Article about Phi Mu house "parents" at UF

[DGMarie]

New Greek house parents change chapter morale
DON AND SHARON GADDO ARE MANAGERS OF THE PHI MU SORORITY HOUSE.



By CLAUDIA ADRIEN
Alligator Writer

Two University of Mississippi fans will stand among the throngs of UF football devotees during this year’s Homecoming game.

Despite team rivalries, Don and Sharon Gaddo are some of the nicest fans you could ever meet.

The couple spent a lifetime in Mississippi. They graduated from the University of Mississippi, got married and raised three children there.

But the two celebrated their 43 years of marriage in their new Gainesville home with their roommates - 150 sorority members.

“They gave us the most wonderful anniversary gift,” Sharon said, “a weekend at a bed and breakfast.”

The Gaddos became house managers for UF’s Phi Mu sorority chapter in August, after leaving similar positions at two fraternities at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

The two aren’t developing careers within the Greek system. They’re spending their retirement there.

“We decided to do something so out of the ordinary,” Don said.

Don retired nine years ago as president of NASDAQ company Jannock Ltd. The couple lived in Oxford, Miss., in a 3,000-plus-square-foot home on a golf course.

They attended church with John Grisham.

Their living quarters now are three times smaller.

The two rooms - a bedroom and living area - make up the couple’s new home on the first floor of the Phi Mu Sorority house.

Don and Sharon said they don’t mind.

“A house is what you put inside of it,” said Sharon, an alumna member of the sorority.

Inside their living room are objects reflecting years of history. The pale-green walls are accented by black-and-white photographs of their extended families.

One depicts a younger Don dressed in his minor league baseball uniform when he played for the then Milwaukee Braves, now the Atlanta Braves.

Another shows Sharon skydiving as she celebrated her 60th birthday.

Some photographs feature family members during World War II. Don and Sharon have written four books on the war, including one about a cousin who was killed when his B17 plane and crew were shot down by the Germans.

“The movie rights have been purchased for the book,” Don said.

And the couple continues to write.

Their latest project, “Unrelated Sisters,” examines sisterhood within sororities. The couple said they would like Phi Mu members to write two chapters.

Aside from photos, objects throughout their living room tell of the couple’s travels.

A small ceramic bowl from Chile holds rocks from Israel. A shiny, multi-colored vest is matted and incased in a large glass frame hanging above their television.

“The vest is from Afghanistan,” Don said, adding that he got it there during a trip in the 1980s.

Despite the couple’s impressive resume and travel experiences, the two said they don’t mind doing things to make living in the Phi Mu house more comfortable for its tenants.

Jenny Ryan, the sorority’s president, said the couple does more than just make everyone feel comfortable.

“They have changed the morale of the house in a matter of months,” she said. “You walk in, and you get a hug from them. If they’re having a bad day, you wouldn’t know it.”

UF sophomore Ami Gavarian said he enjoys working in the Phi Mu Sorority kitchen more than he did the year before - all because of the Gaddos.

“They’re always helping us out,” said the bus boy, who added Don never hesitates to help set a table or two.

Earlier this semester, the wait staff didn’t have any leftovers from dinner one evening, “so we couldn’t take anything home,” Gavarian said. “Sharon gave each of us $10 and brought us some store-bought chicken. She didn’t have to do that.”

The couple, however, does not seem fazed by the compliments.

“We’re supposed to do these things,” Sharon said.

And the two do even more, helping sorority members with their homework, resumes, car repairs and personal problems.

But they keep one thing in mind.

“We manage the house and property, but not the women,” Sharon said. “We’re just a leaning post.”