Quick Facts
Biography
George Wesley Edmonds (August 13, 1890 – June 13, 1962) was a founder of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated. Unfortunate events resulted in Edmonds losing contact with the fraternity, and for many years not much was known about his life and whereabouts.
Biography
Early life
Edmonds was born on August 13, 1890, in Knight Township, Vanderburgh County, Indiana. He attended Carver Elementary School, and graduated Clark High School in Evansville, Indiana in 1910.
Founding of Kappa Alpha Psi
Edmonds entered Indiana University at Bloomington in the fall of 1910. Soon thereafter he and nine other men founded Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated. Edmonds returned home in the summer of 1911. While there, his father, a coal miner, became terminally ill with pneumonia and died. Edmond withdrew from school and assumed the responsibility of supporting his family, taking the job of a coal miner, like his father.
Due to having to support his family, his isolation from the academic community, errors in organizational records, and the subsequent renaming of the fraternity, Edmonds lost contact with the founders and other members of the fraternity.
Later life
Edmonds married Willa Mae Forte and settled in Stevenson, Indiana, the couple having one son named Noel.
Edmonds died of pneumonia June 13, 1962, and was buried in Evansville, Indiana, unbeknownst to the members of the fraternity he helped found.
In 1972, Dr. Henry S. Wilson requested and received information on Edmonds from the Assistant Registrar of Indiana University. In 1975, Founder Edward Giles Irvin called for a renewed surge of investigation, aided by the information gained by Wilson's request, to find the whereabouts of Edmonds. Edmonds' family members were recontacted in 1975 by William E. Miller, Polemarch (or chapter chairman) of the Evansville Alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, and in 1978, Edmonds burial site was finally rediscovered.
A monument was designed in Edmonds honor, and on July 2, 1979, the monument was dedicated to consecrate Edmond's grave.