{"id":120,"date":"2026-03-25T08:20:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T12:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/?page_id=120"},"modified":"2026-03-25T08:20:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T12:20:03","slug":"founders-monument","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/founders-monument\/","title":{"rendered":"Founder&#8217;s Monument"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_pb_section_0 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_flex_section\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_0 et_pb_row et_flex_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_0 et_pb_column et-last-child et_flex_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et_flex_column_24_24\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_slider_0 et_pb_slider et_pb_slider_fullwidth_off et_pb_module et_flex_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_slides\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_slide_0 et_pb_slide et_pb_media_alignment_center et_pb_bg_layout_dark et-pb-has-background-video et_pb_preload\" data-slide-id=\"divi\/slide-0\"><span class=\"et-pb-background-video\"><video autoplay loop playsinline muted><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Omega-Psi-Phi-Montage-V2.mp4\" \/><\/video><\/span><div class=\"et_pb_container\"><div class=\"et_pb_slider_container_inner\"><div class=\"et_pb_slide_description et_flex_module\"><h2 class=\"et_pb_slide_title\">Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.<\/h2><div class=\"et_pb_slide_content\"><p>For 100 years, Alpha Omega Chapter has had a distinguished history in Washington, D.C. Alpha Omega\u2019s members have won national recognition for their ambitious programs and reclamation efforts, and the chapter has been home to most of the founders, including Founder Edgar A. Love, as well as to contemporary international and district officers. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_slide_1 et_pb_slide et_pb_media_alignment_center et_pb_bg_layout_dark\" data-slide-id=\"divi\/slide-1\"><div class=\"et_pb_container\"><div class=\"et_pb_slider_container_inner\"><div class=\"et_pb_slide_description et_flex_module\"><h2 class=\"et_pb_slide_title\">Your Title Goes Here<\/h2><div class=\"et_pb_slide_content\"><p>Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"et_pb_button_wrapper\"><a class=\"et_pb_button et_pb_more_button\" href=\"#\">Click Here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_section_1 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_flex_section\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_1 et_pb_row et_flex_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_1 et_pb_column et-last-child et_flex_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et_flex_column_24_24 et_flex_column_24_24_tablet et_flex_column_24_24_phone\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_0 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_flex_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><div class=\"wpb_row vc_row-fluid standard-section section  section-no-parallax  stretch   \" data-speed=\"1\">\n<div class=\"col span_12 color-dark left\">\n<div class=\"vc_col-sm-12 wpb_column column_container col no-padding color-dark\" data-animation=\"\" data-delay=\"\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpb_text_column wpb_content_element \">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<h1>Founder\u2019s Monument<\/h1>\n<div class=\"wpb_text_column wpb_content_element \">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<p class=\"p1\">Like many projects completed in Washington, D.C. , the monument to the founders on Howard University\u2019s campus has a strong link to Alpha Omega Chapter. While the idea for the project did not originate with an Alpha Omega Chapter member, the project\u2019s implementation, budget, and approval by the Grand Conclave all happened because of the efforts of then- or future members of the chapter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The idea for a monument came from Enoch Perry in 1973, a member of Kappa Psi Chapter. He discussed his idea with Kenneth Brown, also a member of that chapter, who pulled in three Alpha Omega members: the late H. Carl Moultrie, the national executive secretary; the late Ernest Mercer, the chapter\u2019s basileus; and Frank Patterson. Perry said the idea for a monument came to him after the 1972 death of Founder Oscar J. Cooper. Perry said that with only one founder still alive\u2014Founder Edgar A. Love\u2014the Washington Chapters of Omega needed to do something in tribute to the founders\u2019 contribution to Omega Psi Phi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The committee members decided that such a project should have a national rather than solely local focus, and Moultrie told Brown and Patterson that he would arrange for them to be on the agenda of the Supreme Council to raise the proposal for a national memorial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In preparation for that meeting, the committee got Brother Samson P. Boozer, an architect major at Howard University, to design such a monument. Patterson said the committee wanted a student member of the organization to design the monument, as they wanted to ensure wide participation in the project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Once he had Boozer\u2019s rendering of the proposed monument, Brown went to Falvey Granite Memorials, a maker of tombstones, at 2nd and Upshur Streets, N.W., and also contact granite companies. The granite companies, however, referred Brown back to Falvey, saying the committee would have to deal directly with that company, while Falvey\u2019s would deal with the granite manufacturers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Armed with the architectural drawings and price quotes from Falvey Granite, Brown and Patterson went to a meeting in early 1974 of the Supreme Council. While they had expected widespread acceptance of the proposal, they encountered a resistant council, led by Grand Keeper of Finance Clifton Moore, who raised concerns about where the organization would get the funding for such a project. Brown said he remembers that the two supporters on the Supreme Council were Brothers Oscar Turner and Edgar Burnett, something he said Burnett still kids him about.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">While Brown said he felt the project was dead at this point, Moultrie pulled he and Patterson aside to tell the next plan of action. Moultrie instructed Patterson to draw up a budget proposal and submit it to the National Budget Committee for presentation at the Phoenix Grand Conclave, scheduled for summer 1974. The Budget Committee at that time was chaired by the late Brother Wendell Morgan, who at that time was also a member of Alpha Omega Chapter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Patterson, based on the estimates from Falvey, put together a budget proposal of $15,000 for a national monument. That line item was included in the budget presented by Morgan\u2019s committee to the Phoenix Grand Conclave for the fraternity\u2019s next budget year. When the Grand Conclave accepted the total budget proposed by the committee, it was also accepting the line item on a national monument.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Moultrie had done a lot of work behind the scenes. He had told a number of members of the Supreme Council that the budget proposal for a national monument would be coming to the conclave floor. He had also alerted other brothers around the country of the plan, in order to win them over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">When Clift Moore found out that one of the items approved as part of the budget at Phoenix was for a national monument, he was incensed, Brown and Patterson said. Again, his concern was where would the fraternity find the money for such an item. However, Grand Basileus Marion Garnett told him that the Grand Conclave\u2014the fraternity\u2019s highest governing body\u2014had approved the monument, and Moore had to find the money to carry out its order.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">After seeing the architect\u2019s drawing of the obelisk\u2014a, tall slender, four-sided monument, with a rendering of a different founder on each of the four sides\u2014the committee decided to pick a gray granite on a concrete base. It choose gray granite rather than purple, Patterson said, because \u201cit looked more classy and rich than the purple,\u201d which also had a pinkish tinge to it. \u201cWe decided that the fraternity\u2019s colors didn\u2019t have to be used for the monument.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Falvey contracted with a company in Burlington, Vt., for the granite for the monument. While Brown worked closed with the Falvey company and the granite firm in Vermont, Patterson got the task of visiting the Burlington site once the monument was completed. Patterson also worked with the National Office in terms of getting the downpayment and subsequent payments for the monument. Patterson said he remembers his visit to the granite sight in Burlington as though it were yesterday. \u201cI had to fly to Buffalo on a jet and then take a six-passenger plane from there to Burlington. It was so small I couldn\u2019t stand up in it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Patterson, as he flew into Burlington, saw the beautiful granite mines in the region. The company had completed work on the monument\u2014or so it thought. Patterson looked it over carefully, being awed at its beauty, until he came to a mistake. The stone carver had spelled \u201cperseverance\u201d\u2014one of the fraternity\u2019s cardinal principles\u2014wrong, spelling it as \u201cperserverance.\u201d The stone carver had to smooth down the four sides of the entire monument and re-carve them in order to fix this mistake.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-120","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122,"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/120\/revisions\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}