Chip Chapman
Omega Mu, 1982
​This, above
All, we all
Knew and
Believed,
 
Happily so:
JT was a
Great gentleman
And our Omega
 
Mu brother,
Dedicated to our
Omega Mu
Brotherhood
 
Because his
Natural outlook
Was always
Graciously
 
Charged with
Civility,
Calm, and
Compassion

Toward each
Brother with-
In the
Energetic rhythm
 
Spirit of the
House, our
Historic human
Wilderness,
 
Creating mood and
Emotion with
Affectionate
Well-Being and
 
Respect; a gentle,
Gracious force
Of nature,
Just as
 
Tom
Tear had been,
For generating
The enduring
 
Good will of
Our brotherhood and
Creating a legendary
Reputation that
 
Will never
Be forgotten
Because JT
Brought a
 
Cohesive love,
Strength, and
Happiness to
Omega Mu
 
Each day
Because he
Was, simply,
Utterly, those
 
Very things that
He gave for
Our fraternal
Welfare:
 
Human love,
Strength and
Happiness,
Each day
 
In how he was
Toward each of
Us in how he
Took love,
 
Pleasure and
Fraternal pride
In being
Attentive in

​Cooking faultless
Meals for our
Brotherhood
That we
 
Savored each day
From the devouringly
Beautiful smell of
Home-

​Made bread to
Rib nights to
Chocolate mousse
And sharing
 
A beer, or more
Likely a carafe of
Wine,
And being 

One with us at
Christmas parties, or
In the basement
With brothers and

​Little sisters, or
Sitting in
The house,
His house,
 
Reading the
Newspaper,
Relaxed and
Embracing 

​The heart of our
Omega Mu
Life, each day,
Moment-to
 
Moment with
Loving grace and
Kindness, hospitality and
Generosity, just
 
As he had
Honorably served
Our nation and
Was timelessly
 
Animated in
Many theater
Productions
With the

Warmth of
His nature,
And so
On,
 
Always a
Man of
Consequence
And
 
Beauty,
Grace and
Perseverance,
And
 
As things do
Slip from
Memory, we will
Never forget the
 
Practical
Niceties of everything
JT did for us with
Charming
 
Confidence and
Joy in making
Our life in
The house
 
Timeless,
And he remains
A life-long
Link in our Omega
 
Mu brotherhood
On the Stillwater,
A genuine
Providential
 
Gift and our
Dear friend and
Fraternal brother,
JT. 

Fraternally,
Chip Chapman, 1982
​​Perge

Summer is a great time to do so many things, as we all know. Several days ago, I started thinking about my bicycle trip across the United States in the summer of 1980. Without any pretense or bragging, I did it, and I am really proud that I did it. I kept smiling at each memory: a 145 mile ride through Mound Saint Helen’s ash and rain to get to Corvallis, waking up one night in Big Hole National Battlefield to see a herd of mustangs sniffing and looking in our tent, the extreme kindness of the people in Kansas, and many other vivid memories that kept me smiling as I thought about them with authentic pride and how I did it. I thought it was a superb thing to do, and I would gladly do it again, but I would go from Cape Breton to Vancouver, and I can assure you I will succeed if I do decide to do it. Unfortunately, I have yet to find the pictures of the 1980, but I will find them. 

​Besides thinking about my bike journey across the United States, I have thought about the pictures I finally received from the Special Collections Department at the University of Maine that I found this past April, on Pig Dinner Day, (See photos below) and I smiled at the knowledge that we are not a run-of-the-mill fraternity at the university and how the things that we do show what we have stood for 145 years when those brothers’ first lived in a rented house on Maine Street in Orono: honor, true friendship, loyalty, will power, and purpose. These things always matter, and in historic breadth and depth, we are inextricably linked with them in fraternal pride. Their patience and tact took them from the rented house on Main Street to our first fraternal home where Coburn Hall is now, and to all the succeeding homes after that, and they were durably committed to each transition and change. Their collective talents, abilities, and pride showed that nothing comes easy. They went on to shape, influence, and guide, with their individual energy and creative vision, the world around them in local, state, national, and international arenas. These men were good fraternal citizens and they became good, effective leaders in many different fields of endeavors: economics, architecture, psychology, engineering, ministry, teaching, medicine, law, and government. In some instances, they established legendary reputations with their unprecedented accomplishments, pioneering even. With authentic power, they had impact, and they are honorably remembered. They created a better world at the local and state level, national, and international levels, and they remain models to us of the correct and noble use of will power and purpose, individually and collectively, for the good. They are remembered and recognized today for the simple things they did with integrity and forthright honesty. They kept at it; they always found a way to care and to be involved. They did not sway. 

​But they always knew, I believe, that what was most important was the brotherly friendships, and they showed it by the brotherly grace of their continued commitment to each other after they graduated. That’s what makes for a good, sound, healthy brotherhood. What really matters endures, always! Old fashioned, maybe. But I will take a good friend over the junkyard of technology any day, any hour, any second: cell phone, I-Pad, and whatever else that is coming along to supposedly connect you with others. By that measure, we remain strong as a brotherhood, and we continue to attract good men to our historic brotherhood. And so it goes for our illustrious brotherhood and our beautiful fraternal home. For us, it has always been about the long haul in everything we have envisioned since those QTV brothers were sitting in their rented rooms in Orono smiling at their fraternal present, and their next fraternal move to the Maine State campus, and in the whirlpool of history and chance, we continue to thrive at the University of Maine.
 
Taken altogether, my memories about my bike trip in the summer of 1980 and the pictures of the QTV brothers’ studying and relaxing and enjoying made me feel simply grateful for the choices I have made with life to be a teacher and minister, my beautiful wife, Sandy, and my children, and being a Fiji in our deep-souled and deep-rooted Omega Mu brotherhood at the University of Maine. That deep-long souled fraternal character is on display now as the restorative work continues on our beloved fraternal home, The Castle. Clearly and thoughtfully, step-by-step, with unbound fraternal enthusiasm and commitment, our fraternal home is being architecturally redeemed from the accrued layers of dirt, grime, and damage. Last summer work was completed in the living room, dining room, library, and the basement, and it was an unqualified success. Many brothers’ were at a loss for words when you saw the completed restoration work last October, or at Pig Dinner.  It is breathtaking and powerful, and now the RAM is being restored, and as with the work that was completed last summer, the work in the RAM is not being done casually. Taking things lightly is simply not our style. 

“Ethan “Ike” Eisenhaur and his team, along with ACE Construction, have attend to every matter with scrupulous detail. With great care, the floors have been sanded and revarnished, new partitions have been installed, new drawers have been made, new curtains will be put in, and there are thirty new frames and mattresses. And, I can assure you, it looks equally fabulous to the work that was completed last summer. In doing this work we continue to embrace, as our QTV brothers did in 1873, and our Phi Gam brothers’ did in 1924, our fraternal future with pride because we embrace the long-view in cherishing our rich historic past and embracing our ongoing future, a great journey to travel, and I can state without any romantic-adjective excess, which I am easily prone to do, but we are the historically richest and finest brotherhood at the University of Maine since those young men packed up their suitcases to move into the house on Main Street to start our fledgling fraternal beginning with energy, resourcefulness, and vision. They started our extraordinary life-enhancing and life-enriching fraternal experience, in human structure and fraternal tradition, 145 years ago, and we are the beneficiaries of their work and determination. Both perfectly cohere now in what we continue to do, with the same driving force, for the generational good for all future Omega Mu brothers’. Simply carrying the gift of all it forward. Life rolls on like climbing a steep grade or letting it totally rip on the downhill descent on a touring bike. 

The willingness to do both, a difficult virtue in anything and everything, transcends all problems, and that defines our 145 year history, and it will continue to define, shape, inform, and guide our brotherhood into our future at the University of Maine. This is our proud  historic narrative that has, in work and spirit, in fraternal character and outlook, sustained the positive and visionary beliefs of our QTV and Phi Gamma Delta heritage. They are clear, reliable, practical, perseverant, and determined principles that all good ideas, ideals, goals, adventures, and things are built upon.

Fraternally, 

Chip Chapman, 1982
​
Perge!

​Wayne R. Allen, 1951 (Grandfather)
Simeon M. Allen, 2005 (Grandson)
 
Thomas A. Anderson, 1902 (Father)
Bryant W. Anderson, 1927 (Son)
 
James M. Bartlett, 1880 (Father)
Edmund H. Bartlett, 1926 (Son)
 
Merrill D. Bartlett, 1956 (Father)
Kenneth C. Bartlett, 1982 (Son)
 
Malcolm E. Brown, 1946 (Grandfather)
Christopher S. Brown, 1998 (Grandson)
 
Stephen S. Bunker, 1897 (Father)
Paul S. Bunker, 1929 (Son)
 
Harry Butler, 1888 (Father)
Harry Butler, 1920 (Son)

Joseph B. Chaplin, Jr., 1945 (Father)
James S. Chaplin, 1971 (Son)
William G. Chaplin, 1973 (Son)
 
Charles F. Colesworthy, 1874 (Father)
J. B. Colesworthy, 1919 (Son, University of Washington)
 
William C. Cote, 1983 (Father)
Kyle W. Cote, 2014 (Son, Syracuse University)
 
Hugo S. Cross, 1919 (Father)
Hugo H. Cross, 1952 (Son)
 
John P. D’Antonio, 1976 (Grandfather, Lehigh University)
John B. D’Antonio, II, 2005 (Grandson)
 
Harry W. Davis, 1885 (Father)
Raymond W. Davis, 1911 (Son)
Manley W. Davis, 1918 (Son)
 
F. L. Eastman, 1888, (Father)
Arthur F. Eastman, 1924 (Son)
 
Horace M. Estabrooke, 1876 (Father)
Carl B. Estabrooke, 1912 (Son)

James S. Fassett, 1983 (Father)
Spencer J. Fassett, 2014 (Son, Gettysburg College)
 
Walter Flint, 1882 (Father)
Ralph J. Flint, 1912 (Son)
Donald T. Flint, 1923 (Son)
 
Thomas E. Foster, 1967 (Father)
Thomas F. Foster, 2019 (Son)
 
Charles C. Garland, 1888 (Father)
Philip Garland, 1912 (Son)
George Garland, 1948 (Son)
 
Donald T. Hanson, 1967 (Father)
Thomas S. Hanson, 1992 (Son)
 
James N. Hart, 1885 (Father)
Clarence E. Hart, 1926 (Son)
 
Chandler C. Harvey, 1890 (Father)
Thomas G. Harvey, 1930 (Son)
 
Edwin J. Haskell, 1872 (Father)
Ralph W. Haskell, 1905 (Son)
William D. Haskell, 1911 (Son)
Benjamin E. Haskell, 1912 (Son)
Theodore W. Haskell, 1914 (Son)
 
Dale F. Hersey, 1961 (Father)
Garth A. Hersey, 1997 (Son)
 
Maurice Hickey, 1956 (Father)
Tim Hickey, 1979 (Son, Michigan State)
Sean Hickey, 1979 (Son, Michigan State)
 
Mark E. Hill, 1979 (Father)
Michael A. Hill, 2009 (Son)
 
John H. Hinchliffe, 1903 (Father)
John H. Hinchliffe, Jr., 1931 (Son, Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
W. H. Hinchliffe, 1932 (Son, Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
 
Edson F. Hitchings, 1875 (Grandfather)
Samuel L. Hitchings, 1917 (Uncle)
George P. Hitchings, 1937 (Grandson and Nephew)
 
Jeffrey W. Hussey, 1987 (Father)
Charles P. Hussey, 2019 (Son, Tulane University)
 
David E. Hutchinson, 1961 (Father)
Jeffrey D. Hutchinson, 1990 (Son)

Alfred J. Keith, 1882 (Father)
Ballard F. Keith, 1908 (Son)
Alfred J. Keith, 1946 (Grandson)
Edward H. Keith, 1949 (Grandson)
 
Jack Leet, 1951 (Grandfather)
Benjamin M Leet, 2019 (Grandson)
 
Mathew L. Madeira, 1977 (Father)
Mathew Madeira, 2112 (Son)
 
Donald H. Marden, Sr., 1958 (Father, Cornell University)
Donald H. Marden, Jr., 1987 (Son)
 
N. N. Martin, 1876 (Father)
Bertrand C. Martin, 1901 (Son)
George N. Martin, 1927 (Grandson)
 
Paul F. McCarron, 1963 (Father)
David C. McCarron, 1987 (Son)
 
​Joe McIntire, 1994 (Father)
Owen McIntire, 2019 (Son)

​Fred C. Mitchell, 1900
Donald D. Mitchell, 1926
Robie L. Mitchell, 1907 (Father)
R. L. Mitchell, 1943 (Son, Amherst College)
W. C. Mitchell, 1949 (Son, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
 
Joey J. Morton, 1978 (Father)
Benjamin J. Morton, 2012 (Son)
 
Charles W. Mullen, 1883 (Father)
Charles E. Mullen, 1917 (Son)
Joseph N. Mullen, 1918 (Son)

​Byron F. Porter, 1897 (Father)
Byron B. Porter, 1928 (Son)
 
Harold N. Powell, 1929 (Father)
S. H. Powell, 1965 (Son, University of Tennessee)
 
Maurice H. Powell, 1899 (Father)
Donald W. Powell, 1925 (Son)
Harold N. Powell, 1929 (Son)
 
Freemont L. Russell, 1885 (Father)
Luther S. Russell, 1912 (Son)
 
John Schnauck, 1994 (Father)
Tyler Schnauck, 2022 (Son, Purdue, 2022)

David L. Smith, 1961 (Father)
Jeffrey L. Smith, 1984 (Son)
Jonathan B. Smith, 1990 (Son)

Doug Stewart, 1993 (Father)
Collin Stewart, 2021 (Son)

​Charles E. Stickney, 1910 (Father)
Charles E. Stickney, Jr., 1944 (Son)
 
George A. Sutton, 1883 (Father)
Harry E. Sutton, 1909 (Son)
 
Hans M. Thoma, 1953 (Father)
Mark F. Thoma, 1993 (Son)
 
John S. Williams, 1887 (Father)
Hugh M. Williams, 1921 (Son)
Matthew Williams, 1928 (Son)
 
Bert E. Witham, 1968 (Father)
Jason C. Witham, 1997 (Son)

Fraternally,
 
Chip Chapman, 1982

Perge!

Stories, as we all know, are the life of Omega Mu, and they keep alive our Omega Mu spirit each time we see each other, and there is nothing wrong with feeling nostalgic and then saying to yourself: “Did I really say and do these interesting things while living in the house; did all those events occur in the RAM. Did I really look like that during my years in The Castle?” And the beautiful thing is that these events did occur decade-through-decade. Hard to believe but true, and our binding stories were framed within the distinctive walls of The Castle. Stories, poems, biographical reflections all provide a clear, significant lens in appreciating our long history; second, they provide a broad generational spectrum of our brotherhood. That is the power of authentic storytelling. We lived these stories, day-in-and-day-out, and they endure in our memory. That is significant, and my hope is that for years to come brothers will read these stories that occurred within our historic fraternal brotherhood. To read them is to hear what was stated at our fraternal beginning: “Enjoyment, sociability, and the best interest of its members through life.” Our Omega Mu stories do not let go. It you have written stories and emailed them to me, thank you. We all found a home, a sense of belonging, within the beautiful walls of The Castle. It was liberating and uplifting to not be in a dorm room for four years at the University of Maine, and we created a collective experience that we all smile at with gratitude to this day. If you intend to write something, I thank you in advance. Your stories are important!
 
Fraternally,

Chip Chapman, 1982
​
Perge!

Wayne Robbins
Omega Mu, 1965
Fall of 1962: I was one of 20 pledges trying to make sense of all the things that were Omega Mu and brotherhood. One brother stood out to me as he was a returnee after several gap years. Doug Johns reentered as a junior at age 26, I think, as a psychology-art major. He was from New Jersey but had spent several years testing Mercury outboards in Florida. He drove to Orono in a tricked out 1954 Chevy convertible that he had put in a ’57 Chevy V-8 and a four-speed floor shift. The paint job was 17 coats of candy-apple red paint. In it he had everything he owned which was not much. To help finance his stay he became the kitchen steward and claimed the small storeroom in the basement across from the pantry closet for a store where he sold snacks, smokes and soda. Oh, yes, he had a supply of rubbers but they were not a big seller. 

Since he didn’t really know any of the brothers, a fellow zobie became good friends with him. Leon even supplied matched lumber to redo the storeroom. Leon’s father had owned the big lumber company in Fort Kent. He was a jack of all trades who could carpenter, work on autos, design projects wheel and deal with the best of them. As an artist, he would draw a Fiji man in different configuration on tee shirts and sweatshirts for parties and other events for 50 cents or a dollar. He designed and built homecoming displays on the lawn like the one made from cow bones and a big paper mache Fiji man eight feet tall and a stew pot.

In the spring Doug another guy and I purchased scuba-diving equipment and taught ourselves how to dive on weekends at Bar Harbor. Even with wet suits the April water was so cold we couldn’t feel the mouth pieces and hands became painful beyond endurance after just a few minutes. Because of Doug’s idea we could make money capturing marine specimens, he ended up spending the summer with my folks and me trying to scrounge a summer’s wage out of the ocean. The specimen operation did not pan out so we did everything from raking sea moss, bailing out fishing boats at the factory wharf in Sebasco, to trying to sell driftwood on route one. He finally took a job in construction and I became a painter in a factory in Bath. 

The fall of 1963 brought some problems. Social pro made rushing a very difficult process. No parties in the house and many of us were too young to hit the local watering holes; we had little to offer except good food. We had a new cook that just happened to be a woman who kind of adopted us. She would make 12 loaves of bread at a time and had pot with a pound of melted butter on the back of the grill with a little paint pastry brush in it. When you painted the hot bread with the butter it would run down your fingers. We all gained a couple of pounds that first semester.

Marshal Stern ran for campus mayor as Hugh Hefner and there were scantily clad bunnies scampering around the house and campus. The campaign was loads of fun, and he was an excellent mayor. Get the rabbit habit was the motto that resounded all over campus. The next year we helped Bob Harrison run as Snuffy Smith but just didn’t have the right stuff. 

There can be
No truncation or
Substitution of the
Fraternal import of
 
Jughead and
Brinch, our
“Admirable
Scriptures of stone 

​On stone” in
Anchoring
Durability and
Directness in
 
Omega Mu
Because they
Were a rich,
Irrepressible
 
Fraternal chord
That was
Experiential,
Hard-edged-
 
Direct, mot-
Ivating, cajoling,
Tormenting,
And, in 

Spiritually liberating
Because they had
No issues with
 
The niceties of
Formality and
Propriety within
The hurly-burly of
 
Omega Mu
House life
From going to
Apocalypse Now

In military uniform,
Detonating smoke
Canisters to create
Apocalypse Now in the

​Basement, always
On the lookout
For slackers not
Doing their house

​Jobs; giving
Quarter to no one
With their dense
Mixture of stony 

Grace of will in being
Philosophically
Honest and                         
True to their
 
Fraternal convictions
In never
Being passive
Verbs, neutered
 
Nouns, in the
Emotional
Chromaticism of
Omega Mu
 
Life without
Marks B
Flat or A
Minor,
 
Bringing
Strength and
Happiness to
Our brotherhood
 
With their
Steely insights
And wit in
Creating hilarious,
 
Emotional
Whirlpools of
Fire and tumult,
Time upon

Time, with
No diminishment
Of fraternal spirit,
That grew
 
Kaleidoscopically
Rich in raising eyes,
Inducing fear and
Trembling and dropping
 
Jaws with incredulity
And joy in
Our life that
Was never monotonous
 
With them, and
Once, in
A disquieting,
Forceful
 
Confrontation,
Distinct and memorable,
Brinch, a singularly
Distinct brother,
 
In a spontaneous
Moment, his
Eyes-in- and
Out of view, and
 
His sense of
Emotional
Logic and
Balance
 
Impaired, played
The anointing
Finger of the
Almighty,

​When
His eyes,
Smoldering
Not too quietly,
 
Fastened upon
Etienne with
Indignity
Because of his
 
Name, a
Casus
Belli in
Brinch’s 

​Bent
Fraternal
Mind that
Night when,
 
With
An enraged
Operatic
Aria of
 
Words, just
Words, mind
You, but
Transformative,

​Emotive
Words that
Transmuted
The name
 
Etienne and
Gave birth to
Spike without
Any outspoken
 
Resistance from
Etienne and created
A stone-set story
Within our Omega Mu
 
“Symphonie Fantastique”
Brotherhood about the
Night, when the stars
Aligned, and received
 
His nom de plume,
Spike, a name
Befitting the abiding
Grace of the man today.
 
Natural and instinctive,
All three
Brothers’ are
Exceptional and
 
Distinctive in unparalleled
Fraternal Depth and
Breadth to our
Omega Mu
 
Brotherhood today:
Jughead,
Brinch, and
Spike, 

Our QTV
Brothers
Did alright
In 1874,
 
And
Our first
Omega Mu Brothers
Did the same in 1899
 
In taking
Hold of the plow to
Begin and sustain
Our
 
Fraternal brotherhood
With an attitude of
Confidence and
Visionary wisdom
 
Because
It is natural to want
To create lasting
Memories
 
That are life-
Long and life-
Affirming
Because
 
We do not subscribe
To a finite,
Generational
Conception of
 
Brotherhood,
But to expectant
Hope that
What started in
 
1874
Will continue to
Grow in its
Attractiveness to
 
All those who will
Follow us
Because we look ahead
With the same
 
Changeless faith
As the original seven in
Believing that
Brotherhood is a
 
Generationally
Sustained gift,
Without any
Punctuation,
 
For life,
And not
Merely a finite
Gift of our
 
College days
Alone, and
We remain
A fine
 
Testament to
The historic
Symmetry of
Commitment
 
Of the QTV
Seven and the
“Immortal Six”
Today
 
One unequivocal
Cadence of
Fraternal excellence
At the University of Maine,
 
As we
Unerringly continue
To do when we
All
 
Answer in the
Affirmative when asked:
Are you going with me
 
Now?
 
Because in
Our historic
Fraternal succession
We have never put
 
Off into the future
To do the
Tangible
Good
 
That
Needs to
Be done right
Now
 
To assure our
Fraternal
Future for
Another 120 years.
 
“Are you going with me?”
 
Alert and tireless,
As we embrace
And honor our
Rich historic
 
Heritage and
The architectural
Dignity of
Our
 
Unique
Fraternal home,
The Castle,
Now,
 
In order for
Our unique
And significant
Fraternal experience
 
To continue, the
Gift that was
Given to all
Of us,
 
A proud
Truth.
May it
Continue
 
To be so,
A matchless
Testament to our
Perseverance and
 
Determination in
The rich,
Long tradition
Of Phi Gamma Delta.

Chip Chapman
Omega Mu, 1982
 
Honey Bees

​An orchard-
Bound semi
Near Lord
 
Byron’s Apiary
Loaded with
Crated 

​Honeybees
To do some
Pollinating in
 
The Civil
War scented
Catoctin 

​Mountains, caused
Consideration of the
Apium-
 
Nature of
An Omega Mu
Brother from
 
Brewer, Maine
Because
His nature is
 
A
Cross-pollination
Of family and
 
Apiary because
There
Is no gnashing
 
And musing upon
The hackneyed
Binary trope:
 
“To be
Or not
To be.”

But to
Be, and
Be for
 
Each
Other
As one.
 
In
Changeless
Commitment to
 
That
Temporal art of
Honey Bees:
 
Honey.
Through the
Symmetrical
 
Enterprise of
Bee and
Beekeeper,
In their soundless,
 
Yet sound-full
Transfiguring
Actions to
Beget and sustain
 
Life with
Purposeful
Coherence and
Dependability
 
For their labor:
Swan’s Honey

​Which,
In Nuanced
Character,
 
Swany
Readily shows
In his cheery,
 
Supple smile
And eyebright
Smiling eyes
 
That have not
Submitted to the
Gravity of
 
Years.
Reflecting the
Earthy familial
 
Grace of
His Father and
Mother,
 
A singular,
Celebratory testament
To ponder
 
As they stayed-the-
Course
In their serendipitous
 
Journey with
Their children and
Their bees.
 
In dignifying life
In how they lived
In inculcating
 
A  special
Charism of vitality in
their four
 
Children
To  “Keep true,
And never be
 
Ashamed of
Doing right.
Decide what
 
You
Think is right, and
Stick to it”
 
In order to
Persevere in
Their singular
 
Flight because
“What is essential
Is invisible to the

​Eye” because
“The heart has
Reasons which
 
Reason
Knows nothing of.”
Just as
 
Honey bees
Are honey
Bees from
 
Their quirky
Navigational
Bee
 
Dance to
Communicate
To their 

​Bee brethren
A spatially orienting
Panoramic bee-
 
Line vision of flight
To reach pollen rich
Floral offerings in
 
Which to
Linger and powder
In to render 

​Pollen into
Honey in the combed
Crucible of their
 
Hermitage
Hive; their
Covenantal
 
Offering,
Celebrating the
Underscoring
 
Grace of life.
In how character
Unfolds with individual
 
And
Communal gestating
Pollen
 
That
Pollinates slowly,
Broadly,
 
 
Deeply a
Singular and united
Vision,
 
Collective awareness,
And
Collective cooperation,
 
Individual effort
And
Individual integrity,
 
Collective responsibility
And
Collective ritual,
 
Individual fidelity
And
Individual faith,
 
And
Collective
Hope
 
In the
“Orchard
Of
 
Perseverance.”

Fraternally,
 
Chip Chapman, 1982
​
Perge!

“The flowing line between the past and the present.

​And so, once again, just as many of our Omega Mu veteran brothers did at the conclusion of World War I, many of our World War II veteran brothers, who had served with valor, courage, and distinction in the European and Pacific theaters of operations, returned to The Castle to resume everyday life, academically and fraternally. They had helped achieve something of profound historic consequence for the entire world, and they were exuberant and grateful for being alive and home again. Their joy, however, was tempered by the heartrending-knowledge that many brothers did not return to The Castle because they had paid the ultimate price in the war that had taken the lives of over 400,000 Americans. The missing brothers had been killed during bombing runs, artillery engagements, and infantry combat in far-flung places from Italy, North Africa, England, Germany, the far east, and numerous places in between. Their absence was a brutal wound and daily reminder of the steep human cost in fighting against tyranny to restore the good, and time and memory will never cease in honoring them for their unfailing duty, devotion, and sacrifice in service to our nation. The memory of each World War II veteran remains illuminating, inspiring, and utterly unforgettable in our linked brotherhood. The truth is, of course, we hold dear all of our Omega Mu veterans, and that will never change. Utter respect, always. 

“They gave the last full measure of devotion.”
Abraham Lincoln

​In the broader historical backdrop of the United States, beyond the rising living standards for most Americans, there were growing challenges in the United States and around the world. There was a growing moral outrage aimed at the longstanding social and political injustices that had plagued American society since Jim Crow and ‘separate but equal’. Without apology, preeminent religious and political leaders, through their thought-provoking speeches and unremitting non-violent action, were growing in power in challenging the entrenched orthodoxy of racism and segregation in American society.
 
The world was presenting some unprecedented, and unexpected, challenges. There was growing turmoil, unease, even paranoia, at the not so silent Cold War saber-rattling with the Soviet Union, and with the growing proliferation of nuclear weapons, and with Mao ascending to power in the 1949, fear and apprehension only intensified in the United States, and it was viewed as a threatening menace. A spark could ignite anywhere. 

​Through it all, the binding sentiment of the Omega Mu brotherhood was one of hope and optimism that the new decade would be a decade of sustained stability, prosperity and peace. That, after all, was what everyone needed since the conclusion of World War II. Even so, almost immediately, another war commenced when North Korean forces invaded South Korea in the summer of 1950. Undaunted, compelled by military necessity and characteristic virtue, many of our Omega Mu brothers were called to serve our nation in the latest development of the Cold War. Once again, it seemed, in the world of power contests between the superpower blocs, Omega Mu brothers might pay the ultimate price. However, thankfully, no brothers were killed in the Korean War, but one brother, William P. Keenan, was captured by the Chinese and handed over to the North Koreans, and he survived all the physical and emotional abuse, the abject conditions of the camp. Below he describes his experience. 

Omega Mu Brothers’ who served our country during the Korean War
 
Merrill D. Bartlett
John D. “Jack” Hawley
John L. Hone 
William P. Keenan
Carlton M. Lowery
Donald L. Mooers
William A. Oliver

The young men who pledged Omega Mu in the late Forties and early Fifties had grown up and lived through, with gritty endurance, the catastrophic sweep of the Great Depression and World War II. Consequently, their values, outlook, needs and motivations had been profoundly shaped by had been shaped by both. They entered the ordered harmony of the Omega Mu brotherhood, with the returning veterans, with a definite knowledge of the past and a hopeful sense of the future. They all understood the self-evident truth of responsibility and accountability. In remarkably short order, the hallowed rooms and well-walked halls of the Castle were filled with fraternally cohesive sights, sounds, emotions, and activities of what it means to be an Omega Mu Fiji. Friendships were started and forged, and soon all things were moving in the right direction, uncompromisingly so. Accordingly, the Omega Mu brotherhood celebrated its fiftieth year in 1949 as Phi Gamma Delta, and its 75th combined fraternal history with QTV in providing a life-changing fraternal experience and dedicated service to the University of Maine community. With resolute hope in the present and perseverant belief in our future, the brotherhood entered the 1950’s with meaning, happy, and full of life: our Omega Mu character.

From the start, our fraternal values of responsible duty, motivation, devotion, initiative, hard work, and loyalty have sustained the compelling narrative of our 120 year brotherhood because they do determine and guide what is best in the long run. They are the roots of every Fiji brother, and every Fiji chapter. They are self-evident truths because there are no shortcuts to success, any success, and they carry broad implications in creating innovative and influential leaders and professional success in all fields. Not surprisingly, these fraternal articles of faith, these guiding keys, guided the life and soul of the Omega Mu brotherhood in the Fifties because they did not walk away from a challenge to do well in work or play. Our ideals have staying power.
 
The generational cohesion and spirit of the brotherhood in the Fifties was outstanding, and everything they accomplished continued to undermine the foolish myths, strange and mysterious, that there is no linkage between head, heart and spirit in fraternity men, that they cannot be clearly directed and rigorously decisive to serve the good in their college community, their nation, and their linked brotherhood. Our fraternal faith is active, not passive, and we continue to defy simple, ill-founded categorization. To the contrary, our Omega Mu brotherhood has maintained a strong, if not always sterling, reputation in all of these areas for the last 120 years. Living and working together demands the best of each brother to create a good fraternal life for everyone, and the compensations are lifelong. Come to think of it, that is what is most rewarding.
 
The brothers in the Fifties continued to add to it in their practical fraternal commitments and in their valuable, wide-ranging civic, political, athletic and avocational passions within the University of Maine community, integrated richly together, to capture the fullness of college life. The future looked bright for the Omega Mu in the Fifties. They were attracting and holding young men who wished to be part of a first class brotherhood, a proud fraternal family, and live within the unmistakable charm of The Castle; a collective good chemistry. Without a doubt, these things do count in the longevity of our fraternal history, and we continue to maintain that collective chemistry today, and we hold, with absolute certainty, that it will continue for young men in the future.
 
In remarkably short order, there was a unified sense of team work and purpose in the brotherhood in the early Fifties, and they continued our Omega Mu fraternal legacy of broad and inclusive involvement in the University of Maine community. With a sense of duty and hard work, the brothers continued to volunteer their time, energy, and commitment to the university community with vital depth, intellectual passion, committed civic service, and stellar intercollegiate sports involvement. The more involvement, the better, was standard for our Fifties brothers. They were men with determination and single-minded vitality, and they maintained a solid academic work ethic. As students, the brothers consistently worked on improving their overall academic success because they enjoyed the life of the mind, the classroom regimen of lectures on issues and ideas, the enduring hours of reading and study. Their openness to new academic ideas and experiences was rewarding. Academic success is the most important end in itself, and through the decade Omega Mu’s academic average, on average, remained consistently near the top at the University of Maine, and it was commendable in comparison to many other Phi Gamma Delta chapters across the country. Many brothers were selected to be in Tau Beta Phi, the honorary engineering society, while others were inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, and honorary scholastic society. Furthermore, six brothers were Senior Skulls, and three brothers were initiated into Phi Beta Kappa. Sherwood F. Gordon was admitted into the Business School at Harvard University in 1950 to earn an M.B.A.. Then as now, academics remain important to our Omega Mu brotherhood. ​

​Sports continued to hold a cherished place in the life of our brothers in the Fifties, and the repertoire of their success, on so many University of Maine athletic teams, was exceptionally distinctive in their devoted energy. Their athletic involvement, just like the brothers in all the decades preceding it, helped build, through their successes and failures, the character and community of the University of Maine by providing high notes of athletic fun, yells and screams of triumph, pang and drama of loss, and school spirit that cannot be measured in importance. Implicit in all that they did was a sense of stable, team responsibility, and that communal sense of responsibility created a comfortable and happy way of life for many University of Maine students who were spectators at the various athletic contests. Above all else, their athletic involvement was personally fulfilling, and it was a fraternally life-giving way to live on behalf of the University of Maine community. To serve a larger purpose has always been a primary commitment of Phi Gamma Delta since 1848, and our Omega Mu brotherhood since 1899, and that commitment remains with our brother athletes.
 
Not surprisingly, over eighty Omega Mu brothers participated in intercollegiate sports for the University of Maine Black Bears. All of them made signature contributions to the respective Black Bear team that they played on during the years they wore the black and blue. Here are a few of our Omega Mu  brothers who excelled in athletics at the University of Maine: In football, Tom Golden, Philip Coulombe, Vernon Napolitano, Vernon Moulton, David Rand,
; baseball, Al Hackett, Charles Otterstedt; track, Floyd Millbank, Bradford Claxton, John Nivison; golf, Andrew R. Bunker, Arthur Charles, Albert Noyes, and Tom Golden. Tom earned All-American honors in 1953 and 1954, and he was also on the All-Phi Gamma Delta Eleven football team for two straight years, with other Fijis from Ohio State, U. C. L. A.,  Northwestern, Colorado, Stanford, Purdue, and Southern California. Philip Coulombe was a notable football player for the Black Bears. “He was a hard-driving back. He had a great reputation. He was regarded as one of the best backs in New England,” said Stu Haskell, a former University of Maine athletic director. Al Hackett was a star baseball player. “Al Hackett was a three-year starter on the baseball team from 1951 to 1953. He held three career records when he graduated including most RBI's, most total bases and most home runs. Hackett batted .386 in 1952 with three triples and three home runs. He had tryouts with the Boston Braves and the Boston Red Sox and was previously elected to the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame. Later, Hackett worked as Associate Director of Admissions for the University of Maine and handled all of the applications for the student-athletes.” Floyd Millbank smashed records in the shot put against New Hampshire, Northeastern, and Springfield, and he was two inches of breaking the field house record at Maine. Charle Otterstedt was one of U-Maine’s ace pitchers, and Albert F. Noyes was a star on the links. It is a matter-of-fact belief that athletics is important in the quality of life at every college and university, and our Omega Mu athlete brothers certainly played a significant role in helping create wide-spread Black Bear pride and communal joy at the University of Maine in the Fifties. It was an athletic culture of greatness for our Omega Mu brothers in the Fifties, and that is not an idle boast! 

​No less intrepid were the Omega Mu brothers who had hopes and aspirations of a different nature, but no less important. With unstoppable determination, these brothers made signature contributions to a rich variety of campus organizations and clubs at the University of Maine in the Fifties, and they did a stellar job. Every brother, it seems, was involved, and they brought the same essence of our fraternal commitment in their participation, and leadership, in the Maine Masque, the Maine Campus newspaper, the yearbook, the student senate, the campus radio station, ROTC, and many other organization. With their hands-on energetic spirit and keen leadership skills, they were consistently successful. Maurice Hickey held every leadership position in his involvement with the Maine Campus newspaper. John Murphy was editor of the sports section of the Maine Campus. Don Cookson was the program director for the campus radio station, and he was the sports edition for the campus newspaper, and he was also the editor of the yearbook. Joe McCarthy was a columnist for the sports page. Bud Ochmanski was president of the Sophomore Owls. Pat Dangle was president of the Inter-fraternity Council. Thomas Sullivan was president of the Newman Club. A significant number of brothers where class presidents or vice presidents, served on the Inter-fraternity Council, and many other committees and clubs. Dave Smith was elected the winter carnival king. The collective success of these Omega Mu brothers, with their sure and flexible leadership styles, along with the athlete brothers, and their overall academic drive, arguably forced the point, albeit not perfect, that Omega Mu’s fraternal life was well-rounded in the Fifties, filled with unforgettable Fiji personalities who enjoyed the pleasures and challenges in doing it all. The Phi Gamma Delta ideal is always the same: to always broaden the scope of our involvement for the genuine good of the university community. Individually and collectively, these brothers were resilient, adaptable, and well-prepared leaders, and they were perseverant and determined in all of their endeavors to help grow and improve the well-being of University of Maine community by building strong, meaningful connections in their respective committees and leadership roles. It was a culture of greatness and engaged involvement, on the part of Omega Mu brothers, for the positive and the enduring good of the university community.

​The energy of interaction, connectedness, and collaboration that all the brothers maintained in all their campus activities was motivating and inspiring, and it was equally evident in their  self-assured life in the house. Or, to put it another way, there was nothing slow and monotonous about life in the house during the Fifties; it was alive and pulsing with brothers having a great deal of fun, laughing uproariously, and pulling off unbelievable pranks on each other.  It was always lively and engaging, and, as we all know, it is what happens within the beautiful space of The Castle that makes The Castle such a special place in our fraternal history. Those memories, intense and clear, continue to grow sweeter with time.

The brothers lived a satisfying life in The Castle in the Fifties. But more than simply living, they lived well, even right. They were active in the local community. With talent and empathy, the brothers were welcoming, helpful, and positive in having an annual Halloween party in The Castle to benefit the children of Orono and Old Town. The mood and energy was positive. They had a nice dinner with light-hearted banter and fun, followed by some playful games, and genuine care. They diligently helped the kids. Additionally, the brothers consistently helped out with various local food-banks. What they did was yet another indication of their fraternal pride, confidence, and excitement in doing something well, with singular style, to benefit others. In the end, that is what is most important. That germinal motive of free-spirited goodness remains to this day.
 
The brothers still woke up in the shivering cold of the RAM, showered quickly, ate breakfast, and then made their collective way to campus. After the academic routine of chalk-filled blackboards in Boardman, Little, Aubert or Stevens Hall, the brothers came home to another wonderful dinner prepared by Tom Tear, chef of the Omega Mu brotherhood for over thirty years. Through the decades, Tom’s sustained passion and commitment to the Omega Mu brotherhood was greatly appreciated by every brother. The conversations were witty, warm, and enjoyable, with the topics generally being the same each day: upcoming parties, girls, classes, exams, and sports. It was a warm atmosphere each evening in the dinning hall. Their collective well-being depended on each brother working together. In their meetings, informal and formal, they attended to the important fraternal details, large and small, practical and financial. They maintained the structural quality of the house by taking proper care if it. There were, from time to time, minor issues, but they attended to them. They carried out rituals to preserve our fraternal legacy. Brothers continued to be thrown into the Stillwater River after getting engaged, and they had beer-soaked afternoons on the river bank. They created prize-winning snow-sculptures. The housemother was treated with respect and honor, and they maintained the tradition of escorting Mrs. Butts and Mrs. Tate to the dining room, and standing and singing the Doxology when she entered. They had skit night, peanut fights, and midnight razoos.

​Their Fiji Island parties were consistently successful. There were fall house parties with 200 hundred couples dancing to the music of the Jimmy Hawes Band.  As “easy listening” music gave way to the pioneering musical phenomena of rock ’n’ roll, the brothers started to listen to Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry. Just as the musical world was changing, the world of popular literature and poetry was changing as well with Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Ginsberg’s Howl, and Kerouac’s On the Road. People were sitting up and taking notice to all of these changes, and it would only continue. They were signs of transition. Something entirely new, dramatic, and effective was emerging, and it would develop into a different perspective about the nature of the world in the Sixties, and the necessity to grapple with issues with conscience and integrity.
 
From start to finish, the brothers in the Fifties consistently bore witness to many good things of purpose on campus, for the surrounding community, and within The Castle. They were serious, fun, ambitious, happy, and they found fulfillment. Something of consequence happened because these Omega Mu brothers, and their many experiences had an enormous impact on them, shaping them in ways in how they view friendship, their career choices, and the world. Their balance between athletic involvement, intellectual pursuits, social service, and campus involvement was outstanding. “You get out what you put in” best describes the Omega Mu brotherhood in the Fifties, and it aptly describes the steeliness of conviction of the Omega Mu brothers who would follow them in the Sixties. The common denominators in terms of fraternal symbolism, ritual practice, athletic strength, civic sensibility, and deep-rooted pride of these two generations of Omega Mu Fijis was identical, a fluid fraternal stream of unusual power. The Sixties brothers had the same common thread of unshakable determination and loyalty to our fraternal ideals as the Fifties brothers, and they achieved the same level of accomplishments with their principled yet contrarian spirit. So, too, they were purposefully spunky and mischievous. They loved rock music, and, above all else, they loved living with each other in The Castle. They were part of the crucible event that started in 1959 and would divide, define, guide, and heighten the emotions of all Americans in the Sixties: Vietnam. 

​And so, it was a new generation of Omega Mu Fijis who entered The Castle in 1960 with compelling character and formidable power, significant and influential, uncompromisingly proud Omega Mu Fijis to the end. We never give up in our Fiji pride; we can’t. 

“I'm not trying to 'cause a big s-s-sensation (talkin' 'bout my generation)
I'm just talkin' 'bout my g-g-g-generation (talkin' 'bout my generation)
My generation
This is my generation, baby”
The Who
 
“A Revolutionary age is an age of action.”
Kierkegaard

​It was with a stable sense of fraternal direction that out brotherhood entered the Sixties, a complex and beautiful decade, similar in some ways to the spirit of the Twenties. Both exhibited a rising Dionysian spirit that ended with cataclysmic crashes. Our brothers entered the Sixties with the basic building blocks of fraternal success in tact, knowing and collectively incarnating the clear connection between discipline and achievement in all areas of fraternal life, university life, and civic life, and they would all go on to live lives of determined purpose and consequence after graduating. Consequently, the point is obvious, by all the chief measures of success, just as it had been for our brothers in the Twenties through the Fifties. The Sixties brothers’ understood and believed that brotherhood thrives when brothers work together during an increasingly complicated and troubled time filled with spontaneity, reckless abandon, and many questions.
 
Plainly and truthfully, our historic pageant of success through the Sixties started in relative quiet in the early years, but the element of surprise is that every decade is full of surprises, and there would be many political and social change that would engulf their lives during the Sixties; however, the absolute value of their collective fraternal effort would continue amidst all the changes and social confrontations that were, quite often, face-to-face across the nation, creating an ‘us and them’ social environment, and that was no small achievement in such a polarizing time. It was an important time in our fraternal history and, for many, it remains a timeless time in our fraternal history. With the clarity of their fraternal convictions and the power of their fraternal commitment on campus, our Omega Mu brothers maintained our fraternal narrative of success at the University of Maine on almost every athletic team, campus organizations, and philanthropic causes. The house was in competent hands with a succession of good leaders, and a large collection of brothers’ who made living in the house quite memorable with their distinctive spirits. In short, our rich fraternal history continued to speak for itself because of one variable, the greatest asset: the brothers’ themselves. On that point, there is no debate, and that is, indeed, a generational great grace. There was a strong collection of unforgettable personalities in the brotherhood through the 1960’s, and through thick-and-thin they stuck with each other, including the Baker Island Fire debacle and the aftermath. They were passionate and honest, and almost always, they did the right things, but they also had a great deal of imaginative fun. It was a satisfying investment in life, and it is a relishing joy to hear all of their Fiji stories, and the other stories that cut close to bone to actual events in American History like Woodstock, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. The stories never feel distant when they tell them, and they tell them with a purity of sentiment. They are a brilliant, witty, and fun group of brothers; their candor is unvarnished. They had playful yet serious spirit. They held nothing back, and they still don’t. And yet, in the end, what they did was undertaken with the same fraternal spirit, our seamless narrative, that had guided our combined brotherhood since 1874. They had, and they continue to have, fierce Fiji pride, fifty years on! Moreover, then and now, they have remained friends, and that as an Article of Faith of Phi Gamma Delta fraternal life. They clearly show that brotherhood is not an abstract theory. This, I think, is what is important: the good of the past teaches us still, in symbolic traditions and rituals and realistic terms of engagement, and they are, without question, the durable and unifying threads that have sustained us for 120 years, a simple yet profound truth.
 
Our energetic Omega Mu spirit, strong, determined and flexible, adapted and continued to succeed throughout the decade without having an identity crisis, but it would come early in the Seventies when our fraternal tradition of rituals, symbolism, and practices faltered and detrimentally hurt the chapter and critically hurt our sense of brotherly community, but being fraternally nimble, we were soon past this state of fraternal flux and back on our feet with a re-energized commitment and broad embrace of our life-sustaining principles and traditions, and the human dividend of a good fraternal life was reawakened, with all the rich human treasures that continue for life. That is, after all, what it is all about. These things, in fact, can never be underestimated, and we remain unique at the University of Maine. To restate what I wrote in an earlier blog: “What a difference, whether in all your walks, you meet only strangers, or in one house is one who knows you, and whom you know. To have a brother…How rare these things are.”  We are a great fraternal brotherhood, and we are the oldest, the original, the groundbreaking fraternal brotherhood at the University of Maine. 

Fraternally,
 
Chip Chapman, 1981
​
Perge!