Bob Armbrester

Many aspects of life at Jax State are exactly the same as they were in 1969. We love our university. Friendships are continually being built to last, and we remain the Friendliest Campus in the South. But there are things that have changed dramatically—some that students at Jax State might struggle to comprehend.

“At that time, there was a restaurant called Pasquales Pizza on the square,” Kathy Armbrester recalls, “and that’s where we would go to watch the draft.” Today, when someone mentions watching the draft, they’re talking about one weekend out of the year, usually in April, in which the National Football League selects newly eligible players. Bob and Kathy Armbrester’s experience was with an entirely different kind of draft.

In 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act, creating the Selective Service System (SSS). Because of complaints about unfairness in the current draft system, President Nixon instituted a lottery system based on birthdates to determine those drafted into military service. There were exemptions, including dependent children, being a clergy leader, being a student at a divinity school and being a college student. “I had the grades, but once someone graduated, if your number came up, you had to go,” says Bob, who graduated earlier in 1969 and became an Associate Professor of Accounting at Jax State.

In those moments—the ones that, when they happen, you know everything has instantly changed—you think back on what you’ve built. Bob and Kathy Armbrester had built a lot.

Bob Armbrester was a charter member of Omega Kappa at Jax State, a local fraternity formed in the spring of l968. Omega Kappa included less than two dozen charter members who recognized that the school was growing. Jax State had been elevated to university status since August of 1966, and Bob and his friends felt there was enough interest to start a fraternity. Over the next year, they began to grow an organization at Jax State that became an integral part of the university. Kathy helped start a “little sister” program for Omega Kappa for women to join in and help with fundraising efforts, parties, and tutoring. Even as an associate professor, Bob attended meetings and played an active role in Omega Kappa. But when his number came up, life took a different path.

“Kathy and I got married two weeks before I left for Vietnam. We were married in December of 1970. I did basic training in North Carolina, then additional training at Ft. Monmouth in New Jersey to become certified as a Cryptographic Engineer,” Bob recalls. Fraternity brothers Hillyer Mayfield and Pete Lafakais stood by his side as he pledged his love to his bride.

On March 26, 1971, Omega Kappa was awarded a charter from what would become the largest college social fraternity in the world—Kappa Sigma Fraternity. All of the Omega Kappa brothers were initiated as Kappa Sigmas.

All but one.

However, life went on. After an honorable discharge, Bob began a successful career in accounting with Alabama Power in Birmingham. Children were born, and then grandchildren made their way into the Armbrester family. Following retirement from Alabama Power, Bob worked as a real estate broker at Kimberly Clark. All along the way, he stayed connected with his fraternity brothers. The fact that he had never been “officially” initiated didn’t matter. That is, until 2023, when his grandson, Thomas Brakefield, was initiated into the Kappa Sigma Fraternity at the University of North Alabama.

As Bob watched his grandson thrive as a Kappa Sigma and listened to Thomas tell stories of fraternity life, something from 1971 was still missing—his initiation.

“I talked to my grandson, and they were all excited about it. I got in touch with Jim Garmon, who was a former Kappa Sigma president, and he got the ball rolling.”

On November 3, 2024—53 years after his fraternity brothers were initiated—in front of his grandson and several of his dearest friends from his days at Jax State, Bob Armbrester officially became a Kappa Sigma Fraternity Brother.

“When I got home from Vietnam, I was tired. Days turned into years, and years turned into decades. You forget about things,” Bob admits with a smile. He certainly won’t forget the day that his grandson became his brother. “When Thomas became a Kappa Sigma, I started thinking about all this again. It was a very special day for us, for the Jax State chapter, and I think it was special for the University of North Alabama chapter, too.” 

When Thomas joined Kappa Sigma in 2023, he didn’t know his grandfather was affiliated with the fraternity or that he barely missed being initiated due to the war. “I joined because of the people. They are all great guys who are friendly, open and welcoming. Based on all he has done for our family, it’s no surprise at all that my grandad would be a Kappa Sig.”

One of the Kappa Sigma values is “Not for a day or an hour or a college term only, but for life.”

Most of us cannot imagine what it would be like to file into a local pizza joint in small-town Jacksonville, Alabama, huddle around a television, and wait to see if our lives would be changed forever. What we can imagine, however, is what it’s like to have friendships that last forever because of Jax State. We can imagine it because we, like Bob Armbrester, are living it.