By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

dobrien@dailynews.net

Some people retire, only to find themselves working another job soon afterward to keep busy.

That's what Herb Songer will be doing the next couple of years.

And although it's not a paying job, Songer said he is looking forward to his new duties as international president of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

Songer, who retired from his position of vice president for student affairs at Fort Hays State University last year, was elected to that position in August at TKE's biennial convention, or conclave, in New Orleans.

As president, known as Grand Prytanis, Songer has the opportunity to travel all across the country to council meetings and regional leadership conferences, from Philadelphia to San Francisco, from Florida to Washington and several sites in between.

The international headquarters for TKE, the largest social fraternity in the nation with nearly 275 chapters, are based in Indianapolis.

Songer has been involved off and on with the fraternity for 46 years.

He grew up in Lincoln and joined TKE when he came to college at Fort Hays Kansas State College in the early 1960s. Songer served as president of the local fraternity as an undergraduate student at Fort Hays.

When he returned to Fort Hays from Marymount College in Salina, to work in the student affairs office in 1978, one of his responsibilities as associate dean of students was supervision of the Greek system.

Songer has served on the international board for several years, but he knew it would be tough to hold the top position while he still was employed at Fort Hays.

"It involves so much time that I couldn't see doing that with a full-time job," said Songer, who did say he had it in the back of his mind to get more involved in the fraternity once he retired.

In between TKE trips, Songer will play golf with his wife, Sheryl, and spend more time with their only daughter, Jennifer Basinger, and her family, husband Derek and sons Jacob and Dylan.

And Songer won't have far to travel to see them.

Songer and his wife, a retired school teacher, are moving from Hays to Wichita next week to be near the Basingers and watch 6-year-old Jacob and 5-year-old Dylan grow up.

Songer called the move "bittersweet."

While it's hard for the Songers to leave friends in their hometown of the past 32 years, they also are excited at the idea of living just 2 miles from their daughter and family.

"I thought we have more big adventure left in us," said Songer, 66. "So I figured now was the time to move. We've got to get down there (to Wichita) quick. (The grandsons) are really starting to grow, and we love spoiling them."