Omega 20th Anniversary & Side Porch December 1939 Rattle
The latest edition of the Rattle is available. Read about what is going on with other chapters around the country and see what is doing with our National fraternity.
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Lower Porch Is Recreation Room
Omega at Penn State now enjoys a much needed recreation room. The lower side porch, adjoining the dining room was en-closed with brick and glass brick and necessary equipment added: lighting fixtures, electric outlets, a unit steam heater, exhaust fan, and asphalt the flooring. The complete job was made possible by the alumni of the old Phi Kappa Nu local fraternity, who saw fit to donate the remainder of the money in their treasury for a memorial.
Glass Brick Makes Porch Recreation Room
Other improvements in the chapter house include drapes, window shades, and curtains, nautical lighting fixtures for the dining room, and new sinks and a gas water heater for the kitchen. In the summer Robert Eberly, '39, with the help of other brothers, repainted the kitchen and the hall adjoining.
Last spring engineers and laymen banded together to produce a set of concrete steps at the side of the house, linking the side door and the parking lot in the rear. The brothers did the complete job of excavating, forms, rock fill, in addition to the actual lay-ing and finishing of the concrete. In summer school Roland E. Seely, '40, supervised the grading and seeding of the terrace. Members dug and loaded four truckloads of dirt for removal, loaded two truckloads of college stone for fill, and shoveled more than six-teen cubic yards of concrete.
Twentieth Anniversary of Omega
Omega Chapter celebrated its twentieth anniversary on the Penn State campus October 1.4 and 15 in its spacious home. It was alumni homecoming week-end, and thirty-eight alumni returned to celebrate with the active chapter. The day started auspiciously with Penn State's 13 to 3 defeat of Bucknell in football. The high spirits continued at the house with a real banquet in the evening. A special program was printed for the occasion, crammed with the history of the chapter, as well as the activities for the weekend.
Omega’s Chapter House
The banquet was highlighted by the speeches of the national marshal, George Chapman, Omega, '20; the president of the Theta Chi Alumni Association of Penn State, Norman C. Horner; the president of the active chapter, Joseph H. Flagler, Jr.; and by Professor A. L. Tobias's dedication of the new recreation room. The toastmaster was John Doty, '24. The program of the week-end concluded on Sunday morning with the initiation of several alumni members of the old Theta Upsilon Omega chapter into the brotherhood of Theta Chi.
Dr. Joseph Eugene Rowe
Theta Chi Loses Outstanding Educators
On October 2, Dr. Joseph Eugene Rowe, Omega, former president of Clarkson Memorial College of Technology and national knows ballistican, died.
Dr. Rowe, who had been a member of the Veterans Board of Appeals since 1934, was stricken with a heart attack at his office in Washington and was taken to his home in Baltimore, where he died in the Union Memorial Hospital.
The following sketch of his life appeared in the New York Times, October 3:
Dr. Rowe, was considered an authority on ballistics, of the science of projectile flight, and drew some conclusions after a series of tests with regard to the ballon golf ball which was introduced in 1931. When the controversy concerning the respective merits of the new versus the old ball arose, he declared that the poor or medicare player was more affected by a hang in the type of ball than the good or excellent player.
Born in Emmitsburg, Maryland, on March 21, 1883, son of Charles Jacob and Cora Hoke Rowe, Dr. Rowe was of Scotch-Irish and Huguenot ancestry. He received his A.B., first honor, from Gettysburg College, Pa., in 1904, and a LL.D in 1930. He was a student at the University of Virginia, 1904-5, and a fellow in mathematics at John Hopkins, 1909-10/ From the latter university he received his Ph.D. degree in 1910.
Dr, Rowe became an instructor in mathematics at Goucher College in 1910 and at Haverford in 1911. He taught at Dartmouth from 1912 to 1914. From 1914 to 1920 he was assistant professor, associate professor of mathematics at Pennsylvania State College. he was a professor and head of the Department of Mathematics at the College of William and Mary from 1921 to 1928 and director of extension from 1924 50 1928.
He was appointed president of Clarkson Memorial College of Technology at Potsdam, N.Y. in 1928, and, upon his resignation for years later, became engaged in research in social sciences at John Hopkins University.
Dr. Rowe was assistant physicist of National Advisory Commission, Aero, from May, 1917, to February 1918, and chief ballistician at Aberdeen Proving Ground Ordnance Department, U.S.A., 1920 to 1921.
He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution , Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Theta Chi. Among his publications was “Introductory Mathematics.” He was the co-author of “History of Gettysburg College” and the inventor of mathematical instruments.
He married Nina King of Baltimore in 1911, She and tow sons, Joseph Eugene Rowe Jr., and Richard King Rowe survive.