At the 1987 National Convention, held on the campus of the University of Michigan, I had the privilege of serving as the Chair of the Jurisdiction Committee. The committee was part of a massive restructuring and rewriting of the National Constitution, and as Chair, my report to the delegation ran the better part of 2 hours.
This photo captures a moment during my report where Dr. J. Lee Burke, National Parliamentarian for Life and 3rd National President of the Fraternity, rose to speak on a matter of procedure. I don’t remember the specifics of his comments, but you can see me to his right looking like he was correcting something I had just done!
Lee and I became friends from that convention, until his death in 1991. I had the privilege of visiting him and his wife, Joyce, in Hobbs, NM on two occasion and was allowed to collect his papers and memorabilia for the National Archives.
J. Lee Burke, one of the founders of the Eta Chapter at Ohio State University, served the Fraternity for the better part of 70 years, attending most, if not all national conventions from 1926 until 1989. He truly was a treasure of the Fraternity.
Submitted by Steve Nelson, National Executive Director, Alpha Chapter