Introducing Alumni Review Contributing Writers J. Bolling Williamson ’60 J. Bolling Williamson ’60 earned a bachelor’s degree in history from VMI and, in 1969, a master of business administration degree from the College of William & Mary. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1960-67. In 1969, he joined Crestar (now Sun Trust) Bank, where he remained until he retired in 2000 as senior vice president of Commercial Lending. Williamson has written a number of highly regarded historical articles about alumni for the Review. He explains his motivation as follows: “VMI alumni have established a record of service and valor that is virtually unmatched, and the objective of my articles is to increase awareness of our heritage.” George Abry George Abry earned a master of arts degree in English from The Johns Hopkins University, with an emphasis in non-fiction writing. He works as a tutor in VMI’s Writing Center, where he assists cadets with a variety of writing tasks, including composition papers, graduate admissions essays and honors thesis projects. He also teaches public speaking in the VMI Department of English, Rhetoric and Humanistic Studies. He lives in Lexington with his wife, Andrea, and their two daughters. Rich Griset Rich Griset graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications (print journalism), minoring in religious studies. He is an award-winning freelance reporter and theater critic in Richmond, Virginia. His work has been published in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, The Virginian-Pilot, Daily Press and Richmond Magazine. He’s a regular contributor to Style Weekly and the Chesterfield Observer. Griset refers to himself as an Air Force brat and was born in Germany. John S. Pancake John Pancake is a freelance writer living in Rockbridge County. He worked for newspapers for 40 years, starting at the Lexington News-Gazette. In 1992, he directed the Miami Herald’s coverage of Hurricane Andrew, for which the newspaper won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. From 1996-2008, he was the arts editor of the Washington Post. During his tenure, the Post won three Pulitzer Prizes for its criticism. He is the nephew of the late Col. Frank R. Pancake ’38, USAF, who was the class of ’38 valedictorian and VMI’s commandant of cadets from 1951-54. “Uncle Frank was an inspiration to me,” Pancake says. “… a man of great integrity and loyalty who loved VMI all his life.”
Alumni in Theater* Recognizing Alumni Serving in Afghanistan and Iraq * Theater is defined here as the entirety of the air, land and sea area that is involved in declared war operations at this time.
Capt. Wilson Mustian ’01, USA, left, with Keith Sawyer ’83 at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. They ran into each other at the FOB dining facility on Sawyer’s birthday, July 12, 2013. Mustian, whose father is the late Tom Mustian ’65, is with the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, JAG, and is a lawyer in the Richmond area. Sawyer is a contractor with Fluor. According to Class Agent Hugh Daughtry ’83 who submitted this photo, the two “just spent some time remembering alumni weekends and enjoying a chat.”
An Update The following alumni names have been received since the publication of the 2013-Issue 3 Alumni Review. This update does not include alumni names received after Aug. 15, 2013. Also, once the name of an alumnus has been listed in the Review, it will not appear again, even if the alumnus is re-deployed at a later date. Not all of the alumni listed are currently serving in Theater, but they all have served at one time. Names and photographs are e-mailed to us almost every week. Because we have to have a cut-off date for each issue, your name and picture may have arrived past that date and therefore are not published in this issue; they will be published in the next issue. Please send additions, corrections and photographs to the Alumni Review staff at: VMI Alumni Review, P.O. Box 932, Lexington, VA 24450 (e-mail: review@vmiaa.org). For a complete list of names that we have received, go to http://www.vmialumni.org and click on the link titled “OEF/ OIF,” or go directly to http://www.vmialumni.org/oifoef.
Class of 1998 Buis, John E. Maj., USMC Class of 2001 Mustian, Wilson T. Capt., USA
Class of 2007 Craft, Stuart C. Lt., USAF
2013-Issue 4
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