Page 1 - TN Delta WI 2017-18

Tennessee Delta Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi | Vanderbilt University | Winter 2017-2018
Alumni Relations Office | P.O. Box 80828, Atlanta, Georgia 30366 | 770-903-3987

From the President Alumni Spotlight: JOHN R. MURRAY ’71

The Future of Editor’s Note: For this edition of the newsletter, we’re shining the Spotlight
on Brother John Murray ’71. From the hometown of Houston, TX, John is a
retired chief engineer of TTX after a 40-year career. As an active member and
Vanderbilt legacy, John served the chapter as vice president and kitchen manager. After
graduation, he used his degree in mechanical engineering to pursue work in
the railroad industry. John and his high school sweetheart, Kathy, have been
married for 43 years now and they share four kids: Rylen, Ginny, Chip, and
Greetings Brothers, Tom. For fun, John enjoys playing bridge, contributing his time to a few
charitable boards, and spending time at his new seasonal home in Venice, FL.
First of all, I want
to introduce myself
as the new House What led you to join TN Delta?
Corporation President. My grandfather, H. Fort Flowers ’09 (Delta #58),
I want to thank our was a TN Delta Phi Psi. He supported the chapter for
former President, Doug many years. In 1956, when the old house burned, he was
Hirt and his wife, the president of the house corporation. He took part of
Melanie, for their many the insurance money and bought the property that the
years of service and contributions to the wellbeing new house sits on. The rest of the money was invested
of the House Corporation as well as the Tennessee while he fought with the university over the chapter
Delta Chapter. He will be a hard act to follow. owning the property and house. The university wanted
The current state of the House Corporation all the Greek houses to be built on university property.
and the physical property are sound, however, Grandfather did not want to depend on Vanderbilt to
we have some serious challenges facing us in treat the fraternities fairly if the university owned the
2018. Therefore, we need to bring all members houses. Things have not changed much in the last 60
of the House Corporation up to speed about years. Kathy and John in Quran, Israel.
these challenges through this newsletter and What do you remember most vividly about the fun. I built friendships with young men with whom I
our plans for Founder’s Day on February 17, chapter house? still communicate.
2018. Our first challenge is that our property I remember the house as being the newest house on
taxes have more than doubled to $33,500, campus. The daily afternoon bridge games were always How did you and Kathy meet?
and are expected to continue to go up in the Kathy and I met in the summer while I was in high
near future because of Nashville’s booming school. We were engaged my senior year, so she got to
economy and Metro action. Our property tax know most of my fraternity brothers. We have been mar-
liability is not sustainable for the long term. ried for 43 years and have four grown children. We now
Secondly, Vanderbilt is embarking on a have 11 grandkids.
major project to change the entire Greek neigh- After graduation, why did you pursue work in
borhood, called the West End Neighborhood the railroad industry?
(WEN) project, which entails removing all When I graduated from college, there was a great
streets, sidewalks, parking places, and aboveg- surge in railroad car building. The company my grand-
round utilities to turn the area into green space. father started had to quadruple the production rate to
The plan includes building three new residen- meet the demand. It was a small company in an industry
tial colleges along West End that will replace dominated by larger companies. This gave me a rare
Carmichael Towers, and six new chapter opportunity to learn everything about the design and
houses. This is significant to us because we are construction of railcars.
one of three private property owners that will
be directly impacted by the project, leading to As a railroad car designer, what areas needed
some important decisions that will have to be the most attention?
made as the project moves forward. We have I started in manufacturing, so I learned to temper
asked the Vice Chancellor for Administrations, my design with what could actually be built. I was the
Eric Kopstain, to be our Founders Day speaker chief engineer, so I had to always worry about what could
and present the FutureVU Plan, which includes fail and how. I will always remember a large shop worker
the WEN project. We have included an article carrying a large wrench saying he could not build what I
about the WEN plan in this newsletter, and had designed. The wrench really helped me concentrate
I want to encourage you to join us—we will Brothers Larry Brown, Byron Cain, and John Murray in New on the worker’s problem!
Orleans for Christmas.
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