My Phrogue Brother, Bill “Ding Ding” Wendling passed away on March 14 in Naples FL, age 63. Billy got his nickname from the hours he logged on the “Shangra-la” pinball machine at Stan’s. Billy also had the unique distinction of being accepted to U of I Veterinary School after 3 yrs of undergrad work. Read his full obituary here.
William H. ‘Bill’, ‘Billy’ Wendling ’72, died March 14, 2013 at age 63. Billy was born October 10,1949 in Elmhurst, IL. While growing up he lived in Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights, IL. He graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1973 with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Physical Education. This was followed by a Masters Degree in Exercise Physiology at Colorado State University.
Richard Heath ’54 was a retired businessman and Golf Course Development Consultant for Golf Technologies, a Golf Course Design Company. Mr. Heath graduated High School in Robinson, IL. went on to Duke University for two years on a basketball scholarship and later transferred to the University of Illinois where he graduated and was a member and Worthy Master of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity. Dick joined the Military serving in France in 1953-1954 as a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Following his military service, Dick returned to Robinson and joined in the family business, eventually becoming Vice President of L. S. Heath and Sons until 1969. For his many contributions and countless hours of promotion, Mr. Heath was made an Honorary Life member of the Quail Creek Country Club, Robinson, IL.
Dick Murphy ’65 served as Worthy Master at Gamma Zeta. Since those days he had a fascinating and varied career: from a Pentagon official in the White House to a California Superior Court Judge to Mayor of San Diego. His book, “San Diego’s Judge Mayor”(available at Amazon.com) chronicles his life journey and lessons learned, including his ATO Illinois experience.
What was the impact of your leadership as Worthy Master on the chapter?
In my opinion, the most significant contribution that I made was to bring unity to disparate factions among the brothers.
Dick Murphy was Gamma Zeta Worthy Master in 1964/65 and then went on to an incredible career that included business school at Harvard, law School at Stanford, a stint as an aid in the White House … while also working in the Pentagon War Room, time as a banker, a lawyer, a California judge and finally Mayor of the 7th largest city in the United States, San Diego. The following is an excerpt (reprinted with permission from Dick) from his biography, “San Diego’s Judge Mayor: How Murphy’s Law Blindsided Leadership With 2020 Vision” which provides an interesting insight into his time at ATO at the University of Illinois.
Here’s a link to the Amazon page for his book if you’d like to purchase – http://www.amazon.com/San-Diegos-Judge-Mayor-Blindsided/dp/096204024X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373580210&sr=8-1&keywords=san+diego+mayor+judge
Illinois Fraternity LifeContinue reading
Talk about a Gamma Zeta ATO through and through, listen to this resume…
We’d like to thank Matthew Massucci ’96 for participating in this month’s alumni Q&A:
Where did you grow up and can you tell us a little bit about your childhood family, interests and activities?
I grew up in Barrington, and graduated from Lake Zurich High School.
Why did you choose the University of Illinois? What did you study?
I visited my older sister (Amanda) several times at Illinois several times and loved it. I never really considered any other schools. I was an Accounting major.
What was rush like at the time and why did you choose ATO?
I rushed in the fall of 1992 with my roommate (Al Strobl) and suite-mate (Dan Vanderweit). My roommate was a wrestler, and I definitely rode his coattails through the rush process. Ironically, Dan and I both went through pledgeship, but Al dropped out midway through (and later flunked out of school). I was one of the last pledges and I was definitely impressed with the pledge class that was in place.Continue reading
How did you get interested in Teach for America? Can you provide a little background on TFA?
Teach For America is a national corps of recent college graduates and professionals who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural schools in an effort to close the achievement gap and reach public educational equity. The program also works to develop corps members into life-long advocates of the educational equity movement who can affect change at various levels – from classrooms to courtrooms. This year, more than 9,300 corps members are teaching 600,000 students in 43 low-income communities across the country as nearly 24,000 Teach For America alumni are working from inside and outside the field of education to create the changes needed to close the achievement gap.Continue reading
Jim Stansfield grew up in Urbana. He won the state championship in wrestling at Urbana High School. His father was a geology professor at the University. He graduated from high school in ’37 and initiated at GZ in ’38. He majored in ceramic engineering but after his junior year entered the army and served in the European theater. As a resident of Urbana he never lived in the house but spent many many fun times there.
Barbara Davis just emailed that her father, Jared passed away late last year and this has not previously been reported to his ATO brothers. . Here is a link to Jared’s obituary: