Fraters,

Below is a message from Frater Joe Kennedy about an old friend and a new initiative. We hope you can take the time to read it and help us create something great for the future.–YITB  Chris Townsend

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In 1984 we lost a special Frater.  Mike Turley pledged a year after I did.  He was a classic TKE – smart, good looking and won way too many dance contests late in the evenings at the local pubs.  He even rode his bike (not motorcycle, his bike) to one of our annual treks to Myrtle Beach.  I won’t go into all the stories (there will be many to tell at the reunion).  As Mike was nearly completing his time at GMU he was feeling exhausted and noticed sores in his mouth.  His girlfriend immediately sent him to be checked up.  After meeting with medical staff he was immediately sent home and told they would contact him.

Needless to say he didn’t go directly home, he stopped by to see the guys at the cage (an aptly named apartment on campus) to have a beer and hang out.  He never finished the beer.  When he arrived home his parents were waiting for him.  He went right to the hospital and never left it.  Leukemia.

This was a very traumatic time for the members.  We had all rallied to help him, donating blood and raising funds and awareness.  Back then, I was told by some alumni that they had a similar experience when Gene Barnes died.  There are others that have died, maybe shortly after their school term ended and others after many years away.

Why do I bring this up?  The membership dedicated a plaque in Mike’s honor and planted a tree.  This past semester I took one of my children to tour GMU.  As we walked the campus I slowly steered her over to that place near Robinson and the Library that I had not visited in years.  It was gone.  Billy Reilly quickly located it.  Lightning had hit and killed the tree.  The grounds crew cut down the remainder of the tree and put the plaque in storage.  Obviously this is just wrong.  But we have something we can do.

With your help we can plant a new tree, replace that plaque and add a new plaque for all our members (past and in the future) who enter Chapter Eternal.  Please consider donating to the Alumni Association to make this happen.  We need your yearly endowment to keep the Alumni Association viable.  We also need you to donate in the name of a deceased Frater so we can make this a reality.

As of now I have been able to identify sixteen Fraters who have entered Chapter Eternal.

Please help us remember:

56       Gene W. Barnes

86       Douglas E. Beaman

95       Thomas E. Nachazel

119     Lawrence B. Emerson

134     Douglas A. Berliner

168     Alan D. Weggeland

170     Michael A. Aiken

178     Ralph D. Day

187     Robert P. Lehrman

215     Michael K. Colgan

352     Mike Turley

400     Glenn T. Milich

404     Eric W. Clement

492     Alan R. Ahalt

564     Kenneth M Caputo

742     Christopher McCarthy

Yours in the Bond,

Joe Kennedy

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