On 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 Bloomington, 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.

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