Mystery of Signed Paddle Leads to Society

	Pat Pease and her grandson, Rylan, examine the engraved oak paddle that sparked a search for it origins.

Pat Pease, a retired executive secretary, has found a way to put her life-long research and organizational skills to work by bringing history back to life. You can often find her frequenting local estate sales in her active adult community in search of treasures from the past.

“I don’t select items based on their monetary value,” explains Pease. “I look for things that have a personal story or fascinating purpose. Then I go home and start doing research.”

The acquisition of an oak paddle covered with the engraved lletters "S&B," along with over 75 signatures, led her on a journey that has taken over two years of random searches before finding its origin. Identifying the object as a fraternity paddle, she tried to pinpoint the organization and school. Unable to find any connection for a Greek organization or school with a meaning for the S&B, Pease turned to the names on the list. Still, she found nothing.

“I would hang the paddle back on the wall for a few months, and then repeat my search,” she said.

Then one day her grandson, Rylan Carney, took it from the wall and asked her about what it was. Since Pease and her husband, a retired teacher, educate the eleven-year-old from their home through Arizona Virtual Academy, she decided that doing research on the paddle might spark some interest in history for the eleven-year-old.

Pease said of her search, “So many of the names on the paddle could not be deciphered, either because the writing wasn’t distinct or the signature had faded. But one of the names, Charles E. Friley, eventually led me to the Scabbard and Blade website. The rest, you might say, is history.”

With the assistance of the Society's national office, Pease was able to match enough names on the paddle to determine that most likely the origin was Iowa State University and date it at 1938. The owner of the paddle would have been N. Dunlap whose name was on the end of the handle.

Pease confessed that although she loves the search, there is a deep satisfaction in solving the mystery and learning an object’s history. She said that Rylan still prefers swinging the paddle through the air like a baseball bat, but that she hopes involving him in her research will eventually create a shared love of history.

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Pat Pease is retired and currently lives in Green Valley, Arizona. During her career, she worked as an executive secretary for Special Activities in Bangkok, Thailand, while her husband was stationed there.