Newsletter. SIGMA CHI Alumni. Thank you, Ron! APRIL 2019

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1 Newsletter SHELDON DETRICK, PUBLISHER MACKENZIE MEDDERS, EDITOR Thank you, Ron! Wow, Ron Looney gave a wonderful speech at last month s Alumni Connection Luncheon and we had over 25 people in attendance. If you weren t there, you really missed out. We hope to see everyone there this month for Paul Brunton!

2 Significance Ten Benefits of Joining a Sorority or Fraternity in College 1. Become Part of a Community 2. Build Your Social Skills 3. Participate in Community Service 4. Build a Network 5. Social Events 6. Academic Assistance 7. Housing Options 8. Form a Tight One-on-One Bond 9. Leadership Opportunities 10. Tradition APRIL 2018 Save the Date Thursday, April 11th HAPPY HOUR Bricktown 5-7p Friday, April 19th ALUMNI CONNECTION Summit 12 Paul Brunton Beta Kappa 66 What are their names?

3 Letter From The President ANDREW GRIMM OU 02 Dear Brothers, I hope everyone had a safe Spring Break and are leading your NCAA bracket pool!! March flew by but it wasn t without it s highlights. Once again, the chapter would like to thank Brother Sheldon Detrick for arranging our Alumni connection speaker. Brother Ron Looney came and spoke about Tulsa Community College, where he has served as a Regent for the past 34 years. Make sure to check your s and newsletter for announcements of our future speakers. Our weekly lunches are held on the 31st floor at the Summit Club in downtown Tulsa. Each week the room is packed with a different crowd. The dates for those are April 5, 12, 19, 26 and our monthly happy hour will be on the 2rd Thursday this month, April 11th. As usual this will be held at Bricktown Brewery located at 33rd & Peoria. You do not need to be a member of the Summit to attend the weekly lunch meetings and don t forget our happy hour features a discounted food and beverage menu. I look forward to seeing new and our regular faces at the upcoming events!! In Hoc, Andrew R. Grimm Tulsa Alumni Association President

4 Treasurer s Report LUCAS DAFFERN OSU 17 Worthy Brothers, I would like to encourage you to take a moment, if you have not yet done so, follow the link and make your annual sponsorship pledge. Last month, we introduced a new way of making this pledge by creating an auto pay feature through PayPal. For many of us, remembering to pay our annual due is difficult. In an effort to help our members and streamline our processes, the executive team has decided to set up a subscription style payment what will allow you to enter your credit card once for the sponsorship of your choice and will automatically draw every year on that date. By doing this, we hope to increase member engagement by providing more events through-out the year. At the bottom, you will find a link provided that will redirect you to our website page where you will be able to pay through PayPal. IH, Lucas Daffern CLICK HERE:

5 Grand Praetor Report DON MCKINNEY, TU 84 Brothers, We often say "I am a Sigma Chi". What does this actually mean? To me it means trying to live up to the values we profess. It means giving back to an organization that has made me personally and is to this day a guiding compass in my interactions with others. To be a Sigma Chi gives those who have been initiated into Sigma Chi an extra blanket of "worth" and trust. Do Sigma Chi's have character flaws or transgressions? Of course! We are human with flaws. If Sigma Chi's follow what our ritual says and live by the the Standard we use our lives would be much richer. IHSV Don McKinney

6 Chapter Eternal Report HAP FRY MICHIGAN STATE 64/ TU 67 David Brierley Illinois 48 David was a petroleum engineer and Army veteran died Wednesday, March 13. Jonathan Brocksmith Beta Kappa Jonathan attended Patrick Henry Elementary, Edison Junior High, Thunderbird Academy in Ponca City, and graduated from Edison High School in After completing two years at Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, Jon returned to Oklahoma to complete his degree in Business Administration at the University of Oklahoma where he was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. Jon was an amazing role model for his three children and six grandchildren. He loved them equally and unconditionally. He was fair and was their confidante. Jon also leaves his loving wife, Pamela Tripp Brocksmith, whom he first met in kindergarten. He was an extraordinary example of what a wonderful Christian man, husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend should be.

7 Ritual Report WILLIS ALLEN, TU 68 The Very First Sigma Chi Ritual: The Founders Day Ritual 1855 Once the fraternity had been established Seven badges of the original Sigma Phi Pattern were ordered. The new badges were first worn on Commencement day at The University of Miami in Ohio, on June 28, The introduction of the new badge was the Founder s method of a public announcement of the founding. Instead of just passing the badges out and going about campus, on that day, all the Founders met to pin the badges on, together, for the first time. A Ritual was prepared for the moment when the badges were first pinned on. Here is that Ritual: I place this White Cross over my heart, because it appeals both to my intellect, and to my affections. I wear it with a deep sense of humility, and with a feeling of unworthiness: believing that the world expects more of me, than the world expects of other men, and realizing full well that I never can conquer by a sign, even thought it be a cross. But only as the ideals for which this Badge stands, take possession of my heart, and become exemplified in my life, will I ever know the deepest meanings of the White Cross of Sigma Psi. (Sigma Chi) Note: Founder Thomas Cowan Bell was said to recite the Founders Day Ritual whenever he put on his Badge. The words found in the Founders original Preamble and the Founders Day Ritual are as close as we can get to the fraternal vision of the Original Seven, for Sigma Chi. slanted across their breast, pointed over their left shoulder.

8 Bob Wandres Letter BOB WANDRES, TU 66 Brothers Like common sense, independent critical thinking has become increasingly rare in today's society, making ideological discourse impossible, or awkward at best. Shrugging your shoulders and remaining silent, or mumbling about " free stuff," is just nonsense. I strongly suspect the fault lies in our educational system...from elementary schools through numerous universities, which very often stifle individual thought, and teach only "selective" history. It seems like we have become largely a nation of entitled "head nodders," not really having a personal opinion, or taking responsibility about anything, except what is perceived to be trendy and popular. Sad. Forgotten (or never learned) are the questions of what, why, how, has it worked, and will it affect me? I recently picked up a book, edited by Jonathan Hoenig, entitled A New Text Book of Americanism, which details the politics of Ayn Rand. Coming to America in 1926, having survived the horrors of Communist Russia, she wrote extensively about the merits of American individualism. While Rand was certainly a controversial intellectual (her two fictional books, Atlas Shrugged, and The Fountainhead, were widely carried on campus in the 50's and 60's...driving some professors crazy,) she understood what made this country exceptional in the world. Read it. I think you will find a clear renewal of spirit and pride in how we have persevered in preserving our Republic. And, for you younger Sigs that are clueless about what I am talking about...time to educate yourself by putting that little device in your hand to a higher purpose. Start with the 1848 publication of the Communist Manifesto by Engels and Marx, and follow forward the bloody advocates like Stalin, Mao, Castro and many others. They all feigned idyllic socialism (we are all equal) at first...until the guns came out (after the population was disarmed), and the butchery for total state control began. You are the future of this land. Don't blow it by mindlessly agreeing with those that would bring it down...intentionally or through ignorance. Sigma Chi continues to extend the offer and charge to all of us to take a stand, and become leaders of men. Own it! " I can say-- not as a patriotic bromide, but with a full knowledge of the necessary metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, political and esthetic roots--that the United States of America is the greatest, the noblest, and in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world."~ Ayn Rand. And, remember this... our nation faces many threats, but the greatest of these is an uninformed (and complacent) electorate. Freedom is always tentative. Think critically...and search diligently for the truth. In hoc Signo Vinces, Bob Wandres bobwandres@gmail.com

9 Our Sponsors Blue Sponsors Vince Siren R.G. Reeder David Boaz Bob Wanders Jack Allen Jr. Ken Klein Lucas Daffern University of Wyoming University of Oklahoma Gold Sponsors See Gold Sponsor Ads in Our Newsletter Allen Borrow Jr. University of Oklahoma Barrow & Grimm Bill Grimm University of Oklahoma Barrow & Grimm Sheldon Detrick 1958 Realtor Hap Fry 1964 Fry & Elder Tom Bloomfield Don Thorton Cadillac Doug Stuart JD Young Company Dr. Jim Meehan Medical Doctor John Leak 2004 University of Oklahoma Devine Custom Homes Jim Kuykendall Equipment World Sanjay Meshri Advance Research Chemicals, Inc.