Hello Brothers and Sweethearts! Boy we sure got a blast of nasty cold weather at the end of January. e air was so cold you could take a co ee cup full of hot water and throw it into the outside air and watch it turn to a mist and not even one drop would hit the ground. My truck actually went into reduced engine power at lunchtime on Wednesday. I know of several people at work that had the same phe- nomenon. I guess the idea is that it protects your engine from the frigid temperatures. e bottom line is that we all survived it and in less than three days it was 50 degrees outside. Indiana can sure have some crazy weather. I know it got cold in Mis- sissippi and northern Florida too, well at least on their scale. LOL! I wouldn’t wish this type of cold weather on anyone.
I hope things are going well at each and every Chap- ter House in the Fraternity. I haven’t heard of any major issues so I am sure all is going well. VP Todd Gullet, Auditor Butch Rhonemus and I traveled up to Delta Nu in Plymouth on January 14th for a special occasion. Brother Edwin “Pete” Martin was presented his 50 year PDK pin. I had the pleasure and honor of pinning it on his shirt. Pete and my dad have been friends for over 50 years. It was nice to see Brothers Buck Rodman and John Lehrner at the meeting. Don Terruso and Buck (well actually PNS Louise) fed us very well. ank you brothers!
is reminds me of my rst Phi Delta Kappa experi- ence. It was at the old Delta Nu building in down- town Plymouth. Pete’s son, Tony, and I were good friends and we were hanging out watching our dads play slow pitch so ball. We were not old enough to drive yet but we were old enough to be le alone and not do anything too stupid, well maybe. Af- ter the game we all went up to the Chapter House. Our dads and their teammates sat at the bar having a couple of cold ones.
Tony knew the lay of the land so my younger brother and I followed him everywhere he went. At one point we must have gotten bored. One of us grabbed a re extinguisher o the wall and shot it at the other two. e next thing you know we each had an extinguisher in our hands and the room slowly lled with a thick white cloud. Ron Gantz walked into the room and, rightly, was not too happy with us. I can remem- ber dad and Pete briskly walking into the room in a fever pitch. e three of us frozen in our tracks like three deer in headlights. We knew what was coming!
Our dads took care of warming our rear ends up with their belts. We spent the next several hours cleaning up our few minutes of fun. We even had to dig the white powder out of the gaps in the hardwood oors with tooth- picks. I have stayed away from activities like since that day. See, PDK even taught me at a young age the proper respect you use when a place is not yours.
Sarah and I are really looking forward to heading down to the Smokey Mountains for the Spring SEC meeting. I think Todd is still working on getting the rooms lled up. Come join us for a weekend of Phi Delta Kappa fun. Once we split the cost out with everyone it should be cheaper than staying in a motel. Last year was so much fun we are doing it again this year!
20/20 tickets are still up for sale all the way to the day of the drawing. All of the tickets are assigned numbers by Brother Doug Leach. It is better to get your tickets now because you get more chances to win $$$$. A er your number is drawn it goes right back in with the rest of those that did not win. You can win multiple times with the same number(s).
Until next time remember to tell your loved ones every day that you love them. Hug a brother and get involved.
Proud to be a Phi Delta Kappa!
Bruce Smith
PDK National PresidenT 2018-19