Dean and I have this habit of following each other around the state. When he graduated from Appalachian in 1997, he took a job teaching at my old high school. The principal that he worked for there was my old English teacher. While I was living in Greensboro, Dean ended up in Winston-Salem, not too far away. A year or so later, he began law school in Chapel Hill, and soon thereafter I began doctoral studies in Chapel Hill. When he graduated, he moved to Asheville for a job. And soon thereafter, I moved to Asheville for a job. We’ve gone from hanging out at Macado’s in Boone, to eating the infamous ‘Bowl of Cheese’ at the Ratskellar in Chapel Hill, to running into each other at various hotspots in downtown Asheville. Who knows where we will end up next?
This weekend however, we’ve had a chance to come home. In a sense, to where Province 20’s renaissance had its beginnings. Because of the help I received from James Daugherty, the 1993 Province Workshop that was held here in Boone had one of the largest turnouts in several years. It was that workshop that has served as the workshop format that we use today. Among other things, it was at that workshop that we instituted the office of ACPR, which was filled by James Daugherty, and the province council was established. Brothers that had been to previous workshops knew that something new was in the air, that the province had great potential that was waiting to be unleashed. A new day was about to dawn.
A few months later, graduation from ECU was upon me. I was faced with a choice – whether to attend graduate school at UNCG or ASU. Of course I love UNCG dearly, I’m there every summer. However, making the choice to come to ASU, to be a Mountaineer, is a choice that I will never, never regret. My first semester here was also Dean’s first semester. James was Dean’s big brother, and since James was my ACPR, Dean had an opportunity to learn about province affairs almost from Day One. The following semester, I had a little brother at Rho Tau, Tim O’Toole. His little brother in turn would be Patrick Clancy. The next semester, after much resistance from the “old guard” of Rho Tau, I was able to convince the chapter to allow Dean to serve as my Assistant FEO. One of those that pledged that semester was none other than former CPR Shawn McDonald. When I left for Texas the following year, people like Dean, Shawn, and Pat took up the torch, and since then, it has shined ever so brightly. They bought into the vision, building upon the foundation that was laid in the early 1990s. Sometimes I wonder how things might have gone had I not chosen to come to Appalachian. As Dr. Crosby alluded to, sometimes we never know the long term effects of the choices that we make.
Without a doubt, Dean knows me better than perhaps anyone else in this room. He has seen me through ups and downs, through good times and bad times. He’s the one that knows my deepest secrets before anyone else. When my confidence in the fraternity has been shaken, he has restored my faith. While we have not always agreed on everything, we have always lived by a favorite saying of the Rho Tau chapter, “Brothers may quarrel within the walls, but stand united against insults from without…”
When we gathered here in Boone seven years ago, a dear friend of many of us, Leigh Soufas, a 1987 initiate of the Delta Sigma chapter, a strong supporter of Province 20, paid me one of the greatest compliments that could be paid to anyone here. “John” he said, “You ARE an icon of Province 20!” I think it is only fair to say, “Dean…join the club!”
One of the heroes of our nation, Robert F. Kennedy, once said, “Some men see things as they are and ask ‘Why?’ I dream things that never were and ask, ‘Why not?’” For those of you who were here a few years ago, think about where we were then, and look at where we are now.
Dean, thank you for contributing to the chapters of this province. Thank you for carrying the torch, for capturing the vision of all that we can become. Thank you for challenging brothers throughout the state to do their very best. Thank you for not being afraid to speak your mind, while continuing to respect those of differing views.
...I know that without a doubt, Bill McCloud would be proud.
