Kappa Journal Post-Conclave Issue (Fall 2017)

I have received many awards in my lifetime, but not a single one or all combined means as much to me as this Laurel Wreath Award from my brothers. I thank you for this honor. I thank my brothers for voting for me to receive this in New Orleans. I thank you for just being genuine and being there for me. I thank the Laurel Wreath Commission for giving this 74 th Laurel Wreath to me to match my age of 74 years. I should have been born twenty years earlier. Let me tell you, there is a special honor to be inducted along with Brother Rodney Adkins, a giant among men—a giant among Kappas. If you look up in the dictionary the definition of excellence, you will see Brother Adkins' photograph right there. A little bit about me. I grew up in a Pentecostal church. One of the deacons used to say, 'You see me in my glory but you do not know my story.' I was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. There were 11 children. Eleven of us. My daddy did not go out much at night, Kappa brothers. But my mother only went through the eighth grade, my father through the fourth. They grew up outside of Mount Henderson, North Carolina. They used to tell my brothers and sisters and me how they used to cry because they could not go to school. They used to tell us they used to pray for rain during harvest season, because when it rained during harvest season, they could not work in the fields on those days. That gave them the opportunity to escape and attend school. But make no mistake about it they were not uneducated. They were self-educated...the smartest people I have ever known. They gave my brothers and sisters and me many, many lessons. One lesson they told us was to get enough education, so you never have to look up to anybody. And, then get a little bit more so you can be wise enough not to look down on anybody. And that describes Kappas. They used to tell us that education without common sense is like a load of books on the back of a jackass. If you have to choose between education and common sense, choose common sense. But Kappas have been blessed with both. They used to say that you should live your lives such that even the undertaker will be sorry when you die. And, if you know the undertakers I know, you know what a challenge that is. I have a friend who is an un- dertaker. He does not sign his letters 'Sincerely' yours, he signs his letters 'Eventually'...

Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter