A Unique College Career Defined by Time as a Lambda Chi
Bob Lightner ’75 had a unique college journey. Beginning freshman year in 1965, he took classes for two years before trading in his textbooks for a job at Bethlehem Steel. After a year and a half in the real world, Lightner bounced back and forth between semesters at Penn State and working at Bethlehem Steel, before graduating in June of 1975. But among this back and forth one thing remained constant — Lightner’s love for Lambda Chi Alpha.
“Joining Lambda Chi was essentially preordained,” says Lightner, whose father, older brothers, uncle and cousin were all Lambda Chi brothers before him. “Penn State was the only college that I applied to and Lambda Chi was the only fraternity that I was interested in joining.”
While Lightner’s road to graduation was a little uncommon, his specific path allowed him to experience and associate with essentially three different generations of Lambda Chi’s.
Reminiscing on the time spent with his brothers, his memories are countless. He recalls a time when a power outage silenced their band and threatened to ruin their party one weekend. Thinking on their feet, the brothers noticed the neighboring fraternity across the street still had power. Lightner and his fellow brothers gathered as many extensions cords as they could find and “somehow managed to tape together enough [cords] to run a line from our house, up our flag pole, across the heavily traveled street, to their flag pole and down again to one of their functioning outlets.” Much to everyone’s surprise, it worked and the party was restored.
But it wasn’t just the fun nights that shaped Lightner’s fraternity experience. The little laughs in the morning, like when the coffee spout accidently stuck to a brother’s boxers and sent hot coffee running down his leg, and the conversations with brothers throughout the day, made Lambda Chi life like no other.
Watching Penn State athletic events always triggers fond memories of times spent in the Lambda Chi house or with one of the brothers and, although Lightner graduated 43 years ago, his brother’s faces are still frozen in time.
“I can vividly picture them in my mind and easily imagine myself right back there with them,” he says.
Now, Lightner is a happy retiree who splits his time between Pennsylvania and Florida. A proud grandfather of five grandchildren, he and his wife enjoy traveling the nation in their travel trailer to visit national parks and exploring the world on Viking Cruises.
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Due to his frequent traveling, Lightner has limited opportunities to connect with current Lambda Chi brothers, however, he says, “My current sense on connection is simply based upon all the friendships that had developed and the bonds that were created. Physical locations never diminish those feelings and memories.”
Forty-three years later, Lightner is still grateful for the foundation the fraternity gave him.
“[Lambda Chi] enhanced my college experience beyond any doubt,” he says.
To current and future brothers, he notes, “The close friendships that develop are priceless and follow you throughout your life.”
Without Lambda Chi, the memories from the house and the lessons learned from his brothers, Lightner would not be the successful, happy and proud man he is today.