     To begin, then, "Man, said Ralph Waldo Emerson, is but a bundle of his ancestors." As the oldest fraternal brotherhood at the University of Maine, now 151 years strong, we have a beautiful fraternal narrative connecting our past to our present to our future, and we affirm the absolute truth of Emerson's assertion. Our historic journey has endured because we make no humble apologies for our deeply rooted historic sense of place at Maine. It is a rich legacy that we remain proud of in 2025. Go on campus and look around, our fraternal footprints are all over the University of Maine campus with many buildings associated with our Q. T. V. and Omega Mu brothers, architecturally or in name. In truth, we have made epoch making success in our fraternal history, individually and collectively, because we continue to embrace and celebrate the cohering truth of our Q. T. V. predecessors: “Enjoyment, sociability, and the best interests of its members through life.” Through all the challenges and difficulties, twists and turns, in our combined fraternal history, we continue to be affected and inspired by this guiding fraternal ethos. It is the gift that has shaped our brotherhood for 151 years because it is ingrained in our fraternal DNA, generation-through-generation. Quite simply, it affirms the truth of brotherhood for undergraduates and graduate brothers as to why fraternal brotherhood matters through life! It will continue to be a clarion call for young men to walk through the Castle's portal to become one with our proud fraternal number that will continue to flourish because we continue to believe that our Omega Mu fraternal life has a great deal to offer to young men at the University of Maine. We were the fraternal pioneers at Maine in 1874, and we remain the fraternal pioneers at Maine now because of our fraternal moxie. Inextricably tied together, our history and all of our brothers prove our moxie, and that Omega Mu will continue to offer a positive fraternal experience for young men. Quite simply, we are not a small band of brothers. We are brotherly rich and growing richer, proving that we remain the defining portrait of brotherhood at the University of Maine. Generationally, after all these years at Maine, with undiminished fraternal devotion, we keep our eyes on our future, with persevering fraternal pride, as a united brotherhood at 79 College Avenue.    In the end, our fraternal story is an enduring story because of the fraternal enthusiasm and spirit of all of our Q. T. V. and Omega Mu Fijis brothers. Our centennial celebration for our beloved Castle will be on April 11th, 2025, and it will be truly special if many brothers walk through the front door and live up to the spirit of our Q. T. V. founders. We have a great deal to celebrate, so please come. We are the remarkable brotherhood at the University of Maine, and that is not indulging in hyperbole, and it is human grace that continues to bless, sustain, and unite all generations of brothers since our fraternal founding in 1874.  Toward the Castle we will ride.  Now, 151 years on, what started off as an ambitious dream of our Q. T. V. brothers in 1874, continues with the unbroken loyalty, commitment, and devotion of many of our graduate brothers, as well as the present undergraduate brothers living in the Castle, who continue to lead with positive effort and character. It is the grace of these two fraternal attributes that will lead us well into the foreseeable future, with legions of Omega Mu brothers thriving and enjoying the positive good of fraternal life in the architectural beauty of the Castle. Frankly, sometimes we are given gifts from heaven now and again, and one them was living together in our beloved Castle. Living in the Castle created a snug, comfortable, and enjoyable college life for all of us, and we all know this to be true. It was a seminal time in our lives, and that is a solemn fact. That has been the narrative quality for all of our brothers since the first group of our brothers walked into our brand new fraternal home on the weekend of May 15th-17th, 1925, just a little over year and a month after our first Phi Gamma Delta Castle was destroyed by fire during a blizzard on April 2nd, 1924. Our Omega Mu brothers ended their fraternal diaspora and walked into our beautiful fraternal home at 79 College Avenue.  Our Last Q. T. V. Chapter Hall and our first Phi Gamma Delta house.  Our last Q. T. V. Chapter Hall, first on the right, after it was remodeled to become a women's dorm, Mount Vernon Hall. The second building on the right is our recently built first Phi Gamma Delta Castle, which would later become the site of Lambda Chi Alpha. The land to the right of the small white building, in the middle distance next to the road, is the land that Hosea Buck, 1893, owned and later donate to our Omega Mu brotherhood, after a fire destroyed our first Phi Gamma Delta home on April 2nd, 1924, in order for our present Castle to built. Furthermore, Hosea Buck arranged the loans for our present Castle to be built.  It is honest to say that our present Castle may not have been built if it had not been for the fraternal care, wisdom, and no-nonsense devotion of Hosea B. Buck, our exceedingly thoughtful, generous Q. T. V. - Omega Mu Brother And Benefactor.  Best side-by-side picture of our first Phi Gamma Delta Castle, left, which our brothers lived in from 1899-1924, and our last Q. T. V. Chapter Hall, right, after it was remodeled and renamed Mount Vernon Hall, right.     Best pictures of our last Q. T. V. Chapter Hall before it was remodeled to become a women's dorm named Mount Vernon Hall. The First Phi Gamma Delta Castle   In 1897, the Society felt that it was ready to build. Mr. F. E. Kidder, '78, one of the members of the Society (Q. T. V.), and, at the time, an eminent architect of Denver, Colorado, drew the plans and they were accepted. The building contract was awarded to Walter Flint, '78, another member of the Society (Q. T. V.)  The first Phi Gamma Delta house was designed by Frank E. Kidder, our Q. T. V. brother, 1878, and another Q. T. V. brother, Walter Flint, 1878, was awarded the contract to build our first Phi Gamma Delta house. A third Q. T. V. brother, Perley F. Walker, 1896, helped in overseeing the construction of our first Fiji home. The entire cost to build the house was $10,000, and the cost was borne by our Q. T. V. brothers.  "It was the idea of Mr. Kidder, when he drew the plans, to make the house as comfortable and home-like as possible and in this he succeeded. The first floor is given up to a music room, parlor, dining room, kitchen, matron's rooms and one study room. On the second floor are eight large study rooms, an office, toilet and bathroom and the chef's room. The sleeping quarters are on the third floor and here there are also eight rooms. The chapter hall and small attic take up the half story above." Frank E. Kidder as a student at Maine State College  Surveying Class At Maine Our Brothers: Frank E. Kidder, third student in from the right; Charles A. Morse, third student in from the left.  Frank E. Kidder  Walter Flint  Perley F. Walker      First Phi Gamma Delta House Is Destroyed By Fire On April 2nd, 1924   "It was the oldest fraternity house at the University of Maine."   "Building Erected in 1898l Was one of the Finest on the Campus"   "Fanned by the Maine blizzard that was raging at the time, the flames spread quickly throughout the old wooden structure, which proved a veritable tinder box."  "The Fijis set about, in the teeth of the fierce snowstorm, to rescue what they could. Pictures, the piano, eggs, dinner coats, were snatched from the tongue of the flames until at last the Fijis were compelled to retire. They then joined the forces of the Orono fire department and assisted in keeping seven streams of water playing on the house for four hours in the face of falling walls and leaping flames."   "The Fijis who went through the blaze and who are being praised for their heroic efforts are Brothers William Murray, Joseph Murray, Edgar Coffin, Henry Eaton, John Glenn, Donald Mitchell, Clarence Hart, and Donald Powell and Pledge Russ Dyer."  "The Fiji flag flew at the masthead.....the colors came through unscathed."    "Construction will be started at once."      "The Maine chapter of Phi Gamma Delta is one of the oldest fraternities at the University and its members include many alumni who have contributed much to the progress of the institution. The new building is to be owned by the property building association of the fraternity, which is composed of alumni members."  May 15th-17th, 1925   "The celebration was initiated with a banquet held at the chapter, presided over by Frank Fellows of Bangor." (The blog on Frank Fellows is August, 2020)    Our Grammy Award winning producer brother Andrew M. Wiswell (The blog on Andrew Wiswell is May, 2023)   "Wiswell won a Grammy in 1968 as a producer for the original cast album of the musical "Hair"  "There was open house, at which time, all were invited to call and become acquainted. A great many availed themselves of this opportunity, and found the new house ideal."   "All in all the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity has a house which can hardly be surpassed in New England."  In proportion and appearance, our fraternal home remains the most beautiful fraternal home at the University of Maine. In truth, it is architecturally peerless, even timeless, at Maine. Inside and out, it radiates elegant Tudor-inspired simplicity, and since that glorious three day celebration, the Castle has been the gracious home for generations of Omega Mu Fiji brothers who have loved coming back to the Castle and walked through the front doors and felt immediately at home. Here we are always welcome, and here we are always one within our historic fraternal home, and we always will be. That is the abiding human grace that has defined our brotherhood since our beginning, and it always will! That is the essence, the fraternal core, of our Q. T. V. - Phi Gamma Delta brotherhood, and that is who we will continue to be for many generations to come because our spirit of fraternal loyalty is unmatched when it comes to our perseverance, grit, and tenacity to keep our brotherhood going strong. These normative qualities have seen us through our sustained good periods, as well as getting us through our discouraging, even disheartening, historical periods when good, stabilizing, healthy, grounding traditions were discarded in favor of highly destructive individual nihilism during several periods in our history. Thankfully, corrective action was taken by many graduate brothers to save our brotherhood from being lost, and we would be hard-pressed not to say that don't we owe each of these graduate brothers a great deal of thanks for their collective salvific work and collective fraternal grace on behalf of our Omega Mu brotherhood! These brothers are too humble to blow their own horn, as it is fraternally uncivilized to brag, but we do thank each of them, and we owe them unconditional fraternal appreciation and gratitude! It is a strong legacy of good leadership that continues to this day.   Like scripture's account of Abraham's long journey, our combined fraternal brotherhood, with the same type courage, willingness to toil and work, that Abraham exhibited, has made our fraternal pilgrimage at the University of Maine a successful one for 151 years! Whereas many fraternities implode every year at Maine, as well around the country, Omega Mu continues to stand strong as ever. We continue to listen to the different, stabilizing, and sustaining drum-beat to be persistent and determined to do the right things in order for our brotherhood to continue, and that is abundantly evident with the continued support of all of our graduate and undergraduate brothers working together. With both working on concert, we will avoid fraternal self-destruction. Thus, we will continue to have a bright fraternal future at the University of Maine. To play with the Apostle Paul's assertion in Hebrews: we will, with our collective fraternal endurance, continue to run our enduring fraternal course before us.  We are the historic leader of all fraternal brotherhoods at the University of Maine, and may we continue to strive for fraternal preeminence. May we continue to embody a standard of fraternal excellence in order for our brotherhood to continue to be at the University of Maine 151 years from now. With lifelong loyalty and devotion, we can make this happen because our positive fraternal experience does burrow deep inside and endures for life, and future generations of Omega Mu brothers will embrace the responsibility and opportunity to embrace the good of our Omega Mu fraternal life, full of meaning and fulfillment.  As we all know, people and places shape us and create memories that last a lifetime, and any attempt at a historic portrait of our cherished fraternal home will encompass the many different memories and stories of our brothers who walked through the front door of the Castle, from the spring of 1925 to the spring of 2025, and fully embraced the gift, grace, and life-long joy of fraternal brotherhood as an Omega Mu Phi Gamma Delta Fiji brother!  First group picture of our Omega Mu Brothers, spring, 1926                                                         Benjamin Gould, Our Brother. The First Person To Receive A Diploma At The University of Maine                                                                               Our Brothers On The University Of Maine Faculty, 1894                                       The years that we all lived in the Castle evokes many different memories and stories for all of us, and these memories and stories bind us together. That is certainly the case for generations of Omega Mu brothers who lived in all the rooms in the house, slept in the RAM, sat together in the living room, and shared many meals in the dining hall. So, yes, come home to the Castle on the weekend of April 11th as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Castle. One thing is sure: we have a great deal to celebrate this coming Pig Dinner, and nothing would be more pleasurable than to see the Castle filled with generations of Omega Mu brothers, a great fraternal harmony, filling each room in the Castle with cordial fraternal feelings in getting re-connected, getting misty-eyed in telling old stories, laughing, and raising a glass or two, and in doing so exhibiting the continuing truth, merit, and good of fraternal brotherhood. Upon this, there is no disagreement.   
                                    George Hamlin, 1873, OUR BROTHER WHO OVERSAW THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CASTLE EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!                                                                                 Our Omega Mu Brother, David M. Rand, '58, University of Maine Dean, Made the statement below about our Omega Mu Brotherhood  "The chain stands for unity, loyalty, and dedication of selfless brotherhood. Each link stands for the contribution he, as an individual, made to his brothers...This unity and individuality make Fiji what is - whether the house cooperates on a muscular dystrophy drive or just a good time at the Fiji Island Party...It teaches guys that different types can live and work together, and that's a pretty important thing to learn."    So, yes, nothing would be more pleasurable than to see many Omega Mu brothers return to the Castle for Pig Dinner on April 11th. Our Pig Dinner celebration is, in many ways, our fraternal Thanksgiving, and during this Pig Dinner we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Castle, the only fraternal home at the University of Maine that has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Think about that, brothers. Sometimes we are given gifts in life, and one of them, certainly, is being a brother in the Omega Mu chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. All of this is worthy of reflection, and we continue to hold steady and true at 79 College Avenue since 1925.                           Going, Going, Going To Pig Dinner         Frank Danforth  Our brotherhood has many reasons to be proud. To begin with, we persist, and our fraternal story at Maine is distinct because we persevere, generation-to-generation, and we will continue to do so for years to come. Whereas many fraternities at Maine continue to fall, we remain strong and continue to rise because we share a common interest to see that our fraternal story continues for another 151 years within the Castle. Second, as we get older, certain things grow more sharply into focus like seeing dear fraternal friends as the years continue to disappear. You start looking back and remember the many stories and events that happened in and around the house. As always, you smile when you recall a particular event, or tradition, or brother, and you realize how important and formative they were during your college years. These fraternal memories and friendships are deeply held, and when we are gathered together in the Castle, we always realize how fortunate we are to have such life-long friends and treasured memories.  It's official, brothers: we all share a common interest to assure that our brotherhood continues at the University of Maine in order for our historically distinct Q.T.V.-Omega Mu Phi Gamma Delta blessing to continue for generations of young men into the future. We also share a wise, common, no nonsense interest to sustain our ethic of responsibility to keep the Castle in architectural good order. Just like Frank Danforth's fraternal loyalty and legendary athletic story, our fraternal story is a beautiful, enduring story that will continue to bind men together for life because we continue to care well-after our undergraduate years!  A century ago, our brothers celebrated for three day to commemorate our new fraternal home, and I hope that I have stirred your fraternal loyalty to come home to the Castle, our peerless fraternal home, on the weekend of April 11th. Truly, it will be a commemorative weekend for all of us if you do attend. It is the human grace of many generations of brothers together that makes Pig Dinner so special. We all find comfort, solace, and joy when we are with fraternal friends. And so it's with eagerness and anticipation that we wait to see you in the Castle for Pig Dinner when we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of our beloved fraternal home. See a few old fraternal friends, make some new friends, and renew your fraternal spirit. Please come back because it promises to be a one-time-only celebratory event in our rich history. There will be more than a few bits of laughter and good cheer with other brothers if you do attend. Remember the line from that old gospel hymn: "What a fellowship, what a joy divine." We look forward to seeing you at the front door of the Castle, your fraternal home. So this, above all, brothers, is what is important: your presence at Pig Dinner. It is our Thanks-giving Pig Dinner tradition. "Through the gates of this Castle have passed some of the finest men the University of Maine has produced."  Now, as the 100th anniversary celebration of our Castle is only a little over two months away, I look forward to seeing generations of Omega Mu brothers making the pleasurable trip home to our historically glorious and architecturally charming Castle on April 12th, 2025. Despite the passage of time, it is still your fraternal home, and coming home is always a good thing. This Pig Dinner we celebrate two things: first, 151 years of fraternal strength, resilience, and camaraderie since 1874; second, 100 years of brothers living in the positive living grace of the Castle with each other. Although is overly simplified to state it this way, one way or another, regardless of our personal temperaments, we all benefitted by living with each other in the Castle. There were many wonderful, absorbing days of joy for each of us, distinct and different, that we joyfully remember, and many of them were in various rooms in the Castle. I hope a fair April wind will bring many Omega Mu brothers back to our landmark fraternal home for Pig Dinner reunion. Whether you have been 20 years gone, 30 years gone, or 50 years gone, or even more, your presence will be a blessing to our proud number, as well as a sanctifying blessing to the house where 100 years of great fraternal memories were made! We have the deepest fraternal roots at Maine, and we have the most historic fraternal home at Maine. We do, indeed. Hence, it will be a happy homecoming, a memorable gathering, for ever brother who does return, and I promise you that the undergraduate brothers will graciously welcome you home because they are equally proud to be a link, a durable new link, in our original and ongoing fraternal story at the University of Maine. Our fraternal future is secure and bright because of these young men! They exhibit the same unwavering fraternal commitment and character that started with our first generation of brothers who sat in front of our first fraternal home, a home that they paid for and built on their own. For our proud, enduring history, we are grateful, and yet our enduring history calls us into our future when many young men will continue to build on our fraternal traditions and enjoy the life-long good of fraternal brotherhood well into the future. The human good is essential to who we have been for a century and a half, and it underpins everything that we continue to aspire to be in our continuing history. That desire and work for the shaping good to prevail in our fraternal life, as well as for the University of Maine community, is the well documented. It is that type of tangible, active human grace that continues to nurture and sustain our brotherhood, even through our awful and profane periods, since 1874. It is evidence of the fraternal truth that we continue to celebrate and value in our Phi Gamma Delta history: persistence! As President Coolidge, our Phi Gamma Delta brother, asserted: "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence." For me, I believe we that all know that this conviction continues to be true in our history. Persistence is everything.  Francis H. Bacon, our fraternal brother, designed the marble repository for the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence in the Library of Congress, and he was most likely in attendance when President and Mrs. Coolidge dedicated it in 1924. Indeed, our fraternal history is historically important!  Francis H. Bacon, 1976     Our Brothers sitting in front of house in 1876  Our Brothers sitting in front of house in 1880.  Graduation week during the early 1890's. Our Q. T. V. home, center; Holmes Hall on the right. The site of our second Q. T. V. Hall is now one of the hotel buildings on the University of Maine campus.  We are the legacy of the fraternal dream and hard work of those first Q. T. V. brothers, and we are responsible for our fraternal future at the University of Maine. Hence, we all know that our history is never past, never old, and never slighted, ever. On the contrary, we will continue to responsibly build upon our proud 151 year fraternal legacy for endless decades ahead because we continue to have the same enduring human spark and unbound enthusiasm that our Q. T. V. brothers had in 1874 when we became the first fraternal brotherhood at the University of Maine. Their legacy of fraternal power and passion has continued to this day with the wonderful undergraduates who live in the Castle now, committed to responsibly sustaining our brotherhood on the long road ahead. With a few bad exceptions in our generationally united history, we have always moved positively forward in our pragmatic thinking and our pragmatic actions for the good of our brotherhood and our five fraternal homes that we have lived in at the University of Maine. That human quality has always been our keystone strength: a united fraternal single-mindedness since our Q. T. V. brotherhood was chartered in 1874. And in that, we continue to historically succeed because we remain collectively hard-working and positive-minded about our fraternal future because of the present undergraduate brothers and the outstanding leadership of the graduate brothers, both whom love and appreciate the positive impact of fraternal life within the history-rich walls of the Castle. Foremost thought, on April 12th, 2025, we will gather in the Castle as a united brotherhood and historically recall the sense of awe and joy that the brothers must have felt when they walked through the front door a 100 years ago. Therefore, this Pig Dinner promises to be a generational reunion of gratitude for our architecturally historic Castle, and for all the brothers who have lived in the Castle over the last 100 years. With our collective fraternal persistence and care, our fraternal legacy will continue to grow with the same fraternal values and vision with which we stated in 1874. In the end, that is the most important thing in our 151 year fraternal history at the University of Maine. Therefore, it is absolutely fitting to conclude with a statement by Dag Hammarskjold, former Secretary General of the United Nations: "For all that has been - thanks. For all that shall be - yes."  "For all that has been - thanks For all that shall be - yes."  “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
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