TWC ARCHES Summer 2013

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10 ARCHES | Spring 2013
ARCHES | Summer 2013
e Breakf t Club
Frats, Fun & Friendship
ne Thursday morning every month, four Tennessee
Wesleyan College alumni and one friend of the college
drive from various parts of East Tennessee to meet for breakfast
and fellowship at the Campbell Station Road Cracker Barrel in
Knoxville, Tenn.
Charley Seepe ’57, Ed Deal ’58, Bill Hicks ’60, and Paul Watkins
’54/’57 are a four-man self-proclaimed TWC group called “The
Frats,” a group that made memories of a lifetime during their years
at Tennessee Wesleyan College in the 1950’s.
“We just had such a good relationship with one another in school,”
said Seepe. “We’ve kept in touch all these years.”
Organized almost a decade ago, the monthly “Frats Breakfast”
allows Seepe, Deal, Hicks, and Watkins time to catch up and
reminisce about their time as football players, theater artists, and
singers in Jack Houts’ choir.
“Jack Houts and the TWC choir was the center of our life at
Tennessee Wesleyan,” said Hicks, who remembers often
eating breakfast with his “Frat” buddies at Houts’ house
before classes started for the day. “Houts and the other
TWC faculty were like family to us. It was a special
educational experience that I know I could never have
gotten anywhere else.”
From breakfasts in the ‘50s at Houts’ house
to breakfasts today at Cracker Barrel with
their monthly server Dawn who keeps the
gravy flowing, the four “Frats” also have
another special person that they associate
their meals with.
Burkette Witt, who served the “Frats” at the Slop Shop in the
‘50s, has been joining the monthly “Frats Breakfast” for the past
couple of years. Witt’s friendship with the “Frats” started when
the boys would come into his Slop Shop for lunch or dinner, often
having to put their meals on the Slop Shop tab until their parents
could give them their weekly allowances.
“Those were the best boys to cook for,” said Witt, whose legacy at
Tennessee Wesleyan is second to none.
Although it’s been nearly five decades since the four “Frats” and Witt
were at the college, Tennessee Wesleyan continues to be a driving
force in their lives. Every year they attend TWC’s Homecoming
and have been faithful workers and officers
in the college’s alumni association. Some
have seen their TWC legacy continue
on in their children who have attended
the college.
“For us, Tennessee Wesleyan
College is a second home,” said
Deal. “TWC is what brought all
of us together. Our Tennessee
Wesleyan extended family is
something we will always
cherish.” A