledges telling them to return a week before classes started to get the house in shape for the coming year. Somehow I never got that letter. So, I showed up on a Tuesday to register, drove out to the house and saw everyone working and returned home. When I returned Sunday evening, I was in big trouble!
Pledging was a very different activity back in the early 1950s. We had chores, we had study times, we were required to learn the fraternity history, the names and addresses of all brothers, and we had to prepare a pledge manual. The pledge manual was several pages long and it had to be typed without a single error. I doubt that today’s pledges could understand the difficulty we experienced in putting that pledge book together. Throughout our pledge semester we were subject to questioning by the brothers about the contents of the pledge book. Those questioning sessions were usually conducted at lunch or dinner when we ate in the dining room. A brother would call on a pledge who was expected to stand on his chair to respond to questions. Failure to give the correct answer usually resulted in some form of punishment such as extra chores or the application of “wood” to ones posterior. But that “hazing”, made me a better, more outgoing person.
Hell Week, the week before the start of the spring semester and the prelude to initiation, was truly a week of hell. My pledge trip with Al Ofensend to Frackville, Reading and Philadelphia was stressful, but a true learning experience. There were 22 of us going thru Hell Week in February 1953 and we became a “Band of Brothers” during that week, helping each other accomplish the work that was assigned and fixing up the house in the process. (I laid a new asphalt tile kitchen floor that week because I had helped my father lay tile at home and knew something about what to do.)
As a Brother of Zeta, I became more close to some of the members than I was to my own blood brothers. We had parties, we dated, we imported dates from other colleges for big weekend parties, we participated in Spring Week, we helped each other with school assignments, etc. And we ran the fraternity, solving problems and keeping the house in good condition for future members. All the time learning lessons about life and being good citizens. My experiences at Zeta of KDR were actually of more benefit to me in my life and career than the lessons learned in the classroom.
Over the years I have tried to give back to KDR some of the bounty that has come my way as a result of my membership in the fraternity. (My 38 year career was the direct result of my being a KDR brother.) Records should show that I have consistently contributed to Zeta chapter for the past 57 years. I also contribute to the National of KDR and served as a Trustee of the KDR Foundation for 9 years. If I lived closer to State College, I would be more active with Zeta chapter. In the meantime, I will contribute as much as I can for the restoration of the Zeta Chapter House and trust that someday it will be as good as it was “back then”. “
–James Buterbaugh ’55
“My fondest memories of KDR were the 15 pledge brothers that spent a semesters together getting our butts swatted, cleaning up the bar on Saturday and Sunday mornings, cleaning those beautiful toilets daily, shining shoes, taking care of the sick, and just all around helping each other get thru that pledge training time. I never in my life created a bond with another group as I did with my fellow pledges. Some of those relationships have lasted a lifetime. We don’t get together as much as any of us would like, but we do know that special friend is there if we need one. When I was in college, I tried to hide it, I was a ball of anxieties, and the brothers’ friendships were the medicine that got me through those anxious times. I would love to relax and do it all over again. Our house incubated quite an assortment of careers: a County Commissioner, Lawyers, Nationally Famous Mushroom Growers, Restaurateurs, Race Car Owner, President of the PGA & Chairman of the Ryder Cup, Air Force Colonels, Navy Admiral, S & H Green Stamp Exec, V.P of Sales & Engineering, KDR National Executive Director, and even a Used Hubcap Entrepreneur. We didn’t turn out so bad after all.”
–David Z. Richards, Sr ’57
“I joined the capital campaign early on because I truly want to preserve, what for me, was a very important part of my PSU education. While no single event was earth shattering, I recall many day to day experiences as a KDR brother and resident of the house. Weekends were always special times and especially those when guests could stay over with a Housemother present, for events such as Rose Formal and Spring Carnival. Even “Hell Week” and pledge trips were good times. I would truly enjoy the opportunity to reconnect with many of you who resided in the house. What better way to do that than in a renovated Zeta Chapter House for future Homecomings.
As I recall, we were a great “Band of Brothers”, if I could borrow that phrase! Our class and our years in the House were great years at PSU and KDR was a proud part of all our experiences at Penn State. In the intervening years since we lived there, the house has suffered some neglect and abuse. Now, this capital campaign is a very sincere effort to restore the house and the Zeta Chapter to prominence again in the Greek community of the University. This will be followed by close alumni supervision and support to maintain the House in good condition for many years to come.”
— Ben Long ’65
“I pledged KDR in the Fall of ’68 when plaid pants and button down shirts went the way of bell bottom jeans, Navy P coats and long hair…all in the matter of a few semesters. Homecoming that year was with Chi Omega where I met a sophomore who became a KDR Sweetheart in 1970. Renee and I were “lavaliered”, pinned, engaged and then we married the night before graduation so we could have our graduating fraternity brothers and sorority sisters come to the wedding reception. We held it at the house that Friday night before graduation ceremonies the took place next day. Only 36+ years.
The brotherhood at KDR is an important link for me. With all the changes that occur in your life it is amazing how some things stay the same. Friends developed during that time of your life are always a solid bond, even if it is only for a fall weekend in Happy Valley once a year.”
–Dave Reese ’71
“I pledged the house in the Fall of 1954 as an 18 year old boy. After two years as Treasurer of the chapter, three years of being pinned to a Kappa Kappa Gama, serving as a member of the Interfraternity Council, two years on the Fraternity Marketing Board, three Rose Formals, several Big Weekends, service on the PSU Tribunal, a short stint on the Daily Collegian, action on a number of KDR sport teams, a fair amount of beer drinking in a town that was “dry” for liquor sales, a constant socialization process, a student representative to the KDR 50th anniversary convention at the Middlebury campus and more; I graduated in June of 1957 as a 21 year man. I owe that successful transition in large part to KDR.”
–Dave Hamrick ’57
