Across the street from us on Hardy Avenue was the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. They were a pretty rowdy bunch and when my sister, Margaret '59, was a freshman at State she suffered unwanted verbal abuse from them as she walked to or from campus. My dad asked me to take the attached photo, a little before Christmas, in 1959. I was standing in the driveway of the Clarke family -- Doug ’67 and Paula ’70 -- two doors east of our house. Presumably it's their 1958 Buick. The Sig Eps were having a kegger in their front yard, completely against campus rules. The red arrow points to the keg, sitting on the sidewalk. Actually, it's in front of what had been the home of Helen Merzbacher, who taught Business at Crawford, but they had moved away a few years earlier. This photo, and an accompanying letter from my dad, had the SigEps placed on probation for the spring semester, if memory serves. I'm sure in future years there were Crawfordites in Sigma Phi Epsilon, but I don't think there were any in 1959. I managed to remain anonymous, but there were retributions, mainly having our 1958 VW Beetle picked up and moved between two trees in our front yard where it was almost impossible to drive it. The whole situation now reminds me of the Double Secret Probation scene in the movie Animal House. -- Bob Richardson '61

What a shock, on 11/11/11, to see the picture of the Sig Ep house on MY COMPUTER, especially because my husband, Duane Sceper, Sweetwater '64, was just down in San Diego last week for the grand reopening of the newly remodeled fraternity house, of which he was a proud and boisterous member in his day.  Apparently the fraternity was a wild bunch, but is now a model group of high achievers. Thank you for making my day -- Sharon Cramer Sceper '68

Animal House is appropriate.  My boyfriend’s band -- The Barrons -- played parties there a few times.  And OH MY, they actually served alcohol to minors!!!  If my mother only knew, I’d still be grounded.  Girls didn’t show up until after the sun went down.  And I never saw a House Mother.  Hmmm, maybe tied up in a closet? -- Julie Eskew Daniel ’64




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