Edward E. Elwell, Jr., 1888

From multiple angles, our Q.T.V. and Omega Mu brothers have enriched the civic life at the University of Maine, and we are fortunate to have had many hardworking, talented brothers throughout our history. The balance between our athletic involvement, intellectual pursuits, and campus involvement is compelling. What they accomplished in their respective pursuits at the university constitutes a wonderful achievement in our fraternal history. There efforts were good and laudable, and there efforts represented the very best of our core values of persistence and determination. It is, believe me, a wonderful achievement, on the part of generations of Omega Mu brothers, for the respective gifts that they gave for the civic good at the University of Maine. In our historically calm, customary fashion, 149 years and growing, it was a rich yield for the common good of the Maine community, All of them, through their various commitments and endeavors within the University of Maine community, improved and brightened up the quality of life of the university community with their enthusiasm and dedication to their respective University of Maine teams, organizations, and clubs. They each had uniques strengths as actors, artists, musicians, athletes, and journalists, and they all embodied the shared commitment to do something well for the University of Maine community. Fraternally integrity demands that, and we are proud of all of these brothers. 
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Over the years, many of our Omega Mu brothers held leadership roles on various University of Maine newspapers and yearbooks. Their contributions in creating something good in the university community cannot be overstated. "Good" does not, in reality, do justice in acknowledging their positive contributions. Each of them performed a vital function for the University of Maine community. They had a willingness to work, the willingness to accept challenges, in order to be focused, informative journalist in order to create daily newspapers and yearbooks that were interesting and informative. Their leadership style was authentic, and their generous, laborious work deserve praise and recognition in our brotherhood. They collected information, organized information, checked and re-checked facts, shared ideas, read and re-read every article, and proofed and re-proofed every page in the yearbook. They always gave of their time and talent in attending to each of these elements in order to write commendable, informative, and properly edited newspaper articles, and in sifting through thousands of pictures and thoughtfully crafting, shaping, and editing yearbooks. Their hard work, in turn, was to produce something, whether it was the university newspaper or yearbook, that was well-written, well-edited, and journalistically constructive, interesting, meaningful, and significant, in the short or long term. 

With drive and persistence, what our Q.T.V. and Omega Mu brothers achieved, in their numerous leadership roles on various newspapers and yearbooks, was complementary to everything we fraternally applaud for all of or brothers who were positively involved in the University of Maine community. What they achieved had real, enduring worth and value for the University of Maine community. They were indispensable. They made lasting contributions to the social well-being of the university community in keeping students well-informed and enlightened. These Omega Mu brothers embodied our old fraternal truth in being perseverant and determined in being faithful and generous with their gifts. In other words, our journalist brothers are a testament to our collective fraternal spirit of genuine integrity, industry, dedication, creativity, and commitment in adding to our long-standing history of civic engagement at the University of Maine. 

And as we enter our 151st fraternal year as the oldest, most historically distinguished, fraternal brotherhood at the University of Maine, we humbly acknowledge that we are the beneficiaries of God's sustaining grace, as well as the hard work human work and sustaining human grace of generations of Q.T.V. - Phi Gamma Delta brothers. We would not be here without their collective human work. Concrete results matter in life, and we continue to be here because of all of our brothers who have shaped and guided our brotherhood during our first 150 years. Because of the work of generations of brothers, in word and deed, we remain a fraternal brotherhood of historic power, durability, resilience, and significance at the University of Maine. This brotherhood will continue to be an open-hearted gift, a human grace, to generations of young men for another 150 years. In other words, with an equal balance of fraternal heart, mind, and body, they will continue to incarnate the truth of the following snippet of wisdom by Henry David Thoreau: "action from principle, the perception and performance of the right." Most importantly, we continue to thrive with the recent pledging of some wonderful young men. They are a good match, and they will accomplish a great deal because they will take fraternal pride in achievement, value thoughtfulness towards their Omega Mu brothers, and maintain a collaborative work ethic to keep the house in good order. After all, fraternal poise and discipline have carried us this far in our history. Therefore, our deep-rooted fraternal heritage is only going to deepen because of the present undergraduates, and they will continue to prove that the good of our Omega Mu fraternal life still matters. 

Again and again, from our Q.T.V. fraternal founding through today, persistence and determination has defined our fraternal character and our enduring history at the University of Maine. They are our basic values, the enshrining heart of Phi Gamma Delta, and the present undergraduate brothers will continue to embody these values and add to to our history with their robust fraternal enthusiasm. These traits create the true meaning of our fraternal life, and our fraternal future rests on our generationally shared commitment to these two words in order for our trailblazing fraternal history to continue to endure and evolve into our third century at the University of Maine. 

Our Q.T.V. - Phi Gamma Delta story is a proud single story, and we will always remain linked together because remain the premier fraternal brotherhood at the University of Maine, and that is something to celebrate. I share all this by way of saying that I hope that many of you will consider returning to our historically distinguished fraternal home, the Castle, this coming April to re-connect with many brothers during Pig Dinner. It will be wonderful, even a grace, to have as many brothers attend as possible because we will be celebrating our combined 150th Q.T.V-Phi Gamma Delta history at Maine, and our 125th Phi Gamma Delta history with considerable Omega Mu enthusiasm. Our fraternal history is distinguished, and it is worth being celebrated. There will be no shortage of pleasure at Pig Dinner this year in seeing the house full with generations of Omega Mu Fijis. It will be generationally moving, perhaps a unique historic grace, with a great deal of nostalgic reminiscing in the charm of the Castle. The Castle is a special place, and its many rooms, the Phoenix Lounge, and the front lawn internalizes the memories of every brother from 1925 to the present. We cannot think about being Omega Mu Fijis without thinking about the Castle.  As the great scientist and author Lewis Thomas beautifully stated: "We leave traces of ourselves wherever we go..." Perge.

Omega Mu Portrait
Edward E. Elwell, 
1888

Q. T. V. Years

The second Q. T. V. Chapter Hall, middle, in the early 1890's during graduation week.

"The new accessions to the ranks of the Q. T. V. society are Small, Elwell and Campbell, '88, and Lyford and Briggs, '89"

1885 Q. T. V. Reception

"The exercises comprised addresses and various toasts at the banquet, and passed off vert pleasantly."

"Many familiar faces of by-gone years
​were there."

1886 Q. T. V. Reception

'The reunion was prolonged until a late hour, and was one of the most enjoyable for years."

"Then followed a finely written poem by
​E. H. Elwell, Jr."

1st Lieut...Cadet E. H. Elwell, Jr.

University of Maine Athlete

Edward Elwell played third base on the University of Maine baseball team for three years.

Class Poet,
1888

"On those comrades, I say, old Eighty-eight
Can simply its blessing bestow,
And bid them God-speed, when they shall start Out In Life's field their  furrow to plow."

Journalist

After  graduating from Maine in 1888, Edward took what he learned and experienced during his three years of working on the editorial staff on The Cadet and went to work as a journalist with the Portland Transcript, a paper in Portland, Maine, and he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the day-to-day work of journalism for the remainder of his life. Edwards' skills as a writer earned him the respect of the readers in the Portland area. As a journalist, he was thoroughly honest and careful in reporting the truth, and he wrote with constructive, intelligent clarity. It was reported that Edward was "a born journalist." He was reliable, professional journalist who believed that integrity and fairness was essential for good, honest, informative journalism. To that end, he worked hard to ensure that his columns were diligently researched, fair, and impartial in order to provide the reading public with informative news coverage. Quite simply, he believed in journalistic integrity; journalistic excellence. And, perhaps, most importantly, Edward believed it was important to do the responsible, right, and best thing for the reading public, and he gained considerable acclaim for a series of articles for the Portland Transcript titled "Pillars of Portland."  The quality and integrity of Edward's reporting was exceptional, and this led him to accept a leadership position on the editorial staff for the the Daily Press, a competing paper in Portland. 

Edward travelled extensively around the world, and he attended and reported on the 1895 Cotton Exposition in Atlanta, an exposition that commenced with Booker T. Washington giving one of his most important speeches, a speech that is now called the "Atlanta Compromise" speech. His accomplishments as a well-respected, influential journalist is a testament to what Edward learned about the challenging work of journalism as a student journalist learning critical writing and editing skills on the The Cadet ​editorial staff. It is safe to assert that Edward E. Elwell, Jr. unswervingly understood the factual truth of persistence and determination in the field of journalism.

Booker T. Washington speaking at the Atlanta Cotton Exhibition, 1895.

​“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