“No matter how long we have been separated, when I talk with one of my brothers it is like we haven’t been apart,” says Jeff Snedeker, a 1978 alum.
Jeff remembers a house that stood out from the other fraternities through the diversity of its membership: “We had a strong independent streak and didn’t really identify with the more traditional fraternities. We had a lot of guys who probably wouldn’t have joined any other house because they weren’t the ‘fraternity type.’ We did have some epic parties, including live bands with light shows in the Lower Lounge. We had a very heterogeneous membership, with guys from all walks of life and varied interests.”
In fact, he counts “diversity among the membership” among his most cherished Rockledge traditions that he hopes will endure forever, a list that also includes Bolero, sunsets on the deck, and forming the Mystic Circle after chapter meetings. He also prizes the loyalty demonstrated by the fraternity’s generations of alumni during its most challenging times.
“I’m really proud of how so many alumni responded to the call when we had to reboot the Chapter in 2020. When I became Chapter Advisor, I had to recruit eight other individuals to serve on a Chapter Council as 1:1 advisors to the undergraduate officers, and within a couple of weeks of sending out the call, every position was filled. I can tell you that many other Alpha Sigma Phi Chapters have many vacancies on their Councils, if they even have one at all.”
His favorite spots in the house included the Pool Room and the Chapter Room (with its ping pong table) for fun, studying on sofas in the corner of the Lower Lounge, and playing piano in the Upper Lounge. His most fond recollections include “a canoeing trip on the Delaware River where nearly every canoe overturned, and we all rode back to Ithaca dripping wet” and “several of us picking up Bob Spraker ’76’s Fiat and depositing it sideways on a landing in front of the main entrance.”
Among all the fun times and good memories, however, one story stands above the rest.
“My first date with my wife-to-be was Homecoming 1976. It was the Chapter’s first attempt at a formal dance in a couple of years. She came in a peach halter dress, but only one other date wore a skirt, and most of the other couples were pretty casually dressed. I got comments for weeks about my knockout date! Dan Bergsma ’77 was my big brother, and I trusted him with her while I was waiting tables during dinner. My date later became my wife, and I was always grateful to Dan for not hitting on her!”
Jeff graduated with a BS in Biology/Biochemistry and went to medical school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison followed by a residency in Pediatrics at Baylor in Houston, and a fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Duke. He stayed at Duke for an additional seven years on the medical school faculty, and then joined a pediatric practice in Ithaca, where he haslived since 1995 with his wife Suzanne (Cornell ’78). Their son Daniel is 31 and lives in Washington DC with his wife Lara.