Beta
Pi:
IS BETA PI
BLOG WITHOUT ANY REDEEMING SOCIAL OR ARTISTIC MERIT?:
YEA
. .
. . or
NAY?
Beta Pi
Blog’s purpose: to bring ATO, Beta Pi Chapter Brothers and ATO Gal-Pals
together. The blog is not to be taken
seriously - it is meant for fun.
The
Beta Pi Blog is non-political. It
includes
pictures,
links, Archives of previous issues,
and
other time-wasters.
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MEMORIAL TO KURT WAGNER
Dave Christofferson
notified me that KURT WAGNER died in July, 2002, which he learned about on
Facebook – he coincidentally made a Facebook connection with Kurt’s Widow,
Janet Addis. Through that connection,
Dave got information from Kurt’s sister, Krista Wagner Pate. This is the information Dave obtained . . .
“Kurt was my oldest brother and developed a brain
tumor (glioblastoma) in April 2002. It
was inoperable and he fought hard but died in July 2002. He and his wife Janet were married 19 years
with no children. He was a chief sound
engineer for Bose, lovely soft spoken man who was taken too early at 46 years
of age. We miss him.
“Our Dad (Mike “Wags” Wagner) died three years ago
of a stroke. He was a great man and Kurt
was just like him. Our mother died
almost 7 years ago. There were 5 siblings
left and we are all doing well. Janet
Addis was Kurt’s wife. She’s a lovely
person also and still a big part of our family.”
Krista Wagner Pate
I knew
Kurt because Kurt’s dad MIKE “WAGS” WAGNER was also an ATO Alum, and in 1973 Wags
hosted a pool party for us at his home in Hartsville, Tennessee.
JEFF PEROUT provided some great pictures, which we believe are from that great Wags Wagner Pool Party.
I also
found an interesting article about the Wagner Home in Hartsville, which Wags
dubbed “The Heritage” – Wags, and the entire family is mentioned, including
Kurt. Here is the link: http://www.hartsvillevidette.com/article/270201
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ANECDOTES
A new
Blog feature has been born, I’ll call it “Anecdotes”. What inspired me was a string of e-mails from
DAVE CHRISTOFFERSON, Beta Pi, Class of 1979.
Dave is a gifted writer, this is obvious in his e-mails.
Here are a few “gems” Dave sent me . . . about
J.D. Strickland and George “M-Link” Ford (lightly edited).
“It's funny what you wrote about JD Strickland. In
2009 I visited the Tic Mansion for the first time in decades when I was
visiting my bro, who lives in Franklin and is an atty for State of TN.
Out of nowhere JD materialized. Funny.
“Interesting:
The 2009 ATOs (who never heard of ATOs being called "Tics") kept
asking me if this was true from our era and if that was true from our
era. Our era of ATOs is the subject of much Tic Lore.
“You'll enjoy
this: I was inclined to join the Betas. My best freshman hall pal
Craig Weber (kid bro of Randy) was set on joining ATO, so I reluctantly went to
a rush party at the Mansion. It was set up like speed dating. You
got about a minute with an active and then he moved on to the freshman sitting
next to you, and another active sat in front of you. I asked George Ford,
"What's the craziest thing you ever did?" Without hesitating or
flinching, he said, "I dropped acid and f**ked a cat in a phone booth."
That's when I decided I was going to pledge ATO.
“George Ford was a trip. Once he entered the Tic House
after having just given himself a haircut, and he asked me, "Hey, what do
you think of the haircut I just gave myself?" (It looked like he must
have been drunk and blindfolded when he did it.) I said,
"Yeah! Looks great!"
TO
DAVE: You won’t believe this, I have a very similar story
about Frank “Buck” Biller, who is my best friend, and roommate in the ATO House. It was a Saturday around noon (meaning we had
hangovers from Friday night). We were in
our room (the “center” room at the House) and out of nowhere, Buck looked at
himself in the mirror and said “Hey Bozo, I need haircut.” To which I said, “So, what else is new?”
(because Buck always wore his hair in
a shaggy, unkempt manner, on purpose, he liked “the look”). With that, Buck takes a little pair of grade
school scissors, aka “Kaptain Kangaroo Scissors” – the kind with the rounded
ends (so kids won’t get injured), and grabs a tuft of hair on his forehead, and
starts whacking away with the KK scissors.
The result was hilarious - his forehead looked like he survived an AXE
ATTACK - he was very proud of himself for the new improved look, and I suppose
for saving the cost of a haircut (which in 1973 was probably $5.95).
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KEEPING TABS:
Here is
a reminder of the Brothers we have lost.
EDWARD G. “TED” STEPHANY, died 01/20/2016.
Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2016, No.01, Archive: Jan. 2016
J. NEAL CRENSHAW, died 11/12/2014.
Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2014, No.08, Archive: Nov. 2014
Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2014, No.10, Archive: Dec. 2014
MILES WALSH, died 07/2013.
Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2013, No.05, Comments Section (over 50 comments),
Archive: Aug.2013
DAVID HOWE, died 11/30/2006.
Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2006, No.68, Archive: December, 2006.
Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2007, No.30, Archive: May, 2007
If you
have never explored the “Archives” in this Blog – it is toward the top of the
latest “blog issue”, on the right. You
access it by clicking on the Month and Year, and it will drop down with
choices. For example, if you click on
December, 2006, it will drop down and list all issues that were published that
month. If you want Issue No. 68, you
click on that, and it takes you to that issue.
You can then post a comment to that issue. It’s never too late to post a comment,
right?
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HOW TO
POST, OR READ COMMENTS: Just click the
button - Comments - below.
BETA PI BLOG ROSTER STATS: As of
February 13, 2016, there are 37 Blog Website Members; there are 117 ATO’s
on the blog list, plus 17 ATO Gal-Pals. And,
there are 6 Brothers who do not have e-mail.
Larry
Simons
Beta Pi, 72
