Joseph Sebastian Boulos Library

It is something to ponder, isn’t it,  a cloud of witnesses. This QTV-Omega Mu brotherhood has a large cloud of witnesses since 1874, and one of them is Joseph Sebastian Boulos. Joe moved beyond the predictable and the safe to confront the evil and violence stalking the world. He left the familiar and comfortable of his fraternal life in this house with his brothers; and, most importantly, the abiding love of his family to pursue something bigger with courage of conviction because he held fast to the good. That is greatness. Joe’s military career during World War II was distinguished in navigating the tracer and flak-filled sky between England and France and Germany as a navigator in a B-24 Liberator with courage, hope, and persistent resolve. He risked it all, but as Schiller so clearly stated, “To save all, you must risk all.” That is a sobering truth. Joe knew that, and without any fear and trembling he chose the risk of trusting in the winning gamble for the power of good to prevail over evil. He stood tall; he stood firmly in doing his part in making darkness yield before light. He was an exemplary witness, to my way of thinking, of the costly grace of service to humanity and our nation for the good to prevail.

Joseph Sebastian Boulos

Pledge group photo with Joe

Omega Mu group photo with Joe

Picture of Joe, hands in his pockets, pipe in his mouth.

Picture of Joe with flight crew

Military portrait of Joseph Boulos

I can think of few or more important lessons than taking stock and saying thank you to Joseph Sebastian Boulos as we dedicate the library in his fraternal home, The Castle, to his eternal memory as the Joseph Sebastian Boulos Memorial Library. All libraries, by there very nature, encourage a life of the mind and the heart to deepen and refine passions through extensive reading, study, thought, and reflection.

Brothers in the library in the Fifties and Sixties

The restored living room, Buffalo Bill over the fireplace, and the Joseph Sebastian Boulos Memorial Library

Beyond all that, this library will also provide a comfortable place to relax, have fun, flip through old Prisms, and talk and laugh endlessly with fraternal friends who will remain friends for life. And, to be sure, the undergraduate brothers here today will use it well because they have innovative ideas about the future that awaits their energy and sustained commitment of leadership in their respective careers because they have the same audacity to envision a better world like Joe. With same fearless hope that guided Joe, they will do so, and that is good news for all of us. ​

Joseph Sebastian Boulos  Memorial Library

Dottie and Mary Boulos cutting the ribbon during the dedication of the Joseph Sebastian Boulos Memorial Library

The Boulos family in the Joseph Sebastian Boulos Memorial Library

We dedicate this library to Joe’s memory for his faith that said leap and then grow wings, to paraphrase Kierkegaard, for genuine goodness. We are thankful that he got his wings. The feeling of this library and the noble character of Joe’s unerring virtues will be an enduring witness to generations and generations of Omega Mu Fijis. It is this extraordinary man, Joseph Sebastian Boulos, that we celebrate and honor with this library.

“What if the space be long and wide,
That parts us from our brother’s side
A soul-joined chain unites our band,
And memory links us hand in hand.”
(Phi Gamma Delta fraternity song)

Fraternally,
Chip Chapman, '82
Perge!