The Beta-Nu Chapter of
KAPPA SIGMA
The University of Kentucky
Reed Hume rolled into Lexington on a Sunday night in September of 1954 ready to become an Aeronautical Engineer upon graduating from Southern High School in Okolona, Kentucky. He walked into one of the men’s dormitories where there seemed to be some activity and said, “here I am, how do I get a room?” He was turned away because there was no room at the dorm. That meant a night in his ‘46 Ford 4 door. On Monday he ran into a high school classmate, Jim Hindle, who had a married cousin living in the paper barracks of Cooperstown and this solved Mondays problem of where to sleep that night. Soon Jim and Reed rented a room in a “museum” on Maxwell Street across from Crane’s, one of the most popular saloons in Lexington because draft cards were not required there to have a beer, or more, besides home was just across the street.
Next challenge was registration held in Memorial Coliseum. He soon learned what a circus registration is, but after fighting through this nightmare, there was a table where one could sign up for “Rush”. What’s that? It was a chance to visit all of the frat houses, meet guys, enjoy snacks and get free cigarettes everywhere.
After visiting many of the frats on campus in those days there was simply no question where he wanted to pledge and that was Kappa Sigma, and the feeling was mutual in spite of his going through rush in the middle of September dressed in a light gray wool suit, pink oxford cloth shirt and a black knit tie.
The end of rush came with a mass meeting in Memorial Hall where pledges were announced. He was thrilled when selected by Kappa Sigma. After all pledges were assembled the ritual was to convene at The Main Spring Saloon where Otto ran the show. What a great feeling to be selected by Kappa Sigma who was represented by many great future brothers including Roger Ladenburger, JC Roberts, Buzzy Nave, Ken Lucas, John Dicken and so many more and a pledge mate Jim Hindle.
460 Hilltop was in only its second semester of occupancy so Reed was invited to move in clearly against university rules forbidding freshmen in fraternity houses. After a couple of months the university put on the heat to clear fraternity house so Brother Hume moved to another rooming house.
Sophomore year and beyond 460 Hilltop was home for Reed for the duration of his matriculation at UK. In his junior year he was elected Grand Master of Beta-Nu. Employment at the Campbell House, Kappa Delta, Marine Corps reserves and GR Watkins Engineers provided the funds for completion of a degree in Mechanical Engineering (Aeronautical Option) in December of 1959.
In 1965 while employed by Boeing Aircraft in Huntsville, AL he met and married Gloria Gray (a Kappa Sigma legacy!). 1968 brought Gloria and Reed back to Louisville. Together they produced three children, Clay and twins David and Suzy. Various engineering, sales and management jobs led Reed to incorporate C Reed Hume & Associates in 1983 selling industrial machinery.
From graduation to current day, Reed has kept in touch with many of the brothers even before the days of email. Whenever Beta-Nu Brothers would run into each other they would always close with “let’s get together for lunch sometime”, but sometime never seemed to arrive. About 15 years ago, starting with about five or six Brothers, a time and place for lunch was set and that was the genesis of the group. Eventually it spread to attendance by Brothers from many schools besides UK. One of the best lunches occurred several years ago when there were Brothers who graduated in the decades of the ‘40’s, ‘50’s, ‘60’s, 70’s , ‘80’s, ‘90’s, ‘00’s and TO’s. Brothers pass and come and go but we still manage to get together every 6- 8 weeks and keep up with the lives of each other.
Today through the generosity of Brother Al Sullivan and his son Glenn (Tulane ), meetings have been held at the dining Room at Sullivan University. AEKDB.