"Dear Mom" (Letters from College)

[JonoBN41]

Letter Number 6

April 12, 1972

Dear Mom,
You won’t believe this but I called the Mercedes place today and they said that a new window costs $20.00! That price does not include installation either. I’m sure glad I’m covered. Last night two Brothers, Big Swamp, and I sat out in the parking lot with baseball bats trying to catch these guys. We didn’t see them. A lot of stuff gets ripped off each week here. Last Sat. night Jerry’s convertible roof was slashed and his speakers stolen. The next night they took his tire. He went to Dean Rose to complain about the security. Needless to say, he didn’t get any satisfaction and left with a few choice words. We plan to hide out this weekend again.
We’re (the fraternity) going up to the Cape this Sat. night to have a party and watch the launch the next day. I can’t wait to see one of those things take off! When my friends came down we took a NASA tour of the Cape. The bus broke down out in the middle of nowhere (it’s a big place) and we had to wait 45 minutes for another one. But we did see the rocket on the pad and the third largest building in the world and the crawler with 8 tracks of 52 cleats each – each weighing 1 ton apiece. I’m mad I can’t photograph the launch.
Well, I’m going to 7-11 and then to bed. I enclosed all the papers I think you need. By the way, send me another $100 dollars, OK? Thanks.
Love,
Jon

[JonoBN41]

Letter Number 7

April 25, 1972

Dear Mom,
Thank you for sending the money. I needed $65 of it for initiation which takes place on April 29.
I went up last week and talked to the detectives. They agreed with our staying out there at night. The robbery took place on April 2 and I called the town (Eau Gallie) police. I think there is a new guard in the parking lot at night. I called the Mercedes place and they said a new window + installation will be about $26.00. That’s pretty high but as long as insurance pays for it, I don’t care.
I did see the Apollo 16 launch from a distance of about 9-10 miles. It wasn’t as spectacular as I had expected.
Mom, when I ask you, in my letters, what’s going on back home I expect an answer. I certainly think I have a right to know. Now two of my friends have mentioned Babe and Reg in their letters and all you talk about is how peachy things are. When I come home in June, I’d like to know the score. Do you understand? I don’t like learning about my family from my friends! Something is wrong.
Love,
Jon

Letter Number 8

April 18, 1972

The Florida Institute of Technology
Colony of Lambda Chi Alpha
request the pleasure of your company
At our Charter Presentation Banquet and Ball,
Saturday the twentieth of May,
nineteen hundred and seventy-two
from six o’clock p.m. to one o’clock a.m.
at the Port Malabar Country Club.
Port Malabar, Florida


R.S.V.P. SEMI-FORMAL
723-0581

INSERT:
The Menu

Cocktails
Smorgasbord
********
Fruit Cup
********
Roast Prime Rib of Beef, au jus
Baked Potato with Sour Cream
Buttered String Beans
Tossed Chef’s Salad
With Chef’s Dressing
********
Parfait
********
Coffee, Tea, Milk

Events
May 20 –

8:00 A.M. – Golf (Green Fees on a Personal Basis)
2:00 – 4:00 P.M. - Open House (Informal)
5:00 P.M. – Pictures
6:00 P.M. – Banquet
9:00 P.M. – Ball

Price per couple - $15.00

Please accompany the RSVP with a check. The Dinner Ticket(s) will be mailed to you as soon as we receive both.

[Tom Earp]

Jono, once again you amaze me with these letters.

But in Your Era, Hippies were in style and at a Tech School to boot and in Florida!

Astropie mentioned in another site that FIT is wanting to expand and may take THE SCHROOM. It isnt that close is it to FIT? Remember, it was a whirlwind weekend!

Remember, I was with Wolfie upon getting to Melbourne!

I love the part about looking for a House, still strong with no house as of yet.

Waiting for further Mom Update Letters!

May have some bad news on the Home LX Z front.

Guess you and Mike are planning on cocktails? Said I would meet him!

God am looking forward to the event!

[JonoBN41]

Letter Number 9 – One year later

April 29, 1973

Dear Mom,

Happy Easter! Please forgive me but the whole idea of Easter completely escaped me this year. In fact, I didn’t even realize it was Easter until Easter Sunday – too late. I got the package & money. Thank you. The chocolate’s almost gone already.
I gave George and Craig one of the big one’s since they’re usually the one’s who keep me from getting malnourished. We eat meals together because we’re all off the food plan and it’s cheaper this way. But George lives in Ft. Lauderdale and when he visits his mother, he brings back all kinds of food and we share it. Just last weekend he came back with turkey, spaghetti sauce with mushrooms, sausage, stuffing, tuna, soup, bread… So that held us for about a week.
Anyway, mid-terms are just about over. I should get a B (or C) in Organic Chemistry, a C in Microbiology, an A in Micro lab, a B (or A) in World Religions and God knows what in Physics – somehow I blew that test, I think. But at any rate, it looks like a good quarter.
Me and a freshman named Dan have been playing guitars together lately and we’ll be playing at the “Coffee House” on campus this weekend. It’ll be held at the snack bar and we’ll play for 3 or 4 hours. Also, in a few weeks we’re going to play at the grand opening of the new Rathskellar – we’ll get paid for that. Promotional pictures were taken of us today. I’m still trying to sell my 12-string so I can pay some bills. I put a new set of strings on it the other day.
The fraternity is going well. I’ve got one of the best pledge classes in a long time – good enthusiasm. Two weeks ago I and four other Brothers drove to Tallahassee for the Annual Seaboard Conclave (at FSU this year). It’s a good experience – especially for the younger members. By the way, I’ve been chosen, along with Kevin Gilmore (Conn.) to attend the General Assembly at Indianapolis [sic] on August 20 – 25 this summer. Most expenses will be paid for. I’m sending you this material so you can better see what I’m talking about. The Paedagogus is out of print right now while they update it. I hope you like it.
Well, I’ve got a 9:00 class tomorrow and it’s 3am now. Tell everyone I say ‘hello’ and take care.
Love,
Jon
Well, it’s now Tues May 8. Mid-terms are over, the food is gone, we played at the Coffee House, and I’m broke again. That damn car cost me too much! I’ve been paying 35.00 a month for the insurance. My last payment is July and the insurance will be good up until Feb. so I’m only going to bring my car down for the fall quarter. Also, I should never have come home over spring break – that was stupid. That trip cost nearly $150.00!
I almost got some reward money for catching 3 kids breaking into cars but the AAA said no, because they didn’t steal the hubcaps.
I guess we were pretty good at the Coffee House – they didn’t want us to leave. I only wish we’d gotten paid for it.
Tell Joe I guess I’ll work at the nursery again if he wants me. I got another letter from NYOSL the other day confirming my un-employment there.
I held off sending this because I wanted to wait for the photograph (which isn’t too good).
I figure that since I have one more car payment (35.00) and two frat. dues (25.00) and five weeks of eating (75.00) plus extras like I owe Howard 50.00; that about 300.00 will get me home. If you agree, fine; if not…
So long for now,
Jon

[JonoBN41]

Well, that's about for my letters from 31 to 32 years ago - for now at least. I got to college, joined Lambda Chi, and Dan became my little brother. He'll be visiting in a couple weeks.

I still have the guitar (not the 12-string; the 1972 Ovation) and still play it nearly every day.

Time flies when you're having fun

In ZAX,
Jono

[astroAPhi]

Jono, as a very recent (may 04!) Florida Tech alum, those letters killed me! You lived in Roberts 708S? My boyfriend lived in 709S when we started dating. I lived in 308S and in Southgate B206. Good times.

If you ever find anymore, please post them! Things sure have not changed!

[Tom Earp]

AstroAphi, I got the Cooks tour when I visited @ 2 1/2 years ago.

Well in a round about way especially with Don Wolf Driving!

First from Orlando Airport and to the Shroom. Then off to The Holiday Inn. Saw FIT the next day. Had no damn clue where I was except in Fl.!

Yep, had to see the High Rise Dorms where Jono lived and then had Ritual at the Student Center.

Beautiful Campus with the Jungle but, I am just looking out of the Shotgun side of the car that Kevin G-Happy Gilmore rented.

Never made it back to The Shroom, god what a great place for fun!

It is an institution and should be considered a Historical place!

Jono also told me that it was a Cuban sandwich shop with a cleaners combined. They also pressed the sandwiches which made them special!

That was a weekend in Melbourne that I will never foget!

He was a Hippie in the 80's so reading Mom Letters was a Hoot!

[JonoBN41]

My first group of letters home went back thirty-four years and described the atmosphere of the early 1970s through the eyes of a freshman (me) joining a colony of Lambda Chi Alpha and that colony's subsequent chartering. Those were far-out groovy times, but what would it have been like to join a Theta Kappa Nu chapter just as they were becoming part of Lambda Chi Alpha?

To usher in the New Year, let's travel sixty-six years back in time to the pre-WWII days of the fall of 1939 and follow another freshman who's entering college between the time of the merger agreement and the actual badging out in October.

What was it like to go to college then? How much did various things cost? What was required of pledges? What books did students read? What movies were playing? What did they do for entertainment? And - most important of all - who did their laundry?

To find out, we shall follow a young man named Gordon. For privacy reasons, let's not worry about his last name and just say it's "M"; Gordon A. M. and his parents, Mr. & Mrs. M. Let's also not worry about spelling. If he spelled something wrong, so did I. The letters are transcribed as accurately as possible and any notations by me are in brackets, such as an illegible word [?].

There are about 30 letters, notes, receipts, and other documents so we can follow them a few at a time over the next couple weeks. I hope you enjoy the journey and his struggles to succeed.

To start off, let's see what college young Gordon will be attending. What Theta Kappa Nu chapter was this? What Lambda Chi Alpha chapter did it become?

In ZAX,
Jono

[JonoBN41]

Gettysburg College (founded 1832)
Formerly Pennsylvania College
Gettysburg, PA.

July 19, 1939

My dear Mr. M:

I am pleased to receive your application for admission to Gettysburg College and to inform you that same has been accepted.

Later in the summer you will receive instructions from this office regarding registration, etc. Meanwhile, if there are any questions you have in mind to ask, I will be glad to hear from you.

I hope to have the pleasure of meeting you and welcoming you as one of our students.

Very truly yours,
C.B. Stover
Registrar

--------------------------------------

Gettysburg College
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Office of the President
Henry W.A. Hanson

September 1, 1939

My dear Mr. and Mrs. M:

Within a few days your son will leave to enter upon his duties as a student at Gettysburg College. I can fully appreciate the anxiety which you feel in having your son leave the family circle.

Gettysburg College seeks to be more than a college to the young men entrusted to its care. The time has passed when as Fathers and Mothers we are satisfied with an education which deals only with the intellectual side of life. An education which does not produce a Christian gentleman, possessed of right attitudes to life, is not an education which measures up to my conception of the purpose of a college.

Gettysburg College is deeply interested in developing young men who are physically well, intellectually keen, morally straight and spiritually awake. It will, at all times, be my desire to afford your son such advantages in these directions as will make him worthy of the sacrifice which you are probably making to give him the opportunity of a college education.

The Faculty of Gettysburg College is made up of Christian gentlemen who are interested in the development of the very best possibilities for your son.

We shall, of course, need the cooperation of every Father and Mother. What a young man receives from college will be largely determined by the faithfulness with which he applies himself to the various duties assigned him. Gettysburg College takes it for granted that your son will take his work seriously and will apply himself conscientiously.

If I can render any service to your son, do not hesitate to call on me. I cherish a warm affection for my boys and am always desirous of rendering them every possible service.

Trusting that we may have the pleasure of having you on the campus as often as your time permits, I am

Cordially yours,
Henry W.A. Hanson

------------------------------------------------------------------------

161 N. Washington St.
Gettysburg, Pa

Sept. 17, 1939

Dear Folks,

When I first came here I thought I would have a little time to myself. But I’ve found different. I’ve been rushed by three different fraternities; namely Lambda Chi Alpha (formerly Theta Kappa Nu, Wally’s frat) Phi Sigma Kappa, and Tau Kappa Epsilon. The Phi Sigma Kappa’s have the highest scholarship record in the school. And my roommate said it was an honor to be rushed by them. They really had a line about my adeptness and ability to hold up their record, and that all thirty-three of them had voted unanimously to take me into the fold. Three of my hosts took me upstairs to a room and we talked, other members of the fraternity would walk in and out very informally.
I have found some very nice fellows at the PSK but in general the’re to smooth and anxious and gabby.
I’ll either pick the Tau Kappa Epsilon or the Lambda Chi Alpha and I think the former is cheaper. The fraternities say the freshmen are taking more time this year before they pledge. I was at the T.K.E. Saturday night for a smoker and later went to L.C.A. for an informal dance. Now that they have a housemother they can have girls in. You see the fraternities pledge men and then they eat at the house and have the “run of the house” until spring when they are initiated and pay the fee. The board is generally cheaper there.
I was out with some fellows from T.K.E. this afternoon. We went out on the battlefield and visited the round tops, springs, monuments, etc. I found a couple of Boggs’ on the Pa monument. Which did we know and what was his commission?
The Women’s Division holds a dance every Sat evening in the Girls Dorm with recorded music.

Love,
Gordon

PS. I still don’t smoke but I’ve been offered a hundred cigarettes, etc.
PS. A girl transferred from Westminster who I knew at Thiel 4 years ago. She’s a Junior.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

161 North Washington St.
Gettysburg, Pa

Sept. 20, 1939

Dear Folks,

Boy, these studies are hard. Especially French and Chemistry and the others aren’t what you’d call easy. I never studied so much in all my life. I think perhaps I should have taken French A instead of French I but I’ll stick it out until I find I can’t catch up and if that happens I think I can switch back.
I just got a haircut up at Mickley’s Barber Shop. He is a descendent of the French Hugenots. The guide who died was his father. They give haircuts like Jack gets but only charge a quarter.
I’m going to an informal dance at the L.C.A. house Saturday Evening.
(over)
You asked me if I seen Wally much. Yes. I see both he and Carl a lot.
Answers to questions-
Yes I’ve met Louie Mertz but we didn’t have much time to talk about our common interests. I mentioned Mr. and Mrs. Morton to him and he was very surprised.
Yes, I find the boys very congenial.
No, the Sophmores haven’t started anything yet.
Please send me the following things
1. All my pennants (the’re in my chest)
2. My dance book (Sunitele [?] Home Institute)
3. Some of my tablets and some extra paper for scratch
Also, cut my sheet in half.
I’m getting along all right with out a pillow.
I forgot to mention in my last letter that if you, all my relatives, come out here they can eat at L.C.A. free of charge. Also if a boy friend visits me for overnight I can put him up at the house, meals and everything free. If I’d happen to get a girl for a weekend dance I could feed her at the house free.
They hold dances here on weekends, two nights, Friday, formal and Saturday informal. There is nothing doing during Lenten Season. I’ve met Bowersox [?] from Leechburg who knows Boisler [?].

Love,
Gordon

[docroc67]

Brother Jono,

This is wonderful stuff. I hope you realize that you have the "makings" of a great story for the C&C!

I think that many members would love to read this with some additional commentary about Theta Kappa Nu and and Lambda Chi Alpha. This first hand account brings "life" to our historical record.

I look forward to reading more of these letters in the future.

Happy New Year,

Yours in ZAX,

Mike R., Z-U Zeta

[JonoBN41]

Mike,

Thanks for the kind words. Feel free to interject any commentary right here at any time. I will just be posting the letters themselves, so if you can add some perspective, that would be great.

ZAX,
Jono

[JonoBN41]

Gettysburg College
Father’s Day Committee
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania

September 14, 1939

Dear Mr. M;

Each year Gettysburg College reserves a time in honor
of Fathers. This year in an effort to insure better
weather than on past occasions the date has been moved
forward considerably. October 14 and 15 have been
selected as the occasion during which the students of
Gettysburg College desire to enjoy the company of their
respective fathers and guardians.
Accordingly, to you the father of Gordon M, the
Committee extends a very hearty invitation and looks
forward to your presence on our campus. It is our desire
that you enjoy this weekend with your son.

Cordially yours,
Father’s Day Committee
Raymond C. Donley

[JonoBN41]

Lambda Chi Alpha
Gettysburg, Pa

Sept. 25, 1939

Dear Folks,

Thanks for the candy and things and stuff. The bottom
edge of the box was pretty well pushed in when I got it.
I don’t know whether it happened going to or fro.
I’m going to see the Dean tomorrow about having my
French I changed to French A. I don’t know my French
well enough to continue on with the advanced course. I
think all changes in schedules were supposed to be
made by last Thursday. I’m going to see Dr. Basset
before the Dean and maybe he can use his influence
because all changes are supposed to be brought up
before some board.
We had a very informal dance last Saturday night at the
frat. We took the tables and chairs out of the dining
room and danced there. The attendance was about
thirty.
I had a blind date with a girl named Helen Houser from
Clearfield (don’t we know somebody from there?) We
had talked together and danced some for about three
quarters of an hour when we decided to go out and sit
on the porch. She had impressed me as being very nice
(She is a minister’s daughter and told me that all of
them were bad). After we ad sit there awhile she pops
up with the question, “Do you mind if I smoke”. You
could have knocked me over with a feather. Naturally I
said “No”.
So she puffed away. We discussed it some and she said
that she thought she might quit it. That was my first
experience of that kind. Perhaps the proper thing for me
to have done would have been to strike a match and
light it for her. But I didn’t. I was dazed.
Later when talking it over with Wally he said a lot of
the nicest girls around here smoke and a lot don’t, so
what have you?
I never studied so much in all my life. I’m always busy
at something even if my grades don’t show it.

Love,
Gordon

PS. I’m glad I joined the frat. It’s more like home.

[Tom Earp]

More, More!

While it may seem old, it is no more old than Today!

God, I never wrote Letters, but lived every bit of This!

[hoosier]

Sorry to intrude, but this is a great thread.

Things were so different (and probably better) in the good ole days.

I stayed at the Days Inn in Melbourne last week (terrible place, on the beach or ICW water, not cheap), but had good seafood tacos from Shell's.