When Colonel Eugene C. Wharf died his widow, Mrs. Stella C. Wharf, conveyed the family home, Shadowwood, to the university as a memorial. At the suggestion of Judge Shake, Beckes worked to transfer the property to the Grand Chapter of the Sigma Pi fraternity for use as its national headquarters in August 1961. The fraternity had been founded at the university in 1897. Mrs. Wharf heartily approved of the deal.
