A Unique Legacy
Lawrence Ault | 10/4/2004 A legacy legally defines and references a disposition of property under a will. However, in the fraternity world, a legacy is that heritage passed down from generations of Kappa Alphas to their sons, grandsons and brothers. A legacy is unique for its heritage status has no price.
Lawyers universally state they don’t create the facts they just deal with them. This is a true story and the facts found me.
In what just seems like a couple weeks ago, I set out on a Sunday afternoon in route to Nashville, Tenn., to relocate for a job transfer and to begin law school. Settling into a new job and beginning classes, I made friends with co-workers.
A young man named Roger Lee Smith, Jr., was one of my co-workers. He was a local resident whose family owned horses and his father ran an insurance agency. While working one Sunday afternoon, he asked me if I would be interested in getting an apartment together. We found one and the transition was made. We were roommates for over a year.
The vast majority of our furniture came from his parents and I only had a used bedframe and matress, clothes, and my framed portrait of Robert E. Lee.
Most of my time after work was absorbed studying. However, Lee enjoyed going to movies, concerts, ballgames, shows and the like.
One Friday night after work, he introduced me to a very striking young lady named Kay. It was one of his first dates with her.
Before long, I moved across Nashville, but Lee and I maintained contact. He eventually went into the insurance business with his father and married Kay. I completed law school, and returned home to begin private practice where over the next 29 years we continued to maintain contact.
Lee and Kay have two sons [Roger - Delta Lambda ‘99, Jim - Delta Lambda ‘01]. One day some years later the phone at my office rang and Lee indicated his older son was going through rush at Middle Tennessee State University. Within a few days, the next phone call from Lee came telling me his son had pledged Kappa Alpha.
Lee said in so many words that he never knew what a college fraternity was until we roomed together and the only one he ever heard anything about was Kappa Alpha. He stated, “All you ever talked about after work was law, beach music, clothes, KA and Robert E. Lee,” with a laughter of joy. He stated those stories were passed along to his sons.
A couple years later, the phone rang again and Lee indicated his youngest son had pledged KA in the same chapter with his brother.
In the fall of 2003, I phoned Lee at his office regarding some insurance matters and with the words from his mouth you could have knocked me down with a feather. Lee indicated that he received a phone call from his son who said these words, “Dad, would you like to share KA?” When Lee told that to me, I asked him to say it again slowly. He indicated that he really didn’t understand and I was quick to respond.
As a father of a member, Delta Lambda Chapter elected Lee to membership (KA Laws 1-413) and celebrated the customs of the Order with Roger and Jim’s father.
On February 20, 2004, Roger Lee Smith, Jr., was initiated at Feller Province Council at Martin, Tennessee, where his sons participated.
Regretfully, I was unable to attend but talked with Lee the day before. I sent a jeweled pen with Province Commander Jim Lawson to present at the conclusion of the ceremony.
The next day I phoned Lee on his cell phone. I had told him two days prior if he didn’t shake with chills down his spine with the feeling of waking up from a dream then he had missed it. His response was, “Lawrence, it was just like you said and now I understand how deep and strong the fraternal bonds of Kappa Alpha and if all those many nights we sat up talking had not occured, I would have never known about KA or ever mentioned it to my sons.”
I told him a legacy is a cherished item of heritage and usually runs from father to son. It is extremely rare and special to run from son to father especially when the legacy was invisible and hidden-the result of two guys talking late in the night after work. |
