Alum: Reconnecting to Tau Kappa Epsilon

[tex]

Reconnecting to Tau Kappa Epsilon is like discovering a missing piece of my life. It's finding something important I didn't know I was missing ... until I found it again.

Let me rewind the clock.

I followed in my older brother's footsteps and became a Teke at Epsilon-Sigma at the University of Central Oklahoma (then Central State College) where I found great friends and we had great times together.

However, more than 40 years ago, I left TKE behind, moving on in my studies and my career. I missed it, but I assumed my fraternity days were over and that TKE was no longer relevant for me.

Thankfully, one of my fellow Fraters kept in contact with me over the years and wouldn't let me forget the great TKE Nation. He convinced me to attend a recent Founders' Day banquet and I got to experience our fraternity today, through renewed eyes. I gave of my time as a presenter at Conclave 2011, and was welcomed warmly by collegiate and Grand Council members alike.

I was AWOL all those years, and the way I was accepted back blew me away.
Maybe your experience was like mine, thinking that your connection to the fraternity is lost for good. Maybe you think that getting reconnected is something you'll do someday.

TKE is more important now than ever for our collegiate members and our alumni around the world. There is nothing better than what Tau Kappa Epsilon has to offer in building leaders.

I am committed to giving of my time in support of this noble cause. And, now, I am also giving of my treasure through my first financial contribution to the TKE Educational Foundation. Because of what I learned. Because of what I'm learning. Because it's the right thing to do.

Frater Terry, you don't have to wait as long as I did to reconnect. TKE needs you now to ensure that future generations of young men will benefit from the lessons our fraternity teaches. It fills me with pride to be part of it again.

Join me in coming back to the Fraternity for Life. Make a gift today to help build Better Men for a Better World. Together, we will sustain TKE, preserve our proud heritage and realize our promising future.

Yours in the Bond,

Frater Marshall Scantlin
Major General (TX-RET)
EPSILON-SIGMA (University of Central Oklahoma)

[modorney]

A similar message is on the inside cover of the Spring 2011 Sig Ep Journal - www.sigep.org/journal/default.asp

Conclave [Grand Chapter]: Where I saw hope

Probably about the time that
most of you were taking your
first steps, I took my first steps
back to my Fraternity. After
randomly meeting Mike and
Gay Williams on a small plane
to St. Barts, Chuck and Susan White at a cocktail party in Beverly Hills, and Tom Allardyce and Illya Hendrix playing poker in Hollywood…I decided to accept their collective invitation and attend my first Conclave.

Up until then, I knew very
little about our national Fraternity. Twenty years earlier I had walked away from my home chapter with little regret for leaving behind the chaos, hazing, and destructive behavior. Sure, I missed some of my brothers. And yes, we certainly did quite a few things to humorous excess. But that was for kids…in the past…and not part of my future.

Then I walked into Conclave.

Before me I saw 1,000 undergraduates in coats and ties, with manners and customs, courtesy and tradition. Many even spoke in complete sentences.

Before me I saw the future of our Fraternity. I saw the future of our country. And, I saw hope.

Now I understand that, coming from an old guy, many of you think that sounds pretty lame. Trust me, someday you’ll look back and feel the same.

“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.”
~ BARBARA KINGSOLVER

For those of you attending Conclave, that day will come on our final Sunday…as we all pack our bags, head out the door and say goodbye to 1,500 friends.

You’ll look back and realize that regardless of your age, you too will feel hope for the future. You’ll return to your chapter, your family, and your friends with new energy, excitement, and enthusiasm for living a life of Virtue, Diligence, and Brotherly Love. You’ll renew your personal faith in yourself…and in your brothers.

All of you will realize how great it is to be in a Fraternity…and how even better it is to be a SigEp.

And each of us will look back and wonder if the goodbye we are
saying is our final goodbye.

This year, these last few years, have been hard for each of us. Our families, our brothers, our country, have had to deal with enormous pressures and concerns. Many have lost their jobs, their homes, their lives. Some have had to make life-
altering decisions that we only wish we had been there to help change…to offer a hand, a shoulder, or a heart.

In our crazy over-programmed lives, we too often forget to be there when our brothers need us the most.

Conclave can change that.
Yes, it’s our time to celebrate.
Yes, it’s our time to learn, to grow, to plan, and to hope.
But more importantly, it’s our time to reconnect. To remind each other of the bonds that tie us together. And to remember that we are brothers.
I tell my friends that Conclave is the experience of a lifetime. It is.

I hope to see you there.

GARRY KIEF
Grand President

[Tom Earp]

Kudos to both of those TKE Brothers(Fraters)!

I know I for one kept in pretty close contact with my Zeta (Chapter) except for a short perion of time in as seperation-divorce.

Then I got back into it full bore and never looked back simply because of the Brothers (now-700) that I have come to know and keep in touch with.

Let me add this!

Because of my GLO affiliation, I have met many other GLO members, male and female over the years.

It was worth it to me just for this reason! Some of course on this site!