16th GCC
16th Grand Council Convention
Portland, Oregon
Thursday-Saturday, November 27-29, 1924
Saint Louis, Missouri
Thursday-Saturday, November 27-29, 1924
New York City, New York
Sunday-Tuesday, December 28-30, 1924
Host Hotels: Hotel Portland, Statler Hotel, Martinique Hotel
Attendance: Total Attendance: 108
108 Brothers
78 Chapters
Convention Summary
The 16th Grand Council Convention, similar to the convention of 1920, was held in three separate sections, with each section considering the same items of business. The proceedings, which are herewith reviewed only in part, represent a consolidation of the more important accomplishments.
The Pacific Coast Meeting was held at the Hotel Portland, Portland, Oregon, November 27-29, 1924, with Grand Historian W. Bruce Philip presiding. The twenty delegates who were present represented eight chapters.
The St. Louis Meeting was held at the Statler Hotel, St. Louis, Missouri, November 27-29, 1924, with A.R. Middleton presiding in the absence of Grand Vice Regent V.J. Anderson. Thirty delegates and proxies, representing thirty-five chapters in the area, were present.
The New York meeting was held at the Martinique Hotel, New York, New York, December 28-30, 1924. Grand Secretary and Treasurer Preston W. Eldridge, Jr. and Grand Registrar and Editor A. Richard Bliss, Jr. served as presiding officers. Fifty-eight delegates and proxies, representing thirty-five chapters in the area, were present.
Some attention was given to several items of general interest to all delegates, regardless of where they met. However, the 1924 Grand Council Convention will always be most remembered as the one at which the bonds that had fraternally united the two professions for many years, were severed.
In approving the resolution effecting the separation of the two professional groups, there were some important directives which specified how it should proceed and also how rights to certain property and other items should be managed. They are recorded herewith: (1) the pharmaceutical division will be permitted to use the Greek letters "Kappa" and "Psi" in their new title "Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity;" to retain the present designs for their badges, buttons, key, medal and other related items; to retain the present constitution and by-laws, ritual, and quarterly publication name; (2) the medical division will formulate a new constitution, ritual, insignia, coat-of-arms, badge, and journal, with the recommendation to use, if possible, one or both of the Greek letters "Kappa" and "Psi" in their new name; (3) it was recommended that members of Kappa Psi Fraternity who were graduates of both pharmacy and medicine be permitted to hold membership in both organizations.
A motion to re-elect the incumbent Grand Officers was approved and later a resolution was passed which directed the Grand Officers to act and function as a committee with full power to complete the separation in the manner prescribed. It was also recommended that they continue to serve as Grand Officers until the separation was accomplished.
The closing session of the Sixteenth Grand Council Convention was devoted to informal and inspiring speeches by many of the distinguished professional and fraternity leaders who were present at the New York City regional meeting. Some of the speakers, especially Brothers Eldridge, Goeckel and Bliss, all of whom had given many years of loyal service to the Fraternity, expressed their warm feelings toward the "old" Kappa Psi and their regrets that it would not only be the last convention of a rather unusual and highly successful fraternal union, but that it would also be the final chapter in a great fraternal experience.
With the adjournment of the final session of the 1924 convention, another era in the history of the Grand Council of Kappa Psi and the fraternity itself had been closed.
Grand Officers Elected
A motion to re-elect the incumbent Grand Officers was approved and later a resolution was passed which directed the Grand Officers to act and function as a committee with full power to complete the separation in the manner prescribed. It was also recommended that they continue to serve as Grand Officers until the separation was accomplished. The re-elected incumbents, who served for little more than a month, were:
Grand Regent: J. Dawson Reeder
Grand Vice Regent: Victor J. Anderson
Grand Secretary-Treasurer: Preston W. Eldridge, Jr.
Grand Registrar and Editor: A. Richard Bliss, Jr.
Grand Historian: W. Bruce Philip
In early 1925 following several meetings and conferences of members who were interested in the success of the pharmacy fraternity, the following temporary officers were selected to conduct the business and other affairs of the newly created Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity, pending an official election at the 17th GCC:
Grand Regent: W. Bruce Philip
Grand Vice Regent: Florin J. Amrhein
Grand Secretary-Treasurer: Preston W. Eldridge, Jr.
Grand Registrar and Editor: A. Richard Bliss, Jr.
Grand Historian: Leasure K. Darbaker