CLASS NOTES At the end of June, I headed up to northern Virginia for Jim White’s wedding. He married his long time girlfriend, Whitney Gurganus, a Radford alumna, in a ceremony at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia, on June 28, 2008. Rob Williams and Brant Wilkins served as groomsmen, while Nate Smith and Matt Wilkins served as ushers. Other Class of 2005 members present were Ben Melton, Jason Downs, Jarod Wheeler, Sean Matson and his wife, Casey, and Colin Alstad The reception was held at the Fort McNair Officers’ Club in Washington, D.C., and we all had such a great time that we went out afterwards to a bar in Old Town Alexandria to continue the celebration. Following Jim White’s wedding weekend, I had the opportunity to catch up with Andrew Troy in Richmond who was back for two weeks from Iraq, as he is on a 15-month deployment to the region and should be returning in October 2008. Sean Moore and Chris Johnson also came into town that weekend to see Andrew, and we had a great evening of drinks and sharing old war stories in the Richmond Fan District. Sean currently resides in Inwood, WV, and is working for James River Equipment as a Sales Coordinator. Chris completed his master of science degree in Exercise Science at Georgia Southern University in May
2007. Following graduation from GSU, he went to work for a physical therapy office working between Greensboro and Atlanta, Georgia. This summer, he joined the Army Reserve and is attending the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia, on the Army’s Health Professions Scholarship Program. He welcomes anyone living near or traveling through the Augusta, GA / Aiken, South Carolina, area to drop him a line. Andy Cochet just finished a temporary duty assignment (TDY) down at Eglin AFB in Florida, where he ran into Allan Coones and sends the following report: “He [Allan] was stationed there working in satellite tracking for the Air Force. We had a good time down at Ft. Walton Beach before my TDY ended. Recently, he crossed over into the Army and is now on his way to a gauntlet of schools including Ranger school and Airborne. He recently married before leaving Florida. This past May, I attended Matt Dussia’s wedding in Virginia Beach, VA. He wed the former Miss Lauren Atwood. In May, Matt graduated from seminary at Regent University with a master of divinity degree. He is currently in the Air Force Reserve and is pursuing ordainment. It was a great weekend. VMI alumni in the wedding party included David Carroll, Doug Dobbins and me. That weekend,
I crashed with David Carroll and his girlfriend, Ling Ling. David recently completed a master’s program at the University of Virginia in chemistry and is currently living in Washington, D.C., working for a patent firm. He compared it to “studying chemistry but without the tests.” As it turns out, Ling Ling (an attorney for the U.S. Mint) is actually working under my aunt at the Treasury – small world. Doug Dobbins is close to graduating from seminary in Boston, as well. He was the best man in Matt’s wedding. He did a great job coordinating everything and gave a very heartfelt speech at the reception. Also in attendance were Dan Harrison, Jon Cirillo, Ted Henderson, John Sakaleros and Brian Tuohy. As for myself, I am finishing my last couple of months as a medical student at the Uniformed Services University of Health Services (USUHS). With any luck, I will be delivering babies and all that good stuff come June. Mary Kathryn Osborne ’06 and I got engaged on December 27th – we are planning our own wedding for the not-too-distant future. We plan on having Rev. Matt Dussia preside over the ceremony.” David Carroll also added that Matt will start a teaching job in Chesapeake for this academic year. John Sakaleros sends greetings from across the pond in Greece. His work is keeping him busy, and he is trying to
Class of 2005 Photos (See next page)
Photo 1: Jay Coleman married Ashley Gurganus on April 19, 2008. Attending were, from left, standing, Jed Messina ’08, Chris Johnson, Jason Downs, Tim Johnson, Zach Carmen ’08, Brian Gorski, Jay Coleman, John Coleman ’77, Ben Melton, Shore Stokes, Ryan King, Andy Karnes and Marc Lyons. Kneeling: Christian DeShazor ’04, Donnie Barbaree, Will DeShazor, Alex Boykin and Brandon Wheeler. Photo 2: Congratulating Brother Rat Gibson on receiving his VMI diploma on May 16, 2008, were, from left, Chris Perry, Jim White, Greg Staat, Eric Kaltrider, Jim Driggs, Derek Rankin, Rob Gibson, Jeff Durham, Tim Johnson, Jason Downs and Greg VanPelt. Photo 3: Joe Amaral and Jason Downs during field training with the USMC 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion in May 2008. Photo 4: Welcoming back Seth Parker from a 14-month tour in Afghanistan on Aug. 7, 2008, in Richmond, Virginia, were, from left, Greg VanPelt, Alex Boykin, Tim Johnson, Jason Downs, Joe Amaral and Parker.
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Photo 5: Jim White married Whitney Gurganus on June 28, 2008. In attendance were, from left, Chris Lomicka ’08, Chris Lohr ’08, Rob Williams, Ben Melton, Tim Johnson, Jason Downs, Colin Alstad, Andrew Reavis ’09+3, Nate Smith, Brant Wilkins, Jarod Wheeler and Matt Wilkins. Kneeling: The newlyweds, Jim and Whitney White. Photo 6: Capt. Scarlett Collins Bean, USA, turning over command of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company 168th Brigade Support Battalion after a successful 14-month command. (See article on Bean and her husband in the OEF/OIF section of this issue.) Photo 7: Alex Boykin, Ryan King, Andy Karnes and Nate Johnson celebrating 2008 Fourth of July on Lake Travis near Austin, Texas. Photo 8: 1st Lieutenants Lev Pobirsky and Tim Riemann, USMC, in Haditha, Iraq, February 2008. Photo 9: Ken Cooper on a convoy from Command Observation Post Speicher to Command Observation Post Warrior near Kirkuk, Iraq.
VMI ALUMNI REVIEW