05/17/2026
Happy Birthday Founder Paul Waymond Caine!
Paul W. Caine was an entrepreneur and chef. He always displayed a pleasant disposition. He was born in Greencastle, IN, on May 17, 1890.
He was adept at cooking and honed those skills while working at DePauw University, where he worked as a cook in the sorority houses before enrolling at Indiana University. Caine enrolled at Indiana University sometime between 1909 and 1910 as a business major. He was a fine caterer and was in demand by the White fraternities on campus and kept many of the Founding brothers from hunger.
He lost all of his personal belongings during his freshman year because of a disastrous fire in the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity house where he was employed. Caine persevered but was eventually forced to withdraw from school during his sophomore year, the winter quarter of 1911.
He subsequently set up the Caine Catering Company in his hometown and continued his catering business in various cities, including Gary, IN, Peoria, Chicago, and Evanston, IL. Caine opened a restaurant and bakery in Peoria, IL. He also published a catering book, Artistic Dishes in 1919. He taught cooking and conducted culinary lectures.
While residing in Gary, IN, Caine worked as a laborer at the Gary Steel Mill and married Jeanette E. Wilson in 1921. While living in Chicago in the early-mid 1920s, Caine assisted in organizing and furnishing the Chicago (IL) Alumni Chapter’s new ‘Kappa Kastle.’
Caine helped the other Founders in organizing Kappa Alpha Nu. He was among the first to be initiated into the Fraternity. He was also instrumental in the chartering of the Beta, Gamma, Delta, Zeta, and Theta Chapters.
He later acquired a 2nd hand goods clothing store and dry-cleaner business in Rockford, IL. He was burned during an explosion of gaseous materials as he worked in his dry-cleaning business. Caine subsequently died of pneumonia on April 15, 1931, from injuries sustained from the fire.
The highest Grand Chapter award available to alumni chapters for outstanding achievement, the Paul W. Caine Award, is named in his honor. He is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Rockford, IL.
Kevin Scott
Grand Historian
