Written by As many of you may know, I’ve been a proud member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity since 2004. The Sigma Chi Fraternity is one of the world’s largest fraternities, with over 220,000 living initiates found in all parts of the world.
When I was first initiated, a challenge was given to me by Damon Kimble, an alumni of the Iota Eta chapter at Western Connecticut State University. He was one of the few people to visit all seven of the Fraternity founders’ graves. This wouldn’t be a small challenge because the graves are located in San Francisco, Biloxi, Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, Washington DC, and Cincinnati. I gladly accepted the challenge, but it turned out to be easier said than done.
My challenge started on June 6, 2005 with a visit to Benjamin Piatt Runkle’s grave in Arlington National Cemetary and ended March 20, 2011 at Issac M. Jordan’s grave. Over those 2,114 days (or 5 years, 9 months, and 15 days), my journey would take me over 9,500 miles, from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific.
In addition to the founders’ graves, I also saw Constantine’s Arch in Rome, Italy. Constantine’s vision played a huge part in the founding of Sigma Chi.
There aren’t any records online of people that have visited the seven graves (or how long it took), but I would be willing to bet that if you include Constantine’s Arch, I would be one of a VERY few who have done all eight.
Below are the pictures. If you hear of any other stories of people visiting the graves, feel free to share!
