The Haven Magazine Spring 2018

DONOR PROFILE
Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) brothers are shown stuffing letters for their scholarship campaign.
Donor Profile –
TKE fraternity
1970’s Fraternity
for Life
The Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE)
fraternity may not be a
part of current Greek life at
Lock Haven University, but
the brothers of the early
70’s have taken steps to
make sure the TKE Theta
Gamma chapter remains a
part of their lives, as well
as contributes to the LHU
community of today. They
never have forgotten their
experiences together as TKE
brothers and many of them
continue to embrace that
sense of family they created
as students, by continuing to
support each other and LHU
throughout the years.
The TKE motto is “fraternity
for life,” and the brothers
from LHU certainly have
proven that to be true,
having had a reunion every
year since graduation in
the early 70’s. The first
reunion, organized by the
late brother Gary Finken and
his wife, Ethel Bush Finken,
was held in Danville. Since
then, the venue has moved
to New Cumberland. Around
1990, the group added a
summer golf outing. There
is a core group of about 15
brothers who rarely miss a
gathering, with many others
who also make appearances
from time to time. Finken
was known to track down as
many brothers as possible
to make sure they came to
the gatherings. He believed
it very important that they
remain a part of each other’s
lives.
“Over the years we have
watched each other get
married, have kids, build
careers, and retire,” said
Scott Culpepper ’71. “Many
of our kids became lifelong
friends because of these
reunions.”
Greek life was very strong
in the late 60’s and early
70’s, and TKE was around
80 brothers strong,
according to Mike Crosman
’73. “We were the biggest
fraternity,” he said. “We did
really well academically. It
was the foundation for the
friendships that we have
now. We’re really like a
family.”
Fundraising became a high
priority for the group,
who have developed a
scholarship for current
LHU students. They hold
a silent auction and a
golf tournament and
also call on TKE alumni
to help contribute to the
scholarship fund. The “TKE
Make It Happen” campaign
was launched last year, in
an attempt to reach many
of their membership, more
than 700 brothers and their
families, to encourage them
to donate. Their goal is
to grow the endowment
of the scholarship fund to
$100,000.
“It all comes back to the
positive experiences we
had at Lock Haven,” Hugh
McNelis, ’71, said. “If we
hadn’t gone to Lock Haven,
our lives would be very
different.”
The brothers of TKE credit
their success in continuing
to gather together over
the years, as well as their
fundraising efforts, to
Finken. “We never get
together without toasting
Gary,” Culpepper said.
“Our informal name as
a fundraising entity is
‘Friends of Finken.’ It’s not
an overstatement to say
that he remains our spiritual
leader.”