Windsor P. Daggett

From multiple angles, our QTV 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 outstanding. In each area of involvement, our brothers brought energy and enthusiasm, and one particular area where our brothers brought particular depth and color was in many wide-ranging Maine Masque theater productions. With fraternal strength, Omega Mu brothers became mainstays on the theater boards when Maine Masque was established in 1906-1907. What a long-lasting accomplishment for all of us to be proud as Omega Mu brothers. 

Professor Windsor P. Daggett, a Fiji from Brown University, had the spirited and inspired notion to establish the Maine Masque at the University of Maine, and in doing so adding a historically important piece to the shaping character of the University of Maine community. Personally, I have a great deal of nostalgia for all the plays that I attended while I attended the university. They are amongst some of the happiest, satisfying times while I was at Maine, and I continue to have many triggered memories of those plays because the visual charm of any play is magical.

Being the first managing director, Windsor P. Daggett carefully mentored many young men ands women in the fine creative points of theater. He was an inspiration to all of them, and his instructional guidance was exceptional. He did everything with a depth of feeling and intelligence from stage-craft, building sets, lighting, props, and stage management, elocution, and the historic background of the plays. Individually and collectively, he instilled emotional poise in all of his actors and actresses to work creatively as a group to create something enjoyable. Under the guidance of Professor Daggett, the Maine Masque earned a reputable, well-respected reputation for creating high-quality plays for the enjoyment of the University of Maine community. The response from the student body was warm and appreciative, and many of our talented Omega Mu brothers helped make the plays a success. 

Over the years, our Omega Mu brothers were involved in many Maine Masque productions, including Malcolm E. Fassett, Harry Lovely, Nathan F. True, Fernando T. Norcross, Theodore W. Haskell, Charles E. Stickney, Robert Irvine, William Demant, Evans B. Norcross, J. Richard Buck, Willam Keith, Harry P. Carle, Howard L. Farwell, Jacob M. Horne, Jr.; Bryant M. Patten, Sumner Waite, Norman D. Carlisle, Paul F. Slocum, Clifford H. George, Ernest F. Andrews, Robert S. Hussey, Elwood D. Bryant, Howard J. Stagg, III; Stanley T. Fuger, John T. Clark, John W. Ballou, George R. Berger, Robert D. Parks, Arthur B. Conner, Louis H. Thibodeau, Henry S. Simms, among many, many others! Praise for them is merited. Exhibiting diligence and discipline, these Omega Mu brothers, through many decades, brought a joyful vibrancy and communal vitality to the University of Maine community. What a superb gift to give the community, rich, alive, and inspiring. Significantly, many of our Omega Mu brothers were a driving force in many of the plays because of the impactful, leading roles that they often played, luring and capturing the imagination of the audience as they moved and glided, with apparent ease and poise, on the theater boards. By all reports in the Maine Campus and the Bangor Daily, their performances were quit affecting. The quality and depth of their disciplined art form enriched the lives of countless numbers of people in the University of Maine community and Bangor. 

Our Omega Mu Maine Masque theater brothers, just like our athlete brothers, are an enriching testament to what it means to be a fraternity brother in Omega Mu, and we are proud of their dedication, creativity, and commitment in adding such an important historic angle in our fraternal history at the University of Maine. They exemplify the good of what it means to be a positive part of the university community, and in doing so showing the good of fraternal culture. ​Attending a play is a special, spirited experience, and we are proud of the legacy of these brothers for their unbending commitment to the beautiful creative art and discipline of Maine Masque theater productions. These Maine Masque theater brothers make us proud, and their legacy in Maine Masque history continues to shine. They, too, like our Omega Mu athlete brothers, continue to enrich and strengthen our perseverant and determined fraternal identity, 147 years strong. 

As the oldest combined fraternal brotherhood at the University of Maine, we have a winning history, irrefutably so, because we have been, and we continue to be, a diverse group of brothers who are honorably linked in brotherhood. Whether it was on the football field, basketball court, in the pool, on the track, on the baseball field, on the theater boards, or within the Castle with each other, we have gracefully balanced many things that continue to make us proud to be Phi Gamma Delta brothers. Simply and gratefully stated, living in the Castle, with each other, was one of the happiest times in our life, and there is no way to measure that feeling, nor the unwavering commitment to each other throughout life. 

We were, we are now, and we will continue to be the signature fraternal brotherhood at the University of Maine. Competent, self-reliant, and persistent QTV brothers started our combined fraternal brotherhood at the University of Maine, and strength and devotion, diligence and hard work, continue to guide our Phi Gamma Delta brotherhood today. They are the roots of our collective well-being, our self-confidence, and our fraternal success. Whether it be in the house, on the football field, or on the theater boards, healthy principles foster pride, longevity, and a positive civic, fraternal spirit. We all know these things, and at our best we have lived up to these principles with unfailing trust and enthusiasm in all that we have done for the University of Maine community, and within our brotherhood, generously so. They are, in a word, broadly stretched through our fraternal history, the axis mundi of Phi Gamma Delta since 1848, our Maine State College Q.T.V. brothers since 1874, and our Omega Mu chapter since 1899. A united story, one in fraternal spirit. But again, we all know this. 

In any event, if you listen to the conversations during Pig Dinner, you will hear Omega Mu brothers who are 10 to 70 years apart talking, sharing, smiling, and laughing, spiritedly, about many things about living together in the Castle. It is energetic and lively, and every brother is attentive and appreciative of each tale and story that is shared, across all generations. Quite simply, it is a shared sense of happiness, love, and loyalty. That is the beautiful generational interplay throughout the Castle, RAM to basement. It is unique, and everyone is clearly enjoying themselves as they retell a particular athletic contest story, a road trip to Montreal or Newport, various Fiji Island stories, and stories about our many athletes and military brothers, Mud Bowl games, Pat's, and many other Omega Mu traditions. It is remarkable to hear the happiness and meaning in each story. Happiness and meaning: the essence of our Omega Mu brotherhood, and there is nothing nuanced about it. All the stories and tales convey our Omega Mu pride and joy. Although memory may have dimmed a little on the details of each story, the constants are the Castle, our beautiful Tudor home, and the uniform joy of many brothers simply coming together, again. Being in our fraternal home with our friends; we cherish both. That is unconditional commitment. And as such, as time moves on, we appreciate both even more. This is, perhaps, the best thing, the fraternal blood and marrow of who we are throughout life: proud, steadfast Fijis. And for that, above all, we are all thankful. We are one fraternal brotherhood, a great constant, for 147 years, and that needs to be applauded. It is a coherent fraternal narrative that is sustained by the binding threads of our fraternal home and a fraternal brotherhood that we all love through life. That is the Omega Mu way, and nothing can change that. Bravo. Perge.

Phi Gamma Delta
Maine Masque Brother,
Windsor P. Daggett

“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