Brothers in Gamma Pi Chapter are still struggling to absorb some shocking and sobering news going into the weekend of August 2. When we lose a key leader, especially someone who has made long-term contributions, we talk about how a sturdy tree of Omega has fallen. In this case, the sudden loss of Bro. Steven Walls, the only Gamma Pi member to serve as Basileus during two different eras, is about the loss of a Brother who is as sturdy a tree in Omega as they come. Bro. Walls passed way unexpectedly on Friday, August 2. Brothers will be grieving and remembering for a very long time. Among those grieving is his own blood-brother, Bro. Lovell Walls, who is a Gamma Pi chapter member.
Bro. Steven Walls most recently served as Basileus during back-to-back terms in 2019-20 and 2020-21. His first service as Basileus was 1998-2000. He was the first Gamma Pi-initiated Brother to become Basileus of The Super Chapter. To date, no other member in the chapter's 50-year history (March 5, 1973) has served in the Basileus role for a second separate stint covering more than two decades after the first go-round. Bro. Timothy McIntosh, a charter member and the first Gamma Pi Basileus, came back for a second stint in the next decade after his 1973-74 initial service.
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| Bro. Walls (left) is interviewed on local TV in June 2020 |
While Bro. Walls was often the one leading the Omega Memorial Services for departed Brothers, was the first-choice soloist when it came time for Brothers to sing Omega Dear, was THE resident historian and parliamentarian for Gamma Pi Chapter and was all knowing about every little detail of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. as a rabid student of Omega history (he probably knew the Social Security numbers of each of the Founders), he will also be remembered for his dedication to seeing to it that Gamma Pi kept social action on the front burner under his leadership. He never wavered. He also served at the District and international levels.
Bro. Walls orchestrated one of Gamma Pi's most successful and farthest-reaching social action projects in chapter history just several years ago. In 2020 at the outset of the global pandemic when lockdowns began, Bro. Walls set up a months-long "machine-like" assembly line food preparation and delivery service led and executed by Gamma Pi along with some Brothers who came to help from other chapters. Over the course of more than a year, following his vision, The Super Chapter distributed free food packages weekly to more than 80,000 Prince George's County families suffering financially from the impact of the pandemic, as many found themselves out of work or unable to go out and shop for themselves due to the public heath risk.
During the food drives that lasted beyond 2021, Bro. Walls risked his own health and safety by donning a cloth mask and showing up every week at whatever school or church Gamma Pi was distributing packages. In between, he spent hours on the phone pulling people together across the community, from politicians to pastors to nonprofit partners. Because of the success and reach of the food drives, Gamma Pi Chapter was named the Large Graduate Chapter of the Year for the 2019-2020 Fraternity Year for the entire Second District. The chapter's work attracted local TV coverage. Bro. Walls was interviewed on-air during a weekend food giveaway at DeMatha High School in 2020 (see photo above) and also in 2021 when Gamma Pi held a one-year anniversary food drive event in District Heights (link below).
The complete food giveaway project was captured in articles and photos in the chapter's annual Second District Achievement Week scrapbook. The aforementioned Chapter of the Year award was presented to him at the 2021 Second District Conference in Pittsburgh. Bro. then-Basileus Walls also used the chapter's own Community UPLIFT TV show in June 2021, broadcast on Comcast and Verizon FiOS, to promote the food drives and also announce that the chapter had won the prestigious award.
Below are links to both TV news interviews from 2021. In the top interview, Bro. Walls, sadly, in the interview, pays public respects to another stalwart chapter member who Gamma Pi had just experienced the sudden loss of, in the person of Bro. William "364" Reese. During COVID, the chapter's Community UPLIFT show was filmed via Zoom from home. The studio was closed during the two years Bro. Walls served as Basileus.
Finally, as we all look back at all the leadership achievements and his every good-natured demeanor with the Brothers, there is one takeaway from Bro. Walls that all of Gamma Pi will remember about him as the days and years go by. At every committee meeting, every chapter meeting, and at every chapter or Fraternity activity, when he stood up to talk, whether he was presenting a report, answering a question or asking a question about Fraternity business, he prefaced every statement and remark and answer with, "Giving thanks and honor to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." That was his signature tagline. He would not make his business point until he made that point. He's probably already hard at work for The Supreme Basileus. You can bet he's set up the agenda for the next Omega Chapter meeting.
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