The charitable arm of Phi Kappa Psi, the Phi Kappa Psi Foundation was established in 1914 to foster the development of leaders and promote academic excellence in higher education. Mark your calendar now and be ready to celebrate 168 years of brotherhood February 18-19, 2020. No official Founders’ Day event near you? Host an informal happy hour! Register to participate in a Founders’ Day event near you Encourage your brothers, family and friends to join you in giving Celebrate all that being a Phi Psi means to you by posting using #phipsi168 #iamphipsi Donate in honor of your own experience or the Phi Psis in your life Your unrestricted gift to the Phi Psi Fund during day of giving will go directly towards funding alcohol abuse prevention and hazing prevention education, health and wellness initiatives, scholarships and leadership development programs designed specifically for today’s undergraduate men. This Founders’ Day, you can celebrate your membership in Phi Kappa Psi, shape the future of our brotherhood, and leave a lasting legacy while supporting the next generation of Honorable Men. Today, Brotherhood in Phi Psi spans across 100 campuses with over 6,500 undergraduates looking to us for guidance in living healthy lifestyles, honing leadership skills, preparing to enter the workforce, and excelling both on and off campus. On this day, we honor Founders William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore who, in 1852, started a Brotherhood that has impacted each of us deeply. and thank you for being such an important part of my family’s life.Second annual Founders’ Day of Giving to take place February 18-19, 2020.įounders’ Day of Giving is a day for Phi Psis, family and friends to join in support of our undergraduate brothers. So I wish a Happy Founders Day to the brothers of Kappa Alpha Psi, in memory of my father and grandfather. I felt such peace and comfort in this heart-wrenchingly perfect moment because I knew how much my Daddy loved being a Kappa and this loving farewell from his Kappa brothers was exactly the sendoff he would have wanted.ĭaddy often said he’d be a Kappa Man until the day he died. When they finally were in place, the entire front of the church was a sea of Kappa red jackets.Īs the brothers sang and said the prayers that are part of the Kappa sunset ceremony, I was moved beyond words and expectation. I thought the procession would never stop. I expected a short and sweet tribute from a few of the brothers from the local chapter, so I was flabbergasted as I watched them enter the church, stream down the aisle and gather around Daddy’s casket. When Daddy died two years ago this month, the local Kappa chapter asked to conduct a Chapter Invisible Ceremony at his visitation and, of course, I agreed. “Oh, you must be a Kappa Alpha Psi, if you want to go to heaven when you die!” he’d warble as we all rolled our eyes. Occasionally, when he was feeling extra Kappa-ish, he was known to belt out Kappa songs at the dinner table. Throughout the next decades, Daddy took enormous pleasure in being a Kappa, insisting that Kappa Alpha Psi was the only true fraternity – that the other Greek organizations were really just “clubs for young men who wish they could be Kappas but couldn’t make the grade.”Īnd whenever anyone made the grievous error of assuming he was any other Greek, he’d scoff and correct them: “No, I’m a FRATERNITY MAN.” Daddy corroborated the story, often reminding me that I owed my very existence to the Kappas. “The only reason I let Jeanie marry your father was that he was a Kappa man, so I knew he was worthy of her” he teased. Colored lawyers don’t make any money.”īut when she told him Daddy was also a Kappa, Pop-Pop changed his mind. When Jean told her father about her new beau, Pop-Pop was unimpressed. The paths of these two Kappa men crossed and then forever merged when, on a trip to Los Angeles to attend the 1957 Kappa Conclave, Daddy’s blind date was Jean Graham, Lorenz’s daughter. Their membership in the Kappas intertwined with and enriched my grandfather’s and father’s lives in countless ways and, to a considerable degree, helped to shape and define the remarkable men they became. Being a Kappa was one of the great joys of Daddy’s life and receiving the Laurel Wreath, the Kappa’s highest honor, meant everything to him. The Good Judge pledged Kappa in 1949 at Youngstown State University and remained a true and loyal Kappa Man for the next 70 years. Pop Pop loved to point out that every Kappa pledge at UCLA must know his name as a charter member before they can cross over. My grandfather Lorenz Graham was a founding member of the Kappa Alpha Psi UCLA chapter where he pledged in 1924. Happy Founders Day to the brothers of Kappa Alpha Psi, from the daughter and granddaughter of proud Kappa men.
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