Lambda 

of DKE

Chartered 

June 5, 1852 as

the first fraternity at

Kenyon College,

Gambier, Ohio. 

In 1854, two years

after its founding, 

Lambda chapter

built the first

fraternity lodge

in America on a

wooded site about a

mile from campus.

For the chapter

website 

click here

9/28/06: THE KENYON COLLEGIAN, Gambier, OH

...people have camped out with him, including members from Delta Kappa Epsilon... story

4/13/06: THE KENYON COLLEGIAN, Gambier, OH

Delta Kappa Epsilon loses Bullseye... story

3/21/05: KENYON FORTNIGHTLY, Gambier, OH

His father, a Kenyon alumnus of 1880 and a Delta Kappa Epsilon member, arrived in Gambier to celebrate his son’s initiation... story

Lane K. Thompson '43 joined DKE's Mystic Circle May 12, 2006. He was eighty-five and a resident of Shaker Heights, Ohio.

A graduate of Mount Vernon High School, Lane was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon while at Kenyon, which he attended from September 1939 through June 1941. He earned his BA from Western Reserve University. He entered the United States Air Force in August 1942, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant at Guadalcanal in June 1944. As a radar operator in the South Pacific and the Philippines during World War II, Lane escaped injury in a crash landing in 1944, but had to hike from the crash scene to the front lines. He was discharged from active duty in February 1946 as a first lieutenant, and earned the Air Medal Four Clusters. He married Jacqueline Shreck in 1950 in Cleveland and worked for the Randolph Distributing Company.

Lane is survived by his daughter, Suzy Walker, and her husband, Ken, of Greensboro, North Carolina; son Steve and his wife, Marti, of Richmond, Virginia; son John, of Miami, Florida; grandchildren Kate, Caroline, and Chrissie Walker and Bob and Erick Thompson; sister Margaret Ann Bair of Mount Vernon, Ohio; and brother-in-law Alan Schreck and his wife, Nancy McCann, of Lakewood, Ohio. He was preceded in death by his wife, Jacqueline. Memorial contributions may be made to the Kenyon College Alumni Office, Gambier, Ohio 43022; or to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 634445, Cincinnati, Ohio 45263-4445.

James E. Parsons '58 joined DKE's Mystic Circle February 10, 2006, after a long struggle against complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was sixty-nine and a resident of La Jolla, California.

Jay earned his BA in English, cum laude, from Kenyon, where he studied under John Crowe Ransom and his advisor was Denham Sutcliffe. He won the De Rothchild Foundation and the Robert Frost poetry prizes. He was president of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and was active in drama club. He was also a member of the football, swimming, and lacrosse teams. He studied philosophy at Brandeis University, and received his PhD in Elizabethan-Jacobean drama from the University of Rochester, New York.

Jay was a scholar and a gentleman. He had a brilliant mind, and his sardonic wit often puzzled those who took what he said literally. His passion was reading, and he was an avid supporter of the La Jolla Library. He was a professor in the College of Letters at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and in the English department at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. His real love was scholarly research, and he worked at the Houghton Library at Harvard with a team of colleagues, collating and editing the manuscripts and journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was co-editor of Volume VII of The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson , and worked on many of the other fifteen volumes.

Jay received a Fulbright Lectureship to Morocco, where he taught at Mohammed V University in Rabat. He also gave lectures in Tunis and Vienna. While living in Rochester, he taught, edited for a major medical journal, reviewed plays for The Shakespeare Bulletin , and was a speechwriter for Eastman Kodak.

Jay met his wife of thirty-six years, Jan, at the Casino at Monte Carlo in Monaco, where they returned for their thirtieth anniversary. In 1989, they moved from Rochester to La Jolla. Before his disease, Jay was an avid skier, sailor, and tennis player. He was active at St. James Episcopal Church as a lay reader, lay eucharistic minister, church librarian, and officiate of morning prayer. Jay and Jan celebrated a belated thirty-fifth anniversary on a Mediterranean cruise, sailing from Genoa to Italy, Egypt, Turkey, and Greece.

Jay is survived by his wife. Donations are suggested to the University of California San Diego Foundation, School of Medicine, or the American Lung Association.

Clinton A. Roenisch '83 joined DKE's Mystic Circle February 12, 2006. He was forty-four and a resident of Kentfield, California.

At Kenyon, Clint was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and majored in economics. He earned a CPA, and an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1988, and worked as a financial consultant, establishing Roenisch Consulting.

Clint is survived by his wife, Cynthia Carter Roenisch; children Brooks and Heidi; siblings Melinda Roenisch and David Roenisch, Jr.; parents Elizabeth Roenisch Crowe and Davis H. Roenisch; and stepbrothers Robert and William Crowe.

Kenyon Alumni Bulletin: Volume 28, Number 4; Spring/Summer 2006

Harold W. Coffin '30 joined DKE's Mystic Circle September 19, 1998. He was ninety and a resident of Spokane, Washington.

Harold was a member of the basketball team and Delta Kappa Epsilon while he was a student at Kenyon. He received his B.A. and his L.L.B. from the University of Idaho in 1930 and 1933, respectively. From 1938 to 1940, he served as attorney and secretary of the Vermont Loan & Trust Company; in 1940, he became a partner of Paine, Hamblen, Coffin, Brooke, and Miller, in Spokane, Washington. He served as trustee of the Comstock Foundation and of the Eastern Washington State Historical Society; as president of the board of directors of the Eastern Washington Museum Foundation in Spokane; and as chancellor of the Episcopalian Diocese of Spokane. He was a fellow of the American Bar Association; a member of the American College Probate Counsel; a member of the Washington State Bar Association, serving as president in 1950-51 and on the board of governors in1947-49; and as president of the Spokane County Bar Association in 1945.

Harold is survived by his daughters, Sara Coffin Fernandez and Melissa Coffin Willis. He was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia Maguire Coffin.

David Fink '49 joined DKE's Mystic Circle November 22, 2005. He was eighty-two and a resident of Irwin, Pennsylvania.

Dave majored in political science and was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon. In addition to Flying Club, choir, and dramatics, he also played soccer at Kenyon. During World War II, he served as an officer in the United States Navy Air Corps, and was awarded the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross. After earning his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in1953, Dave served as deputy attorney general for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1954 to 1958. From 1958 until he retired in 1982, he practiced law in Westmoreland County.

He is survived by his wife, Margaret; son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Linda Fink; daughter Gretchen Karcher; and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his brother, Jerry Fink '50. Memorial donations may be made to St. Vincent College, 300 Fraser Purchase Road, Latrobe, Pennsylvania 15650-2690.

Kenyon Alumni Bulletin: Volume 28, Number 3; Winter 2006

At Kenyon, John was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. After one year, he transferred to the University of Michigan and then went on to earn a medical degree from Wayne State University.

John was a prominent obstetrician and gynecologist in Grosse Pointe for thirty years.

Among John's many interests were his love of classic car collecting and his advocacy for animals. He rescued and raised countless animals over the course of his lifetime.

Survivors include his wife of forty-seven years, Ruth; one daughter, Janet Bradfield Davis; two sons, Robert J. Bradfield III '82 and William K. Bradfield; and nine grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Donor Services, P.O. Box 4072, Pittsfield, Massachusetts 01202, or the animal welfare society of the donor's choice.

Kenyon Alumni Bulletin: Volume 28, Number 1; Fall 2005

At Kenyon, Tom was a biology major and a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity.

Following his graduation from Kenyon, Tom served as a teacher of English at Iolani School in Honolulu, Hawaii. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he served as a medical aidman and first-aid instructor with the Red Cross Civilian Defense. He returned to Kenyon as instructor in speech from 1942 to 1943 and then joined the American Field Service as an ambulance driver. From 1943 until 1945 he served in India, Assam, and Burma, as well as Italy, Belgium, and Holland.

After the war, Tom earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in speech from the University of Michigan and began his long career teaching English, humanities, and public speaking in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. He was a Fulbright lecturer in English at the West Pakistan University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore and the University of Peshawar in 1963-64. In 1972, he was a visiting professor at the University of Wales in Cardiff, and in 1983 he lectured on technical writing in Pretoria, South Africa.

Following his retirement in 1987, Tom tutored in technical writing courses in Denmark, England, and Sweden, and tutored doctoral candidates in engineering in how to give speeches on technical subjects to lay audiences.

Tom is survived by two daughters, Sally Scrivani and Susan Miller; a son, Charles F. Sawyer; six granddaughters, Julia Scrivani, Taylor and Morgan Miller, and Sarah, Caitlin, and Rebecca Sawyer; and three grandsons, Samuel and Michael Sawyer and William Scrivani.

D. Gray Slawson Jr. '49 joined DKE's Mystic Circle February 9, 2005. He was seventy-seven and a resident of Kentwood, Michigan.

At Kenyon, Gray was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, French Club, Kenyon Singers, and Nu Pi Kappa.

During the Korean War, Gray served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.

Gray worked for Evans Products Company and Orr Industries as a general manager before establishing himself as a manufacturers representative.

Survivors include two daughters, Virginia Rabideau and Mary Gray Slawson; two sons, David C. and James C. Slawson; ten grandchildren; one sister, Frances Farrar; and one brother, W. David Slawson. Memorial contributions may be made to one's local humane society or to the charity of one's choice.

Brian E. Pattison '62 joined DKE's Mystic Circle February 4, 2005, as a result of a heart attack. He was sixty-four and a resident of Hanover, New Hampshire.

At Kenyon, Brian was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He went on to earn an M.B.A. from Cornell University in 1964.

Brian started his career as a certified public accountant with Arthur Andersen in New York City. In 1970, he relocated to Hanover and joined the firm of Smith, Batchelder, and Rugg. After three years, he left to become the financial manager for a client, Vermont Log Buildings of Harland. He later formed a partnership with Tod Schweizer, the manager of Vermont Log Buildings, and they bought the company. Their partnership, Traditional Management, now controls the nationwide Real Log Homes and Timberpeg, Inc., both well-known manufacturers of quality homes.

During the 1980s, Brian served on the Dresden and Hanover school boards, retiring as chairman. He was a director of the Dartmouth National Bank and served as a trustee of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center from 1986 until 1992.

Brian is survived by his wife of forty years, Anne Warren Pattison; three daughters, Jennifer Gilvar, Melissa MacQueen, and Margo Pattison; a foster daughter, Georgia Komons; a son, Keith Pattison; seven grandchildren; a sister, Audrey Hois; and three nephews. Memorial contributions may be made to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, New Hampshire 03756; St. James Burkehaven, 179 Burkehaven Hill Road, Sunapee, New Hampshire 03782; or St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 9 West Wheelock Street, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755-1710.

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