On April 25-26, the General Council and Foundation Trustees held their joint spring meeting at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In addition to the meeting, Phi Delta Theta hosted a weekend at Kennedy Space Center for area Phis and their families. Coordinated by Brother Jon McBride, West Virginia ’64, Foundation Trustee, and Director of Astronaut Education Programs for the Space Education Center at Kennedy Space Center, the highlight of the weekend was a dinner on Friday evening where two major gift commitments were announced and the three Phi Delt NASA astronauts were honored.
Brother Jay Ihlenfeld, Purdue ’74 and Brother Ken Jestrow, Texas ’69 have each committed $500,000 toward the Building on the Bond Campaign. The gift from Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld will be used to establish the Ihlenfeld University of Online Education that will directly support the core of Phi Delta Theta: leadership development. The gift from Kenny and Susie Jastrow was given as an unrestricted gift to be used at the discretion of the executive leadership of the Fraternity. In appreciation of this gift, the Founders Room at GHQ was named in honor of the Jastrows.
The three Phi Delt NASA astronauts were also honored. The accomplishments of Brother Neil Armstrong, Purdue ’55 (posthumously), Brother Jon McBride, West Virginia ’64 and Brother F. Story Musgrave, Syracuse ’58 were recognized and each honoree shared their thoughts and experiences of both Phi Delt membership and travel to outer space. To permanently recognize these brothers, Brother Paul Price, TCU ’74 provided the funding to name the three flagpoles outside of GHQ in their honor.
Phis from the Orlando area and as far away as London, England were in attendance.
