Alumni Review 2012 Issue 1

Page 93

CLASS NOTES a lot of time. Elaine & I attended a Northern NJ Alumni Association dinner recently where we ended up dining with John Lane (Wyckoff, NJ) and his wife Louise. He’s still practicing law and looks exactly like he has for the past 20-30 years …hasn’t gained a pound, probably could still fit in his coatee. Me … I couldn’t get one arm in my coatee! Wayne Burton (Saint Marys, GA): Carole and I flew to England in May to visit our son. Spent a week in Porto, Portugal at a winery resort and five days in Ireland. Dublin is a fantastic party town. Will be attending the Citadel game on Oct 29 in Charleston. My next-door neighbor and another close friend are Citadel grads. Les Martin (Hanover, PA): Our granddaughter arrived Friday evening after putting Mom and Dad through their paces (Mom probably more so than Dad), labor lasted almost 24 hours. Adam was “coaching” the whole time while Courtney just laid there in bed. Women always have it easier than guys. (Agent’s note: Send those cards and letters to Les, not me!) Adam and his brother have already taught Payton a hand signal and Grandma isn’t thrilled. Everyone is doing well after some rest, so the hard part is over and raising her will be the easy part. I’m sure Pat will have much more information every minute something happens – she is excited. Eddie Swink (Richmond, VA): I just wanted to mention that I was in Lexington on July 31st for my father`s (Halfie) 90th birthday. He is the last remaining owner of the Post Exchange, barber shop and book store of 36 years still living. My mother Margaret, Uncle Red Turner, and his wife Wynn, have passed on. Most people don`t remember that they started the “Big Brother” program. It was designed to help homesick football players feel comfortable by coming to my parent`s home on weekends to get a good meal and relax. It all started with Coach John McKenna telling my mother that Butch Nunnally ’64 was homesick and was worried he was going to leave school. Mother told Coach McKenna to send Butch to the P.X. to see her. Butch came up to the house that Sunday and that did it. As you probably know, Butch had a heck of a career topped by leading the Keydets in the Oyster Bowl against a Roger Stauback led Navy team. By the way, some of our little brothers were Stinson Jones ’62, Andy Dearman ’75 and Dutch Goddard ’78. Not a bad group for All – Conference. George Squires (Henrico, VA) (in response to a birthday post card): Thanks – it was John VanLandingham’s (Eugene, OR) birthday as well. We were separated by a couple hundred miles--Petersburg (JVL) & Charlotte NC & a few hours. I believe JVL is about 5 hours

2012-Issue 1

older, which is appropriately reflected in his more mature persona & character. (Or at least what people think of as his mature persona & character. Someday the shocking truth may be revealed, but America is not ready for that yet.) I’ve had enjoyable visits here with BRs in the past several months--the aforementioned John VL, then roomie Creigh Kelley (Centennial, CO), roomie Steve Hubbard (Maplecrest, NY), Leigh Edmunds (Alexandria, VA) (all those individually), Paul Hebert (Steamboat Springs, CO) & Wright Ellis (Richmond, VA) (a joint visit--no pun intended), & roomies Tom Burnett (Midlothian, VA) & Creigh Kelley at Tom’s home. After the JVL visit, had visit from Skip Roberts (Lexington, VA), then the others. More information on some of these doings comes from Tom and John in the following paragraphs. Tom Burnett: Had a great evening with Creigh Kelley (our last drink was completed at 3:20 this morning)! Then Kitti Sue brought George Squires over at 10 for breakfast, along with a refreshing Bloody Mary, then told stories, laughed to no end and I took George back to his house around 4:30 this afternoon. What great memories we shared and we just picked up where we left off many, many years ago. GREAT DAY for us! John VanLandingham: Was in Colorado

in early July, following my wife to a meeting, and got to have lunch with Paul Hebert and his wife Mayling Simpson in their home in Steamboat Springs and learn more about their amazing lives. Later in July Martha and I and our two kids, ages 27 and 25, walked across Northern England, from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, on the Coast to Coast Path – 198 miles in 13 days of walking from town and B&B/pub to town and B&B/pub. Amazing experience. Son Johnny has recently started astronomy graduate school at the University of Maryland and daughter Cassie has returned to Mali in West Africa to work with the Peace Corps and US AID for 11 months. I’m still working as a legal aid lawyer. Besides the fun fact that George Squires and I share a birthday in September, my dad’s birthday, his 89th, was four days earlier. My dad graduated from VMI in the Class of 1943; his 4-year roommate Vince Thomas ’43, had carved his initials in the window sill of their rat room and those initials were still there when I roomed there our rat year. Also, during the past year I got to see Pete and Patty Farmer (Edmunds, WA) in Eugene, where their oldest son was graduating from the University of Oregon. I will miss their visits. And in November I spent some time in DC and got to tour Rick Siegel’s (Bethesda, MD) soccer empire (which he runs with his daughter

Class of 1968: Attending the Rat Parade at John Crim’s home in New Market, Virgina, on Sept. 4, 2011, were, from left, front row: Hal Switzer and Tom Arensdorf; Second row: Bill Cloyd, Richard Wallach, Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III ’62, Joe Levine and Jim Polley. Third row: Barry Archer and Dave Clark. Fourth row: John Crim, the host of the party; Gil Piddington; Billy Seargeant; and Dick Wood. Fifth row: Clay Thompson, Dean Kershaw, Ned Harris, Kit Tyler and Larry Ryan. Sixth row: Steve Hubbard, Rev Jones, Chandler Williams, Jay Slaughter, George Sebren, Mac Parrish, Richard Torovsky (Citadel ’68) and John Griffin. Also present for the weekend were: Randolph Williams ’66, Will Robertson, John Warburton and Tom Hickey.

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