Class of 1969 Fiftieth Reunion

Aldredge Family Scholarship Fund Anonymous Scholarship Fund Asherman Family Fund In Honor of Joseph G. Coleman ’79 Baker Family Scholarship Fund Ben C. Hale Scholarship Fund Bynum M. Hunter ’43 Scholarship Fund Byron and Jennifer Hulsey Family Scholarship Fund Damien R. Dwin ’93 Scholarship Fund Dick Spangler, Jr. ’50 Scholarship Fund Dowd Foundation Scholarship Fund

Members of the class of 1969 learned all too soon about the pain of losing a Woodberry classmate when William Campbell Arnold, Jr. ’69, died in September 1971 while playing football at the University of North Carolina.

As the class prepared to gather last spring for its fiftieth reunion, it made a decision to honor the fourteen members of the class who have passed away by expanding the Hamp Townsend Class of 1969 Memorial Scholarship Fund, which was established by members of the class after Hamp Townsend’s death in 2011.

“We’ve lost an unusually large number of classmates too young, but Hamp was really a common denominator in a lot of our lives,” says Grace Family Scholarship Hardison Scholarship Fund John C. Reimers, Jr. Fund for Faculty Support Joseph G. Coleman ’79 Scholarship Fund Lee Robinson Fund Pam and Frank Edmonds, Jr. ’87 Scholarship Fund Rod and Gun Club Endowment Simmons Family Fund for Wellness The Carolinas Scholarship Fund

The Noland Family Scholarship Fund John Camp ’69, co-chair of the 1969 reunion committee.

The class of 1969 has always been an incredibly loyal one to Woodberry, achieving 100 percent participation in the Amici Fund each of the past three years. Now members of the class are leaving a permanent legacy by funding the Hamp Townsend scholarship in honor of all of their deceased classmates.

“Hamp was a guy who captured Woodberry’s special sauce,” John says. “He may not have been the best student, but the school took a chance on him, and he flourished. We want the scholarship to let the admission committee do with boys today what they did with Hamp more than fifty years ago.”

Bud Noland ’62 has worked for decades to expand and enhance the programs and facilities of Woodberry Forest School.

The Noland Summer Fellowship Program, established in 1997, supports Woodberry boys as they pursue independent research projects that encourage growth in areas of personal interest. Bud also served on the Advisory Council and then for nine years on the board of trustees, including chairing the buildings and grounds committee. The school built the Manning Family Chris ’95, Bud ’62, Walker, and Ben ’01 Noland Science Building and Kenan Hall while Bud was chairing the committee. Chris ’95 and Ben ’01 — two of Bud’s four children with his wife, Hennie — have both been active contributors and challenge donors for OneWoodberry in the past two years.

As the Nolands considered how they wanted to continue their support of Woodberry, access and affordability became a top priority.

“Woodberry is such a formative time for boys as you’re learning from teachers and friends,” Chris says. “What’s consistent for any student who has a good experience is the high character of the people around you, especially your classmates.”

To ensure that future Woodberry boys enjoy the same rich experience that each of them enjoyed, Bud, Ben, and Chris established the Noland Family Scholarship Fund. This fund will support families who are able to pay part but not all of Woodberry’s tuition.

“It’s extremely important to make the Woodberry experience accessible to a wide range of people,” Bud says.

Chris and Ben, who both served as prefects, credit Woodberry and their peers at the school with helping them develop the values that serve them so well today.

“Your appreciation of the experience grows over time as you look back at it,” Ben says. “As you go through the world, you realize the importance of the honor and integrity that are instilled at Woodberry, and the relationships you formed with the guys who were there with you.” Sixty years after he first arrived as a new boy, Bud thinks promoting Woodberry’s mission is more important than ever. “A good secondary education is, in my mind, even more important than a good college education; your secondary education sets the foundation for all that comes after it,” Bud says. “Woodberry has such a positive focus on leadership and citizenship, with incredible learning opportunities both in and outside of the classroom. It’s very important for us to help sustain that.”

This year’s Noland Fellow Reed Taws ’20 spent his summer in Alaska training as a sea-plane and “off-airport” pilot.