Phi Kappa Brother Is Nearly As Old as The Chapter Itself By Brian R. Bland, Phi Kappa '63. He will turn 98 in July [2016], but Brother Robert Critton [ '48] can still remember sleeping in the third floor “dorm” at 311 E. Armory, the barracks-like room where decades of Crows spent so many of their college nights. Critton, the oldest living Brother from the Phi Kappa Chapter, was born in 1918, just two years after AXP arrived at the University of Illinois and set up in the Chapter House that’s still in use. He grew up in Aurora, Illinois, and was drawn to the Champaign-Urbana campus in 1937 partly because his older brother was a new graduate. Several friends suggested Critton join AXP, so he became a Postulant as a freshman (along with high school friend Chuck Wade), was initiated into the Brotherhood, and lived in the house for four years. “There were no paddles” involved in initiation, he said, “just the ceremony.” Critton acknowledges that many of his memories of Phi Kappa have faded after nearly eighty years. He remembers doing chores as a pledge and believes he was a house officer at some point. But he savors other memories, including that of eating well. “We had a lady cook who was very terrific,” he recalled. “Dress for breakfast and lunch was casual, but for dinner we dressed up—we wore suits and ties.” “There was a piano in the living room,” he said, and several of the Crows were good players. The social activity of having AXP men meet young sorority women en masse, known as “exchanges” in later years, were not in vogue during Critton’s time at Illinois, he reported. “But my sister, Marylou, lived in a sorority across town and she would fix me up,” he chuckled. Study time was 7-10 P.M, and older Brothers would assist the pledges. According to Critton, there were no intramural sports, but there wasn’t a lot of free time, either. In those years just before World War II, he said, “We had to take athletics and ROTC, in addition to our regular classes.” ROTC training took the form of being in a horse artillery unit, a relic of earlier wars. “Yes, we had horses,” said Critton, who also has a clear memory of Army ROTC summer camp after junior year. “We spent six weeks riding horses and living in tents in Michigan.” Critton, who majored in Commerce, spent four years in ROTC and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant upon graduating. He immediately left the horses behind and went into the Army Air Forces. His first post was in Utah, where he met his wife, Jeanne Frances, when she came to work for him. Although Critton visited the Chapter House occasionally after graduating and stayed in touch with one Brother, George Troll, his work kept him quite busy. He had joined his father and brother in the family business, a wholesale firm headquartered in Aurora, which sold ladies’ dresses. “We had two designers and twenty-seven salesmen all over the U.S.” he said proudly. “It was called Colonial Frocks.” Critton now lives by himself in his Kansas City, Missouri, apartment and still cooks for himself.