Class of ‘70, VMI

from VMI Communications and Marketing: VMI’s Finals activities for the Class of 2011 will be occurring on:

* Saturday, 14 May (Institute Awards in the morning, Graduation Parade in the afternoon, Baccalaureate in the evening) * Sunday, 15 May (Commissioning in the morning, New Market Parade in the afternoon) and * Monday, 16 May (Graduation at 11:00) We have been advised that Washington and Lee will be having their Undergraduate Reunion on Friday and Saturday, 14-15 May 2011.  It is estimated that approximately half of all local hotel rooms may be used by Washington & Lee reunion attendees on Friday and Saturday. For those VMI parents and friends who planned to arrive on Friday or Saturday, you are encouraged to secure hotel rooms early.  Hotel rooms in locations away from Lexington/Natural Bridge should not be impacted, and the Washington and Lee reunion attendees will depart on Sunday. Some VMI attendees coming in early may have to stay outside of Lexington on Friday or Saturday night if they cannot secure local accommodations. Lexington Area Hotels

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I have received a DVD of photos from Smack McLemore and a couple of links to others as well as a couple of other shots.  I will be working to get these up on line over the next week or so.  Need to do a little size adjustment so they will fit on the web site. That said, I will also upload the full size versions onto an FTP site here on the site.  If you want a copy, please contact me and I will give you the password to download it, or email to you.

(Posted on behalf of Ned Haley)

Hi Everyone, Just received an updated list of registrants for our 40th Reunion, coming up in less than five weeks (April 23-24).  With 78 BRs and 60 spouses, the list now has a total of 138 who have registered as of last Friday.  (Files in email only — contact Ned Haley for a copy).

I’ve heard from a few who won’t be able to join us (and my apologies since - being on the distribution list - you will continue to receive these updates).   There’s still a fair number of you who indicated during the past six months that you were interested in coming to the Reunion, but who haven’t yet registered. So, this is another ‘gentle reminder’ that you have until April 1 to register and still be guaranteed to receive your Class polo shirt - since registration includes indicating your shirt size and April 1 is the cut off to place the order for the monogrammed shirts.  As mentioned earlier, there will be a few extra shirts ordered, and if you’re a late registrant, you may be able to pick up your shirt when you register.   Once the extras are taken - and if it works as it has in the past - there will be a wait of at least several weeks after the Reunion for more shirts to be made.  And that depends on how many additional shirts are needed, since there will undoubtedly be a minimum re-order quantity.

Anyway, if you’re still on the fence, take a look at the list of registrants - and I’m sure you will see names of old friends and even roommates who would enjoy seeing you again! Registration can be done on line through the Alumni Association site, or there’s still time to use the registration form that you should have received in the mail.  If for any reason you are unable to register on line, let one of us on the Reunion Committee know and we’ll help. Looking forward to seeing you in another 4+ weeks!

Ned Haley

For your 40th Reunion Committee:

Bill O’Connor

Bill Gearhart

Bob Copty

Herb Braun

Tom Cooke

Ralph Costen

In an email from Ned Haley, he noted that registrations are well under way with a total of 119 registered which includes 65 Brother Rats.  From memory, this is about half of our 35th and well under our 25th Reunions.  Register by 1 April to ensure you get your shirt.  Online registration is at the VMI Alumni Reunion Central web site, http://www.vmialumni.org/Page.aspx?pid=548

See you in April!

From an email to the Class of ‘68:

Mr. Paulette, Chair of the External Relations Committee, reported on the meeting of the Selection Committee of the Jonathan Myrick Daniels ’61 Humanitarian Award, which he also chairs, held 3 February in Lexington. The Selection Committee reviewed eight candidates and unanimously recommended to the External Relations Committee that Dr. Paul V. Hebert ’68 be the third recipient of the Jonathan Daniels Humanitarian Award. Dr. Hebert, who holds a Ph. D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill, has spent his life in humanitarian and development efforts working for the Near East Foundation, the World Bank, and the United Nations throughout South East and South Asia, Iran, the Philippines, Nepal, war torn former Soviet Republics, Sarajevo, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Ethiopia. He was Head of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yugoslavia (2001-2003) and in Ethiopia (2003-2008). He currently resides in Nairobi, Kenya with his wife Dr. Mayling Simpson-Hebert where is assisting Catholic Relief Services as a consultant and is also advising and supporting humanitarian conferences and training in East Africa and the Gulf States. Since 2008, he has been helping in a private capacity to raise funds to support a large primary school for children living in a major slum of Nairobi.

A motion was made by Mr. Paulette, seconded by MG Hickerson, that the Board of Visitors approves the recommendation of Dr. Paul V. Hebert ’68 as the third recipient of the Jonathan Myrick Daniels ’61 Humanitarian Award, the award to be presented during Academic Year 2010-2011. The motion passed.

Previous winners were President Jimmy Carter and Ambassador Andrew Young.

Here’s a link to the page on Jonathan Daniels and the award: http://www.vmi.edu/archives.aspx?id=14481

 Posted on behalf of Ned Haley.

Hi Everyone! It’s Reunion time!!

Last week I sent you the “VMI Class of 1970 Contact List” with the latest contact information for all 350 of our classmates. The email addresses and other info for three of our Brother Rats, Cliff Brooks, Joe Girlando and Bill Murchison, are no longer valid. If you have more current contact info for any of them, please let me know since I no longer have a way to contact them. And obviously there are still other Brother Rats who are missing, or for whom we are missing key information like an email address, and our quest for missing classmates and contact information will continue until we have found them all.

The important thing is you now have a way to reach most of your BRs. Now’s the time to ‘touch base’ with your friends from our years together, especially those whom you haven’t seen or been in contact with since you last saw them at VMI. And if any of them don’t have email (or we just don’t have an email address for them), they won’t receive this note or other communications I send out, including the Class Contact List…… so call them yourself! You’ll have a great conversation if you do, and memories - mostly good, since time does diminish many of the less-fun aspects of what we went through together - will come flooding back.

And now to the Reunion: as of today there are 62 registrants, including spouses and significant others. The deadline for registering is April 1 if you want to receive your “Class of 1970″ polo shirt. Registration includes indicating your shirt size so the correct number of shirts can be made and ready for the Reunion. There’s less than four weeks ’til then, so you are encouraged to register ASAP. Should you register after April 1, there will be a limited number of additional shirts purchased for ‘late-registrants’, and hopefully there will be one for you in your size.

For those of you on the Institute’s mailing list, hopefully you have already received the mailed information about our 40th Reunion on April 23-24, now less than two months away. And if you are not on the “I’s” mailing list, or even if you are, you can see these same documents at the VMI Alumni Reunion Central web site:
http://www.vmialumni.org/Page.aspx?pid=548

You don’t have to register with the alumni web site to access this site or the related reunion documents. Just copy and paste the link to your browser and that should take you to the page with a listing of all the related documents that - after scrolling down to where the class of 70’s information is listed - can be opened individually by just clicking on them one at a time. Included are links to:

• Online Registration
• Printable Registration Form
• Class Invitation Letter
• Schedule of Events
• Hotel Information
• Class Picture Information

If you have any questions, or are unable to access the web site for any reason, let me know and we’ll find another way to get you the information. We understand that the ‘designated Class of ‘70 headquarters’ hotel has only a few smoking rooms left, so if you haven’t already reserved your room you may have to book one of the ‘overflow’ hotels.
We hope you - and your spouse or significant other - can join us for what will be a fabulous and fun weekend! All of us on your 40th Reunion Committee are looking forward to seeing you in Lexington in April.

Ned Haley, for the Committee

Bill O’Connor
Bill Gearhart
Bob Copty
Tom Cooke
Herb Braun
Ralph Costen

Just a reminder — If you have not done so…..
Make your room reservations for the Reunion ASAP — the Holiday Inn Express is almost out of our block of rooms.

See the post below for information and phone numbers.

The Corps of Cadets didn’t let a bottleneck at the entrance to the state Capitol that blocked their route for several minutes prevent them from marching past the reviewing stand to honor Gov. Bob McDonnell on his inauguration day, Jan. 16.The Corps was the largest and last unit in the parade that traveled down Grace Street in downtown Richmond, into Capitol Square, around the Capitol Building, and back out to waiting buses. The exit from Capitol Square of an earlier unit in the parade caused a several minute break in the parade before the cadets march into view.

Read the rest of the article on the VMI website here and while you are there, click on the slide show for some nice pictures.

Also, I received a nice picture from Dick Cheatham who was at the parade.

From VMI Communications and Marketing:

Cadets at Virginia Military Institute will honor Gov. Timothy Kaine Thursday, Jan.  14, when he visits the Institute in the final days of his term, and they will march in the inaugural parade of Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell on the first day of his term on Saturday, Jan. 16.

“As the Commander-in-Chief of the Corps of Cadets, the Governor of Virginia has a special relationship with VMI,” said Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, VMI’s superintendent.  “For us to be able to honor two governors within one week is unique and satisfying.” Gov. Kaine is scheduled to attend a ceremony at VMI at 4 p.m. on Jan. 14.  If conditions are favorable, the Corps of Cadets will march in review for the governor on the Institute’s Parade Ground. If conditions are not favorable, a ceremony will be held in Jackson Memorial Hall. (Note:  Parade cancelled — ‘unsuitable conditions’)

On Jan. 16, the Corps of Cadets will travel to Richmond to participate in the inaugural parade for Gov.-elect McDonnell.  The parade, which begins at about 12:45 p.m. following the swearing-in ceremony, passes in front of reviewing stands at the State Capitol Building.  Viewing of the parade is available along its entire length.  The parade route is along Grace Street between 5th and 9th Streets and then enters Capitol Square.

Webmaster’s Note: I’ll admit it has been a few semesters, but I remember starting up around Belvidere St. in that park — quite a bit further. Fifth to Ninth is only four blocks — march in battalion and you’ll cover half the route!

I opened the Dayton Daily News yesterday and suddenly there was an article from the Associated Press that was plastered across page 10 (with a picture, no less) about the investigation at school (see my earlier post).  Quite strange to see anything about VMI out this way.  Here’s the same article posted in the Air Force Times in case you all didn’t get to see it.  The one in the AF Times is less edited than most of the others I found.  Interesting point is that the investigation is into its eighteenth month when they usually last about six.  The Washington Times added that the copy of the complaint given to the AP was heavily redacted to not reveal the list of specific policies under investigation as well as any information about the complainant.

Below is from VMI Communications and Marketing that was posted yesterday.

From multiple news sources:

Nov. 7, 2009 – A Rat collapsed following a training event and was pronounced dead shortly after noon today at Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital.

John Alexander Evans, 19, of Highland, Md., collapsed in his Barracks room after completing a 10-mile road march with other members of the Rat Class. Cadet Evans was an International Studies major and a member of the Marine ROTC program.

The cause of death will be determined by a medical examiner.

There is a follow up video from WSLS, Roanoke about the march, with the link here.

Update, 11 November:  Gen Peay posted a statement on Cadet Evans on the VMI Communications web page.   Follow this link to the statement.

In case you didn’t get the notice about it, there is an interesting article in the Washington Post about the Institute including  a video interview with Gen Peay.  Click on this link to check it out.

VMI cadets have developed an underground transmitter and portable topside receiver that will allow trapped miners to communicate with those above ground. Another group of cadets is working to commercialize this life-saving device.

There will be an interview about this project on all public radio stations in Virginia during the week of 31 October — 6 November.

See the article on the VMI web site here for times and stations.

The October issue of the Institute Report is now available for download. In this issue you will find:

– Measures to strengthen the academic program;

– With a economy just beginning to recover, fund raising gains are hard won;

– Cadets spent their summer studying bats;

– The VMI Archives reach the world; and,

– Cadets took time on Constitution Day to reaffirm their commitment to that document.

Click here to view the current issue of the Institute Report. 

If you would like to receive email notification hen the Institute Report is published on line, go to http://www1.vmi.edu/subscribe/ and fill out the form.

This article from the Richmond Times-Dispatch was published last month and it came in to me.  I thought I’d pass it along.

Link to article.

Dear BRs: It is a little early for first call to our 40th reunion but I wanted to give you all a quick up-date as to where we are with the reunion planning. We have formed the reunion committee  and they are busy at work getting things organized. The members of the committee are; Ralph Costen, Tom Cooke, Herb Braun, Bill Gearhart, Ned Haley and me. A number of BR’s have offered some good ideas and all are encouraged and welcomed. Our reunion will be held on Friday and Saturday, April 23 & 24, 2010.

Our reunion headquarters will be the Holiday Inn Express on Route 11 (540-463-7351) and the Best Western (540-458-3020) which is adjacent to the Holiday Inn. Class of 1969 held their 40th there and said it was great and very accommodating. Identify yourself as “Reunion Class of 1970″ for the reserved block and reunion rates.

Our tentative itinerary is as follows:

Friday - April 23rd.

9:30am: Class of 1970 Golf outing at Lexington Country Club for those who want to play.
6:00pm - 11:00pm: Cocktails, dinner and dance at Lexington Country Club.

Saturday - April 24th

9:30am: Class pictures at VMI
10-10:45am:  Class meeting at a location to be determined
11:00am:  Parade 12-1:30pm: Lunch - location to be determined (hopefully tent on parade ground)
3:00 - 5:30pm:  Baseball game at Grey-Minor Stadium (Coastal Carolina vs VMI)
6:30 - 9pm: Dinner at Alumni Hall - Hopefully Gen. Peay will be our speaker

As always - the hospitality room will be opened and fully stocked. These plans are tentative and subject to change but hopefully it will be something close to it.
Carole Greene in Alumni Affairs is “mission control” for all reunions and will be mailing out various updates which will include times to register for hotel rooms, cost etc.

We want this to be our biggest reunion yet and Ned Haley has graciously offered to head the “Lost BR” committee to find missing BRs and get them back in the fold and more importantly, try to get them to attend the reunion. If you would like to assist Ned please e-mail him. His address is: nedhaley@gmail.com.

Also, we would like to put together a CD with  pictures that we took during our cadetship. If you have any old pictures you took that can pass a mild censorship inspection, please send me a copy or scan a copy and e-mail it to me at wroc1970@verizon.net.

We will keep you advised as plans develop. Take care and RAH VA Mil - Class of ’70.

Bill O’Connor

From VMI Communications:

The VMI community mourns the loss of two retired professors during the summer.

Most recently, Col. Albert L. Deal III, 71, died Aug. 1, 2009, at Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital.

Deal, professor emeritus of mathematics, joined the VMI faculty in 1962 and served until his retirement in 2003.

Earlier in the summer, Dr. Dean B. Foster, 89, professor emeritus of psychology, died June 6, 2009.

Foster served on the VMI faculty, including a period as department head, from 1961 until his retirement in 1985.  He was particularly noted for his study of sleep patterns. His 28-year probe into sleep habits, which continued throughout his faculty years at VMI, included several inventions.

The full article is here.

A good example for the rest of us……

In late June, the VMI Foundation learned that a bequest made to it by the late Robert B. Rust Jr. ’34 will result in a gift of more than $14 million for VMI.

“This magnificent gift is the largest bequest realized by the VMI Foundation,” said Brian S. Crockett, chief executive officer of the VMI Foundation.  “Any gift of this magnitude will have an outsized effect,” said Warren J. Bryan ’71, vice president of the VMI Foundation for major gifts, who arranged the original memorandum in 1997.  “Mr. Rust’s gift will mean approximately $630,000 in additional scholarship aid for our cadets, an increase of 15 percent in available scholarship assistance.  And, coming as it does, in an economic downturn, this money is especially valuable.”

Read the rest of the article here. Сувенири

All BR’s:

As you are aware our 40th Reunion is coming up next April. We have formed a reunion committee and events are falling in line. A reunion letter will be going out in the next couple of weeks with a tentative schedule of events. One thing we do need help on is finding “Lost BR’s”. One of the benefits of being Class Agents is getting reacquainted with Classmates that we have seen or heard from in a long while. I am going to try to get a list of our BR’s who have attended the last couple of reunions and see who hasn’t. I need a volunteer to head a search committee to find these “lost” guys and try to get them back to Reunion. Ned Haley and Chips Lanier and Bob Copty have done an excellent job locating BR’s. Any volunteers to head the “Search Committee’? Please let me know. Hope you all are enjoying the summer.

Bill (from Bill’s post on Facebook, 8 July 09)

From VMI Communications and Marketing:

The VMI Foundation and the VMI Keydet Club announced that the number of alumni who made a gift to VMI increased 11.7 percent for the fiscal year that ended June 30 as compared to the previous fiscal year.  Last year, 4,524 alumni made a gift to VMI; this year, 528 more alumni joined the ranks of those who support VMI, boosting the number over 5,000 to 5,052.

This increase also means that the percentage of alumni who supported VMI also increased. Last year, the 4,524 alumni donors represented 35.34 percent of all alumni; the 5,052 alumni donors in the just-ended budget year represented 38.82 percent of all alumni.

Of special note within the participation figures is a 67-percent increase in alumni donors to the Keydet Club. Spurred by its “75th Anniversary Challenge,” in which alumni and friends were asked to donate $75 in support of VMI athletics in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the Keydet Club’s founding, 3,135 participants made gifts to the Keydet Club Scholarship Fund and the Athletic Operations Fund during the year. Of these participants, 1,925 were new donors who were not members of the Keydet Club last fiscal year; they accounted for more than $344,000 of new gifts.

Read the rest of the article here.

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Gov. Timothy M. Kaine appointed two new members and reappointed two serving members to the VMI Board of Visitors.

New members are Gen. John P. Jumper, retired Chief of Staff of the Air Force and resident of Burke, Va., and Kimber L. Latsha, a founding principal of Latsha, Davis, Yohe & McKenna, P.C., a law firm headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pa. Reappointed to the board were Elizabeth Lee Camp of Richmond and Marshall Mundy of Roanoke.

See the VMI News Web site for full article.

Walter C. Perrin II ’62, President of the VMI Foundation, Inc., announced that Mr. Brian S. Crockett, currently the Vice President for Development at the West Point Association of Graduates, has accepted the position of Chief Executive Officer of the VMI Foundation.  He will begin his duties on June 29.

Article about Army Gen. David H. Petraeus’ commencement address on the VMI website here.

From Dick: “Here’s an article of mine that just appeared online…with typos!  LOL!”  Go here to read I Am an Entrepreneur.

My copy came yesterday, and I forgot to give you all the link. The latest Institute Report is on line. Just follow the link.

You can get notified electronically of its publication (usually long before it arrives in the mail). Go here to sign up.

April edit:  The March edition is on line, too.  Go here for the March report.

Remember the days when all we heard was “poor VMI — they are out of their league,” and similar comments.  Check out Mike Miller’s article on MSNBC, Big Dance Could’ve Used High-Scoring VMI.  It’s quite a different outlook. Good read….

I may have committed a tactical error, but, at the behest of my daughter, joined Facebook a while ago.  Although it was primarily for keeping up with her happenings in Seattle, I found (or was found) by several BRs.  Even our friendly neighborhood Class Agent showed up.

There is a VMI Alumni Network, that currently has about 2,500 members.  It appears you need a vmi.edu or vmialumni.org email address to join.  (You can get one of those at VMI Ranks as a “Lifelong Email”.)  I will try to add a VMI ‘70 group and see what happens.

Edit: I started a group “VMI ‘70″ — you can search for it or follow this link and join up.

I do recommend you look at the following article  “10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know” to ensure your information is shared only with the friends/groups that you want.  The defaults are a bit more open than I think is needed.

UPDATE: Just read an article about Facebook and viruses. If you receive a mail (supposedly from Facebook) about a video or other item that has been posted and wants to to follow some bizarre link that is not in Facebook (check the address), don’t go there. It’s a new, very nasty virus/trojan. See this link for more info: PCWorld Article: Facebook Virus Turns Your Computer into a Zombie.

Army General David H. Petraeus, Commander of U.S. Central Command, will deliver the commencement address on 16 May.

“I am honored to accept the invitation and look forward to what I know will be a great event,” General Petraeus said in his letter accepting the invitation to speak at commencement. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to thank VMI’s faculty and cadets for their service when I join you for Commencement ceremonies this spring.”

Complete article at VMI Communications website here.

Band Heads For Mardi Gras in Mobile

The VMI Regimental Band and Pipe Band will march and perform in concert Feb. 21-24 at the Mardi Gras in Mobile. Mention Mardi Gras and most people think New Orleans and its famed French Quarter. However, Mobile’s Mardi Gras is the older of the two celebrations, dating all the way back to 1704 when the future Alabama port city was a colony of French soldiers.

The Regimental Band will be in action the culminating Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, when the cadets will march in four parades and participate in the Patriotic Opener Concert at the Civic Center. Finally, on Fat Tuesday (Feb. 24), the Band will be a featured unit in one of the biggest of the parades at noon. before returning to Lexington later that afternoon.

Read more at the VMI Communications site.

 From vmikeydets.com:

Check out the latest publicity for the VMI basketball program, as the New York Times and Rivals.com have recently published articles while on The Tonight Show, Jay Leno mentions the Keydets in his Headlines segment (go to this link to see the short clip of a bungled headline).

New York Times Article by Adam Himmelsbach: Twin Brothers and a High-Octane Offense Revive V.M.I.

Rivals.com Article by David Fox: VMI Aims to Ride Fast Pace Back to Tourney

It has been said the getting on the Sports Illustrated cover is a kiss of death.  But they don’t say the same about an article or two.  Check out the article on line from the 9 February issue.  It’s a good read.  Opening line says “To appreciate the small miracle of Virginia Military Institute basketball, you must go to the Hill at dawn.”

(Thanks to Tom Morehouse for the link)

From VMI Communications and Marketing: The most recent information from parade organizers is that the Corps will be released to start the parade at 5:35 p.m. It is expected the Corps will pass the reviewing stand at 5:57 p.m. It should be noted that all times are best estimates at this time. The speed with which earlier units in the parade proceed will affect the actual time the Corps begins the 22-minute march to the reviewing stand.

Please note that most networks will break away at 1700 for local news, etc., but CNN will be covering the parade in its entirety.

See the VMI News Page for updates and changes.

Update:   In case you didn’t get to see the last of the parade (where VMI was), there is a YouTube video of the coverage here.  If you watched the parade, seeing all 1400 cadets at once was quite impressive comparing them to the 20-200 members of all the preceding units.   Some good comments and kudos on the YouTube site.

The Virginia Military Institute Foundation has begun a national search to find a replacement for James L. Adams ’71, the foundation’s executive vice president. Adams announced earlier this year that he will retire on June 30 after 11 years as the person responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Foundation.

The Foundation board of trustees has changed the title of the position to chief executive officer to more accurate reflect the responsibilities of the Foundation as an institution and the demanding duties of the person who leads its daily operations. The chief executive officer will work for the private VMI Foundation and is not an employee of VMI, a state-supported college.

The VMI Foundation provides private financial support necessary to sustain and improve the Institute’s academic and co-curricular programs. The Foundation also raises the funds needed to support capital improvements at VMI so that faculty and staff have the necessary facilities to teach cadets and help them develop their skills as leaders.

In October, Foundation President Walter C. Perrin II ’62 announced the formation of a search committee to find a successor to Adams. The committee selected the executive search firm Boardwalk Consulting of Atlanta, Ga., to assist the committee in the search.

See the detailed search announcement and information on how to apply for the position.

From VMI Communications and Marketing:

The Corps of Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute will mark the 100th anniversary of the first time it marched in a Presidential Inaugural Parade by marching in the parade ushering in President-elect Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

See the rest of the  press release here with some links to other coverage.

I missed this when it first came out….

From VMI Communications and Marketing:

Plenty of pictures, sounds, videos, and information will guide prospective cadets to Virginia Military Institute as they explore the uniquely rich educational and life opportunities provided by the college.

Those opportunities come into focus on the Institute’s new Admissions Web site (www.vmi.edu/dontdoordinary). The site is the latest piece in the Institute’s “Don’t Do Ordinary” cadet recruiting campaign, and follows the re-design of the Institute’s Admissions brochures using that theme to highlight the unique qualities of the college.  Read the whole article here.

But be forewarned — we may be over the hill for this one:

Lt. Col. Stewart MacInnis, acting director of VMI’s Office of Communications and Marketing, said the site may not resonate with people who grew up with traditional communications pieces.   “This site capitalizes on the way 14- to 17-year-olds use the Internet, and the way they use technology, such as MP-3 players,” said Maj. Amy Goetz, VMI’s marketing director. “We’ve got a tremendous amount of content packaged in small bits. That will allow prospective cadets to return to the site and still be surprised by what they find.”  For parents (and us gray heads), the same information remains available under the “Admissions” link in a traditional format.

From the VMI Communications Office: Cadet Gregory E. Lippiatt is one of 32 American men and women selected to receive the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, the Rhodes Trust announced yesterday. In the process, the York, Pa., native also became the 11th cadet from Virginia Military Institute to earn the honor since 1921.  Read the entire article here.

The latest Institute Report is now on line on the VMI web site and may be found here.

You may already be receiving this publication by mail, but the online version will reach you a lot sooner, in addition to saving a few trees and VMI’s printing cost.  You can use this link to sign up for a free electronic subscription.  The subscription provides worldwide email notification when the latest Institute Report is posted to the VMI website.

UPDATE: Please check this link on the VMI site for all the restrictions, parking information, and access requirements (including metal detector screening for watching the parade!). It’s a lot of information there.

It’s going to be a bit crowded this weekend around Lexington. Vice President Dick Cheney’s visit to review the Corps of Cadets combined with previously scheduled events is expected to make the VMI post a popular destination on Nov. 8.An Admissions Open House has its first session of the day at 8 a.m., the men’s soccer team plays Presbyterian College starting at 11 a.m., and the football game with Liberty University begins at 1:30 p.m. The centerpiece of the vice president’s visit is the 10:30 a.m. parade by the Corps of Cadets.

Security requirements for the vice president are expected to reduce available parking on post.  Parking plans will be finalized and publicized in the middle of the week.  Among options being considered are multiple satellite parking areas with free shuttle service that will run continuously to the post and return to the parking areas. If you are going to Lexington this weekend for the game, check the VMI Web site for updated information.

From VMI Communications and Marketing:

Vice President Dick Cheney will make his third visit to Virginia Military Institute Nov. 8 to attend part of the college’s Military Appreciation Day and to review the Corps of Cadets.

Vice President Cheney will address the Corps during the Saturday morning parade. The parade, which will take place on the VMI Parade Ground, is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. and is free and open to the public.

Read the rest of the announcement here.

Greetings BRs. If any of you guys know of any work and/or a place one of our BRs on hard times can stay for a while in the Richmond area, please contact me for more information. No, it ain’t me…I was far beyond any help many years ago.

This BR has had a run of bad health and fortune and needs a step up if anyone has thoughts. I’ll not mention his name in this post as he is more than embarassed to be in such a predicament. I’ve helped to the extent I’ve been able, but what he really needs is a job, any job, and a place off the street to stay for a bit.

I very much regret having to write this, but could use any suggestions at this point. He’s in a very tenuous spot at the moment and I didn’t know how to reach all of you any other way.

Best wishes,

Dick Cheatham

Editor’s Note:  You can contact Dick through the web site at rac@vmi70.org. — Chips

Possibility of two more World records. It’d be great to have some BR’s come out to the salts in September to help out with the beer and the laughs– Fun is guaranteed to all!

Bill

For those of us who travel down the Valley on occasion….

From VMI Communications and Marketing

An exceptional collection of art centered on the theme of the Civil War soldier is the subject of a new exhibit at the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park’s Hall of Valor Museum.  Artists with firsthand knowledge of their subject painted all of the pieces during the years immediately following the war.  Noted artists Julian Scott, Edwin Forbes, E. L. Henry, and John Rogers are represented in the collection.  Over a period of 75 years, three generations of the Raeburn family of New York, N.Y., assembled this significant collection, which focuses attention on the individual soldier rather than great battle depictions.

Robert A. Raeburn presented the family’s art collection to the Virginia Military Institute on the occasion of the 50^th reunion of his VMI class.

From VMI Communications and Marketing:

Virginia Military Institute kept its place in the top rank of liberal arts colleges in the latest ranking released by U.S. News & World Report.

In the rankings released today (Aug. 22) VMI was ranked as the No. 3 public liberal arts college in the nation, coming in behind the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy. This is the same position VMI held last year, when federal service academies were added to that category for the first time. For the previous six years, VMI held the No. 1 position.

VMI also held onto its position of 71 among all liberal arts colleges – both public and private – in the nation, putting it firmly in the 1^st Tier of colleges nationwide. This equals the highest ranking VMI has ever held among all colleges.

(Read on …)

From VMI Communications and Marketing: LEXINGTON, Va., Aug. 15, 2008 – Forbes magazine ranked VMI on its list of America’s Best Colleges this week. VMI ranked No. 9 in the list of public colleges, just behind such institutions as the U.S. Military Academy, the University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary, but ahead of many other well-respected schools.

For more information, read the Forbes article as well as the individual VMI listing.

BR’s:
Once again it is my sad duty to report on the passing of Allen Anderson, devoted wife of Phil Anderson. Allen passed away last Thursday after battling Sclerderma for a long period of time. She fought the good fight and now her pain and suffering are over. Allen’s funeral service will be held at the Holy Family Episcopal Church in Jasper, Ga. at 11:00am on Wednesday, July 2nd.

I’ve sent Phil a note letting him know that the Class is thinking of him and our prayers are both with he and Allen.

Please take care and be safe.
Bill

VMI Football game start times at Foster Stadium will move to 1:30 p.m., 30 minutes later than the traditional 1 p.m. start.

The new start time affects all six Keydet home games beginning with the September 6 season opener against St. Francis, Pa. VMI?s other 2008 home football games are Chowan (20 Sep), Richmond (4 Oct), Coastal Carolina (11 Oct), Liberty (8 Nov) and Presbyterian (Nov. 22).

Read the rest of the article at VMIKeydets.com

Board of Visitors Elects New President — Thomas G. Slater Jr., ‘66, a partner in the Richmond law firm Hunton & Williams, was elected president of the Virginia Military Institute’s Board of Visitors at the board’s meeting on May 3.

Slater’s term begins July 1 when he will take the place of G. Gilmer Minor III, chairman of Owens & Minor Inc., a Richmond-based Fortune 500 distributor of medical and surgical supplies. Minor, a 1963 VMI graduate, was elected president of board three years ago and has been a member of the board since 2000. See the full press release here.

Board Raises Tuition and Fees — The cost of attending Virginia Military Institute will increase 5.2 percent for Virginia residents and 5.9 percent for out-of-state residents for the academic year beginning in August. The VMI Board of Visitors approved the tuition and fee increase at its meeting May 3. The cost for in-state cadets will increase from $16,156 to $17,000. For out-of-state cadets, the cost increases from $32,000 to $33,898. (Ouch!!) See the full press release here.

In case you visit the site in the next month or so and it is messed up, I am doing some incremental upgrades and security enhancements. I will probably (more-than-likely) break some things while I am doing it. Sorry — I hope to have it all done soon.

Chips

Historic Presentation. The VMI Museum will host a fascinating evening of four nationally recognized historical scholars portraying equally nationally recognized historical characters: Generals R. E. Lee, Douglas MacArthur and Benjamin Davis along with Captain Meriwether Lewis at 7 p.m. on Friday, 25 April in Jackson Memorial Hall. These four American soldiers who have exemplified the model set by Cincinnatus 23 centuries ago will be brought to life temporarily for an evening in a “Chautauqua” style first person impersonation. Portrayals will be made by Dick Cheatham ’70, Al Stone, Bill Young and Jim Armstead. Each providing 15 minutes giving examples of military contribution to civil life from the lives of the characters they portray, followed by a 20 minute period where the audience can ask questions of the famous visitors and a short discussion in panel of the scholarship that makes such a presentation possible. A reception will follow in the VMI Museum.

BR’s:

Class notes are due in May — Please drop me a line with some info. Hope you all have a great summer and look forward to seeing you all in the fall.

Bill
admin note: You can send by email to wroc1970@comcast.net or class-agent@vmi70.org