FALL 2023
THE
George A Long Jr., Illinois Eta, 6/6/1939 #586
George A Long III, Indiana Alpha 1413
George A Long, Indiana Beta
#539 Theta,
C. Loy,
#332
Edward
10/19/1208
3/18/1937
Indiana Strawbridge,
Indiana
Robert
Theta, 4/5/1934 #504
Strawbridge,
Indiana
Theta, 4/19/1936
#531
Dallas Ryan
Long, Florida
Gamma,
4/22/2007
#1663
Russell
Strawbridge,
Indiana
Theta,
4/27/1947
#749
Herbert
Granville Moody
Jr. Illinois
Eta,
3/7/1914 #232
OHIO GAMMA GAZETTE Official Newsletter of the Ohio Gamma Chapter of Phi Delta Theta at Ohio University
INTRODUCING THE TOM SHOEMAKER MEMORIAL HOUSE IMPROVEMENT FUND
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s evidenced by Roland Winzer’s 1193 heartfelt tribute, Tom Shoemaker 1192 had a giving heart for many worthwhile causes during his amazing life. One of those projects was our housing initiative for Ohio Gamma. Over the past four years, Tom became the lead donor in securing the permanent financing for the chapter house. In my many interactions with Tom, he was steadfast in wanting to ensure that we had a chapter house and that it be cared for, well-maintained, and improved so that it was a home that our members could proudly display. In addition to his final donation that put us over the top in our financing project, Tom also seeded a maintenance, repair, and improvement fund for $5,000. Upon learning of this, Bruce Dacre 1201, a fellow era brother of Tom’s,
suggested we honor Tom permanently by naming this fund in his honor and memory. Bruce also made the first donation, with several other brothers following. Therefore, we are now announcing the full rollout of the Tom Shoemaker Memorial House Improvement Fund to our alumni. We wish for this to be the primary purpose of all alumni donations so that we can all realize Tom’s vision. It is our intention, unless otherwise directed by the donating brother, to use our alumni donations exclusively for this purpose. At the same time, the tenant rents and chapter parlor fees fund the monthly operating needs of the house. We have many multiple ways to give. Donating brothers are also encouraged, if they desire, to earmark specific projects that Scott Long outlines in his update in this issue. We also plan to
TOM SHOEMAKER IN COELO QUEIS EST
Brother Tom Shoemaker, ’61, entered the Chapter Grand on February 1, 2023. Tom’s pledge brother, Roland Winzer, ’62, wrote the following tribute. om Shoemaker was one of my pledge brothers in the Ohio Gamma 1960 pledge class. He had already served in the military, so he joined our pledge class as an older, more experienced, and mature pledge than the other eight. Although Tom seldom spoke about his abilities, he was always supportive and ‘hands-on’ regarding our chapter’s projects, and Tom worked hard on those projects that he felt would enhance and elevate the status of our chapter. Tom was an extremely successful businessman who owned a series of Holiday Inns in Central and Southern Ohio. Once, when I overnighted in one of his hotels and had breakfast that Sunday morning, I discovered that Tom Shoemaker had a weekly Sunday morning ‘heavily discounted’ breakfast for the local senior citizens. As wealthy and successful as he was, Tom Shoemaker walked around to every table with a coffee pot in his hand and spent time at each table Continued on page 4
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use the recurrent donations we receive from the monthly donation program that twenty-two current brothers participate in. We administer this program through Square®, and it only requires a $10.00 per month minimum commitment. We only need your name, email address, amount, and preferred billing date per month, and we will push a donation invoice to you. Thank you all for your generous donations thus far. We hope to honor Tom’s legacy through this program. Yours in the Bond, Brian Bastock 1657 House Corporation Treasurer Bbastock33@gmail.com 440.212.3153
PRESIDENT’S LETTER
READY TO MEET THE CHALLENGES AHEAD BY SETTING AGGRESSIVE GOALS
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s we begin the 2023 academic year, the chapter faces its fair share of challenges, including boosting our membership engagement, navigating a lower point in Greek life popularity, and building an improved financial budgeting and control process. I am here to say we are up to the challenges. Continued on page 4