BR’s:
Class notes are due in May — Please drop me a line with some info. Hope you all have a great summer and look forward to seeing you all in the fall.
Bill
admin note: You can send by email to wroc1970@comcast.net or class-agent@vmi70.org
The Institute Report is published for faculty and staff members, cadets, and other readers important to VMI (That includes us alumni). The Report is published monthly during the academic year, with a total of eight issues annually. Many of us already get it through the mail, but it is available on the Internet with email notification to you. Your advantage is that you would get it several weeks before it would arrive at your home.
You can also view the latest and past issues on line. Go to the Institute Report Web Page and sign up.
From the VMI Office of Communications and Marketing:
LEXINGTON, Va., March 5, 2008 – Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates will deliver the commencement address to Virginia Military Institute’s graduating cadets on May 16. The commencement exercise is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in Cameron Hall.
“The Class of 2008 is honored to have Secretary Gates as our commencement speaker,” said class president Cadet Jason L. Webb of Bowie, Md. “His acceptance of our invitation means so much to our class, and particularly the commissioning graduates that will soon be serving in harm’s way.” Webb said the members of the class appreciate the obligations they will assume upon graduation. The fact that Secretary Gates is a major national leader makes him an appropriate speaker for graduates who will pursue careers of leadership in the military and civilian sectors.
A while back (a long while!) our friendly neighborhood class agent said (and I agreed) we should have a section of the web site in which we remember our Brother Rats that have died. The section is there, but I have little or no information on them to put into the page itself, other than that which is available from the VMI Alumni site.
So, if any of you have something you would like to write about those listed below, including those things which would normally be in an obituary (but not limited to that), we would appreciate it. After an article on someone is posted, any of you can add to it (anecdotes, personal remembrances, etc.) using the comments function.
The current list of our Brother Rats who have died are:
Theodore Bolton; Richard Corbett; Edward Holmes; Randolph Jones; Kerry Newberry; Henry Parish; Philip Ramsey; Kearn Strong; Joseph Vojtecky; Frank Whitenack
You can either post directly, or email to me at webmaster@vmi70.org and I will put it together. Thanks.>>>Chips
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.
As this unusually hot summer winds down and the coolness of the fall is just around the corner, one wonders if there is something to the global warming alarm or did we just experience the consequences of the hot air generated by Al Gore in his quest for the Holy Grail. I don’t know but one wonders. The summer yielded very little news regarding our BR’s and I suspect vacations, retirements and such were the culprits but some did offer some news. Ben Dick wrote fromCharlottesville pleading poverty as he has both son Tyler and daughter Brittany in college. Ben continues to practice law and occasionally sees Kent Schlussel and Ned Haley. Ben reported that his brother, Tom Dick ’74, son, was stricken with cancer and has waged a major battle to survive and the ordeal has been very trying on the family. We wish your nephew the best Ben and will keep him in our prayers. Ben wishes all BR’s the best and hopes to get to Lexington this fall for some Keydet football. Continue reading
From the Keydet Club Web Site: VMI head football coach Jim Reid has accepted the linebackers coaching position with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and is resigning his current position at the Institute. VMI athletic director Donny White made the announcement Wednesday. Reid, who coached the Keydets for the past two seasons, will join new Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano’s staff immediately.
Here’s a link to a short video from WDBJ, Ch 7, in Roanoke about the preparations for the Rose Bowl. (Sorry – WDBJ doesn’t store its videos for very long — the link is gone.)
Update – 18 Dec: A new article in the Roanoke Times is here. Click on the Picture Gallery for some interesting shots. (Looks like the Band has traveling uniforms like the athletic teams. Probably a lot more comfortable than a blouse and straight pants!)
Again, from the VMI News Center:
If you want to watch the Regimental Band in the Tournament of Roses Parade on Jan. 1, you will be able to do so on most major networks. HGTV, the Home and Garden Network, plans to broadcast the parade in its entirety.
The band will be in the 27th position in the parade, and in the position of honor directly behind the car carrying the president of the parade, CL Keedy. Viewers should be on the lookout for the VMI band passing the reviewing stand beginning at 8:30 a.m. (PST).
For those who might be out there in person, here’s a map of the route along with a timetable of parade arrival times. And if you are there, I would certainly appreciate any pictures to post here on the site.
From the VMI News Center
LEXINGTON, Va., Nov. 21, 2007 – In late November and early December, the VMI Regimental Band and Pipe Band will be preparing in earnest for their highest-profile performance ever: the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 1.
This will be possibly the first appearance ever of a Virginia state college band in what is known as the “Super Bowl” of parades. The parade will be seen by 400 million worldwide on TV and 1 million on site.
“We’ve never had a composite brass and bagpipe band in the parade,” remarked CL Keedy III, Tournament of Roses president and chairman of the board, on a visit to VMI in early November. College bands are few and far between in the Rose Parade. There are many more high school bands than collegiate ones. “I can’t remember the last time there was a Virginia band,” even a high school one, in the parade, Keedy said.
VMI’s will be one of only three college bands in the parade other than the two from the universities that will vie in the Rose Bowl football game.
