November 2007 Greetings to all from Richmond. We have had a very unusual fall this year. The temperatures have averaged on the warm side all year and here it is a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving and virtually all the leaves are still on the trees. No telling what Mother Nature has up her sleeve for the winter but I must tell you that a little bit of cooler weather will be welcomed. Now on to the news:
It is with the utmost sadness that I inform the Class of the tragic passing of Dr. Rebecca Clary Harris daughter of Dr. Richard and Kay Clary. Rebecca was involved in a freak accident in Charlottesville last September and was laid to rest in Richmond. Her celebration of life service was attended by an over flow group of family, friends and BRs. It was truly a wonderful testament to her life. Rich and Kay, our hearts go out to you and your family. Please know we are thinking of you.
Received a nice note from JBC Hill, who resides in Long Beach Ca. John is an accountant who changed jobs last year to a firm that had a substantial number of mortgage bankers as clients. When the mortgage crisis hit the fan in June, John’s position was eliminated and he went on the unemployment line for the first time in 17 years. However, he was quick to land another offer and is now happily crunching numbers with a new firm. During the time between jobs, John read Tony Dungy’s book, Silent Strength which was a best seller. John said that the book offered some good insight on life and how one deals with adversity. Dungy of course is the very successful coach of the Indianapolis Colts and has experienced a lot of adversity that life has thrown at him. Turns out that Dungy went to a rival high school of John’s in Michigan (approx 10 years after John graduated) and that they both had the same football coach. John recounted his football career at VMI by saying he was too small and to slow to play Division 1. He did however play guard as a rat and played second string in the spring game behind Bob Biddle ’69, John O’Donnell ’69 and our own Mike Sisler. He was thrown into the breech that spring because the varsity only had the three aforementioned individuals playing guard. He said his football career ended after the spring game. John wishes all BR’s well and continues to support the Institute. It was great to hear from you John and I hope you can make it back for our 40th.
Roy Heddleston attended a basketball event in Lexington put together by John Kemper, ’68 called “The McPherson Years”. As you will recall Coach McPherson was the varsity basketball coach our rat year. I believe he was the first coach to take VMI to the NCAA Tournament. Roy said the lies, er stories that were told sometimes had different endings than the last time they were told and varied in truth considerably, depending on who was telling the story. The event was well attended and everybody had a super time. In addition to Roy, Jim “Goose” Gillespie and Walt ‘Sandwich” Ivkovitch attended.
Short note from Glenn Kuntz saying that he is in Florida enjoying all the sporting activities that one can enjoy in Florida. He says he is not working but I don’t know if that means he is unofficially retired or just is taking his time to find something interesting to do. Thanks for the update Glenn.
Tom Clingerman reported in from the great state of Iowa with an update on the Clingerman family. Tom has been married for 32 to years to wife Karen and they have two sons, Mike and John. Mike is a Lance Corporal in the USMC and is back in Iraq for his second tour. As Tom says when you have a child in the military you are immensely proud and nervous at the same time. A salute to your son Tom, and Godspeed on his safe return. Tom’s other son John is a sophomore at Iowa Stateand is enjoying the college life. Tom continues to work at Rockwell and has decided to put off retirement for a couple of years. Karen works at the local high school and really enjoys interacting with the kids and can wait for retirement. Tom mentioned that when he read the article about Fred Werth becoming ordained as a Catholic priest it reminded him of the time he was in the seminary prior to coming to VMI. He was considering becoming a priest but just couldn’t keep the deep religious feeling that one needs to follow that path. Tom believes that Fred has that feeling and indeed will be an excellent priest. Tom indicated that he has stayed in touch his two roommates, Fred Phillips and Tom Massey. Fred apparently has moved from Northern Virginia to Lynchburg and does not miss the chaos of NVa. Tom is in the Charlotte area and has gone back to US Air. Thanks for the update Cling – it was certainly good to hear from you after all these years.
Waite “Soda” Rawls continues to make the news with the Museum of the Confederacy. Waite is tasked with the fiscal care and the marketing of the museum as the city continues to physically build all around the museum and the funding continues to shrink. Waite put together a plan to relocate portions of the museum to various Civil War sites around Virginia. I think the plan was well received and is in the implementation stage. Well done Soda! Waite indicated that Roland Vaughan and his son “Bear” came to Richmond in the late summer and had a personal tour of the museum. The museum is really quite impressive and if you have any interest in the history of the Civil War then you should make an effort to visit it. On a good note, Roland’s son continues to rehab from the wounds he received in Iraq and is heading towards recovery. I know Roland and his family appreciated all of the inquiries the Class had for Bear. I believe Roland and Bear were also planning to visit Ben Dick in Charlottesville. Thanks Waite for the good job you are doing and Bear, we wish you continued success on your rehabilitation.
Carl and Julie Strock stopped by Lexington for a football game in September. Carl had accepted a job with the Bechtel Company and was moving down to Houston for a six month Company “orientation”. He hopes that he will be assigned to a Bechtel division in the DC area after his stint in Houston. Carl says he has adjusted well to civilian life after 37 years of service but was looking forward to the challenges of big business.
Bill Bott, wife and grandkids were in Lexington for a ballgame and to visit their son, who is a professor in Civil Engineering at the Institute and just recently was promoted to LTC. The Bott family has a long history at VMI going back generations. Both of Bill’s sons graduated from the Institute as did Bill’s dad, and I believe grandfather. Bill has retired on the Eastern Shore and spends his time depleting the surrounding waters of fish and appears to be enjoying his retirement.
Ran into Will Huntley at the VMI – Coastal Carolina game and spent some time reminiscing about the trials and tribulations of our time at VMI. Will lives in Charleston, and is math (?) professor. He has taught at the Citadel and is considering moving north to Lexington for a possible teaching change. We would welcome you back Will. Please keep us advised.
This Saturday ends the 2007 football season with the final game against the Citadel. The season was a bit disappointing but better times are ahead! Only three seniors started this year. Coach Reids’ strategy of building up a red shirt class will yield dividends as early as next year. I know there are a number of nay-sayers but you have got to believe. Both Coach Reid and Coach Bobby Ross are convinced we are on the right track. They should know, they have been proven winners their whole coaching careers. Please, just hang in there for a little while longer.
’70 supported the team in a big way this year as we always do both with donations and attendance. Our annual giving was up as were the BR’s and spouses attending games. BR’s sighted at various games included: Don Crawford, Carl Strock, Peel Dillard, Chuck Wills, Lou Reynolds, Tom Cooke, Gary Weishaar, Herb Braun, Bob Copty, Bill Gearhart, Ralph Costen, Steve Craddock, Waite Rawls, Warren Grasty, Bill Bott and Will Huntley. Our Class of ’70 Academic/Athletic Scholarship continues to grow but we still have a ways to go. We have generated total pledges and cash of approx $80,000 to-date. Our scholarship cadet, Demiso Alexander is a red shirted third and is now sharing starting time at defensive end and doing a super job. He is also excelling in the class room. Demiso is the type of cadet/athlete we can all be prod of.
I would like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful Christmas holiday. Be safe and please make a New Year’s resolution to “SEND ME SOME NEWS”. Take care and say a prayer for all of our military men and women serving around the world.
