Northern Chapter Chase – Larry Detro, Jr

On the weekend of April 26 thru 28 the Northern Chapter Chase took place here in Indiana. Brother Doug Leach of Gamma Theta – Danville coordinated this event and done an excellent job.

Here at Beta Eta we kicked off the Chase on Friday by providing a variety of food to our members, having a drink special, raffling off a gift certificate to Firehouse BBQ and Blues, giving away a gift certificate to Jason’s Meat Market as a door prize and cranking up the jukebox.

On Saturday morning we headed to Beta Nu – Kokomo in the Colt’s bus with 12 members aboard and 4 other couples following in their vehicles. When we arrived we had a great breakfast waiting for us. We had a few drinks and socialized for a while then headed north with three couples from Kokomo and two couples from Danville for our next stop, Lambda – Peru. The folks here had a meat & cheese tray and vegetable tray ready for us. Again we had a few drinks and socialized for a while then headed north for our third stop, Delta Nu – Plymouth. These folks had ham & beans, cornbread and a variety of food waiting for us. Once again we had a few drinks and socialized before heading north to our fourth stop, Zeta Eta – Laporte. These folks had hamburgers and a variety of food waiting on us. And once again we had a few drinks and socialized before we moved on to our last stop, Gamma Lambda – Michigan City. These folks had chicken and a variety of food waiting on us. This being our last stop we socialized a little longer and had several drinks before finishing the night and heading to our hotel.

The Chapter Chase is a truly awesome time. The brotherhood that is experienced is amazing. The effort all the chapters put in for this event is amazing with all the food and “drinks” waiting for us and the hospitality that is extended. If you have never done this you are missing a great time and should try to experience it at least once. I want to thank Doug Leach for organizing the Chase.

I also want to thank all the brothers and sisters from each chapter for the food and hospitality and those members from Beta Eta, Gamma Theta and Beta Nu that made the journey north. If I were to talk about every stop in detail this article would not fit into the magazine as you experience something different at each chapter.

Thank you to all the Phi Delt chapters.

Happy New Year Brothers and Sweethearts

Hello and Happy New Year, brothers and sweethearts.

Sarah and I had a fantastic trip to Mississippi Alpha, The Hospitality Chapter. We left on Thursday afternoon after I got off of work. We drove and got south of Nashville, TN and then found a descent hotel to sleep for the night. Friday was a day I was looking forward to on this trip. Most of you that have talked to me understand my love of music.

The side trip was to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The 3614 Jackson Highway Muscle Shoals Sound Studios was our destination. This was/is the home studio of The Swampers. These guys recorded some of the best music ever recorded. We had a tour of the facility and the recording studio. It is Rock and Roll Heaven, Man. I was surprised at how small the studio actually is. Ask me details when we meet and I can fill you in. Google The Swampers and you will understand my obsession with checking this place out.

After this side trip we journeyed on to Meridian for their Chili Cook Off. Friday night was spent at the Chapter House catching up with old friends and making some new ones. Beta Eta, Winchester sent a good group of brothers and sisters down to Meridian too. Dang that was a fun night! Saturday was the cook off. It had been raining in Meridian for several days. The back yard was kind of a muddy mess. All of us Indiana folks had to get some boots or cheap shoes to slop around in the mud. The tickets allowed us a chance to sample every different chili there. There were some interesting flavors made by the chefs. I liked all of them. Outer Guard Nate Moore and his wife Hannah won the completion based on votes by all of those who sampled the chili. Congratulations, Brother! White Trash Chili was the ruler of the day. There was a band playing some Southern Rock, country and straight up rock and roll. It was a fantastic afternoon. We stayed at the Chapter House until late in the evening. Thank you so much to all of the brothers and sweethearts at Mississippi Alpha for such a wonderful time. You deserve the title of The Hospitality Chapter. It was bittersweet not seeing PNP Greg Trombly’s smiling face at his Chapter House. R.I.P. brother Greg, we really do miss you.

The following weekend we had our first Northern Brotherhood Meeting in years. Kokomo, Beta Nu hosted the meeting. I wanted to get this meeting back up and running. The attendance was about what I expected because of the less than one month notice. I think everyone enjoyed the meeting and the brotherhood. The discussions were worthwhile and the time was well spent. We will keep this going! Thank you Beta Eta for all of the brothers that traveled to Kokomo.

I waited until our We Care Weekend was finished in Kokomo to write this. This year our collection total was a bit off from last year. The total collected was $11,600.00! Of that $1,892 was in change, yep, quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. Thank you to PNP and Emir Jim Myers for all of the planning and get the brotherhood involved. I sure wish more Beta Nu brothers would do their part and help out.

We lost brother Don Hicks to a fast acting cancer. Don was a great brother at our Chapter and was also a brother of PNP Otis Hicks. Don was such an upbeat and cheerful man. He will be missed by all of us. Beta Nu did the funeral ritual at Don’s funeral. This is such a moving ritual to see and hear. My Beta Nu brothers did a very beautiful and heartfelt reading for Brother Don. You did a great job, brothers.

I hope everyone out there had a blessed Christmas and the start of a Happy New Year! God Bless you all and your families. And God Bless PDK! 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!

Welcome to the new PDK Website!

Hello Phi Delta Kappa brothers and sweethearts!  We are proud to announce the official launch of the newly designed Phi Delta Kappa official website.  Your patience has been truly appreciated and hopefully the wait was worth it.

The site has been redesigned to offer many new features which you will hopefully find useful, and entertaining as well.  There is the main PDK website, phideltakappa.org, which gives information about our organization, and provides the public with information about not only what PDK is and what we are about, but also information on Chapter Hall rentals and the charities and causes we support.

Please take some time to tour the new site and the features it has to offer.  If you have any comments, suggestions or something isn’t working right on the site, please don’t hesitate to click on Contact PDK, use the drop down menu and choose editor@phideltakappa.org and share your thoughts.

Proud to be a Phi Delt!

Greg Taylor

Webmaster and Magazine editor