CLASS NOTES Hamel Reinmiller
’98
10138 S. Hudson Place Tulsa, OK 74137 (C) 918/640-9291 918/298-5508 HBRVMI98@Vmialumni.org
John A. Strock
3150 Patrick Henry Dr. Falls Church, VA 22040 vmi98classnotes@gmail.com
It’s that time again, so let’s just jump right in. I heard from Steve, and I’m happy to report that the Nichols family is doing well. He became a volunteer firefighter with the Ashburn Volunteer Fire and Rescue in April. Between his full-time job at George Washington University, training, family and vacation, it is already becoming a busy summer. In March, when Shane Finley was in town, Shane, Lee Guill, Jason Harding, John Graef, Steve and Marc Schweigert all went to dinner at the Wine Kitchen in downtown Leesburg, Virginia (alumni owned). Brendan Toolan was stationed in Korea but left to work at West Point, New York. He spent two years in Korea and had a great time. He and his wife are expecting their first child in November ... obviously pretty excited. Congrats, Brendan! Timmy O’Bryant is stationed in Korea and hung out with Brendan from time to time. Recently, Andy Beaman went to Korea for work, and the three of them hung out in Seoul. Andy is doing well and living in Roanoke, Virginia, with his family. Congrats to Sean Williams on his official promotion to sergeant first class March 28, 2014. He is the operations sergeant/readiness/training noncommissioned officer for Forward Support Company 276th Engineer Battalion. He traded in his Audi a week before his birthday for a 2014 Jeep Wrangler Willys Edition ... this to prepare for his eventual family man status. He is dating a wonderful woman who wants to get married and have kids. Sean says, “With me. At 38 ... I think I’m ready for that. Rah Virginia Mil.” Ed Allen, Katherine and their four girls just moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. J.C. de los Reyes and family just recently moved to Wellington, Florida, in Palm Beach County, which is about 40 minutes north of where they lived in Delray Beach. They wanted to be closer to their jobs and to move into a nicer, more family-friendly neighborhood. It has made their lives much easier and secures their kids’ futures for a long time to come, because it’s a great school district. He works for the Village of Wellington with the title of senior programs coordinator (more than five years now), running various youth sports programs including Little League (two seasons per year), boys and girls
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basketball (two seasons), flag football, summer camp, summer basketball leagues, and other various duties and special events. He has a daughter, age 5, and a son, age 8. He is very much enjoying his first real home as an adult. Interesting tidbit – he has two VMI grads in the neighborhood. Class of ’98 BR Aaron Edmundson has a son in the Little League program, age 6, while his former Company A master sergeant, Josh Hawkins ’96, had two of his kids on J.C.’s son’s team. Small world. Jim Peay and a group of guys met up and supported the VMI lacrosse team when they played High Point University March 8. The team lost 8-9, but they made a great run at the end of the game and almost tied before time expired. Steve Schwanke, Tim Remzi ’99, Tom Perrault ’96 and I spent the afternoon with our families. Great time to catch up with everyone. He had Tim Remzi ’99 and Aaron Bush ’99 over for dinner in the beginning of April. Tim lives about a mile from the Peays in Southern Pines, and Aaron will be moving back to Fort Bragg in June. Jim heard from Brandon Bissell in April. He was supposed to be moving to northern Virginia to work at the Pentagon but will now be moving to Suffolk, Virginia, to work on the Joint Staff (J7). John Moder will be moving from Camp Lejeune to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. He will be working at the Special Operations Command. John and Sherrie are doing great and staying busy with their two children, Ava and Jack. Kevin Trujillo is at SOCOM and will be deploying sometime this summer. Dave Nash is still in the Navy and is doing great. He is stationed at Fort Bragg as well. Jim just finished his job as an artillery battalion operations officer (S3) in the 4th Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. He will be at Fort Bragg in the 82nd Airborne for at least one more year. His new job will be the deputy commanding officer for the 82nd Airborne Division Artillery. The unit will activate in October 2014. Most important news! As of this writing, Heather and Jim are expecting the birth of their daughter in
June. He will include details and some photos for the next class notes in the Alumni Review. They are incredibly excited and can’t wait. Chad Novacek has been living in Lincoln, Nebraska, for the past six years and has just begun a career as a conductor with the BNSF Railway. Happy in the heartland, he still pines for the days of living abroad and plucking gold from Caribbean shallows. It’s definitely an interesting job, and he gets to see a lot of territory. He’s on freight trains and keeps busy, which helps him dig out of student loan debt slavery. Chad wanted me to tell you all that he hopes you’re all living the dream and that your families are happy and healthy. He’s sorry for missing you during our 15th. I heard from Mike Baumgardner, who is working in Philly and just finished his Master of Business Administration degree at Pennsylvania State University. Thanks to everyone who submitted this round. I will be posting some guidelines for submissions and making the deadlines earlier going forward. A lot of great news coming out of our class. Well done, boys.
’99
William Steinbach 6196 Edsall Road #210 Alexandria, VA 22304 804/938-3086 bill9d9@hotmail.com
Brother Rats, Happy New Market Day! As I write this, spring has finally arrived. For all of the complaining I heard about how long and hard winter was, I better not hear a word when it is 100 degrees out! Notes are a little light this go-around. I didn’t hear from too many of you, but here goes. Wes Barrow planned to finish his second master’s degree, a Master of Business Administration in international business, at Liberty University in June 2014. He is applying for a Doctorate
Class of 2000: Matt McComas, Tony Esteve and Matthew Keller attended the world premiere of “Field of Lost Shoes” in Alexandria, Virginia, May 2014.
VMI ALUMNI REVIEW