After graduating from South High School in Denver, Colorado in 1937, Brother Edward Baker McWilliams enrolled in University of Denver where his father was the head of the Sociology Department.
During his undergraduate years, he played varsity level basketball. After his initiation in 1938, he quickly rose to the position of Kappa Sigma Grand Master where he served from 1939 to 1940. Not only was he the president of his fraternity, but he also led as the Student Body President from 1940 to 1941 and was a member of the honorary fraternity Omicron Delta Kappa before earning his degree in Liberal Arts in 1941.
Brother McWilliams’ professional career began that same year when he was hired as a teacher by the Denver Public School System. However, he left to join the Army in March of 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant at Ft. Benning, Georgia in December of the same year. In early 1943, Ed was sent to fight in the South Pacific. He was killed in action on July 15, 1943 in the Solomon Islands. Brother McWilliams was interred overseas at the Manila American cemetery (the former Ft. William McKinley) and posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
He had two brothers who also were brothers in the Kappa Sigma Fraternity at University of Denver. Through his older brother Robert and the fraternity, Brother McWilliams learned the value of hard work and enjoyed the fellowship and brotherhood of Kappa Sigma.
