Jerry joined Phi Delta Theta in the fall of 1941, and he can still recall exactly where he was in the chapter house when Pearl Harbor happened. He was called to active duty two weeks after graduating. Jerry was abroad for three years and during that time, he and his Phi Delt brothers communicated by writing letters to each other. “We had a common bond,” he says, “that was nurtured by our membership in Phi Delta Theta.”

When Jerry was finally discharged in 1946, he proposed to his now late wife Nancy, and they married on September 20, 1947. Jerry and Nancy met in college on a blind date, and Jerry recalls how Phi Delta Theta grew to be an important part of their lives and their relationship with each other. It all began when he offered Nancy his Phi Delt pin in 1941. He got a lot of kidding from his chapter brothers because he was the first of his friends to do such a thing. She initially refused what she perceived as a pre-cursor to marriage but accepted his Phi Delt ring instead. It was the summer of 1942, when she finally accepted his pin. In the midst of this relationship and throughout Jerry’s life—the constant was always his Fraternity and those friendships that stood the test of time and distance.

 “After the war a group of us returned regularly for a while, and then we all went our separate ways. When we started coming back in the 70s, it became an annual event,” says Jerry. He remembers that decade being a difficult time for his chapter, but the alumni, Jerry included, helped pull things back together again.  At a subsequent homecoming Jerry recalls a group of young Phi Delts making a special trip to visit him in his hotel room. “There were a dozen of them,” he recalls, and they were there to thank him for what he’d done for the chapter.

A further example of this commitment is the Charitable Gift Annuity Jerry established through the Phi Delta Theta Educational Foundation. He has designated it to benefit student leaders of the O.U. chapter. In addition to his annual gifts, he supports the Foundation and his chapter in this way because “Phi Delt gave me so much in college and helped me along the way.” Jerry’s charitable gift annuity also provides him with lifetime income.

Jerry believes in the young men who are a part of our Fraternity today, and he applauds what the Foundation is doing. “The Phi Delta Theta Foundation really helps young people, and I’m most proud of my membership when I have the opportunity to be around these wonderful young men participating in the Fraternity.”

He became more impressed with Phi Delta Theta after getting a glimpse of the inner workings of the organization at his first Convention in 1994, where he was a delegate for the St. Pete Beach Alumni Club. Today he maintains a close personal relationship with Rusty and Conrad at the Headquarters, and they connect in person whenever possible. “The whole Fraternity has meant a lot to me, in college and especially in later years,” says Jerry. “I’m proud of them and my association with them.”

At 80-something years old Jerry says his hobby is “fiddling with anything related to technology.” He’s an avid e-mailer and swears that it would have been a lot easier in his younger days to get guys together for alumni club events if they’d had a communication tool like e-mail.

Whether by e-mail or in person, Jerry maintains relationships with many of the people he’s met throughout his life because of Phi Delta Theta. He emphasizes the role the Fraternity played in his life and his relationship with his late wife. Retired now for 23 years, he says, “My Phi Delt brothers have been my closest friends for 60 years. Many of them are gone now. But you can’t take those memories away.” Nor would anyone want to.

Phi Delta Theta means more to Jerry than just a few years in college. To him, the Fraternity is like a dear old friend.