Page 1 - Eta Survey - Spring 2017
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ETA SURVEY

Eta Chapter of Kappa Delta Rho Fraternity | The University of Illinois | www.kdrillinois.org | Spring 2017

        A Letter from the                        Alumni Spotlight: Donald C. Russell ’70

Alumni President                                 Editor’s Note: For this edition of the news-         Don with his wife, Liz, while visiting Napa, California,
                                                 letter, we’re shining the Spotlight on past Eta      last February, where their son Richard lives with his
                   Brothers:                     Board President, Don Russell ’70. Originally         wife, Allie (and is employed by Opus One Vineyard).
                                                 from Oak Lawn, Illinois, he graduated from UI       engineering from U of I, and I later got an
       The 2016 annual fund                      with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1970 and a       MBA. During college, alum George Wright
                         grew to an impres-      Master of Science in architectural engineering      ’50, a structural engineer with American
                    sive $18,000! To put that    in 1971. Don is a retired architect and struc-      Bridge Division of US Steel, had lunch with
                    in perspective, in 2015,     tural engineer and is actively consulting in        the undergraduates. Through him, I got a job
                    we raised $8,500. I want     space strategy with BP. He retired from Larson      for two summers working for US Steel in their
                    to thank all of you who      Engineering in December 2015. Don and his           engineering department. That experience was
supported the annual fund last year for          wife, Liz, have been married for 43 years, and      good for my resume to get my first job.
making this happen. As I have mentioned          they have three children: Julia Bucheger, who
in prior newsletters, the annual fund helps      is the national service director for Medtronic,     Where did you work after graduation?
finance the communication program, our           David Russell, an elementary school princi-             When I graduated, I went to work for an
website, and homecoming. In addition, it         pal in West Aurora (his godparents are Cindy
goes toward scholarships and larger prop-        and Joe Maloney ’69), and Richard Russell,          architect, Harold Jacobs ’51, in South Hol-
erty improvement projects, like we saw           who works in sales in Napa, California. Don         land, known for designing schools, something
last year with the lawn. The 2017 annual         and Liz enjoy spending time with their four         that interested me. My first day on the job, I
fund is off to a great start, having raised      grandchildren and volunteering at St. Raphael       asked Harold where he lived at U of I, he said
about $11,000 to date. Thank you, to all of      Church. For fun, Don explores genealogy, and        ???. That led to two great years of working
those who have supported it or plan to this      he gets outside for a little fly-fishing (and fly-  on school projects. After two years, I went to
year; let’s keep it growing!                     tying) whenever he can.                             work for CF Murphy, got married, passed my
    We are entering the time of year when
the board makes decisions on house proj-         What led you to you join the                               Donald Russell (continued on page 4)
ects to complete over the summer. With the       fraternity back in school?
lawn project behind us, we are now look-
ing at an assortment of smaller projects of          I didn’t pledge until the second semester
a more cosmetic nature, like interior paint-     of my sophomore year. As a freshman, I ar-
ing for instance. It is hard to believe that     rived at Champaign in 1965 with about 20
we are nearly seven years out from the           high-school friends. After a year, I wanted to
renovation already; it is important to keep      expand my own network. In fraternity life,
on top of these things so that the property      I saw an opportunity to make more friends,
remains competitive and continues to be a        life-long friends, as well as a place to call
desirable place to live.                         “home” when I would return for Homecom-
    The next major item on the horizon for       ings. I got what I expected and more.
the board is refinancing our mortgage, which
matures in about a year and a half. We will      I understand you had a fraternity
be evaluating options concerning how much        nickname. How did you get it?
of the balloon to pay down and how much
to ultimately borrow for another five years.         When I moved to the house, everyone
The board will need to balance the amount        called me Lenny. During the last week of our
of cash it wants on hand to be comfortable       pledge process, when asked a question, the
against how much debt it wants to assume.        pledge class (there were four of us) were to an-
    The board always welcomes involve-           swer together to show unity. I suggested that I
ment in any capacity. If you are interested in   say “one, two, three” before we answered. The
getting involved, please feel free to reach out  actives took notice. Well, Len Barry was fa-
to me. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoy-     mous for the song “1-2-3,” and so I was called
able summer with family and friends, and I       Lenny after that. We even had to sing the song.
hope to see you at homecoming in the fall!       I messed up the words once, and instead of “It’s
    Fraternally,                                 so easy, like taking candy from a baby,” I sang
                                                 “It’s so easy, like having a baby.” Lenny stuck.
    Mike Kolberg ’03
    President, Eta Building Association          What was your major and how did you                  Don’s family came in for his 70th. Pictured watching his
                                                 prepare for the professional world?                   kindergarten grandson Rayan’s (6) basketball game.
                                                                                                       His son David took the photo (l–r): (top row) wife Liz;
                                                     My major was architectural engineering.         (middle) daughter Julia, grandchildren Mabel (6) and Max
                                                 I have a Bachelor of Architecture (five-year         (4), daughter-in-law Allie, son Richard, and Don. (front)
                                                 degree) and Master of Science in architectural      daughter-in-law Meg and granddaughter Genevieve (3).
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