Paragon
October 2023
This
Upcoming Events
Saturday, November 4 - Fall Work Weekend (register here)
Sunday, November 5 - Fall Work Weekend (register here)
Friday, November 17 - Initiation
Brothers,
Just a few days ago, we hosted a successful Homecoming dinner and get together at the chapter house. It was such a pleasure to meet some of the brothers from the late 50s/early 60s group who up until now I have only met via Zoom. While the weather did not cooperate with our plans to have everyone enjoy their meal in our event tent in the backyard, the alumni made do by eating in the Red Room and enjoying the newly refurbished and re-hung composites and other historical items to be found in there.
My sincerest thanks to all of our brothers who worked to put on this great event, most especially our social committee chair, Ken Nagano. I’d also like to thank those alumni who donations funded the composite repairs; in addition to the many brothers listed in our September Paragon, we received a donation from John Ratka; his gift meant that we funded 100% of the composite project through alumni donations.
In reviewing my last few President’s letters, it seems a recurring theme has been that we simply need more alumni to get involved in order to make our efforts sustainable. My original plan when we re-started the alumni association in the summer of 2021 was to eventually build a 12-person Board of Directors serving staggered three-year terms. This will hopefully provide continuity and avoid the problem of having key alumni brothers become burned out, stop contributing, and having the alumni association fall dormant once again as it has in the past.
I would suggest that May 2024 would be a good time to have the first BOD elections, with the 4 new BOD members starting their terms on July 1, 2024 to coincide with the start of our fiscal year. I would like to have this be an annual event that is part of graduation and alumni ritual.
Of course, one doesn’t need to be a member of the board to contribute. We have many active committees that could use additional members, and we also are still looking for Era Captains who can help connect us with brothers from your era.
I also want to point out that you don’t need to be in the Cleveland area to contribute as our meetings are virtual. Please e-mail me at president@ohioalphabeta.org if you’re interested in helping. I’ll say it again: We need you!
Elsewhere in this Paragon you can read about our upcoming work weekend November 4th and 5th. I hope to see you there!
Yours in the Bonds,
Nicholas DeCenzo
President, Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association
We completed many projects at our April and July work weekends, and we hope to finish the year strong when our third and final work weekend of 2023 takes place on Saturday, November 4, and Sunday, November 5.
We are still actively building the project list for the work weekend, but we know that we will be repairing dry wall in the ceiling of several different bedrooms, much of which was intentionally taken down to facilitate work on the plumbing stacks. We will also be replacing some crown molding in the second floor hallway that was taken down for the same reason.
Whether you’re a god among handymen or whether your core competency is more along the lines of “I’m pretty good at throwing stuff in the dumpster,” we’d love to have your help on Saturday, Sunday or both. Even if you can’t commit to helping out, you are encouraged to stop by and say hi, check out the new composites, see how the house looks and just generally hang out.
If you plan to participate in work weekend, please RSVP separately on the website for:
Please feel free to stop by and say hi whether or not you RSVP.
On Friday, November 17, support the active chapter on Friday in welcoming four new members to our brotherhood! As is tradition, the associate members know about the Long Walk but believe Initiation will be on a later date. Please maintain the surprise if you see them.
Additionally, the undergraduate brothers have a tradition of treating our associate members to dinner at a classy restaurant the night of their initiation. Alumni are welcome to join us for dinner on the evening of Friday, November 17.
Information about the time and location of Initiation, dinner and how to RSVP to either will be sent out at least one week prior to Initiation, but you should mark your calendar now!
As noted in our Founders Day issue, 11016 Magnolia was transferred to Phi Kappa on December 30, 1954. Brothers from 7 of the 8 decades that we have lived in the house were on hand for our Homecoming reception on Saturday, October 14. Brothers and guests enjoyed a catered dinner, toured the house, looked over the composites, photo albums and trophies on display, and most importantly enjoyed each other’s company.
- John Kobak ‘58
- Michael Calabrese ‘60 & Rose Marie
- Joseph Crawford ‘60
- Con DeLetis ‘60 & Jo
- Maynard Isabell ‘60 & Jocelyn
- Al Muren ‘60 & Suzie
- Joe Svete ‘60 & Rosalie
- Dave Ehlke ‘61 & Jane
- Nick Camino ‘62
- Bob Fedor ‘63
- Bob Sepsi ‘75
- Nathan Kossover ‘01
- Ken Nagano ‘01
- Nicholas DeCenzo '01
- Steve DeBrosse ‘03
- William Danso ‘05
- Adam Krajewski ‘19
- Robert Savinell ‘A & Coletta
John Kobak noted that he had not actually stepped foot in the house since his graduation in 1958, and many other alumni had not returned in a long time. Many stories were told. Did you know that after we acquired the house, a group of mothers of the then actives got together to decorate the first floor, which at the time featured formal living rooms in both the Red Room and what is today the Study Room? Dave Ehlke found the trophy that he and his classmates won for dominating intramural sports that year. An entertaining display of photos cycled through on a screen by the buffet; thank you to all the brothers who sent those in.
If you have additional photos from Homecoming, we’d love to share them in a future issue. Please send them to secretary@ohioalphabeta.org.
At the conclusion of the evening, our raffle winners were drawn live on Zoom. The gift card drawings were won by Greg Vishey, Rob Stalder and Eric Malkin.Rob Stalder’s luck was apparently very strong that evening, as he also won the 50/50 raffle, which came to nearly $400. In the true spirit of “Give, Expecting Nothing Thereof,” when contacted all of our raffle winners asked that their prizes be donated back to house improvement projects. This donation came to nearly $550 dollars for the November work weekend. Thank you, Brothers!
The Ohio Alpha Beta members of Phi Kappa Theta had two representatives at the National Convention in Lexington, Kentucky this past August. The active chapter was represented by current chapter president Will Woodfint ‘24. Rob Stalder ‘94 (and past National President) represented the Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association. We thank both Rob and Will for attending on our behalf.
Those of you who are interested in exactly what occurred at the convention can find a wealth of information online. This press release summed up the major accomplishments and new officers; it also contains links to videos from the convention and the annual report of the National Fraternity.
In July, a small group of Cleveland-area alumni met up with Syed Hoda '88 while he was in town for business. The gathering was brief, but it was great to catch up with fellow Phi Kaps!
Pictured from left to right, Joe Jirgal '88, Eric Malkin '89, Joe Banks '88, and Ken Nagano '01 joined Syed Hoda '88 for dinner at Pinstripes in Orange, OH.
There are currently eight members of the board of the Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association. The two newest members of the board are Aaron Mann and Maynard Isabell, who both joined in October 2022. We introduced Aaron in our July issue, and now we turn to Maynard. This introduction was summarized from a short bio that was prepared by John Lozan ‘61 – thank you John!
Maynard graduated from Case in 1960 with BS in Mechanical Engineering. He also served as the president of the active chapter in 1959-1960. Given that Phi Kappa became Phi Kappa Theta in 1959, this means Maynard was technically the first president of Phi Kappa Theta at Case.
After graduation, Maynard’s first professional position was with Pratt & Whitney in Florida, where he worked on the development of a liquid hydrogen/oxygen rocket engine. Maynard met his wife Joceyln when they were both employed at Pratt & Whitney, and they were married in 1967.
While in Florida, one of Maynard’s friends founded Soverel Marine to build sailboats. Maynard has been a competitive sailor since before college and started racing his friend’s boats in various racing circuits around Florida. The combination of Maynard’s sailing skill and his friend’s building acumen led to racing success, which in turn boosted boat sales. Maynard eventually joined Soverel full-time to develop a new sailboat. While in Florida, he also cofounded the Palm Beach Sailing Club, which exists to this day.
Maynard and Jocelyn moved to Westfield, New York in 1968 when Maynard took an engineering job. Over the next 20 years he established himself as an expert in designing vibrating equipment systems. He and Jocelyn raised three sons in Westfield: Linus, Mark and Ryan. Westfield is on Lake Erie, and plenty of sailing was done.
In 1985 Maynard leveraged his extensive knowledge of vibrating systems to take position as a VP of Sales and Marketing for Simplicity Engineering, who were major suppliers of vibrating equipment for assorted heavy industries. After 12 years in this role, Maynard’s employer was acquired. Unhappy with the new regime, he opted to move to a sales role at Simpson Technologies that allowed him to continue working from his home office in Michigan. He continued working from home through a transfer to a similar role at Vulcan Engineering and his eventual retirement in 2001.
Maynard and Jocelyn are enjoying retirement. They have seven grandchildren and one great grandchild, several of whom are already racing sailboats. They spend the warmer months in Michigan. The colder months find them in Florida, where Maynard continues to sail regularly. As discussed in the September 2022 Paragon, Maynard meets frequently with his classmates from Phi Kappa Theta, and the board is fortunate to be able to benefit from his experience.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association exists to connect the over 1000 alumni of the Phi Kappa Theta Ohio Alpha Beta chapter at Case Western Reserve University through events, newsletters, and other gatherings.
Our subsidiary organization, the Ohio Alpha Beta Housing Corporation, exists to own, maintain, and improve the Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter House located at 11016 Magnolia Drive, Cleveland, OH, 44106.
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11016 Magnolia Dr
Cleveland, OH 44106
United States