Sigma Phi Epsilon - Missouri University of Science & Technology

3 The year is 1939. The Great Depression has changed the lives of most Americans. Nazi Germany has started to invade surrounding European territories. A 9-year-old boy and his brother walk down the dirt streets of Hannibal, Missouri, pushing a cart and collecting glass and metal fragments for recycling for the war efforts. His finding earns them just pennies, one of which he uses to buy five sticks of gum. The young boy, John Priest, is the second youngest of a family of seven. Within two years, he will see many of his neighborhood playmates go off to war, including two of his older brothers. By the time John graduates high school in 1948, he has witnessed and lived the news of the World War in Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. It became his war, starting with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and ending with V-E Day and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. John enlists in the Navy Reserves, defers his service, and goes on to college. He chooses to attend the Missouri School of Mines. He pays his way through school by working summers for $1.20 an hour for the CB&Q Railroad as a signals lineman— a labor-intensive (and sometimes dangerous) endeavor. At college, John recalls meeting some SigEp members: "I chose SigEp because there was a sense of maturity among the guys, and the House was not known as a party house. It felt comfortable to me living in the SigEp House with a bunch of older guys who were WWII veterans." John commented about companionship in Rolla: "You have to remember that, at the time I was in school, there were 1,000 men and 10 women, and nine of those were ex-military drill Sergeants. I remember having Professor Carlton's Econ class with a few of those girls, and they cussed like sailors. So, we would bus girls in from places like Stephens College for the weekend. SigEp had a good reputation, so it was easy to negotiate the excursion with the ladies. I remember one morning, during one of those weekends, waking up and finding a Volkswagen on the porch roof at our House at 901 Chestnut." (John was quick to point out to me, "We never found out how or who did it.") John recalls his trips from Hannibal to Rolla (150 miles): "I knew another MSM guy who lived near Hannibal. He and I rode back and forth to Rolla, and we would cruise at 100 mph (no speed limits outside cities back then) in his 1948 Mercury, up and down Highway 19 and Route 66, parts of which were still gravel roads. We could make the trip in record time as long as we didn't get pulled over for reckless driving by the 'Green Hornet,' as we called our favorite trooper." John recalls dinner at the Chapter House: "One of my favorite memories with the guys occurred after dinner when our cook, Mrs. Robinson, would fix pork chops. She would always cook a couple of extra, so after we ate, we would all gather around one table and 'throw fingers' to see who would get the extra pork chops. On three, everyone would land his fist on the table and 'throw' out some number of fingers. Then we would start the count-off with each person until the finger summation number was reached, and the end person was the winner of the extra chops." John graduated with honors and went on to have a remarkable career that saw him parallel Navy duty with civilian consulting, domestically and internationally, starting with his active-duty service with the Navy during the Korean War. If you ask him if he has been to some remote or third-world country, his answer will most likely be yes. During his 20 years in the Pentagon as an analyst working for the Chief of Naval Operations, where his expert investigating and engineering skills supported the Global Maritime Strategy, he gained firsthand knowledge of many world issues. If you ask him if he was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the conflict over the Suez Canal, the turnover of the Panama Canal, Cold War issues, the rebuilding of Afghanistan, or other world conflicts, he will most likely say yes. What does he attribute to SigEp? "Living and working with my brothers overlaid into my career relationships with other people and the way I handled my life. Cooperation, interaction and, well, brotherhood." Author's Note: I began the conversation with 93-year-old Brother John Priest '52 to find out what he remembered about Peter Koppel '50, who had passed away near the end of 2022. And after spending a few hours on the phone with John, I felt compelled to tell his story and memories of his days in Rolla. Thanks to Brother John Priest for sharing his memories and bringing history to life. A History Lesson with John Priest '52 Story by Dave Naeger '80 "Living and working with my brothers overlaid into my career relationships with other people and the way I handled my life. Cooperation, interaction and, well, brotherhood." FEATURE

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