January 10, 1899. Three men rapidly converging on a rooming-house where two younger men were awaiting them. These five men were going to meet at the room occupied by Clarence A. Mayer and James C. McNutt. Having now assembled at 504 East Locust Street in Blooomington, Illinois, these five men formed the Knights of Classic Lore, which grew to become Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. Let us now consider who these five men were and what became of their lives after they first met on that cold January night.
Joseph
Lorenzo Settles was born November 2, 1871, at the little town of Lexington,
seventeen miles northeast of Bloominton, Illinois. He had entered Illinois Wesleyan
Academy in the fall of 1896, being nearly 25 years of age, and completed both
the Academy and College courses, graduating from the later in 1902. He must
have been, at the age of 27, a freshman of some four months standing; his short
collegiate experience being offset by his more mature age and his knowledge
of conditions at Wesleyan gained during his two years in the prep school. Founder
Settles worked at the Assistant Treasurer of the Methodist Centenary Fund, and
later moved to Los Angeles where he served as the Executive Secretary of the
Los Angeles Rotary Club. Settles remained in Los Angeles until his death on
February 15, 1943. 
Owen
Ison Truitt was born at Spring Bay, Woodford County, Illinois, a tiny village
a few miles north of Peoria, on the east side of the Illinois River, on November
20, 1868. He was therefore thirty years old at the time of the founding. His
secondary education was also gained at the Wesleyan Academy. As he and Settles
graduated in the same class on June 19, 1902, they must have become well acquainted
both in the Academy and as fellow freshman in college, whose life and experience
at Wesleyan paralleled. Both were in training for, and after graduation entered
the ministry of the Methodist Church, and both held student pastorates. Frater
Truitt subsequently served four pastorates all in the Central Illinois Conference.
On July 13, 1929, both he and his wife were killed in a automobile accident.
He was the first of the Founders of "the Miracle Fraternity" to pass
into the Chapter Eternal. 
Clarence
Arthur Mayer was born on May 18, 1879 at Mt. Pulaski, Logan County, Illinois.
Frater Mayer graduated from Illinois Wesleyan in 1902. Mayer was the most colorful
of the Founders. He was a musician of great natural ability and exceptional
training. His field was the piano and pipe organ. In 1916 he and his wife and
Wallace Grieves founded the Springfield College of Music and Allied Arts, of
which he continued to be the director until 1926. Frater Mayer never ceased
to be an active Teke and along with Founder McNutt, laid down the eight criteria
by which a real Teke will always be recognized, and these epitomize the actual
creed of the Founders. When Clarence A. Mayer died on August 8, 1960, Tau Kappa
Epsilon lost not only a Founder, but an inspiring leader and a pillar of greatness.
James
Carson McNutt, Frater Mayer's roommate, and was born on June 13, 1878, in
Herrick, Illinois. McNutt was the first person whom Frater Settles approached
with his plan for a new fraternal organization. After graduation in 1901, Frater
McNutt taught school in Southern Illinois for a while, and then entered Washington
University School of Medicine, receiving his medical degree in 1905. Dr. McNutt
engaged in the general practice of medicine, and in 1955, he received the Illinois
Medical Society's gold pin for fifty years of active practice. It is said that
in this fifty years Frater McNutt had delivered more than 4,500 babies. Frater
McNutt kept an avid interest in the fraternity he helped found, as manifested
by attendance at Conclaves, by speaking frequently at Founder's Day and other
Teke banquets, and by joining with the other Founders in addressing the Fraternity
at large. On May 19, 1962, this last of the Founders joined those who had gone
before, dying at the age of 83. 
Charles
Roy Atkinson, who signed himself C. Roy Atkinson, and was always called
by his middle name, was born in Bloomington, October 17, 1877, and resided in
that city all his life. He entered Illinois Wesleyan in 1896, and graduated
in 1900. He was therefore a junior at the time of the founding, and scholastically
two years in advance of his fellow Founders. He was a quiet young man, but a
fine singer, music being the great accomplishment of his whole life. He had
a leading place in many church choirs of Bloomington, and at the time of his
death was director of music in the Sunday School of the First Christian Church.
He was official organist for the Order of the Eastern Star, and he played for
the various functions of the Masonic Lodge. He was also chairman of the music
committee of the Kiwanis Club, of which he was a Past President and Charter
Member. Frater Atkinson met his death in an automobile accident on September
14, 1930. A peculiarity of his funeral was the absence of vocal music, for the
reason that none of the many persons with whom he had sung could trust themselves
not to break down during the service.