The recently renamed Traylor Province, consisting of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, held a Court of Honor induction ceremony on Friday, September 10, 2021. The ceremony was held at the SILO Auto Club and Conservancy in Indianapolis, Indiana. The following four brothers were added to the Court’s roll:
Benjamin K. Hirschauer (Zeta Omicron–Southern Indiana ’11)
Brother Ben Hirschauer was initiated into Zeta Omicron Chapter at the University of Southern Indiana in 2011. He graduated from USI with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice Studies in 2013 and since graduation Brother Hirshauer has continued to maintain contact and serve as an active supporter of Zeta Omicron Chapter. He is also a member of the Southern Indiana Alumni Chapter and in recent years he has attended several Province Councils as a volunteer advisor and when his work schedule permits, hopes to continue to volunteer at future Provincial Officer Training Conferences which have replaced the Province Councils. Additionally, he has volunteered to travel to USI and assist the ZO Chapter’s officers with recruitment training and, more particularly, as a former No VI from 2011-2013, to work with the chapter’s VI in advising on him on managing their finances. Finally, Brother Hirshauer has continued to be an active supporter of Kappa Alpha Order as a member of KA’s Crimson and Gold Society for the past two years, and has been a member of Forever KA since 2018. Those commitments themselves display a very positive financial proof of his love and support of the Order. Brother Hirshauer has also worked to serve his community first as a Dispatcher and now as a Deputy of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department.
Christopher A. Parrish (Zeta Omicron–Southern Indiana ’07)
Brother Chris Parrish was initiated into Zeta Omicron Chapter at the University of Southern Indiana in 2007 and served as the IX. He graduated from USI with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing in 2011. Since graduation, he has continued to maintain contact with Zeta Omicron Chapter offering his service and experience in recruitment training. He has attended and participated as a volunteer small group facilitator in seven past Province Councils and has served as our Province’s Deputy Commander for Academic Affairs since 2015. Also in 2015, Brother Parrish played an integral role by providing organizing and marketing support for the Order’s Sesquicentennial Regional Celebration held here in Indianapolis. Additionally, he is a member of The Loyal Order and a charter member and social chairman of the Southern Indiana Alumni Chapter. He has helped organize the alumni chapter’s “Ruptured Duck” annual golf scramble each summer since 2013. The scramble is open to KA alumni and actives alike.
For all of these reasons, and other brotherly traits not noted here, Brother Parrish deserves the best of us.
Brother Parrish works for SalesForce as a Support Engineer and resides in Brownsburg, Indiana with his wife, Amanda, their two sons, and a third on the way.
C. Douglas Simmons III (Beta Tau–Mississippi State ’95)
Clyde Douglas Simmons III was born in Greenville, Mississippi, and is a lifelong, proud Mississippian. In 1995, while attending Mississippi State University, he was initiated by the Beta Tau Chapter and has been continuously involved with the Order. He served as Number VII and Number III. He graduated from Mississippi State with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics. He is the managing Partner in Simmons Planting Company in the Mississippi Delta where his family has been engaged in row crop production agriculture for several generations.
Simmons has been involved in several educational, civic, and professional organizations. He attended Washington School in Greenville, Mississippi, for his primary and secondary education and serves today as a trustee of the Washington School Foundation. He is a former member of the board of directors and immediate past president of the Highland Club at Lake Washington, Mississippi, the oldest incorporated social club in the State.
A champion of the United States Farmer, Brother Simmons, on behalf of U.S. Department of Agriculture, has officially represented the soybean and rice industries on five continents and in numerous countries. Additionally, he is: Mississippi State’s alumni representative to the Association of Public Land Grant Universities; a long-time board member of the Delta Council, an 85-year old organization focused on the promotion of agriculture, flood control, and development of transportation systems in the Mississippi Delta; the Governor’s appointee and vice-chairman of the Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board; appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to represent Mississippi on the United Soybean Board, the federal entity responsible for the oversight and annual disbursement of more than $100 million to promote soybean production and market development; and, a former member of the Mississippi Rice Council board of directors, representing his stated on the board of the Rice Federation, a global advocate for all segments of the U.S. rice industry.
Upon graduation, Simmons joined the staff of the National Administrative Office in Lexington, Virginia, as an Educational and Leadership Consultant and visited chapters in every province in the Order. Upon his return home to join his family’s farming business, he became Alumnus Advisor to Beta Tau Chapter and served in that capacity until 2005, when he was elected as the Commander of the Emmett Lee Irwin Province. After three years of service as Irwin Province Commander, Simmons was elected by the Advisory Council to the Order’s Executive Council in 2008 serving continuously to the present. He has served on the Board of Trustees of the Kappa Alpha Order Educational Foundation since 2014.
He chaired Sesquicentennial Celebration Steering Committee; in 2015 at the 76th Convention and Sesquicentennial Celebration held in Roanoke, Virginia, he was elected Senior Councilor.
He is the recipient of the Knight Commander’s Accolade, and a member of multiple Courts of Honor. A long-time ritual lecturer and former Model Initiation Director, he authored the Stewards of the Order Program to ensure the initiation ceremony is conducted in a uniform way and to preserve the ritual unaltered. He has a strong appreciation for and knowledge of the history of the Order and the Kappa Alpha Laws.
Simmons resides in Tribbett, Mississippi, and is a communicant of St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Indianola.
Dr. Idris Rhea Traylor, Jr. (Gamma Chi–Texas Tech ’70)
Idris Rhea Traylor, Jr. was born in Norman, Oklahoma, on February 4, 1935. Traylor would prove to have an indelible influence on the Order. As a professor of history and administrator at Texas Tech University, Traylor began serving as Gamma Chi Chapter Advisor in 1969. He was initiated as a faculty member in February 1970, beginning an illustrious association with Kappa Alpha. Traylor served for 25 years as the Alumnus Advisor for the chapter, founded the Lubbock Alumni Chapter, and was a founder of the original Council of Honor, earning a Knight Commander’s Accolade for his work. National Scholarship Officer for more than two decades, Traylor wrote Brains, Books, Brotherhood, KA’ scholarship manual, which has been adopted by other fraternities and sororities and declared one of the most outstanding such books by the National Interfraternity Conference. He served as Deputy Commander of Hamer Province, Commander of Locke Province, and founder of the Locke Court of Honor. Traylor served 14 years on the Executive Council, including four years as Senior Councilor and four years as Knight Commander, first elected at the Dallas Convention in 1985.
Traylor strengthened the Order by reviving the position of Chief Alumnus and promoting the foundation of alumni chapters, more than doubling the number to over 100 chapters during his tenure as Knight Commander. His priority in undergraduate chapter expansion was rechartering the chapters that had previously existed but had ceased to function, although KA continued to add chapters where they had not previously existed. He introduced the Order’s Distinguished Public Service Award. Traylor provided the first paperback edition of the KA Laws so as to make the publication accessible to all members of the Order. He also doubled the number of Educational and Leadership Consultants and expanded services to undergraduate chapters. It was Traylor’s leadership that the Administrative Offices were moved to Lexington, Virginia. After the move, Traylor was one of those instrumental in the location, purchase, renovation, and furnishing the National Headquarters Building, including donating historical items to KA.
The purpose of the Court of Honor is to recognize and honor alumni for their continuing interest, support, and participation in the Order, its active chapters or its alumni chapters, and to stimulate the growth and strength of the Order, its chapters, and members.
