During my freshman year, fraternities were the last thing on my mind.  Engineering was a difficult program for someone who came from a small country high school and I almost flunked out.  My cousin, Bob Burns '52, was Rush Chairman at Zeta and needed to fill the pledge class coming in during the fall of 1952.  He invited me out to the house for dinner and a couple of parties.  I didn't drink beer and wasn't much for socializing so I really didn't fit in that well.  When my name came up for a vote during the house meeting, there were some brothers who didn't think I was fraternity material.  But, Bob needed to fill the pledge class, so I was given a bid. 

The fraternity sent letters to all the new pledges telling them to return a week before classes started to get the house in shape for the coming year.  Somehow I never got that letter.  So, I showed up on a Tuesday to register, drove out to the house and saw everyone working and returned home.  When I returned Sunday evening, I was in big trouble!

Pledging was a very different activity back in the early 1950s.  We had chores, we had study times, we were required to learn the fraternity history, the names and addresses of all brothers, and we had to prepare a pledge manual.  The pledge manual was several pages long and it had to be typed without a single error.  I doubt that today's pledges could understand the difficulty we experienced in putting that pledge book together.  Throughout our pledge semester we were subject to questioning by the brothers about the contents of the pledge book.  Those questioning sessions were usually conducted at lunch or dinner when we ate in the dining room.  A brother would call on a pledge who was expected to stand on his chair to respond to questions.  Failure to give the correct answer usually resulted in some form of punishment such as extra chores or the application of "wood" to ones posterior.  But that "hazing", made me a better, more outgoing person. 

Hell Week, the week before the start of the spring semester and the prelude to initiation, was truly a week of hell.   My pledge trip with Al Ofensend to Frackville, Reading and Philadelphia was stressful, but a true learning experience.  There were 22 of us going thru Hell Week in February 1953 and we became a "Band of Brothers" during that week, helping each other accomplish the work that was assigned and fixing up the house in the process.  (I laid a new asphalt tile kitchen floor that week because I had helped my father lay tile at home and knew something about what to do.)

As a Brother of Zeta, I became more close to some of the members than I was to my own blood brothers.  We had parties, we dated, we imported dates from other colleges for big weekend parties, we participated in Spring Week, we helped each other with school assignments, etc.  And we ran the fraternity, solving problems and  keeping the house in good condition for future members.  All the time learning lessons about life and being good citizens.  My experiences at Zeta of KDR were actually of more benefit to me in my life and career than the lessons learned in the classroom.

Over the years I have tried to give back to KDR some of the bounty that has come my way as a result of my membership in the fraternity.  (My 38 year career was the direct result of my being a KDR brother.)  Records should show that I have consistently contributed to Zeta chapter for the past 57 years.  I also contribute to the National of KDR and served as a Trustee of the KDR Foundation for 9 years.  If I lived closer to State College, I would be more active with Zeta chapter.  In the meantime, I will contribute as much as I can for the restoration of the Zeta Chapter House and trust that someday it will be as good as it was "back then". "
--James Buterbaugh '55