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(Right: Gamma/Maine's Gary Henry and Dick Doyon catch up with other Gamma brothers during a recent homecoming at the University of Maine. Both brothers have demonstrated Theta Chi for Life not only at their alma mater but at other chapters throughout New England and beyond.)

What does it take to reinstall a chapter?

The undergraduates of Zeta Chapter at the University of New Hampshire achieved their goal with the Reinstallation of their chapter on May 2, 2015. An article has been prepared highlighting their achievements as a colony and shares their history.

But, there’s always more to the story.

While the bulk of the work is placed upon the undergraduate members, the Fraternity of the Helping Hand is always with them. The journey toward reinstallation is never done alone.

Several members who attended Zeta’s recent Reinstallation were asked to share their stories. Indeed, you’ll truly see the spirit of our beloved Fraternity, its motto in action, and how everything must come together in collaboration with the undergraduate colony members to realize victory and the presentation (or return) of the charter.

Former Regional Director Dick Doyon (Gamma/Maine 1979) recalled,

“I was a Regional Counselor for 30 years. I enjoy working with the undergraduates. They have a lot of energy and excitement, which is always fun for me. After Zeta Chapter was reinstalled in the early 1984, I was their Regional Counselor until they closed in the early 1990s. I was very proud of the Zeta Brothers. Though I only visited them two or three times a year, they always made me feel very welcome.

In the 1980s chapters from the Northeast sent double digit delegations to the Chapter Leadership Conference and Convention. Typical attendance I recalled looked like the following: Beta/MIT: 8-10 members; Epsilon/WPI: 12-14; Zeta/New Hampshire: 12-14; Eta/Rhode Island: 8; Theta/Massachusetts: 10-12; Epsilon Theta/Tufts: 6; and Eta Delta/Babson: 8.

The Zeta Brothers were very involved regionally and nationally. I was very proud of them. However, alcohol was the undoing of the chapter. I could not get them steered away from the use of alcohol. Their final incident required Grand Chapter intervention. Then-Executive Director Dave Westol called me on a Thursday and requested that I travel to the chapter to obtain the charter and ritual materials prior to the scheduled speakerphone hearing on the next Monday evening.

On Sunday morning, I drove the four hours to Zeta chapter. Almost all of the 60 brothers were there waiting for me. There were no happy words. It was pretty grim…I went over to the charter and took it off of the wall. Then I heard gasps. It was then they finally realized the severity of the situation and the possible consequences of their mistakes. I told them, "If you don't lose your charter after the hearing, I will bring it right back.” I asked them to bring the ritual materials out to my car and I carried the charter out and placed it carefully in the trunk. I said good-bye and drove home.

On Monday morning I called to inform Dave Westol that I had obtained the items that he requested. Having received no instruction to send the materials to the headquarters, later that week I stored the ritual materials and I put a nail in the wall in my basement and hung Zeta’s charter on that nail. I saw it often. The charter remained on that nail until May of 2015 when I took it down to carefully transport it to Zeta's Reinstallation Ceremony. I had that charter and the ritual materials in my care for over 20 years.

It was my pleasure to present Zeta’s charter and ritual materials to the new Brothers of Zeta Chapter. I also went to their Reinstallation to assist in the ceremonies necessary to start a new chapter. It is a lot of work to reinstall a chapter. I know what is needed to be done and wanted to be ready to assist if not enough alumni or undergrads from other chapters were available to help. I also wanted to meet the new Zeta Brothers. I hope to be proud of these new Zeta Brothers also.”

Fellow Gamma/Maine alumnus Gary Henry (1980) made the trip to Durham from Rhode Island. He serves as an alumnus adviser for Eta/Rhode Island and assisted with Eta’s Reinstallation in 2011.

Gary Henry shares some sage advice to the undergraduates at Eta/Rhode Island.

Brother Henry shared,

“I will be happy to provide some comments on my experience with Eta and why I felt it was important to extend the Helping Hand to Zeta:

First, some background. I became a Theta Chi in 1975 and an alumnus member 1980. After graduation, I maintained an active interest in my fraternity and somehow always managed to make it back to Maine for homecoming almost every year to see how the chapter was doing and to catch up with several of my brothers who were around when I was an active and who also seem to make it back every year too, including Dick (Doyon), and to provide whatever support to Gamma that I could.

In 2007, I had the pleasure of meeting Joe D’Amore at our centennial celebration. He asked me where I had come up from and when I told him that I lived in Rhode Island, he indicated that the Fraternity was considering bringing Theta Chi back to the University of Rhode Island. I offered my assistance as I live only minutes from the campus. In the fall of 2009, I was taken up on my offer. Along with several Eta alumni, I was invited to attend an information meeting hosted by the Expansion Coordinator who had been on campus recruiting members for the interest group. The Eta alumni welcomed me with open arms and asked if I would be willing to become one of the advisers to the interest group. I immediately said yes. Over the next two years, I, along with the other advisers, worked with the interest group members to establish the colony and in 2011, to reinstall the chapter. I enjoyed every minute of it! What a thrill it was to bring Theta Chi back to URI! I have remained active as a member of the Chapter Advisory Board and am enjoying watching Eta Chapter continue to grow. I also have many new friends now whom I might not have ever met if I had not become involved. It has been an absolute blast! It is so much fun watching these outstanding young men as they learn, mature, graduate, and join the world community as contributors to our great society.

When I heard that Zeta was being recolonized at UNH last year, I just knew that I wanted to be involved because of the wonderful experience that I had had with Eta, so I drove up for the ceremony and was honored to participate as a colonizing officer. At the colonization, I made a connection with one of the Zeta advisors, Joe Pilsbury (Epsilon/WPI 1999) , a fellow Mainer who grew up not far from my hometown. Last fall, Joe informed me that his nephew, Colby, was a freshman at URI. He wasn’t sure if Colby had any interest in Greek life, but we figured it was worth a shot so, acting as an intermediary, I gave Colby’s contact information to Eta and as they say, the rest is history. Eta initiated Colby as a brother earlier this spring!

When I got the word that the Reinstallation of Zeta had been approved, I made plans to attend and was again honored to participate as an installing officer. I also brought several of the Eta actives up with me to help out, too. Another chapter brought back and we all had a hand in it! It just doesn’t get any better than that.

I guess the message that I would like to get out to every alumnus member is that if you ever have a chance to get involved with bringing a chapter back or bringing a brand new chapter into the Fraternity, or to become a chapter adviser to an existing chapter, DO IT! Get involved! You will meet new friends and you will enjoy every minute of the experience. And it does not matter what chapter you are from, your participation will be welcomed! That has been my experience and I am sure that it will be yours too.”

Another journey was made from halfway across the country. Zeta Sigma/Wisconsin-River Falls Chapter President Jon Hogan (2017) explained,

“In May of 2015 I traveled 2,800 miles round trip from River Falls, Wisconsin to Durham, New Hampshire to fulfill a promise I made to Andrew Butts at the Initiative Academy in August 2014. We formed a friendship that has continued to this day. Andrew inspired me to reach a goal of being President of my chapter. Our communication throughout the year motivated me many times to work harder and to be uncompromising in my leadership within my chapter.

I promised Andrew that that I would attend the Reinstallation of Zeta Chapter if it happened within a year. Fortunately Andrew got everything to work out and hit the goal!

This was close to finals time for me, so I consulted with one of my professors to take a final ahead of time to allow me some extra time for my trip. I arrived a couple days earlier than the May 2nd reinstallation date and had the opportunity to meet some of the men I would soon have the joy and honor of calling brothers. When I arrived I was not disappointed by the caliber of men who greeted me.  I spent the next three days getting to know the men I would soon call brothers. I became more and more impressed and amazed by the support that they showed each other.

Not only did I fulfilled my promise to Brother Butts, whom I consider to be one of the best friends I've made through the Theta Chi Fraternity, I am also proud to call another 41 men my friends and brothers.”

The same sentiment was shared by Diego Jiminez (Epsilon Psi/NJIT 2016), who had previously attended the Eta Upsilon/Texas A&M Reinstallation in November 2014 to uphold a similar promise he made during Initiative Academy. He related,

“Last year, after meeting some great brothers at Initiative Academy, I went out of my way to visit them and, if I could, attend their installations. Out of all the people I've met, Andrew Butts was one of the best leaders as well as one of the people I grew closest to at the conference. I always believed he could get his charter and I couldn't be more proud of my brother.”

A final story shared came from a former staff member who had been sent to the University of New Hampshire to recruit the men to restart Zeta. Former Leadership and Education Consultant and Iota Xi/George College Charter Member Tanner McCullough recalled his time at UNH while working on staff and why he returned for Zeta’s Reinstallation,

“When I went out to help restart the Zeta Chapter, the biggest thing I wanted to accomplish was to share the experience that I had starting Iota Xi Chapter with another group of potential brothers. I became great friends with the guys during that semester, and besides the multiple snow storms, I was sad to leave New Hampshire and really missed the time I had with them.

When Director of Recruitment and Expansion Justin Jones asked if I could help with the Reinstallation Ceremony, I was excited. The guys at Zeta Colony didn’t believe me when I told them that I would be back to see them become Brothers.

When you help bring a group of almost 50 guys together, it is very rewarding and just shows what Theta Chi can do. It was really cool to see the Zeta alumni come back to be a part of the Reinstallation Ceremony. I wished I could have talked with him more. I never even caught his name. It was also great to see the Fleethams since they had been present for the colonization. They truly represent Theta Chi for Life."

The Assisting Hand established by Frederick Norton Freeman and Arthur Chase in the heart of New England lives on nearly 160 years later. Indeed, it has been written in the hearts of its more than 175,000 members from 231 chapters throughout North America.

Congratulations to the Brothers of Zeta Chapter and a special “Thank You” to all the brothers that aided them on their journey toward Reinstallation.