Eli and Sophia

Monday, November 5, 2012

Jon's 50th Frat Reunion




     Jon has just returned from a 50th reunion with his Theta Chi fraternity brothers, and has shared a few notes from his weekend that he sent to the bros. A word of explanation might be useful:  He refers to the “Tri Delts,” the Delta Delta Delta sorority. That’s where Jon worked as a house boy at the University of Oregon. At the time, at OSU anyway, the Tri Delts were reputed to be the most beautiful and sophisticated sorority sisters on campus. And obviously, one of Jon’s company during the weekend was a grammarian!  Jon says:
Date: Thursday, November 1, 2012, 4:17 AM
     Highlights: At the banquet, being invited to sit at the Tri Delt table (the husbands & other males sat at the next table).
At the Sat night 'dinner,' sitting across from Char (Woodworth), and next to Verne Stanford, and receiving a 'refresher course' on the correct usages of 'may' or 'can' from Char (as in 'can' or 'may' I sit in this chair across from you). (It reminded me of the corrective [bonehead] English course I took 54 years ago!)
Next to me, Verne (and opposite) Linda Serres, when Verne & Linda got into such depth of subjects as prison outreach, I asked Ed (Serres) to check with Terry Reinhold (& maybe Bill Davis) to determine (actuarially) how much longer he (Ed) would be around.
Enjoyed being with y'all for the weekend!
Jon (Si)
     Iso, in his attention to the most MINUTE details, had planned for a period when the brothers could share (with the group) little vignettes of our undergraduate years. We didn't get that opportunity, but I'll throw out a couple (since I have a complete E-mail list, and a captive audience so-to-speak). The title of the first would be: Dating Tri Delts; and the title of the second would be: Traveling Pants.
     Dating Tri Delts: I 'hashed' (served meals) at the Tri Delt house spring term of our freshmen year (Char, should that be 'freshman' year?; I may be getting paranoid!). Anyway, Tri Delts were allowed to date their 'house boys.' Shirley Bryson asked me to one of their house dances, and I asked her to the following TC spring house dance. I didn't make it beyond the afternoon picnic/hayride (remember, we took 'beverages' in gallon or half gallon bottles). When we arrived back at the house (in the back of a U-haul truck), she offered to walk herself home (around the corner). I must have gone to bed.
     I then topped off the damage by inviting Linda Gaylord to the fall Red OX Stampede. (Shirley was probably better off to marry her home-town boy friend rather than the $222.30 per month I was about to make upon graduation, anyway. [Yes, Char, I know this is awkward]).
     Traveling Pants: Bill Davis showed up for freshman year in the dorm with several pair of (possibly) new Levi 501's. I think they were those which were 'shrink to fit.' Anyway, his going-to-class 'uniform' was a sweat shirt and Levis. About that time, there must have been a trend (over in Madras), to not wear belt loops on pants, since Bill had cut all the belt loops off of his. (For those few ladies in the group this weekend with whom I shared the benefits of low-dose lithium, I can remember these kinds of details.) So anyway, time went on and I began to wonder when (or if) Bill was going to wash his pants (he couldn’t because they were shrink-to-fit). They (the pants) seemed to take on a life of their own, i.e. they would be in a different place in the morning, from where he had left them the night before. I began to wonder if he might need to 'tether them (like Capps does with his ponies), maybe to a window latch (open windows were a GOOD thing).
Anyway, we got through the year, Bill was the best of possible room-mates, AND he was my entrée to Theta Chi!!!
     (Char, send me a separate E-mail & point out all of my errors - 'You done good Luckie, now I'm gonna learn you some more).'
Jon (Si)

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