William S. Murray, 1921

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. Fraternal integrity demands that, and we are proud of all of these brothers. 
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The noble ideals of our linked fraternal brotherhood started in 1848 and 1874, and our fraternal wheels have not stopped turning in continuing to create a generationally great brotherhood, and there will not be a breakdown in our enthusiasm and dedication to continue to build upon our unique fraternal legacy at the University of Maine for many decades come. It is exciting and rewarding to know that we will continue to have a great fraternal future because we have an undisputed claim to durable greatness in being the oldest fraternal brotherhood at the University of Maine. Again, again, and again, we have always gotten on with the job of continuing to be the standard of fraternal excellence. There are many reasons for our fraternal longevity, but the primary one is the character and integrity of the men who became Q.T.V.-Omega Mu brothers, up to the present young men who recently pledged. Generations of Q.T.V. and Omega Mu Fiji brothers who have worked tirelessly for us to arrive at this historic moment of our 150th anniversary. And so, the passage of our 149  fraternal years into our 150th fraternal year will never stop us from honoring and respecting the rich legacy of the fraternal past as we look fraternally forward to the rich promise of our growing history at the University of Maine! Our fraternal path of excellence will continue for another 150 years. It is in this spirit of our honoring our past and believing in our future that we reaffirm, honor, celebrate, and give thanks to our to our Q.T.V. brothers and their noble ideal of brotherhood: "enjoyment, sociability, and the best interest of its members through life." This formative ideal tie to our Q.T.V. past and our future is absolute, and it is not insignificant; it is real. It is the enduring principle for our fraternal longevity, and it will continue to be embodied by our brotherhood in all the years that lie ahead. Put simply, our Q.T.V. - Phi Gamma Delta fraternal life matters, and it is a life-long human grace to be a brother in the oldest fraternal brotherhood at the University of Maine.

As we enter our 150th 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, and in the grounding generational belief in promises made and promises kept has created, in large measure, our 150 years of fraternal success at Maine. In truth, it is a fraternal covenant that lasts through life, 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, and with fraternal unity and one common goal, our deep-rooted fraternal heritage is only going to deepen because of the present undergraduates. 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. To repeat, persistence and determination is the heart of our 150 years of fraternal success at Maine. Our history is in the historic soil of 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 and the memories therein. As the great scientist and author Lewis Thomas beautifully stated: "We leave traces of ourselves wherever we go..." Perge.

Omega Mu Athlete
William S. Murray,
1921

Omega Mu Years

The first Phi Gamma Delta house is first on the left.

"The Freshman at Phi Gamma Delta were the hosts on Thursday evening, at the first of the Freshman Smokers.....There were smokes and ice cream and the first step was taken
​in forming class spirit."

"Phi Gam held a "Backward Party" Saturday  night in which the couples came in old clothes and had to clim through a window to get into the house. The girls had to ask the boys to dance,
​for refreshments, and for cigarettes."

University of Maine Athlete

Murray Tackle

Founding Member of 
Jackson Laboratory,
Bar Harbor, Maine

"Dr. Little was naturally much interested in the department, and it was through that relationship that he began to gather around him a group who wold be with him in Michigan and later in Bar Harbor as the original staff of the new laboratory. These were William and Joseph Murray....The younger Murray brother, Joseph, then an undergraduate, was to take care of Dr. Little's mice."

Incorporation of Jackson Laboratory

"Rodrick, Little, and Murray were named directors on the incorporation papers, with
Dr. Little as president and ​
​Dr. Murray as treasurer."

Dr. William S. Murray was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day construction of Jackson Laboratory in 1929.

Dr. William S. Murray was a member of the ground-breaking scientific research team at Jackson Laboratory that made the medical breakthrough in understanding one of the most complex medical challenges: cancer. Through their meticulous, patient team approach they chipped away at the entrenched idea that cancer was an insoluble medical problem. Through their hard work, the Jackson Laboratory team discovered the underpinning medical agent of cancer by studying tumors in mice which gave rise to the virus theory of the disease, a theory which has been proven to be a true in 15%, of all cancer cases around the world. It was a huge leap forward in
understanding the why of cancer, and it
​was life-time achievement for
William S. Murray.

"The research staff included two brothers (two Omega Mu Phi Gamma Delta Brothers) from Maine who had been Dr. Little's students. To feed the staff, Dr. Joseph Murray provided vegetables from his family farm in Hampden, and
​Dr. William Murray led fishing expeditions."

Printed with permission from 2024 The Jackson Laboratory

William S. Murray doing research at
​Jackson Lab. 

​Printed with permission from 2024 The Jackson Laboratory

Dr. Joseph M. Murray is in the middle.

World War II

William S. Murray was a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy during World War II.

Administrative Director of 
Jackson Laboratory

​Printed with permission from 2024 The Jackson Laboratory

William S. Murray when he returned to Jackson Lab and became the administrative director.

After his military service during World War II, Dr. William S. Murray returned to the Jackson Memorial to become the administrative director. What he accomplished exemplifies
the primary value we hold as Phi Gamma Delta Fijis:
​persistence and determination in working for
the greater good.

​“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