Brothers,
One of the most fulfilling aspects of being BoG Alumni Communications Chair is the opportunity to connect with so many of the brothers that make up our unique, and motley, Parliament of Owls. In recent years, the increasing of our alumni ranks for the first time in roughly 13 years has been cause for much excitement. In fact, our membership is on pace to double by 2026!
Very recently, however, artifacts from our storied history and the stories of their owners have been grabbing my attention. Jack Holly ‘51 sent along a couple items from our past, including something I had never seen before–a Kakewalk program from February 22-24, 1951 in excellent condition (cover price, 25 cents!). While Jack and I both believe that Kakewalk’s openly racist theme is nothing to be celebrated, we also agree that we gain very little by forgetting the event altogether; it deserves a page in history. I, for one, hope that we can learn how to balance the significance that Kakewalk had for those who lived it against our desire not to relive its spirit in the present day. And that brings me to the second time capsule
from the 1950s, which included some snapshots of snow sculptures from the 1949 festivities taken by Ken Peirce, class of ‘52.
Ken’s son, Hank, reached out not too long ago to say that he and his dad were going through old photos, among which was a treasure trove of memories from Ken’s days at Lambda Iota. See below for a sampling of the items they sent to be kept safe in our society’s archives (the entire collection will be posted to our website soon). From Hank’s email: “my father, Ken Peirce Junior, was an owl in the late 40s and early 50s as I believe his father was before him. … He so values his days as an Owl and was just talking about some of the guys yesterday. Would you all be interested in this photo along with other things that he has?” Thank you Ken and Hank! We will display these items at our upcoming Annual Meeting.
Owlishly,
Joel Sodano ‘01
Alumni Communications Chair