Calvins Chronicles
The newsletter of the California Theta Chapter Alumni of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity Summer 2012
Earlier this year, Kurt Wedberg (#280) made his third summit of Mt Everest. International Mountain Guides (IMG) posted on May 19th that he reached the top of the world and his name was the eleventh of 22 submitted to the Nepal Ministry of Tourism.
In this issue: John Ciccarellis column & HQ resolution honoring him Updates on brothers A look back at the 1970s Help needed at Long Beach State, UC Riverside & Occidental
Summer 2012 Dear Phi Psi Brothers, The year 2012 is especially marked with significant proud accomplishments within our California Theta Chapter family by which to share and celebrate. Our congratulations to Brother Kurt Wedberg 84 who owns Sierra Mountaineering in Bishop, California and in May 2012 made his third successful ascent to the top of Mount Everest! In addition to Kurt's tremendous feat of physical endurance, skill and determination, Brother Mike Epler 80 also completed a personal 250K endurance run in the Gobi Desert of China which will be highlighted in a special upcoming article in our Fraternity publication The Shield.
The Ciccarelli family at the May 2012 graduation of Julie, a Tri Delta, from Loyola Marymount University
The era of social media and our semi-annual California Theta Calvin's Chronicles publication has helped to bring many of our Chapter Brothers together, and it is has been very gratifying to witness the Spirit of the Brotherhood as reflected by many shared comments, e-mails, Facebook posts and photos. Our congratulations and special thanks to our Editor Brother Gene Wilk 90 whom was recently honored with a 2012 GAC nomination for the Edgar Fahs Smith Award for contribution to The Shield. I am happy to share that upon a return two weeks ago from the 76th Grand Arch Council in San Antonio (Brother Jay Babchuk 75 also attended) that the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity continues to enjoy unprecedented chapter and undergraduate member growth on college campuses nationwide. Its inherent 160 year mission to build Men of Excellence in the great joy of serving others has never been stronger as witnessed in the decade philanthropic alliance sponsorship of the Boys and Girls Club of America. Preliminary planning will soon take place as we look to the next 15 months to begin the important steps of the California Theta recolinization process which will include the recruitment of a volunteer colony advisory team and expanded Chapter House Corporation Board, the latter of which has been loyally led by Brothers John Soukup 76 and David Friedman '80 for two decades. I wish to thank those Chapter Brothers whom have already pledged future colony resource support in various forms including Brothers Jim Perley 76 of Franklin, Tennessee, Jerry Mowery 73 of Alexandra, Virginia, CSUN Foundation Trustee Wayne Bailey 73, and Derek Greenlee 90 of Las Vegas, Nevada whom each and all have shared positive sentiments of a hopeful future return of the Phi Psi flag on the CSUN campus. I hope this Summer Issue of Calvin's Chronicles finds each of you and your families in happy and healthy spirit as we look to the future with great anticipation, hard work and a proud sense of collective accomplishment. Fraternally, John
A Resolution of the Executive Council of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity for the Forty Years of Membership & Service of
John V. Ciccarelli
WHEREAS: For forty years, John V. Ciccarelli has been a symbol of brotherhood in
the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity; and,
WHEREAS: During Phi Kappa Psis one-hundred and sixty years of existence,
Brother John V. Ciccarelli has devoted forty years of service with his love and friendship to the brothers of Phi Kappa Psi; and,
WHEREAS: Brother John V. Ciccarelli has offered leadership to Phi Kappa Psi
National Fraternity as a chapter advisor, alumni association officer, District VI Archon, various appointed officer positions, and serving on the Executive Council as the Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President and as the 58th National President of the Fraternity; and,
WHEREAS: Brother John V. Ciccarelli, by his devotion to the virtues, principles
and precepts of Phi Kappa Psi, and through his exercise of commitment, honesty, consideration, service, loyalty, integrity and brotherly love, has brought honor to himself, and has strengthened and advanced the good name of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity; now therefore,
Be IT RESOLVED, by the Executive Council of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, that
the hearty good wishes, appreciation and affection of the Executive Council, all of the members of the California Theta Chapter and the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, be bestowed upon and extended to Brother John V. Ciccarelli, in recognition of his forty years of service to the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity.
In recognition whereof, I hereunto set my hand and seal on this 6th day of February, in the year of our Lord, 2012 AD, Attest:
__________________________________
J. Tryon Hubbard Jr., Alabama Alpha 64 President Witnesseth::
__________________________________
Shawn M. Collinsworth, Indiana Eta 91 Executive Director
John Ciccarelli (second from right) at the 2012 Greater Los Angeles Alumni Association & Greater Orange County Alumni Association Founders Day Dinner with District VI Archon Tim Suwandhaputra (far left).
Skip Effler (#69)
Four Cal Thetans in the Big Easy
David & Sherri Friedrich (#152), Mitch & Cheryl Cohen (#122), Lee & Ann Whitney (#149) and John & Doree Atkisson (#119) took a four-day trip to New Orleans and are shown here at the famous Caf Du Monde in the French Quarter.
David Friedrich (#152)
David Friedrich (#152) with his wife Sherri, three daughters and two sons-in-law.
Dave Blackwell (#101)
Dave & Debbie Blackwell (#101) recently took a trip to the big island of Hawaii with their older daughters in-laws, and part of their adventure included zip lining one over a quarter mile long on the north side of the island.
Mike Epler (#206)
Completing one marathon is a great accomplishment. Now imagine a week-long race of four days of marathons followed by an 80K in which you have a second day to complete and relax before finishing off the last day with a 10K all on the other side of the world. That is what Mike Epler (#206) did this past June in the Gobi Desert of China, a multistage 250K race in an incredible test of physical endurance. The race requires Mike to carry his own food, sleeping bag, etc., so while water was provided every six to eight miles along the route, Mike had to carry an 18-20 lb pack. He spent countless hours of training and preparation with the expectation that temperatures in the Gobi Desert could get as high as 120 degrees along the course. Mike participated in Gobi March to raise funds for a dental clinic at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to help 400 needy children through Auras House where he is a volunteer partner through its website which may be seen at http://www.aurashouse.com. Mikes family has also been busy. 25-year-old Danielle is working on her masters in clinical psychology at California Lutheran University and will apply to doctorate programs this fall. 22-year-old Alexandra is finishing her first year at the University of Indianapolis for her doctorate in clinical psychology. Both are interested in working with children: Danielle is working part-time as a behavioral therapist for autistic children, and Alexandra is looking to help kids with anxiety & stress disorders and will start her first internship this fall. Also, Mikes wife Helene (Baron) was promoted to Senior Contracts Manager at Blue Shield of California this year and continues her volunteer work at Chaminade High School as cheer mom. Mike continues to work for Bank of America providing IT architecture support to various internal projects. In addition, once Mike completes a thesis, he will achieve his masters degree in software engineering at CSUN.
Kurt Wedberg (#280)
For the third time, Kurt Wedberg (#280) stood on top of the world. On May 19, 2012, Kurt made his third successful summit of Mt. Everest (29,029 ft.) truly a rare, historical achievement. His earlier summits were in 1995 and 2008. Estimates vary for the number of summits with some as high as 6,000 summits by approximately 4,000 people still a very small number of people. The Nepal Ministry of Tourism has one of the more conservative sets of statistics. Nepal counts from the first summit by Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953 through December 2009 only 2,960 summits of Mt. Everest, also known as Mt. Sagarmatha. Yet for climbers like Kurt who have made multiple summits, the number of actual people who have successfully made the climb is lower than 2,960. The difficulty in making the climb may be seen in a portion of Kurts blog related to the final push for the summit: At 7:30pm we started getting ready. We put on our climbing harnesses, boots, and crampons while wearing headlamps. We shouldered our rucksacks each filled with an oxygen bottle and at 8:15pm we began our ascent. Weather was cold with a steady wind blowing 20-30 mph. Many other headlamps could be seen ahead of us on the route. Soon we were attaching ourselves to the fixed line that was anchored the previous day by an advance team of Sherpas and we settled into a rhythm of 3-4 deep breaths for each step we took up hill. With no moon we had a blanket of stars above us but were aided very little in the way of light. The beams of our headlamps illuminated our path a few feet in front of us, which proved enough for what we needed to see. The terrain was mixed snow and rock angling at a steady 3040 degrees. It takes a lot of time to acclimate to the high altitude, which is why Kurt spent two months in Nepal for the entire summiting adventure. Kurt arrived at Everest Base Camp at (17,600 ft.) on Easter Sunday, April 8th, and for the next six weeks spent time making acclimatization climbs and preparing for the ultimate ascent. To read more of Kurts blog, go to: http://sierramountaineering.com/blog/
Gene Wilk (#334)
New Jersey Gamma at Rutgers University, where Gene is one of the alumni advisers, was installed as a chapter in January. Shown here at the chartering banquet with Gene are new brothers Sean Croal, Kunal Doshi and Connor Craig.
Alex Rodriguez (#341) & Eric Palmstrom (#344)
At a recent visit with their families, Alex Rodriguez (#341) changed his daughter Sophia as Eric Palmstrom (#344) changed his daughter Scarlett.
And now, a look back at the 1970s.
Calling All Alumni!
Three chapters in Southern California are in need of alumni advisers: Cal Mu at Occidental Cal Nu at UC Riverside Cal Xi at Long Beach State
Theyre all young chapters; none have a large alumni base. If you are interested in volunteering some of your time, experience and wisdom, please contact National at [email protected].
