Dear Editor,
First, let me thank The Delta team for such a fine magazine. Sigma Nu brothers around the country appreciate the stories highlighting our chapters and alumni.
Thank you, too, for including my story (“Camp Calling”) in the Fall 2024 issue. Surprisingly, I had numerous men reach out to me from different chapters sharing their connection to the H. E. Butt Foundation, the H-E-B Grocery Company, or my father-in-law, Howard Butt Jr.
One extraordinary connection was with 91-year-old Tom Lilly, Epsilon Xi #274, from our chapter at the University of Mississippi. Tom’s mother’s maiden name was Butt! She was from Duck Hill, Mississippi, where my wife’s grandfather, Howard E. Butt Sr., was born in 1885.
Howard’s mother, Florence, moved from Mississippi to Kerrville, Texas, and started a little grocery store that has grown into one of the largest private companies in the country. So, through The Delta, we found a relative back in Mississippi.
Tom has done a lot of ancestry work, and he was able to share with us numerous facts about the Butt family that are new to the family here in Texas.
Thank you for bringing Sigma Nu brothers together—along with relatives from three generations past!
In Brotherhood,
David Rogers (Mississippi)
President
The H. E. Butt Foundation
