Class of ‘70, VMI

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.