High School and College Halloween Memories tied in with the DKEs.
Published in Baton Rouge Advocate, Sunday, October 21, 2012, Magazine Section, "Human Condition" column, p. 2E (attached).
Halloween and DKEs
As I was recently driving down Dalrymple Drive off of I-10 near to where I love to take jogs by the scenic and carefree LSU Lakes, I was reminded of a testimonial talk I'd heard earlier in the year by Connie. She had shared about many neat things in her life, including the great influence of her late grandfather, Dr. William H. Dalrymple, long considered the “Father of Veterinary Medicine,” whom the street was named for!
When I got closer to the intersection of Highland and Dalyrymple, I was also triggered back to some high school and college memories, including Halloween. While I only attended one semester at LSU, the Fall of 1977, I spent many days and evenings during that time at Christ The King Parish and Catholic Center, located at that same spot. And how can I forget the DKE fraternity located right next to CTK? While I never was a involved directly with the frat house, I knew many other students from Uptown New Orleans who had become its members.
Since I was very involved in music ministry and “Awakening Retreats” at CTK, I also found that I could study much better at the CTK 2nd story library than the one on the LSU campus, as it was less crowded and I could take fun brakes from reviewing school matters with friends at the Center – not to mention having easier access to coffee, when needed for cramming!
Sure, the DKE's have a long-standing reputation for being heavy par-tiers and in line with old “Animal House-like” portrayals of crazy frat life, hazing and rituals! But some famous folks have been legendary DKEs, including five of the forty-four Presidents of the US: Rutherford B. Hayes, Theodore Roosevelt, Gerald Ford and both George Bushes!
That semester as we were getting closer to Halloween, the LSU DKEs requested to assist some of us in an outreach that we were doing per CTK ministries. Initially, we were skeptical, but decided to go ahead and see if we could work together with them on a project for disadvantaged youth. Everything seemed to be going well as we coordinated to let one of the DKEs, dressed as “The Great Pumpkin,” give candy to the kids as they got to “Trick or Treat.”
Well, unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, “Pumpkin DKE” got a little bit too tipsy that night as we started to get the kids in line for a chance to receive some goodies from him. As we were dutifully positioned with the kids, all wonderfully costumed and standing in line right in front of their frat house, Pumpkin DKE, fell off his chair and passed out! Being quick on our feet, we just pretended that what had happened was just part of an act, and some fellow DKEs abruptly carried him off inside their house while one of our Pumpkin dressed members took over and carried on without missing a beat!
Turning to some high school memories, I recall that Halloween in 1975 when I was a sophomore at De La Salle. The Tulane DKEs also had a wild reputation, but their Halloween gatherings were very hard to resist – even if we weren't in college yet. I grew up on Broadway in New Orleans, so me and my buddies had gotten to experience many notorious happenings that went on at the fraternities in that area.
It was common knowledge by everyone around there that the DKE house on Henry Clay, not far off of St. Charles Avenue, would allow kids on Halloween night to throw eggs at them and their house, but with some provisos that will be delineated shortly. They even prepared for this event every year by putting up long sheets of visqueen hanging from the top of their house to the ground – with frayed openings to allow folks to enter at the doors.
So that night, with my parents permission, I joined David, John, Marshall and Scott on bikes for a ride to the DKE house – with a few dozen eggs held in some carrying bags. While not being fully costume dressed, we did have some seasonal apparel on and facial coloring slapped on us to join in a little bit of the festive atmosphere. None of us that night thought we would ever be caught by any of the DKEs, who had previously warned the participants that if you were caught, you would be dumped in a trash can filled with blue dye! Even the police knew about this tradition, and I guess they figured they could keep an eye on more folks that way.
So as dusk settled in on that Halloween night and we had taken our supposedly well positioned spots with eggs in our hands, we took our turns running past the house and firing at the DKEs and/or the house. There was a big crowd of both young and middle aged folks out there darting back and forth – as if, noted by Ernest Hemingway, we were running away from the bulls! It was fun, and some of us got smacked by some eggs from the DKEs.
After a while, we were ready to get back home, clean up and visit with some friends near Scott's house, but we couldn't seem to find John. We just figured that he had decided to go out with some other high school friends we had seen earlier at the DKE house gathering.
When I got to school the next day, I noticed something different about John – he seemed to have a “blue glow” to him. Sure enough, he had gotten caught the night before and was dumped into the dye after getting caught by some hiding DKEs! He wasn't hurt or anything, but sure took some time before he returned to his old self! Happy Halloween and All Saints Day – even to the DKEs!
Keith John Paul Horcasitas, LCSW, MHA, 1133 Knollhaven Drive, BRLA 70810, khorcasitas.yahoo.com, October 14, 2012.
Tasked by his Goddess to find, relocate, and then quicken, the last three Heart Tree gem-seeds, Vanx the bard, and his motley crew of adventurers, set out to do just that.
Halloween and DKEs
