Memories/Comments

If you want to contribute a memory or comment to this page, please send to Jym Clendenin at uvapikapps@gmail.com .

On 8/16/2010 Jim Peebles wrote:

Wow, if those minutes still exist, it would be a miracle. And I certainly

don't remember many details or dates. However, some things I do remember.

Even though I am not in some of the pictures which have been posted, I was

part of the Alpha Mu group from the beginning. I remember the beginning

being a meeting in a dorm room and I'm pretty sure Jim Clendenin was there.

Also, there were 2 people who subsequently dropped out who were members of

the golf team. Russ Davis was probably there. This meeting was no doubt in

the 1958-59 year. We all remember what we were looking for - relationships

with good people who wanted to have sane parties and events that we would be

proud to spend with our dates. None of us were prudes but we didn't enjoy

getting drunk or becoming absorbed in the parties where the majority or a

significant number of the attendees were - the norm on party weekends at

most of the houses - wasn't our cup of tea. Heck, I remember trips that

Riggins and I went on where we no doubt overindulged, but our house parties

were wholesome, fun, and with a bunch of guys and their dates that we

enjoyed and respected. The date that we voted to go with Pi Kappa Phi, I

have no clue. Sometime in 1960 is my guess. I remember Durward Owens

visiting and having lunch with him. I also remember the talk that a senior

Pi Kapp gave about eating manners especially when you were interviewing for

a job. For example, taste your food before you add salt or pepper, otherwise

how do you know you are making the right decision and how will you make

decisions in your job. Anyone else remember that? I remember that I was the

Archon just prior to the indoctrination ceremony but think Russ Davis

succeeded me and was Archon when we formally became part of the National

Chapter. Like Russ, I do not ever remember being a pledge - there was no one

to hassle us - we were it.

On 8/18/2010 Jym Clendenin wrote:

I knew John Allsbrook (and also Jim Arrington) in high school (Norview in Norfolk)--they were both one year ahead of me. But I only really got to know John through Alpha Mu. One thing about John has really stuck with me over the years: about once a week or so John would invite any of the brothers/pledges who were interested over to the house (Venable or JPA, I don't remember which, and I don't think anyone was living there in that period) for dinner. Then he would proceed to cook up a spaghetti and meat sauce meal (that's the recipe I always remember, maybe he cooked other things as well) that always tasted really good to me. John's example as an accomplished cook was inspiring, but I didn't try cooking until almost 20 years later when Judy and I began sharing our home cooking. Now I actually enjoy cooking 3 or 4 times a week, for simple dinners and occasionally for dinner parties.

On 8/19/2010 John Allsbrook wrote:

Expenses were a critical issue for me in my fifth undergraduate year at Virginia in 1960-‘61. My four-year scholarship had ended and the previous summer job had been cut short by a month long Air Force ROTC summer training camp. Preparing my own meals meant I could cut back on food expenses. But I lived on the Lawn that year where there were no facilities for cooking. And the fraternity house on Jefferson Park Ave. had no kitchen appliances.

Two years earlier, my parents had moved to California and had left behind an old refrigerator and an electric stove stored in my grandmother’s garage in Norfolk, VA. Brother George Cornell lived in nearby Suffolk and offered the use of a pickup truck and a strong back to help me haul the appliances to Charlottesville.

Back at the fraternity house, I used to walk to the Safeway grocery store on Main St., a couple of blocks east of Jefferson Park Ave., and purchase just enough food for the evening meal. I always bought a little extra in case there were others at the house who might want to join me. I was never disappointed. The meals were always what I called simple comfort food such as spaghetti with meat sauce, macaroni with tomatoes and cheese, fried chicken with mashed potatoes, beef pot roast, etc. The cooking aromas usually attracted everyone living in or visiting the house. Most often those who gathered for dinner would pitch in to help prepare the food. I recall Chip Baber once asking for something to do, so I asked him to wash the potatoes. When I checked on his progress, I discovered he was using a bar of soap to get them really clean.

The dinners went on for a couple of months and created a family dinner experience for many of us. It was a great deal for me. The guys reimbursed me for the food and then washed the dishes afterward.

On 8/19/2010 Bruce Bickley wrote:

I have dozens of fond UVa and PKP memories, several that I won't put into print(!) but may enjoy sharing over the April weekend. Invariably you appreciate a place only after you've left it. Thus with both Virginia (especially) and with Duke, where I did my graduate work and met Karen.

More in the course of things. Four children and three grandchildren later, I am still teaching, now part-time, for Florida State and loving every minute of it. It's been a good life.

On 9.22.2010 Bill Getchell wrote:

Does anyone remember the proper response when asked for the time ? It was something about not having access to sidereal time and ended with "but I estimate the time to be . . . "

Why I should think of this after 40 + years is beyond me.

On 9.29.2010 Tom Priscilla wrote:

ok here goes (at least from my pledge year 1976) from memory...

i am greatly embarrassed and deeply humiliated but due to circumstances beyond my control, the innermost workings of my chronometer have fallen into a sad state of discord with the great siderial by which all time is measured. therefore i am unable to give you the correct time. however, i estimate the correct time to be......sir.

On 10/26/2010 Chip Baber wrote:

My search for the picture of Mom with the last Lambda Chi Alpha holdouts has so far proven unsuccessful. In our family when something can't be found, it is said to have been "put up". So far, the picture has been "put up". But all is not lost. In my files I found a copy of a letter to Leroy Hamlett from John Browning dated in 1996. In it John describes in some detail the night Alpha Mu voted to affiliate with Pi Kappa Phi. According to John the "Sacred Six" who held out for Lambda Chi were (in alphabetical order) Morgan Birge, Randy Boswell, John Browning, Leroy Hamlett, John Maxwell, and Curt Sweitzer.

My apologies to Dick Sandstrom for suggesting that he was a member of the "Sacred Six".

April 9, 2011 Early Alpha Mu Days, a talk by Chip Baber