CLASS NOTES
Class of 1982: On a spring 2014 cruise were, from left, Tyler Spadine ’14, Logan Ridge ’14, Billy Cheatham ’14, Sean Fish ’14, Neal Rogers, Christopher Jaronsky ’14, Pierce McKean ’14, Sam Gillespie ’14 and Sam Elliot ’14.
Class of 1982: Larry Williams earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in computer science within the School of Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University. Outland at Virginia Commonwealth University in April. Grover’s daughter and Dan’s son will be freshmen there for the 2014-15 year. Ray Lawson wrote that he had a chance to get together for lunch with Greg Wolven at the end of April. Greg’s daughter, Katie, is a graduate student at the University of South Carolina Aiken. Greg and his son, Chris, came down for a visit and to pick up Katie’s dog so she could do a little travel between spring and summer semesters. Ray shared, “It’s always good to get together and exchange VMI stories. And they are 100 percent true, as we all well know.” Ray shared that he and his wife, Gale, are expecting their first grandchild in July, a girl named Claudia Harper Lawson. Ray is saving most of his vacation to travel back and forth to Jacksonville, Florida. He said he already bought her a pink baseball bat and glove and is looking for a pink fishing pole next. He and Gale
2014- Issue 3
celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary May 26, 2014, and can’t believe how time flies or that they’re old enough to be grandparents. They also enjoyed a few days at a bed-and-breakfast in Charleston, South Carolina, during the annual arts Spoleto Festival. Ray returned to the softball field after a five-year graduate school hiatus. At this writing, he is leading the team with a 0.832 batting average. “Most of the other guys on the team are in their 20s and 30s.” Ray says, “I can still hit; I just can’t run fast (without pulling a hamstring) or throw accurately these days.” Bruce Kitchen let me know that he, Cris Timmons, Larry Butler and Vince Wood got together for a boys weekend in Key West, Florida. He said it was a great trip with lots of laughs and Cris’ good cooking. He also wanted to send out a personal “thank you” to everybody for their generous support in raising money to host the CollegeInsider.com Tournament basketball games and for those who stepped up to be a sponsor for the annual Jeff “Pup” Morgan ’80 Memorial Golf Tournament. Jim Frishkorn spent a good part of February in Kansas City performing facility assessments at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He said it is a fabulous base, and he had the opportunity to crawl all over 100-plus-year-old buildings to see some tremendous craftsmanship. He said he got to experience a central U.S. winter, meaning lots of snow, morning temperatures in the single digits (except the last day when his team was greeted to minus 13 degree temperatures) and a stiff breeze blowing through every layer of clothing that he could muster. He had a chance to get together with Steve and Maria Tennant for dinner, and they enjoyed catching one another up on their busy lives. Mike Plazcek reports that he has a second granddaughter. His daughter, Rachel, gave birth in Germany March 13, 2014, to a baby girl named Stella Rose (7 pounds, 14 ounces and 20-and-onehalf inches long). Everyone is doing fine. Gordy Ivascu, Pete Nauta, Joe Provenzano, Jeff Adler, John Cawthorne, Rich Bartholomew, Mike Duval, Dan Pere, Jim Frishkorn, Jim Langan and Mack Spears had a great lunch and mini reunion April 12, 2014, at Gordy’s
restaurant, Anthony’s Pizza, in Strasburg, Virginia. Gordy Ivascu shared the following: “I was given six months, and I’m still here nine months later. I can never put into words how touched I am by the outreach of my BRs. It keeps me going. We had a small class, but clearly our class was big in spirit. I was never very good with the written word, but the emails, letters and people stopping by keep me going. My BRs keep me going. Funny, and I hate to say it, but a few people who have come by, I don’t even remember. They are the most special. We might not have been close, but we were and remain brothers.”
’82
Will Council
8500 Rancho Drive Ooltewah, TN 37363 (C) 423/400-2209 (H) 423/238-8186 willis-council@comcast.net
Hello, BRs, I am stepping back into the ring for the class agent duties. All those world class nut cases you keep hearing about in the news have made Chuck Kause’s job very busy. But that did not stop him from being out and about at a variety of BR events these past few months. You will see his name appear throughout these notes. Here are a few of his run-ins. John Friend was in Washington, D.C., attending a psychology convention. Since earning his doctorate degree, Dr. Friend has been very busy in private practice and was drafted to support a study funded by the British Petroleum Gulf of Mexico oil spill settlement to document psychological care in the aftermath of the oil spill. Ron McCredy convinced Chuck to make the trek to Darren McDew’s promotion – nothing like a BR road trip! Spousal pressure got the Kauses to the Red Fox Inn with several other BR couples in April. (Scott Crumpler sent me those details.) Finally, Chuck’s son returned home from the Marines after being overseas for two years. His stay at home was brief, and his youthful exuberance caused his mom to threaten packing him back off to the Marines a few days early. On the professional side, Chuck is studying for the Project Management Professional Certification and hopes to have earned the title by summer 2014. Thank you for your service to the class these past several years, Chuck. Best of luck with the training, and keep us informed with the northern Virginia crowd. The Will and Susan Council family is still in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Both of our children are attending University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, which will be playing VMI in football once again in the fall! (I will be hosting a tailgate party for all VMI alumni who want to come by.) Dana has finished her second year as a double-major in chemistry and criminal justice and is hoping
115