Chapter News - Cross and Crescent

Epsilon-Delta’s Rise & Fall
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FEATURE
After winning the Grand High Alpha Award in 1998, the Montana State chapter
voluntarily surrendered its charter just eight short years later. During its lengthy
history, the Epsilon-Delta chapter produced many notable alumni brothers.
The petitioning of Delta Tau Fraternity of Montana State College at
Bozeman, Montana, to become a chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha
began in June 1928.
One year later the men received the backing of Bruce McIntosh,
the administrative secretary for Lambda Chi at the time. However, it
would be two more years, until May 8, 1931, until they were finally
approved and installed by our Washington State University brothers.
In previous writings on the history of various chapters you have been
introduced to the term “Barbarians,” or “Barbs,” as non-fraternity
men were called.
From 1917 to 1924, there was a strong anti-fraternity sentiment that
developed at the College which resulted in the formation of an
independent organization called the “Order of the Barb.” This group
of men was successful in attracting the leaders of various campus
organizations and winning campus-wide elections. This organization
imploded over the course of a few years with various factions breaking
off into what became local fraternities, one of which was Delta Tau.
Interesting Twist
An interesting twist in the chapter history occurred in 1933, when
the chapter merged with the Amigo Fraternity and 19 men were
initiated. In addition, the chapter moved into the former Amigo
Fraternity chapter house. One of the Amigo brothers was James
Gannaway (1933), president of the Associated Students. The chapter’s
House Corporation was named Amigo in their honor.
The original 34 petitioners of Lambda Chi were very active on
campus with varsity athletes in five sports and other members in the
college band, the college chorus, and in numerous professional and
honorary organizations. Matt Hugo Pakkala was elected to a Rhodes
Scholarship. Mr. Pakkala spent the majority of his life working for the
U.S. Steel Corp. as a chief metallurgical engineer.
Others in that founding group were Everett and Rolland Crumley
(1932), brothers who worked as oil producers in Montana; Claude
Evans who worked on the Morony Dam Project; Carl Hollensteiner
(1930) who was a dredge engineer; Sidney McArthur who operated a
power plant; and Paul Wenaas (1931) who was No. 1 on the chapter
rolls and became the director of research for Simoniz Company.
18
Cross & Crescent June 2010
By Jon Williamson (Maryland)
I spoke with Robert Baxter
(1971), about his memories of
the chapter. “The majority of
the brothers didn’t have much
money. Everybody was
working but we did go all-out
once a year with a party we
called “Yukon Days.” This was
a dance and party where
everyone dressed up like the
old Mountain Men. It was
usually held in a rented hall
on the east side of Bozeman. Our chapter was a pretty good size with
about 75 men on average. I lived in the house for a couple of years.
The brothers were very active in intramurals, and we were especially
competitive in softball. We always battled for the traveling trophy for
highest GPA. My best memories were of the Ritual and the
camaraderie of brothers.”
Another brother from the ‘70s is David McIntyre (1977): “I began as
a GDI and didn’t want to be in a fraternity. A friend, Stu Challender
(1977), invited me to visit the Lambda Chi house and I was amazed
that I enjoyed myself. The fraternity was a bunch of guys just like me,
working to get through school. I joined Lambda Chi in the spring of
my sophomore year and lived in the house my junior and senior
years. I wildly enjoyed all aspects of the house and met wonderful
men for whom I came to develop a lot of respect. There are so many
things that I remember which bring a smile to my face. I definitely
remember the “crushes” which was where everyone would pile on in
the middle of the room. You definitely didn’t want to be on the
bottom of the crush. I also remember everyone would work together
to accomplish a task whether it was at a philanthropy event or just
working on the house. My biggest regret is that I haven’t kept up with
many of my Fraternity brothers. I also remember the Yukon Days
party. What made that special, in addition to everybody dressing up,