OCR | Washington and Lee University (2024)

on and Lee University Alumni Ma
gazin
shingt
a
W
e
Winter 2014
The

Lacey
Putney ’50, ’57L
Profile in Leadership

Student Leadership
Third-Year Housing Plan
Business Plan Competition Winners

Snapshot
DEPARTMENTS

2 General Stats
By the numbers

3 Speakers’ Corner
4 Along the Colonnade

Third-year housing plans, night owls, ODK and winners of the Business Plan competition

14 Generals’ Report

Coach Rolf Piranian ’74 approaches retirement

15 Lewis Hall Notes

Skadden Award and Moot Court results

26 Milestones

Alumni president’s message, alumni news and photos

FEATURES

16 A Path to Leadership
—> By Amy C. Balfour ’89, ’93L

22 “A Redneck Country Boy from

Big Island”: Lacey Putney ’50, ’57L
—> By Co dy Lowe

On the Cover: Lacey Putney ’50, ’57L.
Photo by Kevin Remington
This page: Anna, daughter of Neil and Susan Cunningham
(W&L women's soccer coach and director of major gifts, respectively),
was one of the local elementary-school girls who participated in
the Run Like a Girl clinic hosted byW&L’s women’s track and field team.

SCAN ME
to go to the
alumni magazine
website

General Stats

r
J

by the

Numbers

343
1993
105
Keep up to date with the latest news about what’s
happening on campus. W&L’s website has more than
343 videos, including “W&L Sports Weekly,” lectures, student profiles and faculty
interviews. Visit vimeo.com/wlunews/videos.

Listen to a 1993 recording
of the “Washington and Lee
Hymn,” as well as “Shenandoah” and the “W&L Swing”
at wlu.edu/about-wandl/
experience-wandl/music-ofwandl.

When the 10 inches of snow closed W&L in February,
not every employee stayed home for the day—or the
night. Some 105 Facilities staffers (such as Ronnie Irvine, shown here shoveling
snow in front of Newcomb Hall) are deemed essential personnel, and they stayed
on campus for the duration of the snowstorm and took naps at their shops, if necessary. Other personnel in Public Safety, Dining Services and Health Services are also
on duty so when the snow flies, no one on campus will be snowbound, hungry, cold
or untreated.

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

Volume 90

Number 1

Winter 2014

Julie A. Campbell
ED ITO R

Louise Uffelman
M ANAG I N G ED ITO R & L AW ED ITO R

Brian Laubscher
S P O RTS ED ITO R

Mary Webster
CL A S S N OTE S ED ITO R

Patrick Hinely ’73
Kevin Remington
U N I VER S IT Y PH OTO G R APH ER S

Amy Balfour ’89, ’93L
Julie Cline
Julie Grover
Jeff Hanna
Peter Jetton
Cody Lowe
Sarah Tschiggfrie
CO NTR I BUTO R S

Mary Woodson
G R APH I C D E S I G N

Mary Woodson
D I R EC TO R O F P U BLI C ATI O N S

Published by Washington and Lee University, Lexington,
VA 24450. All communications and POD forms 3579 should be
sent to Washington and Lee University, Alumni Magazine,
7 Courthouse Square, 204 W. Washington Street, Lexington,
VA 24450-2116. Periodicals postage paid at Roanoke, Va.

University Advancement
Dennis W. Cross

VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT

Brian H. Eckert

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Waller T. Dudley ’74, ’79L
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI AFFAIRS

WASHINGTON AND LEE
UNIVERSITY
Lexington, Virginia

Since we don’t have any letters to publish, we’ll use this space to highlight
three recent speeches on campus.

On Jan. 20, at the Founders’ Day/Omicron Delta Kappa Convocation, we
heard Lucas Morel, the Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics, deliver “Ever
Mindful of the Past: Building an Honorable Community.” W&L holds
Founders’ Day each year on or near the birthday of Robert E. Lee, our
president from 1865 to 1870. Watch the entire convocation here:
go.wlu.edu/morelodk

Speak
Speakers’ Corner

Is it something we said? We didn’t receive a single letter to the editor after the publication of the last issue. Trust us, we really do like to hear from you. So put pen to paper,
or fingers to keyboard, and send us a note, please. Contact info is below.

On Jan. 26, Donna Brazile, the veteran political strategist, capped off a snowy
week of events commemorating the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. with the
keynote talk, “Finding a Voice in a Whisper: Martin Luther King Speaks to Our
Generations.” You can watch her talk at go.wlu.edu/brazilemlk.

On Feb. 12, Allen C. Guelzo, one of the nation’s most distinguished scholars of Abraham Lincoln, delivered the keynote address for our observance
of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation: “ ‘Little Note
nor Long Remember’: Why Do We Remember the Gettysburg Address?”
Guelzo is the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era and director
of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College. Watch it here:
go.wlu.edu/guelzogettysburg

Write
Now!

By Mail:
Editor
Washington and Lee Univ.
7 Courthouse Square
204 W. Washington St.
Lexington, VA 24450-2116

By E-Mail:

magazine@wlu.edu

By Fax:

(540) 458-8024

Website:

magazine.wlu.edu

Winter

All letters should be signed and include
the author’s name, address and daytime
phone number. Letters selected for publication may be edited for length, content
and style. Letters reflect the views of their
authors and not necessarily those of the
editors or the University.

2014

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Along the Colonnade

Trustees Adopt Housing Policy,
Set Tuition, Approve Global
Learning Center
The Board of Trustees adopted a new housing policy under which students will live in University housing during their first three years. The
trustees’ unanimous decision came during the board’s winter meeting,
Feb. 6–8, in Lexington.
In addition, the trustees approved tuition increases and the construction of the Center for Global Learning.
New Housing Policy
The new policy will not go into effect until at least the
2016–17 academic year. With the policy determined, the
University will now establish a timetable for implementation,
including plans for additional housing.
A board-appointed task force comprising trustees,
faculty and administrators made an initial set of recommendations on housing in 2012 after studying current housing
patterns and gathering input from members of the University community. That report led to the renovation of Gaines
and Graham-Lees residence halls, which will be completed
this year.
The task force’s report also led the trustees over the past
two years to study various aspects of the upper-class housing
recommendation. Those studies, undertaken by national architectural and planning firms, provided evidence that there
are attractive and financially viable options for a new campus
residential community that is based on independent living.
The new policy is intended to preserve and enhance the
close-knit, residential character of Washington and Lee while
also ensuring that students have access to quality housing.
With the completion of the new facilities, University housing will include the first-year residence halls,
fraternity and sorority houses, theme houses and Woods
Creek apartments.
W&L will finance the new housing through the sale of
bonds, using room fees to defray the cost. The University will
not use tuition to underwrite the construction.

Rate of Tuition Increase
Lowest in 50 Years
In adopting the 2.5 percent increase for undergraduate tuition, the trustees followed a model that increases tuition by
the inflation rate plus 1 percent. The increase is from $43,570
to $44,660.
“Strong philanthropic support from alumni and friends,
coupled with prudent financial management, have allowed
us to moderate increases in recent years,” said Steve McAllister, vice president for finance and treasurer.
McAllister noted that keeping the percentage increase
to the historic low is also significant because W&L has
slightly lowered the target for the entering class to 470 students. He added that this was possible only because W&L’s
endowment per student has grown more rapidly during the
past five years than all but one other of the top 25 national
liberal arts colleges.
The budget that the trustees approved also moderated
the increases in room and board, with the board rate moving
to $5,895 and the average room rate to $5,721.
Even as W&L has kept these increases to their lowest
levels in many years, the trustees also approved an undergraduate financial aid budget of $38.8 million, allocating $8.8
million of the total to awards to first-year students. That represents a 3.9 percent increase over the current year’s awards.
The School of Law tuition will increase 2 percent, while
the University’s financial aid budget will increase by 4.5
percent.

“Strong philanthropic support from alumni and friends, coupled with prudent
financial management, have allowed us to moderate increases in recent years.”
—Steve McAllister, vice president for finance and treasurer
4

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

Along the Colonnade

An artist's rendering of the Center for Global Learning,
which combines the renovated duPont Hall (left) with a new addition.
Center for Global Learning
The board approved the construction of the Center for
Global Learning to begin this summer, pending completion of fundraising. It will comprise 8,600 square feet
in the renovated duPont Hall and an estimated 17,700
square feet in a new wing.
The center will be the cornerstone of a comprehensive program and an important physical focal point for
W&L's international education initiative.
The plan features demolition of the former onestory studio space at the rear of the existing duPont
Hall and the comprehensive renovation of the remaining front portion of the building. The building also will
accommodate the Office of International Education,

the Global Media Center, the East Asian Languages and
Literatures Department, and the German and Russian
Department.
The building will feature nine classrooms with the
latest academic technologies, numerous small group
and study areas, the Media Center and a two-story
entry/atrium to accommodate multiple activities.
If the construction can begin this summer, the
building would be completed for occupancy in January 2016. The trustees set the budget for the building
at $13.5 million, $11.5 million of which will come from
fundraising, and selected Branch Associates of Roanoke
to provide pre-construction services.

The center will be the cornerstone of a comprehensive program
and an important physical focal point
for W&L's international education initiative.
Winter

2014

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Along the Colonnade

J
Rise and Shine: Students Help Classmates
Set Their Biological Clocks

potentially useful for the W&L community.”
tudents at Washington and Lee who have difficulty
Chronotypes reflect an individual’s sleeping habits and
performing well in early-morning classes may take
govern the optimal times for eating, physical activity and
some comfort in knowing that their chronotypes are
cognitive ability. They fall into three distinct categories—
governing their performance. In other words, they are natumorning, evening and intermedirally night owls.
ate. An individual’s chronotype can
W&L students in Fundamentals
change throughout the course of one’s
of Biology: Biological Clock and
life, with many older people being
Rhythms, a fall-term class, analyzed
“We consider students
morning chronotypes—early birds.
the scientific literature in the relatively
to be lazy, but they are
Studies show, however, that most
new area of chronobiology in order
college
students are evening chronoto make specific recommendations
not lazy. I think they
types, or night owls, operating on a
on how administrators, faculty and
schedule better suited to early birds.
students themselves can help such
are actually quite brave
This can lead to negative effects such
students perform better in early
little souls who wake
as poor academic performance, irclasses. Chronobiology studies
regular sleep patterns and disruptions
biological clocks and circadian
up early in spite of their
in circadian rhythms. For example,
rhythms—the 24-hour cycle that
one study showed a dramatic decrease
controls sleep-wake patterns and
biological clocks.”
in total minutes of sleep per night and
monitors biological processes such
—Natalia Toporikova
a dramatic delay in bedtime among
as eating schedules, blood pressure,
students that coincides with the start
heartbeat and body temperature.
of the academic year. And by the time
“We consider students to be
students graduate, they average only six hours of sleep per
lazy, but they are not lazy,” said Natalia Toporikova,
school night.
assistant professor of biology, who taught the course. “I
A further study demonstrated a distinct relationship
think they are actually quite brave little souls who wake
between a student’s chronotype, class times and grades. It
up early in spite of their biological clocks, and I think
showed that night owls received lower grades in difficult
we have to acknowledge that. The students did a lot of
morning classes, but they achieved higher grades when they
work on this study, and I think it was in part because
took those difficult classes in the afternoon. It also showed
they honestly cared about it. I think the results could be

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

Left photo: Time for a break?
These students might benefit from
a healthy snack or a five-minute walk
outside to maximize their
circadian rhythm.

that students who take classes that coincide with their chronotypes recall information from those classes better than
students who take classes that conflict with their chronotypes.
“One of the most interesting recommendations for me
is the relationship between types of intelligence and how
they relate to your chronotype,” said Elliot Emadian ’17,
who took the class. “Crystallized intelligence is recalling or
using previously learned information, and fluid intelligence
is finding novel ways to solve problems. Fluid intelligence is
severely diminished if you operate outside your chronotype
range, so a lot of college students will have less-than-stellar
performances in morning classes that require processing or
synthesizing new information, such as a foreign language or
lecture.”
The biology students also studied other factors that
affect circadian rhythms, such as light, diet, human contact,
exercise and noise. While it may be difficult for individuals to
change their chronotype, the students’ research suggests that
using external cues from the environment (called zeitgebers)
can reduce the negative effects of operating outside one’s
chronotype.
For example, while a person’s eating pattern makes no
difference, a consistent eating schedule is important in helping the body to expect food at certain times. It also helps to
keep the brain functioning and alert as well as providing a
signal to the body that energy for a certain activity will soon
be needed.
Light also plays a major role in shifting circadian
rhythms, since the body is naturally attuned to sunrise and
sunset. For example, electric light changes the onset and offset of melatonin—a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake
cycle—forcing sleep about two hours later, and producing
wakefulness about an hour later, than they would in an environment with natural light.
One experiment demonstrated that removal of all light
and other environmental cues completely threw off the
subject’s sleep-wake cycle and circadian rhythms, shifting
slightly later each day. Once the environmental cues were reintroduced, the subject returned to a normal 24-hour cycle.
The class’ research showed that students should try to
sleep in accordance with their cycle, regardless of their chronotype. They should aim, however, to maintain a consistent

sleep schedule by trying to go to bed and wake up at the
same time every day, including weekends. They should also
schedule classes at a regular time throughout the week to get
into a routine, and limit naps to less than an hour and not
after 3 p.m.
The biology class also had recommendations for administrators and faculty at W&L. For one, faculty should expose
students to natural light early in the day so that they will be
more alert as the day progresses and perform better. Holding
class outdoors in abundant natural light would also be a
boon. “If you have an 8 a.m. class in a basement, that is really
bad,” said Toporikova, “but if you open the windows, you can
actually change the biological clock.”
The students also recommended that faculty allow
students to take a five-minute break to eat a healthy snack
in order to keep their circadian rhythms going. Laboratory
classes, in particular, can last for more than four hours. Allowing for one or two breaks during the class would help the
students fight fatigue.
The biology students put one of their recommendations
into practice early in the term. “We played a biological tag
game to engage students and raise their body temperatures
so they didn’t sit down and go right back to sleep,” explained
Reel Rainsford ’17.
They also recommended that faculty provide a wide
range of times for students to take tests and exams. At
Washington and Lee, classes end around 5:30 p.m; the students recommended that a few classes beginning later in the
evening could be more effective.
The students would also like administrators to hold
training sessions for faculty—who tend to be morning chronotypes—to educate them about the different chronotypes,
explain how and why students struggle in early classes, and
help them create the optimal environment. They’d also like
to see all new students fill out a questionnaire to determine
their chronotypes, thus helping them to schedule their class
times accordingly.
“I liked this project because it helped me re-evaluate my
own sleeping patterns and helped me develop strategies on
searching through scientific literature,” said Kelly Swanson
’16. “I’m a night owl, so the biology class was difficult for me
because it’s early. So I’ll hopefully schedule my classes later in
the day and try to go to sleep earlier.”
Winter

2014

Along the Colonnade

Opposite page: Brianna Rakouska ’17
has found her own study groove.

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Along the Colonnade

Car Accident Claims the Life
of Senior Kelsey Durkin

n Dec. 3,
2013, Kelsey
Durkin ’14
died and 10 other
W&L students were
injured in a singlecar accident on a
rural Rockbridge
County road while
returning from an
off-campus party.
Three students were
hospitalized with
injuries; they have
since been released.
A candlelight
vigil for Durkin took
place on campus the
night of Dec. 3, and
Wristbands honoring Kelsey Durkin ’14 were distributed among the student body.
on Dec. 9 several of
her friends led a meStudents also have created a movement called
morial service in Lee Chapel. See p. 39 for more about
“A Promise for Kelsey,” in which they promise not to
Durkin, a biology major who was involved in many
drink and drive or get in a car with an impaired driver.
activities and belonged to Kappa Kappa Gamma.
On March 15, friends and family of Durkin ran as the
The University responded to the event in multiple
Promise for Kelsey Team in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon,
ways. The Office of Student Affairs sent staff members
Half Marathon and 5K, in Washington. They celebrated
to the hospitals to support the injured students and their
Durkin’s life and raised money for the Kelsey Durkin Mefamilies. Counselors worked with students, faculty and
morial Fund, part of the Friends of Rockbridge support
staff. Students wrote and gathered notes for the Durkin
of the Shepherd Poverty Program.
family. The president and dean of students communicated with families, students and the campus community,
See go.wlu.edu/studentaccident for complete
and the deans implemented flexible policies during exam
coverage.
week. Such multifaceted support continues.

Fraternity Suspended in Wake of Car Accident
On Jan. 22, the national office of Sigma Alpha
Epsilon (SAE) notified Washington and Lee that
it had suspended the Virginia Sigma Chapter’s
charter, effective immediately. The national office did so after concluding that the off-campus
party from which students were returning
before the Dec. 3 car accident was a fraternitysponsored event that violated SAE’s health and
safety policies.
The national fraternity ruled that the suspension will be for 36 months. That means that

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

SAE could be eligible to return to W&L in 2017,
pending University approval. W&L supports
SAE’s decision and will continue to work with
the national organization on this issue.
According to the national fraternity, the 57
current active members of W&L’s SAE chapter
are suspended from membership until they
graduate or leave the University. The 18 students
who were living in the fraternity house have
moved into other housing with assistance from
the Office of Student Affairs.

John Jensen ’01 has been

President Ken Ruscio ’76

Barbara Rowe, associ-

Eric Shuman ’14, Astrid
Pruitt ’14 and Alina Marciniak ’13 won a Regional

named director of Career
Development and associate dean of students. He
has worked at W&L since
2011 as assistant dean in
the Williams School of
Commerce, Economics,
and Politics.

ate University registrar,
has been elected the vice
president for professional development for the
Southern Association of
Collegiate Registrars and
Admissions Officers.

has been elected chair of
the board of directors of
the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), a leading
voice of higher education
at the national level.

Research Award from Psi
Chi—the National Honor
Society in Psychology—at
the Midwestern Psychology Association (MPA)
National Conference.
Shuman and Pruitt will

present their research, “Do
Stereotypes and Prejudice
against Arab Muslims
Serve a Detachment Function?” at the MPA conference in May. The research
arose in the class of Julie
Woodzicka, professor of
psychology.

Washington and Lee and
the University of Virginia
Scholars’ Lab have created
a formal partnership that
will strengthen the ties of
both institutions in the
area of digital humanities,
thanks to a grant from the
Associated Colleges of the

South. The grant fosters
faculty and student relationships and provides graduate
students at UVA with the
opportunity to work in a liberal arts environment. Paul
Youngman ’87, associate
professor of German, is the
faculty chair of the Digital
Humanities Working Group.
The W&L Habitat for Humanity Chapter received

Along the Colonnade

N o t e w o r t h y

one of four nationwide
$10,000 State Farm Insurance Company matching
grants for 2013–2014, the
second time the chapter has
done so.

ODK Welcomes New Members on Jan. 20
Honorary ODK Initiates
L. to r.: Eddie O. Nabors and Doris R. Nabors, of Bir-

mingham, Ala., parents of the late Jonathan Nabors ‘02,
dedicated community leaders and volunteers known
to generations of students for their involvement with
the Nabors Service League; Loranne E. Ausley ’90, of
counsel to the law firm Hollimon P.A., in Tallahassee,
Fla.; Ernestine and Al N. Hockaday, who own the shops
Shenandoah Attic and Victorian Parlor, in Lexington;
and Sidney Springfield Evans, W&L’s vice president for
student affairs and dean of students.

Undergraduate Class of 2014

Mary Ashleigh Boles, Hillary F. Cooper, Melissa M. Derby,
Kathryn E. Driest, David N. Fishman, Trevor T. Hatcher,

Lauren N. Howry, Lauren I. Kasoff, Joseph Liu, Isabella G.
Martin, Bryan F. Mullady, Cindy Rivas Murcia, Mark A. Sowinski, Laura Lindsay Tatum, Kane Thomas, Thomas C. Wolff

Undergraduate Class of 2015

Caroline C. Crichlow-Ball, Roger T. Day Jr., Jane M. Fugate,
Jillian N. Katterhagen, Katherine H. LeMasters, Bayan C.
Misaghi, Daniel J. Raubolt

Law Class of 2014

Kyle A. Dolinsky, Laura E. Erdman, Meghan E. Flinn, Lara D.
Gass, Kyle F. Hoffman, Ryan M. Hrobak, Cara E. Regan

Law Class of 2015

George M. Mackie V, Krystal B. Swendsboe, Paul M. Wiley
Winter

2014

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Washington and Lee Elects Two New Trustees
- - ~

ashington and Lee added two members to its Board of Trustees on Feb. 7,
during the winter meeting of the board:
Dana J. Bolden ’89, of Atlanta, the group communications director, finance, for the Coca-Cola Co.;
and Todd L. Sutherland ’81, of Lawrence, Kan., the
president and CEO of University National Bank.
Dana Bolden, who has a B.A. in journalism
and mass communications, has earned the professional designation of Accredited Public Relations
(APR) and belongs to the Public Relations Society
of America and the Black Public Relations Society.
He has worked at Coca-Cola in high-level communications since 2006.
Bolden has taught crisis and financial communications, public affairs and business writing
to professional associations and at Clark College,
Iona College, Georgia State University and Washington and Lee University.
Bolden was the keynote speaker for W&L’s
51st Media Ethics Institute. He serves his alma mater as a
current member of the Journalism Advisory Board and as
the former director of the Alumni Board. He belongs to his
25th reunion class committee.
Bolden and his wife, Leslie, have two children, Asa and
Celeste.
Todd Sutherland graduated with a B.A. cum laude
in politics. He serves on the executive committee of the
board of trustees of the KU Endowment at the University of
Kansas. He also has also been involved with the University

Dana Bolden ’89 and Todd L. Sutherland ’81,
new members of the University’s Board of Trustees.

of Kansas through its Alumni Association, the School of
Business board of advisors and the National Development
Council. He also serves on the board of directors for MercyShips, a global charity that has operated hospital ships in
developing nations since 1978.
For his alma mater, Sutherland has twice served on his
reunion class committees and is a current member of the
capital campaign cabinet.
Sutherland and his wife, Laura, have three children:
Brooke ’12, Libby ’15 and Padget ’17.

Blunch Undertakes Educational Study in India

n international team
including Niels-Hugo
Blunch, associate
professor of economics at W&L,
will examine the economic and
behavioral impacts of antidiscrimination policies in India’s
caste system.
Blunch and his colleagues
launched the three-year project with a December 2013
workshop in the state of Bihar, where they discussed ways to
refine interventions targeting low-caste children in Bihar’s
public schools. The project is funded by a $626,000 grant
from the Danish Council of Independent Research.
Participants included top educational administrators
from Bihar. “We wanted to make sure that the stakeholders,
policy makers and non-government organizations could
10

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Alumni

Magazine

have a say, and that we didn’t miss anything important,” said
Blunch. “This program will study the effects of different antidiscrimination policies, and we can only do the study one
time, so we want it to be as good as possible. It’s also important to get all the local stakeholders on board so that it’s not
just researchers coming in to schools from the outside.”
One intervention will offer a financial incentive to
teachers if they can raise the learning outcomes of low-caste
children; another will explain to teachers the effect of their
discrimination on those children.
“The low-caste children get hammered every day,” said
Blunch. “It’s in their names and in their placement in the
classroom, where higher-caste children sit at the front and
low-caste children sit at the back. It’s more prevalent in rural
areas, and in some schools low-caste children are not even
allowed to drink from the same water fountain as highercaste children.”

business plan to match newcar buyers with dealers
nationwide won the fourth
annual Business Plan Competition.
The competition is part of the
capstone course in W&L’s Entrepreneurship Program, taught by Jeffrey P.
Shay, the Johnson Professor of Entrepreneurship and Leadership. Seniors
have to create a business plan from
scratch, starting with the idea and then
integrating everything they’ve learned
from all the business courses they’ve
taken. The plans are then judged by a
panel of alumni entrepreneurs.
Stephen Lind, visiting assistant
professor of business administration
and leader of the oral communication initiative at the Williams School,
critiqued their presentations ahead of
time.
Members of the winning team
were all seniors: Kathleen Yakulis ’14,
Nate Reichel ’14, George Cauffman
’14 and James Lewis ’14. Their business plan, which they dubbed Price
Pounder, would create a platform for
purchasers to buy a new vehicle at the
best price through a reverse-auction
website, where an exclusive dealer network would bid to sell their cars online
at the lowest price.
The original idea came from
Yakulis, who said she has always been
entrepreneurial and thought this
idea would solve the traditional carpurchasing problem of having to visit
different car dealers to negotiate a good
price.
“I always thought that you could
come up with a business idea, and if
it was a good idea, you could create a
business,” said Yakulis. “It surprised me
how critical it is to have a business plan.
You need to put your idea on paper and
think about all the different components so you can have a comprehensive
plan ahead of time.”
The business plan had to include
the advantages being brought to the
consumers—car buyers—and also to
the car dealers. The students looked at
outside forces and their competition

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Proposal for Car-Buying Site Wins Business Plan Competition

The winners, l. to r.: George Cauffman ’14, Kathleen Yakulis ’14,
James Lewis ’14 and Nate Reichel ’14.

in trying to figure out how to be viable.
They needed details about how they
would market the business and acquire
funding, and had to show whether the
business could expand in the future.
“We definitely had our speed
bumps along the way, especially at

“It surprised me how
critical it is to have
a business plan. You
need to put your idea
on paper and think
about all the different
components.”
—Kathleen Yakulis ’14
the beginning,” said Yakulis. “We had
visited car dealers, and they were really
excited about it, but we had to work out
what the reasoning was behind their
interest. So we did further research

to get concrete numbers as to what it
costs them to acquire customers.”
At the competition, the alumni
“asked some pretty intense and very
direct questions, such as how we would
market it and [what were] our steps to
launch the business,” said Reichel. “We
had to back up our answers with data
and market research. Most of it we had
already done beforehand, but there
were a few things we had to go and
work out.
“This was the first time I’ve put
together a business plan and had it
critiqued by professionals such as the
alumni and Professor Shay,” Reichel
continued. “I learned that actually making an idea become reality is a whole
new ball game in the amount of time
you have to put into the project and all
the different perspectives you need to
take in terms of figuring out the whole
picture.”
Second place went to Spot Vending, a proposal for vending machines
that provide healthy snacks to busy
New Yorkers. Advanced Facilities
Technologies, a mechanism that holds
toilet seats in men’s restrooms upright
when not in use, was third.
Winter

2014

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ERGLADI
E "' TOt8 6MH"GH

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W. Dennis Brack ’62 is the

author of “Presidential Picture
Stories: Behind the Cameras at the
White House” (Atlas Press-Bookmasters), a history of the news
picture business and a collection
of delightful stories about the
characters behind the cameras.

J. Gill Holland ’58, of Davidson,
N.C., has released a new collection of poetry, “Everglading: Or,
Time Enough,” a collection he
created over the past 25 years.

IM HALLO
c

After 20 years of building and
directing some of the world’s
largest brands, Tim Halloran
’91, president of Brand Illumination, is sharing some of his secrets
in a new book, “Romancing the
Brand” (Jossey Bass/Wiley).

tale of misguided idealism and
treason, the book draws on previously unreleased CIA and State
Department records to reveal this
riveting story.

John J. Fox III ’81 published
“Stuart’s Finest Hour: The Ride
Around McClellan, June 1862”
(Angle Valley Press), the first
book-length study about Brig.
Gen. Jeb Stuart’s Great Chickahominy Raid of 1862.

Mark A. Bradley ’78 authored
“A Very Principled Boy: The Life
of Duncan Lee, Red Spy and
Cold Warrior” (Basic Books).
A fast-paced, cat-and-mouse

f
g

Michael J. Hightower ’77

published “Banking in Oklahoma
before Statehood” (University of
Oklahoma Press), a lively take on
Wild West capitalism in the early
days of the American republic.

Paul J.B. Murphy Jr. ’49, a

native Virginian, published
“Mountain Boy: A Novella”
(Publishing Connections). The

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

story follows the fictional Jamie
Nicholson and his family, who
are caught up in the government’s forced relocation of Blue
Ridge Mountain families to create a national park.

Alvin Townley ’97 published

“Defiant: The POWs Who Endured Vietnam’s Most Infamous
Prison, the Women Who Fought

for Them, and the One Who Never
Returned” (Thomas Dunne Books),
featuring Sen. John McCain, among
others.

Charlie Sweet ’65, “Achieving
Excellence in Teaching: A SelfHelp Guide,” co-authored with
Hal Blythe, Bill Phillips and Chris
Daniel. It is his 15th book.

James Gabler ’53, ’55L released the second edition of his 2006 book, “An Evening with Benjamin
Franklin and Thomas Jefferson: Dinner, Wine, and
Conversation” (Bacchus Press).
King Sprott ’56, ’58, ’59L’s e-book, “Nine Lives:

A Memoir of Extreme Ballooning,” is now in print.

(See Winter 2013 issue, p. 11.) Visit kingsninelives.us.

John T. Cox III ’92 published his third book, “How
to Recover Attorneys’ Fees in Texas 2014,” cowritten with Jason Dennis, in October 2013. It is
available in print and as an e-book.

W&L Traveller • Nov. 6–16, 2013

A Wildlife Safari in Kenya

Upcoming
2014 Trips

ob Fure, director of special programs, led a group
of W&L alumni on a trip to Kenya, visiting the
Sambura Reserve, Lake Nakuru National Park and
Maasai Mara National Reserve. Along the way they saw
abundant wildlife: gerenuks, elephants, lionesses and cubs,
gazelles, impalas, dik-diks, giraffes, leopards, flamingos,
yellow-billed storks, Sacred Ibises, pelicans, wildebeests,
zebras, yellow baboons and rhinos, to name but a few.
The group also heard from a Samburu warrior, who
answered questions about the customs and practices of
his tribe, visited the Nanyuki Spinners and Weavers Project and enjoyed watching a tribal dance performance.
Said Fure, “Our days [were] full and the introduction to

Kenya’s wildlife often quite overwhelming. Traveling together, we had come to know enough of Kenya for now,
something of her storied past, the tortuous evolution of
her democracy, the lingering claims of tribal customs
and colonialism and, most vividly, the immense treasure
of her greatest natural resource. We had experienced together her splendid realms of wilderness. In these, Kenya
would remain a place beyond our calendars, a route back
to the primordial rhythms of life itself.”
You can read Fure’s log in full at wlu.edu/special
programs.
“Tuta onana tena” (Swahili for “Until we meet
again”).

wlu.edu/special-programs • Follow us on Facebook
August 2-18

Trans-Siberian Railway Journey

August 5-17

The Great Journey Through Europe

Along the Colonnade

Additional Reading

• spclprog@wlu.edu
August 9-16

Wild Alaska: Enlightenment Under the Midnight Sun

October 2-10

The Dalmatian Coast: From Dubrovnik to Venice

Winter

2014

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Along the Colonnade

Generals’ Report

W&L

Piranian Phases into Retirement After Stellar Career
— BY BRIAN LAUBSCHER —

or more than half of the 65
seasons that Washington and
Lee has sponsored varsity
men’s soccer, Rolf Piranian ’74
has been manning the pitch as a
player and coach. His run with the
program came to an end this past
November, when the Generals fell
to Randolph in the semifinals of the
ODAC Tournament.
Prior to the 2013 season, Piranian had announced that he would
enter phased retirement after 38
seasons as head coach and an additional four years as a player. He could
remain with the University for up to
four years as an associate professor of
physical education.
Piranian graduated from W&L
with honors in American history, and
he was a three-sport athlete, lettering
in soccer, lacrosse and wrestling. As
a soccer player, he earned four letters
and was named team captain as a
senior. He received all-state honors
twice and was an all-South selection
in his final season.
Following graduation, Piranian
spent two years teaching history and
coaching soccer in Jacksonville, Fla.,
Alumni

Magazine

before returning to his alma mater as
head coach in 1976.
Since his return, the numbers
he has racked up are simply staggering. Piranian has coached 615 of the
program’s 926 all-time games and led
the Generals to 22 winning seasons,
including 10 years with double-digit
win totals—including each of his final
two campaigns. One of just a handful
of Division III coaches nationwide
with over 300 career wins, Piranian
finished with a 313-242-60 (.588)
overall record, claiming nearly 68
percent of the men’s soccer victories
in program history.
Along the way, Piranian coached
three Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championship squads, including
the 2000 team that set a program
record for wins in going 19-2 overall
and advancing to the NCAA South
Regional finals.
Washington and Lee advanced
to the ODAC Championship game
11 times in his 38 years and he was
Rolf Piranian ’74 joined W&L in 1976,
fulfilling his dream of coaching
at his alma mater.

named the ODAC Coach of the Year
seven times.
“When I played soccer at W&L
as a student, I dreamed of having the
opportunity to return as a coach,” said
Piranian. “I am so very thankful that
I had the opportunity to achieve that
dream. Coaching with the coaches
I have worked with and coaching
many of the great individuals I had the
chance to coach was a real opportunity to live the dream.”

W&L Law Student Wins Prestigious
Skadden Public Interest Fellowship

prestigious fellowship from the
Skadden Foundation. These
highly coveted, post-graduate
fellowships provide funds to
law students who want to
devote their professional life to
providing legal services to the
poor, the elderly, the homeless
and the disabled, as well as
those deprived of their civil or
human rights.
The Skadden Fellowship Program, often described
as a “legal Peace Corps,” provides fellows with a salary and
benefits consistent with the public interest organization
sponsoring the law student’s fellowship application. In Fox’s
case, this organization is the Delaware Community Legal
Aid Society (CLASI). She will work with the organization to
expand services to immigrant victims of domestic violence,
representing them in custody matters, protection orders and
housing issues.
Fox’s interest in immigrant populations and domestic violence issues evolved over time. During college, she
tutored ESL students in English, and while in law school, she
has worked for Project Horizon, Lexington’s domestic violence shelter and prevention organization. She often helped
staff Virginia’s statewide domestic abuse hotline, where she

spoke with immigrant victims of abuse from across the
commonwealth.
“I have always admired the tenacity of immigrant
populations in the face of such huge obstacles,” says Fox.
“Immigrant victims of domestic violence have a special
vulnerability because they don’t know who to trust. They
are often afraid if they call the police, that immigration
authorities will be contacted or that they will lose custody
of their children.”
Fox sought out a summer externship with CLASI in
her home state of Delaware after her 2L year, working in the
agricultural regions near Georgetown in the southern part
of the state. There she saw a growing population of mostly
Hispanic immigrants with very little access to legal services.
“There is a scarcity of financial support from the state
to expand legal aid services to the immigrant population,”
says Fox. “That is why Skadden is so essential. My project
would not be possible without them.”
Fox is preparing for the two-year fellowship through
a broad range of exposure to this practice area during her
third year. In addition to taking a family law practicum,
she will extern in Richmond with the Virginia Poverty Law
Center’s domestic violence unit and also worked on a project
helping immigrant victims of domestic violence obtain visas.
After her fellowship ends, Fox intends to stay with
CLASI in southern Delaware and will be developing funding
sources to continue her work.

_J
Lewis Hall Notes

Jan Fox ’14L has received a

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--~~-- 1

Moot Court Team Competition Results
The Moot Court and Mock Trial
teams had a very successful trip to the
National Black Law Students Association Mid-Atlantic competition
in Portsmouth, Va., capturing first
and second place in the competition.
One of the School’s moot court teams
finished in first place as well, with one
of its members, Bret Reed ’14L, being
named best oralist for the competition.
The W&L mock trial teams faced
each other in the final round, which
was judged by Portsmouth Chief
Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Melvin
and Frank Santoro, a preeminent
bankruptcy lawyer in Chesapeake, Va.
The winning team included Samantha
Brewster-Owens ’14L, Markus Murden ’16L, Christina Sacco ’15L, and
Joshua LaGuerre ’14L. The secondplace team, which trailed the first-place

John Byrne ’15L (left) and
Marc Mignault ’15L
team by only one point, included
Tunde Cadmus ’15L, Emelia Hall ’16L,
Yasin Amba ’16L and Ryan Redd ’15L.
In February, John Byrne ’15L
and Marc Mignault ’15L competed at
the American Bar Association’s 2014
National Negotiations Competition, in
Chicago, and finished fourth.

The Moot Court and Mock Trial teams celebrated
their first- and second-place finishes.
Byrne and Mignault secured
an invitation to Nationals following
a second-place finish at the regional
competition held last November in
Williamsburg, Va. At the national
competition, the W&L team faced off
against law schools spread across the
ABA’s 10 student division regions.
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2014

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BY AMY C. BALFOUR ’89, ’93L

Washington and Lee has been turning
out leaders for more than two centuries;
just look at our cover subject, Lacey
Putney ’50, ’57L, who spent 52 years in
the Virginia General Assembly. And this
year, we celebrate the centennial of Omicron
Delta Kappa, the national leadership society
founded at W&L. Learn how current students
are still continuing one of our proudest traditions.

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

T H I S PAG E : PH OTO BY PAT R I C K H I N E LY ' 7 3 • ST U D E NT P O RT R A IT S BY K E V I N R E M I N G TO N

A Path to
Leadership

If you’ve glanced at Washington and Lee’s
website recently, you might have seen a
story or two mentioning the University’s
new leadership programs: Leadership
Venture. Athletics Leadership Development. The Women’s Leadership Summit.
And the list goes on.
At a liberal arts university named
for two respected generals, leadership
development will always be an important
part of every student’s education. W&L’s
mission statement echoes this commitment: “Graduates will be prepared for
life-long learning, personal achievement,
responsible leadership, service to others,
and engaged citizenship in a global and
diverse society.” In the last few years,
however, the number of extracurricular
programs with a focus on leadership has
made a noticeable jump.
“This student generation generally
wants to solve problems,” said President Ken Ruscio ’76, a former national
president of ODK and author of a book
on leadership. “At Washington and Lee,
that’s accentuated just because of the
kinds of students who come here. They
tend to come from positions in high
school where they’ve exercised leadership, where they’ve made a difference.
They’ve been successful, and they’re
looking, as part of their education, to
continue doing that and to really set a
path for the rest of their life.”
Even motivated students need
instruction, however, and some of them
haven’t been shy about requesting more
training. “We saw student leaders who
were either verbally, or through their actions, saying to us that they weren’t sure
they knew how to be leaders,” said Sidney
Evans, vice president for student affairs
and dean of students.
Nathan Kelly ’14, president of the
Executive Committee, concurs. He thinks
these programs will also encourage students with less leadership experience to
become more involved. “By giving these
students resources, you increase their
confidence and capacity for leadership,”
he said, “and thus they are more likely to
become leaders in their various areas of
interest.”
Most of the new programs include
a curricular element, with workshops,
speakers and assigned reading. Increasingly important, however, are applied

“By giving these students
resources, you increase
their confidence and
capacity for leadership,
and thus they are more
likely to become leaders
in their various
areas of interest.”

“What difficulties did you
encounter as a woman,
or someone of a different
race, in your field? What
advice do you wish you
had received [at] W&L?
What did you take away
from your time at W&L?”

—Nathan Kelly ’14

—Melina Knabe ’17

leadership opportunities, in which
students gain experience through service.
Students also seem comfortable with a
more philosophical approach—sharing
experiences, discussing what it means to
be a leader, and reflecting on their goals.

ture to women but scrapped that idea in
favor of a co-ed program, which allowed
male and female students to see each
other as leaders. Megan Schneider, associate director of leadership and residential
learning initiatives, organized the 2013
edition, a six-day venture that included
workshops, reflection exercises and meetings with alumni.
“In the leadership-development
world, you know that you have to get
people young and that you have to build
their capabilities, to shape the way they
think about things at a pretty young age.
And that sets the foundation for who they
become as a leader,” said Brodie Gregory
’03, an organizational psychologist and
consultant who specializes in leadership and employee development and has
taught at W&L.
Gregory, who worked with Tammy
Futrell, associate dean of students, to

 Leadership Venture

A trip to D.C.? Chats with alumni? A Nationals baseball game? Hmm, leadership
training sounds pretty fun. Leadership
Venture is one of three pre-orientation
opportunities available to incoming firstyear students, known collectively as the
Leading Edge Program. (See “Building
a Community” in the Fall 2013 issue for
more about orientation.)
Leadership Venture, introduced in
August 2012, is the smallest of the three,
with only 12 participants—six women
and six men. The Office of Student Affairs
initially planned to limit Leadership Ven-

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develop the first Leadership Venture, was
one of four alumni who met with the students in Washington, along with Tammi
Simpson ’91, Calvin Awkward ’06, ’09L,
and Bennett Ross ’83. Toussaint Crawford
’03 saw the students in Lexington. The
alumni shared details about their past
leadership experiences and answered
questions.
“We would ask them things like,
‘What difficulties did you encounter as a
woman, or someone of a different race, in
your field? What advice do you wish you
had received [at] W&L? What did you
take away from your time at W&L?’ ” said
participant Melina Knabe ’17. “It was very,
very helpful, especially when they talked
about the opportunities at W&L.”

 Athletics Leadership
Development Program

Team captains face a number of challenges, many of them surprisingly complex:
How do you align the goals of individual
players with the goals of the team? Can
you hold a teammate accountable for his
or her actions and still preserve a friendship? And what do you do when Greek
loyalties interfere with teambuilding?
Questions like these spurred Brooke
Diamond O’Brien, women’s lacrosse
coach, and Scott Abell, head football
coach, to start an extracurricular program in the Athletics Department. It held
its first meeting last September. Created for captains and team leaders, the
academy requires participants to attend
one monthly meeting, keep a journal,
and plan a team-managed communityservice project.
The monthly meetings, which have
included talks by former San Diego Chargers coach Bobby Ross and former pro
basketball player Nancy Lieberman, are
devoted to various aspects of leadership
development.
“The students really want the
information. They want to lead well, but
it’s something I believe is a learned skill,”
said O’Brien. “The idea of the Leadership
Academy is that most of our participants
are sophomores and juniors, with the idea
that they’ll have the information and will
have learned the skills before they’re really
thrust into that leadership position within
their athletic team.”
Mike Walsh, W&L’s former athletic
director, and Burr Datz ’75, former director of leadership development, began
discussing the importance of leadership
training in the 1990s. They subsequently
18

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

“Through our sororities,
the fraternities—we’re able
to take those leadership
ideals...and the things that
we’ve learned though the
meetings, and we’re trying
to disperse those through
the entire school.”

“It does give you the
framework for leadership
but at the same time,
a lot of what people
talk about are their
experiences, and what
happened to them, and
how they dealt with it.”

—Patrick O'Connor ’15

—Cara Mulligan ’15

worked with Scott Fechnay ’69 to develop
the Fechnay Challenge Course, a ropes
course installed on the back campus in
2002. The Alpine Tower, a 50-foot climbing platform, replaced the original ropes
course in 2012.
Fechnay, who had been captain of the
soccer team and later served on W&L’s
Board of Trustees, funded the ropes
course and the Alpine Tower. His motivation was the leadership training he had
received in graduate school and the Navy.
After completing these programs, he realized that he could have been a better team
captain if he had received similar training
at W&L.
Three years ago, Fechnay approached
Athletic Director Jan Hathorn about adding a classroom component to the ropes
training. At the same time, O’Brien and
Abell came to Hathorn with their idea
about starting a leadership program. From
those serendipitously timed conversations, said Hathorn, the Athletics Leadership Development Program was born.
In addition to listening to speakers

and tackling the Alpine Tower, team leaders are encouraged to share their concerns
and experiences. It “does give you the
framework for leadership,” said Cara
Mulligan ’15, co-captain of the women’s
lacrosse team, “but at the same time, a lot
of what people talk about are their experiences, and what happened to them, and
how they dealt with it.”
The students have found these
conversations helpful, which was all part
of the plan. The academy is important
“because it creates an environment where
there’s conversation, and the conversation
is the point. That’s what makes it go,” said
Hathorn. “That’s the way we are designed
as people. We really do better when we
work together in a fellowship-type atmosphere or a collaborative-teamwork-type
of environment.”
Another goal is helping captains
develop leadership skills applicable
beyond the playing field. “We’ve found
out that we’re leaders on campus as well,”
said Patrick O’Connor ’15, co-captain of
the men’s basketball team. “In different

ways—through our sororities, the fraternities, I’m an RA—we’re able to take those
leadership ideals and the things that we’ve
learned though the meetings, and now
we’re trying to disperse those through the
entire school.”

If there’s an apocalyptic event in the near
future—zombie invasion, worldwide
plague—track down Alvin Thomas ’14.
This enterprising chemistry-engineering
major, who is a Johnson Scholar and the
president of Omicron Delta Kappa, will
surely be leading a band of survivors.
Last summer, with funding from a
Johnson Opportunity Grant, Thomas
worked as a bio-engineering technician
with Engineering World Health at a hospital in Rwanda. His assignment: Fixing
broken medical equipment.
“It was like solving a puzzle every day,
because you didn’t know what was wrong
with the machine,” said Thomas. “There
was an ultrasound machine that was

donated, and it had never worked. We
found out that the software was never put
on at the factory, so we had to contact the
company in China and work with them.”
Thomas used his computer programming
experience to get the machine up and
running.
Washington and Lee created the
Johnson Program in Leadership and
Integrity in 2007, thanks to the $100 million gift from Rupert H. Johnson Jr. ’62.
The program has several components: the
Johnson Scholarship, Johnson Opportunity Grants, the Johnson Lecture and
Symposia series and two professorships.
The new Summer Enhancement Fund
will provide Johnson Scholars with an additional $7,000 to support internships and
volunteer experiences.
“Washington and Lee is already
producing great leaders in this wonderful liberal arts environment, in this place
where we focus on service and integrity
and honor. So I think it’s really about
bringing great students into that community,” said Elizabeth Knapp ’90, special

“It also gave me the
opportunity to just
try things, try more
extracurriculars, and
that’s ultimately how
I found a lot of the
leadership roles that I’ve
ended up filling.”

“It was really good
because it wasn’t solely
focused on women’s
leadership and [the idea]
that you should run
because you’re a woman.
You should run because
you are you.”

—Alvin Thomas ’14

—Lucy Wade Shapiro ’15

 Johnson Program
in Leadership and Integrity

assistant to the president and director of
the Johnson Program in Leadership and
Integrity. “One of the things I hear faculty
saying all the time is that this program has
elevated the conversation.”
For Thomas, the Johnson Program is
all about access to opportunities. “It gave
me the opportunity to come to Washington and Lee on a full scholarship. I didn’t
have to worry about tuition or room and
board and all sorts of things like that,
which allowed me to take risks that I
wouldn’t necessarily have taken,” he said.
“It also gave me the opportunity to just
try things, try more extracurriculars, and
that’s ultimately how I found a lot of the
leadership roles that I’ve ended up filling.”
Johnson Opportunity Grants provide
funding for rising juniors or seniors, who
do not have to be Johnson Scholars. The
grants have supported a wide range of
summer activities, from interning in D.C.
to studying art in Asia to volunteering
in a veterinary clinic in Latin America.
Students design many of the projects.
“I really like the Johnson Opportunity Grant because it’s very practical. It’s
applied leadership. You have to come up
with your own proposal. You can work
with faculty on it, but it’s your initiative,”
said Annelise Madison ’14, a politics
and history major who is also a Johnson
Scholar. She spent the summer after her
sophomore year teaching elementary
school students in a village in Ghana.
(We detailed her experiences in “Going the Extra Mile . . . in Ghana” in the
Winter 2013 issue.) She developed the
idea after speaking with a fellow tutor at
Waddell Elementary School who was a
native of Ghana.
She further honed her leadership
skills once she arrived at the village.
Madison initially thought she would be
teaching just one class, English. Instead
she also ended up teaching fractions,
religion and gender-related issues—all
without textbooks. “Once you get there,
no matter what your experience is,
usually you’re pretty [much] on your
own. You have to figure out the ropes,”
said Madison. “A lot of the projects that
people do with the Johnson Opportunity
Grant are not necessarily pathways that
other W&L students have taken.”

 Women’s Leadership Summit

In 2008, Sidney Evans, then the associate
dean for law student services, did a double
take when she saw a poster showcasing
the then current members of the ExecuWinter

2014

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tive Committee. The 13-person lineup
contained only one woman, Jane Ledlie
Batcheller ’03, ’08L.
“The poster caught everyone’s attention. It was a very visible ‘whoa,’ ” recalled
Evans. “I think some people felt we had
turned a corner before that because
we had had two women EC presidents
in a row, Helen Hughes Sanders ’04
(2003–04) and then Marie Trimble ’05,
’08L (2004–05).” (The first woman to head
the EC, and one of only three to date in
that role since coeducation, was Elizabeth
Formidoni ’96, ’99L, in 1998–99.) Evans
and the undergraduate administration began conversations about how to motivate
women to run for campus-wide office.
The result was the first Women’s
Leadership Summit. Held at a rustic lodge
in the Blue Ridge Mountains in 2009, the
event may have produced more laughs
than actual EC presidents. One participant found a snake in her room, while
another, unenthused by the accommodations, slept in her car. The overall response
of female students was less enthusiastic
than the administration had hoped.
But the appeal of the event has steadily improved. This past January, students
celebrated the fourth Women’s Leadership
Summit, held at the Hotel Roanoke, with
a steady flow of tweets and Instagram
photos. To meet student demand, the
number of attendees was increased from
70 students in 2012 to 93 students (77
undergraduate, 16 law). Even with this
increase, some interested women had to
be turned away.
The first summit focused primarily
on the importance of women running
for office. This year’s summit reflected
students’ specific interests. “They filled out
interest forms this time, which allowed me
to know what they wanted to talk about,”
said Megan Schneider. “It wasn’t a summit
for 90 women, it was a summit for these 90
women.” Women have grasped the importance of running for office, said Schneider, but they seek more guidance about
leadership-related issues, from accepting
setbacks to supporting other women to
finding the right leadership style.
The summit’s multi-part mission
included creating a network of support,
helping students clarify their values and
goals within the context of leadership, and
crafting a plan of action.
Highlights from the two-day summit
included an inspirational keynote address
by Helen Hughes Sanders, a panel helmed
by women leaders on campus, an interac20

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

tive program about leadership identity by
Brodie Gregory and Katherine Mooring
’98, and a range of discussion groups
covering topics like campaigning and the
newest buzz concept, leaning in. A panel
for law women provided practical advice
about job hunting and post-graduation
service.
“It was really good because it wasn’t
solely focused on women’s leadership
and [the idea] that you should run
because you’re a woman. You should
run because you are you,” said Lucy
Wade Shapiro ’15, who served as a class
EC representative her first and sophomore years. She also enjoyed meeting
the alumnae in attendance, who shared
their stories and facilitated the discussion groups.
Rachel Oguntola ’17 was similarly
inspired. “My greatest takeaway was
how to be yourself and not to shy away
from different opportunities, especially
leadership opportunities on campus,”
she said. Oguntola and others shared
highlights from the summit on Twitter

and Instagram; see http://storify.com/
wluLex.

 Bonner Program

Forty students are enrolled in the Bonner
Program this year, the first time it has
reached full capacity. The brainchild of
Corella and Bertram Bonner, the program
encourages leadership development
through service, advocacy and civic engagement. W&L is one of 72 colleges and
universities within the Bonner network.
Those selected receive scholarships
in the form of an AmeriCorps Education
Award. In exchange for these funds, Bonner students, known as Bonners, commit
to 1,800 service hours and participate in
four cornerstone activities, which include
a service trip and a leadership project
within a service organization.
Bonners develop their leadership
skills through hands-on service. “It really
is applied leadership,” said Marisa Frey,
director of W&L’s Bonner Program
and coordinator for student service
leadership and research. “The biggest

“Basically anybody
and everybody was
welcome to just come
talk about leadership,
about the program, and
about the future of what
a program could
look like.”

“My greatest takeaway
was how to be yourself
and not to shy
away from different
opportunities,
especially leadership
opportunities on
campus.”

—David Heinen ’16

—Rachel Oguntola ’17

“I really like the Johnson
Opportunity Grant
because it’s very practical.
It’s applied leadership. You
have to come up with
your own proposal. You
can work with faculty on
it, but it’s your initiative.”
—Annelise Madison ’14

demonstration of their leadership is in
advocacy, that they’re talking in a really
professional and academic and passionate tone about the work they’re doing.”
Alvin Thomas, a Bonner recipient,
agreed. “Because you’re working with
these organizations for multiple years,
you are expected to move up to that incharge position, whatever that may look
like at your organization,” he explained.
“If you’re working at the free clinic, you
won’t be in charge of the entire free
clinic, but you’ll be much more than a
regular volunteer.” For the Rockbridge
Area Free Clinic (now the Rockbridge
Area Health Center), Thomas spent
one year researching how the Affordable Care Act would impact the clinic’s
programs.

 On the Horizon: LEAD

Responding to student interest in leadership training, Megan Schneider, the Office
of Student Affairs and a team of students
are developing a three-tier leadership pro-

gram. Currently known as LEAD (Leadership Education and Development), it
will be an extracurricular program open
to interested students. The projected
start date is the fall of 2015.
“About a year and half ago, when I
came in and started to get a feel for what
students might be interested in, I started
realizing that it was not so much skilldevelopment workshops,” said Schneider. Students were more interested in
talking with student leaders about their
experiences and discussing the nature of
leadership itself.
Students who are developing the
LEAD program attended a series of
roundtable discussions. “Basically anybody and everybody was welcome to just
come talk about leadership, about the
program, and about the future of what
a program could look like,” said David
Heinen ’16. He and AnnMarie Wakely
’15 are spearheading student involvement in building the program.
As currently envisioned, the first
tier of the program would include
traditional leadership training—workshops, the ropes course—and would
also emphasize personal responsibility
and the fundamentals of leadership.
The second tier would spotlight campus
involvement, while the third tier would
address transitioning from leadership
responsibilities while also ensuring a
legacy from one’s participation.

Heinen wants students to see
leadership as more than simply heading
up a committee, or as something you
do so that you can check off a box for
your résumé. “The essence of service is
leadership, and the essence of leadership
is service,” Heinen explained. He would
like to see the LEAD program partner
with service-oriented programs and
eventually become a hub for leadership
development on campus.

 A Fundamental Conclusion

Students don’t need to join an extracurricular program to order to become
effective leaders on campus and in the
world. These new platforms are simply
tools and educational opportunities
available for those underclassmen and
law students seeking more guidance and
a better understanding of leadership.
“The best way to understand leadership in society truly is through a liberal
arts education,” said President Ruscio,
“because it gives you the intellectual
skills to exercise leadership. It gives you
the perspective on society to be an effective leader. It gives you the capacity for
empathy, how to understand others.
“When I think of how our students
prepare for leadership,” he continued, “I
think my first answer would be it absolutely starts with the fundamental liberal
arts philosophy, and then it blossoms and
springs from there in so many ways.”

•

the executive committee: constant and adapting
EC president Nathan Kelly said the EC itself has changed very little since its establishment in 1905, but it has adapted to address new or evolving issues.
“While the Honor System remains constant, the definition of honor is flexible
to adjust to new developments in the world,” explained Kelly. “A good example of
this is the conversation about study drugs that we are having in the student body
now, which is an issue that a decade ago didn’t exist.” The EC also plans to assist
the Board of Trustees with shaping the new third-year housing policy, he said.
“Student self-government has been important to W&L for a long time, and I
still think it’s very important today,” said Alvin Thomas, a senior class representative. “I’ve been amazed by the amount of student government that the EC is in
charge of. We’re really in charge of the entire student activities budget and have to
allocate that properly.”
A student body constitution, setting forth the jurisdiction of W&L’s governing
entities, was adopted in 2004. A nine-member committee of undergraduates and
law students, chaired by Annelise Madison, amended that constitution in 2012.
Students adopted it in 2013. “It’s good to have that document, because it tells
what the jurisdiction of the SJC (Student Judicial Council) is, what the jurisdiction
of the SFHB (Student-Faculty Hearing Board) is, what the jurisdiction of the EC is,”
said Madison. “Last year we added a student-rights section.” See the constitution at
www2.wlu.edu/x59714.xml.

Winter

2014

mag a z ine.wlu.e du

“A Redneck Country Boy
from Big Island”:
Lacey Putney '50, '57L
— BY CODY LOWE —

At home in Bedford County,
Putney holds a baseball from
his W&L playing days.

PHOTOS BY KEVIN REMINGTON

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

On a sunny afternoon last fall, Lacey Putney ’50, ’57L relaxed in the
blue-and-white Washington and Lee room at his home in rural Bedford
County. It seemed the perfect setting for the latest in a months-long series
of interviews and honors celebrating his record-shattering 52 years as a
member of Virginia’s House of Delegates. That makes him the longestserving member to date.
For months, Putney has been sharing stories of his years at W&L, the lasting friendships from those days, and his life as a legislator. He officially left
office on Dec. 31, 2013. In addition to the accolades, the last year brought
its own special challenges as Putney recovered from a mini-stroke he
suffered while vacationing with his wife of six years, the former Carmela
Bills, and underwent treatment for cancer. At 85, however, he exuded vitality and displayed a prodigious memory and his gifts as a speaker.
Putney grew up in Big Island, Va., a small community hugging the banks of the James River in rural Bedford
County, where almost everybody worked for the paper mill
or the railroad. Although he knows his mother’s brothers
went to high school, Putney’s father didn’t. “I’m not even sure
there was a high school in Big Island when he was in school,”
he said.
His father went to work for the C&O Railroad while still
a teenager and rose to become a district supervisor, covering a region from Glasgow to Gladstone. “He was a tough
guy, not very big, but a worker who believed in everybody
working,” said Putney. “If he left the house and said to
get the weeds out of the corn, you better not leave one.”
Continued Putney, “He never said a word to any
of us five boys, that ‘I want you to go to college and
be prepared in life.’ But somehow we worked and
got through school, and four of us got at least two
degrees.”
When Putney graduated from M.E.
Marcuse High School, the family still had
no running water, just a pump outside the
kitchen. “We bathed in a pan or tub of
water,” he said, “but I never went to school
or church dirty.”
All five boys were “reasonably good athletes,” Putney recalled, mostly at baseball—a passion and point of pride among nearly everyone
in Big Island. A league played teams from places
like Buena Vista and Lynchburg. Putney was a
pitcher and played infield for Big Island. “Cap’n”
Dick Smith, W&L’s legendary baseball coach and
athletic director, saw Putney play in a game at Buena
Vista. “He called one day and said, ‘We want you to
come over here and go to school.’ ” And, of course,
play baseball.

“I had never read about the school,” said Putney. “I didn’t
know anything about the ranking of colleges and didn’t know
if it was good or bad.” It was, however, an opportunity he
wasn’t about to turn down.
Once on campus, the boy from Big Island found a learning curve, but he grew comfortable wearing a coat and tie to
class and speaking to everyone he met on campus. “Undergrad school was tough for me,” Putney acknowledged. “At
Big Island, we had no foreign language classes. There was
one Bunsen burner in the lab, but it didn’t work. Here I was
going to school with all these boys who had been to the
finest prep schools in the Northeast. That first year, I
struggled to make a C average with an occasional B. By
my senior year, I made the dean’s list. I woke up when
I came back to law school, where I graduated with
honors.”
Before coming to Lexington, he said,
“I had never expected to meet a prominent
person.” Some of his friends and classmates
went on to become well-known names, such
as John Warner ’49, former U.S. senator
from Virginia; Tom Wolfe ’51, journalist
and novelist; the Rev. Pat Robertson ’50,
televangelist; and Roger Mudd ’50, television
journalist. “I didn’t know I was going to bump
into people like this.”
He recalled a time he and some friends were
driving back from Sweet Briar College when a Lexington police officer pulled them over. The officer
recognized the car as belonging to Pat Robertson’s

As a pitcher on the baseball team, Lacey Putney
“proved [his] prowess at hurling the spheroid in the
vicinity of the plate,” according to the 1950 Calyx.
23

Putney, here in his home office, received W&L’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2010, and the Lynchburg Citation in February 2014.
some screw-up and we didn’t go,” he remembered. Putfather, a U.S. senator, who lived in Lexington.
ney ended up serving most of his tour at Kelly Field in San
“The policeman said, ‘You’re Senator Robertson’s son,
Antonio, Texas. While there, he applied to the law school at
aren’t you?’
the University of Texas. He was accepted as a non-resident,
“ ‘Yes, and the guy beside me is Fred Vinson Jr. (’48,
but convinced school officials that with his car registered in
’51L). His father is chief justice of the Supreme Court.’
Texas, and his daughter born there, he should qualify as a
“Our third baseman was sitting behind him. ‘What’s your
resident. That meant tuition would be only $25—that’s not a
name?’ the policeman asked.
typo—per semester. “They had apparently unlimited oil wells
“ ‘I’m Carter Glass.’ ”(The Glass family owned the Lynchand oil money,” he said, “so there was no reason for any kid
burg newspapers; one of Carter Glass III ’42L’s ancestors had
not to go to college in Texas.”
been a U.S. senator.)
In the end, however, after four years in the service, he
“Finally, he came to the last guy, and said, ‘I guess you’re
chose to return to W&L for his law degree. He practiced law
Robert E. Lee?’ It turned out he was.” (That would be Robert
for about four years
E. Lee IV ’49.)
before undertakA day or two
ing his first run for
later, Putney said, he
“At Big Island, we had no foreign language classes. There was one
the Virginia House
was waiting to get a
Bunsen burner in the lab, but it didn’t work. Here I was going to
of Delegates, in
rubdown, and “my
school with all these boys who had been to the finest prep schools
1961. Running as
buddy Herb Hunt ’51
in the Northeast. That first year, I struggled to make a C average.”
a Democrat, he
was in the whirlpool.
defeated incumbent
He threw down a
Charles Green on
Life magazine with
the slogan, “Time
a centerfold on H.L.
for a change.” Over the years, he’s represented the residents of
Hunt,” Herb’s father. “ ‘Is this the richest man in the world?’
Alleghany County, parts of Bedford and Botetourt counties,
the headline asked. At the time, he was,” said Putney. “That
and the cities of Covington and Bedford.
weekend I hitchhiked home to Big Island, first on a dump
Six years after that first election, and after having
truck, then a beer truck.”
achieved some plum assignments, including the powerful
Putney majored in languages and English, with an
Appropriations Committee, Putney became an independent.
emphasis on German, which came easily to him. So when he
The national Democratic Party had become too liberal for
signed up for the Air Force after graduation in 1950, it made
him, but he declined to join the Republicans, decrying the
sense that the service considered him for language training.
so-called loyalty oaths the parties required of candidates
“There were 12 or 15 of us who were scheduled to go to
pledging support for their ticket.
Monterey, Calif., to Russian language school, but there was
24

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

Lacey Putney with his wife, Carmela, who worked as the public liaison in the Virginia House of Delegates for many years.
His status as an independent didn’t seem to hinder his
many long-time legislators. “I had several chances 20 or 30
ability to wield influence in the Northern Hemisphere’s oldest
years ago to take a judgeship, but that didn’t appeal to me. I’d
continually meeting legislative body. Among other things,
rather practice.”
he helped pass a half-million-dollar flood-prevention project
And over the years, Putney has retained his interest
in Buena Vista; helped shift the writing of the state’s budget
in Washington and Lee, in part because of family ties. “I
from a closed committee to the open House floor; and advodidn’t like it when the University went co-ed,” he said. But he
cated for the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford.
changed his mind when his granddaughter, Liz Powers, was
Now, Putney said, he wouldn’t recommend that others
accepted into the class of 2001. “I was at W&L when it celundertake the independent route. “I had been there six or
ebrated its 200th birthday in 1949, and she was there in 1999
eight years, and already had good committee assignments.
for its 250th,” he said with obvious pride. Other W&L alumni
But come election time, you don’t have a party to do anything
in the family are brother Macon Putney ’62L and cousin Mark
for you, you have to
Putney ’78.
claw on your own” for
Retirement is
donors and support.
likely to continue
“I wouldn’t trade what “I had been there six or eight years, and already had good committee
to be busy, even
I did, but I don’t think assignments. But come election time, you don’t have a party to do anybeyond the travel
I’d do the same thing
that he and his wife
thing for you, you have to claw on your own” for donors and support. “I
again.”
both love. Putney is
Putney’s first wife, wouldn’t trade what I did, but I don’t think I’d do the same thing again.”
general counsel for
Elizabeth, to whom
Delta Star, a comhe was married for
pany with plants in
55 years, died in 2005
Lynchburg and San
from Alzheimer’s disease. In 2007, he married Carmela Bills,
Carlos, Calif., that manufactures electrical transformers and
a widow, who worked as the public liaison in the House for
substations. He also hopes to become a specialist in pro bono
many years. He has two children, Susan Powers and L. Edlegal work, and perhaps to teach a course in trial tactics at
ward Putney Jr.
Liberty University.
Although many of his peers and constituents would
It’s a spot from which he might be able to help someone
disagree, Putney modestly asserts that the “only reason” he
else achieve what were hardly even dreams for him. “When
received a continual stream of honors and recognitions since
you are a redneck country boy from Big Island, from the red
announcing his retirement is longevity, “the 52 years I served
dirt, you don’t expect to see the nicer side of life. We had no
in the House. Prior to that, the record had been 38 years.”
money, nobody in the Putney family had ever been to college,
He was uninterested in the professional route taken by
but my brothers and I all went.”

•

Winter

2014

mag a z ine.wlu.e du

Milestones

A Wide World of Opportunity
BY J. DAVID STEWART III ‘96

Alumni President’s Message

for students to join and to lead. Our
After I was admitted to W&L, I
students are very strong academireceived a good bit of advice from
cally, and they are deeply involved in
alumni and current students: You
extracurricular life. At last count, we
have to take Professor A. Avoid
have over 120 student organizations.
Professor A at all costs. Major in X if
W&L is distinctive in the degree of
you want to go to law school. Don’t
You can contact Stewart
autonomy it grants students to run
major in X if you ever want to go to
at dstewart@babc.com.
their organizations, thus learning valulaw school.
able life lessons they can deploy after
While the advice differed, a regraduation, whether in a civic, social or professional setting.
curring theme emerged; I kept seeing the special connection
A panel of young alumni discussed this dynamic with the
that alumni and current students had with W&L. The rich
Johnson Scholarship finalists on campus in early March.
course offerings and academics were an important factor
W&L also has many opportunities for alumni to get
in my decision, but several other schools offered very good
involved. The next issue of this magazine will discuss the
academic experiences. It was the large number of opportuniresults of our long-range planning process. Among other
ties outside of the classroom, available from the outset, that
things, we learned that W&L’s Alumni Association proseemed to separate W&L from my other choices. As people
vides opportunities that are not generally available at other
told me about those experiences, the gift of W&L became
schools, especially those of our size. This is borne out by one
apparent.
statistic: more than 2,000 alumni are involved in some type
I got a great liberal arts education; many of us had exof volunteer work supporting W&L.
tremely memorable and positive W&L experiences outside
W&L is very fortunate that alumni give generously of
the classroom as well. For me, it started during rush with
their time and talent. I hope that you will take advantage by
the ability to make close friends for life. Those relationattending a chapter event, assuming a local leadership role,
ships opened doors to other opportunities on campus. The
assisting Admissions or Development, attending a reunion
actual clubs and activities differed from person to person,
or other campus gathering, or attending an Alumni College
but there was no shortage of opportunities for hands-on
program.
involvement.
Remain a General, and you’ll continue to have great
As described in this edition’s feature story about student
W&L experiences.
leadership, today’s W&L offers even wider opportunities

•

It was the large number of opportunities outside of the
classroom, available from the outset, that seemed to
separate W&L from my other choices. As people told me
about those experiences, the gift of W&L became apparent.

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

Laurence C. Palmer, of Potomac,

Md., retired from engineering in 2000
and completed 15 years of teaching in
the professional master’s of engineering program at the University of
Maryland, College Park.

1957

H. Greig Cummings Jr. has entered
his fifth year of retirement from
Morgan Stanley. He is enjoying his
grandchildren, five in Fairfax Station,
Va., and two in Hartsville, S.C. He
continues to play golf as a participant
in the U.S. Golfing Fellowship of
Rotary. He lives in Bethesda, Md.,
and would welcome hearing from
classmates.

1961

Richard W. Hoover, of Front Royal,

Va., was reelected in December 2013
to his third term as chairman of the
Lord Fairfax Soil and Water Conservation District, comprising the counties
of Clarke, Frederick, Shenandoah and
Warren, and the city of Winchester.

1964

Stephen R. Davenport III received
a doctoral divinity degree, honoris
causa, from the Berkeley Divinity
School of Yale University, for his work
since 1970 in Haiti with the Orchestra
Philharmonique Ste. Trinite.

Dr. Stuart J. Yoffe retired from

private pediatric medical practice
several years ago, but he has stayed
active in formulating new concepts to
reduce health-care costs. A few years
ago, he wrote “The Pediatric AfterHours Non-Life and Death, Almostan-Emergency Booklet” to reduce
non-urgent pediatric emergency
room visits; it received an award from
the American Academy of Pediatric
Education Award Subcommittee
in 2010. He also received the 2013
Distinguished Alumnus Award from
the University of Kentucky Medical
Alumni Association. Yoffe lives in
Brenham, Texas.

1967

Kenneth M. Greene, of Carruthers
& Roth P.A., in Greensboro, N.C.,
was listed in the 2014 edition of The
Best Lawyers in America for the
practice areas of banking and finance
law, bankruptcy and creditor debtor
rights/insolvency and reorganization
law and equipment finance law.

1974

Paul G. Cavaliere Jr. has served
as principal of Sage Park Middle
School in Windsor, Conn., for the
past 14 years. The school was named
Outstanding Middle School of The
Year for 2013–2014 in the state by the
Connecticut Association of Schools.
Cavaliere has received many professional accolades throughout his career
as an administrative educator, including Principal of The Year in 2002.

1977

Stephen F. Mangum retired as
CFO of DFS Group Limited in Hong
Kong and returned to the United
States in April 2013. He is now a fulltime student at the San Francisco Art
Institute, where he is pursuing a B.F.A.
in painting. His current artwork can
be seen at stephenmangumfinearts.
com.

Attending the William J. Donovan
Award Dinner in Washington in October
were, l. to r., Adm. William McRaven,
USN, Commander of the U.S. Special
Operations Command; Dan Pinck ’48,
who served behind enemy lines in China
with the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS); and Charles Pinck (far right),
president of The OSS Society.

1982

Benjamin F. Jarratt II, after 20

years as a restaurateur, has sold Northern Virginia Group Inc., his restaurant
management company, and his 10
restaurants to another Burger King
franchisee. Jarratt is a partner in two
ventures, King of Northern Virginia

Milestones

1954

Last June, Christopher Brand ’89
presided over a celebration in Idaho
of the 25th anniversary of the A.
Paul Knight Memorial Program in
Conservation. The program is named for
Paul Knight ’85, who died in June 1985,
in a climbing accident in Yellowstone
National Park. Knight was the son of
Gail and Al Knight ’51L, who attended
the event along with Nell and John
McDaniel ’64, professor emeritus of
anthropology, and Linda and Gary
Franke, retired wrestling coach. Brand
paid tribute to Al Knight (above, left)
and John McDaniel (right), who received
a standing ovation from the crowd of
more than 550 people.
W&L offers the A. Paul Knight
Internship Program in Conservation,
which dispatches students to work
on environmental projects, including
those of the Henry’s Fork Foundation.
The organization conserves, protects
and restores the natural resources of
the Henry’s Fork watershed, in eastern
Idaho. Brand, who works in the San
Francisco office of Evercore Partners,
was a Knight intern himself, in 1989,
and he serves on the Henry’s Fork board.

and Double Blue Farms, which own
and manage commercial real estate,
agriculture and timber farming interests in Virginia.

1987

Mark L. Millar, after spending three
years in Shanghai, China, has moved
back to Portland, Ore., with his family
and is now the director of international operations and apparel production for Columbia Sportswear. His
daughter Nora, 19, is a freshman at
Warren Wilson College in Asheville,
N.C., and his son, Reed, 16, is in 11th
grade. His wife, Edie, wrote a book
about Shanghai walks and was a tour
guide there.

1988

Dr. Matthew B. Upton, of Charleston, W.Va., was appointed by Gov.

Winter

2014

mag a z ine.wlu.e du

Milestones

r 1992
J

Earl Ray Tomblin to the West Virginia
Board of Medicine.

John T. Cox III is listed in Best Lawyers in America and Top 100 Texas
Super Lawyers by Texas Monthly
magazine. He received the Client
Choice Award for Litigation from
the 2013 International Law Office/
Lexology and was named a leader in
his field by Chambers and Partners.
He resides in Dallas, where he works
at the litigation firm Lynn Tillotson
Pinker & Cox.

1995

Marissa Vivona Greider has been

named director of development at
the Atlanta Ronald McDonald House
Charities. She will play an integral role
in the capital campaign to complete
Phase II of the organization’s expansion of the Ronald McDonald House
near Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
at Scottish Rite.

1996

Jonathan W. McCrary (’00L)

moved to St. Louis and joined the
law firm of Sandberg Phoenix & von
Gontard, P.C. as counsel in its healthcare group.

Kristin Roach-Castillo is a

full-time, professional fine artist
represented by Abend Gallery Fine
Art in Denver. She also exhibits her
work around the country in juried art
competitions and has a painting on
display at the National Arts Club in
New York City. She lives in College
Station, Texas.

At the annual Chapter Leadership Conference during All Volunteer Weekend this past
fall, the winning alumni chapters of the Chapter Colonnade Challenge collected their
financial prizes. L. to r.: Preston Sartelle ’99, chapter president, Birmingham Chapter,
Division II; Paul Juster ’07, alumni admissions chair, Miami Chapter, Division IV; Leigh
Anne Howell ’90, chapter president-elect, Baton Rouge Chapter, Division V; John Fidler
’01, chapter president, Louisville Chapter, Division III; and Jane Ledlie Batcheller ’03,
’08L, alumni admissions chair, Division I.

1998

A. John Harper III was promoted

to partner at Haynes and Boone L.L.P.
He is a member of the firm’s labor and
employment practice group in Houston. He is board certified in labor and
employment law by the Texas Board
of Legal Specialization and represents
employers in a wide range of labor relations and employment law matters.
Harper received his juris doctorate
from Southern Methodist University
Dedman School of Law.

2000

Carolyn Maro Angelaccio was

named one of Forty Under 40 in Bucks
County, Pa., an honor bestowed by
the Bucks County Courier Times and
the Intelligencer. She is a partner with
Curtin & Heefner L.L.P. She focuses
on insurance defense, where she litigates in both state and federal courts.
She has been named a Pennsylvania
Rising Star Lawyer and was selected
a Pennsylvania Lawyer on the Fast
Track by The Legal Intelligencer.

families with children. She lives in
Columbia, S.C.

Brent R. Walker has been named
one of the state’s top attorneys on the
2013 Texas SuperLawyers list. He
was also named one of the city’s top
personal-injury litigation attorneys
in D Magazine’s 2013 list of The Best
Lawyers in Dallas.

2002

Benjamin F. Johns was elected
partner at the law firm Chimicles &
Tikellis L.L.P., in Haverford, Pa.

2005

Elizabeth E. Clarke (’10L) is an
attorney at Meynardie & Nanney
P.L.L.C., in Raleigh, N.C.

2001

Rebecca Smith Hill presented her

In preparation for the D.C. Alumni
Chapter’s Founders Event, Nelson Bunn
’08 (left) met with Rep. Joe Wilson ’69
about an application to secure the U.S.
Botanic Garden for the event.

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

work at the Institute for Children,
Poverty & Homelessness national
conference on family homelessness in
New York City. She is the director of
grants and special projects for a grassroots non-profit, St. Lawrence Place,
which provides transitional housing
and support services for homeless

Bucks County, Pa., December 2013.
L. to r.: Steve Herold ’80, Jim Farrar ’74,
Don Eavenson ’73, Jay Foster ’80.

Elizabeth J. Parkins ’89 to Marie
Saker, on July 22, 2013, in Rehoboth
Beach, Del. The father of the bride,
the Hon. John A. Parkins Jr. ’72L,
officiated.

Samuel M. Riley ’85 (left), of Baltimore,
Md., is a colonel in the Maryland Army
National Guard. In March 2013, he
participated in a joint United StatesKorean military training exercise, serving
as a U.S. Army liaison officer between
the 8th U.S. Army and the 3rd Republic
of Korea Army. Hyung-Jong Lee ’08
(right), a lieutenant in the Republic
of Korea Army, assisted Riley as a
translator.

Katherine Houren Geder
(’09L) is an associate at Chad-

bourne & Parke L.L.P., in its Washington office.

2008

Matthew R. Garcia was pro-

moted to partner at NSG/SWAT in
New York City, where he resides.

2009

Michael C. Gretchen graduated
from the University of Georgia
School of Law in May and passed
the Georgia bar exam in July. He
is an associate with the law firm
of Downey & Cleveland L.L.P., in
Marietta, Ga., where he practices
general litigation.

Reilly K. Ward has joined May-

nard, Cooper & Gale P.C. as an
associate in the general litigation
practice in the firm’s Mobile, Ala.,
office.

Andrew J. Olmem ’96, ’01L to
Gabrielle Kornely, on Jan. 5, 2013,
in Scottsville, Va. He joined Venable
L.L.P. as a partner in its financial
services and legislative affairs groups.
Previously, he was the Republican
chief counsel for the U.S. Senate
Banking Committee. They reside in
Washington.
Jane Ledlie ’03, ’08L to Brooks
Batcheller ’04, on June 8, 2013, in

Atlanta. Members of the wedding
party included Lindsey Duran Sberna
’03, ’06L, Jenny Thomas Sandbulte
’03, Susan Woodward ’03, Kristina
Longo ’08L, Devin Brown ’03, Brad
Haugen, Reed Evans ’06, Logan Young
’04, Shana Levine ’01, Sarah Yakots
Warren ’04, Charlie Yates ’06, ’10L and
Alex Wilkins ’02. She is a corporate
attorney specializing in mergers and
acquisitions at Arnall Golden Gregory
L.L.P., in Atlanta, and he is pursuing a
master’s in private school leadership at
the Klingenstein Institute at Columbia
University before returning to his job
as a teacher, coach and administrator
at the Westminster Schools in the fall
of 2014.

Catherine Fulton ’07 to Gary L.
Spivey, on June 16, 2013, in Alexandria, Va. Erin Tainer ’07 served
as maid of honor. They reside in
Alexandria.
Kathryn S. Allen ’08 to Steven

Crowe, on June 8, 2013, in Richmond.
Jackie Neilson Coleman ’08 served as

Erin Vaughn ’08 to Tyler Ewell,
on Sept. 28, 2013, in Lexington.
Elizabeth Brandler ’08 served as a
bridesmaid, and many other Generals attended the celebration. They
reside in Washington.

Milestones

Weddings

matron of honor, and classmates Sally
Jane Bittinger, Abby Steinbock and
Kim Alfery Tingey served as bridesmaids. They live in New York City.

Ryan Pinney ’10 to Jonathan Giesen ’10, on Sept. 28, 2013, in Tuxedo

Park, N.Y. The wedding party included
classmates Brandon Barnds, Katie
Boiles, Sarah Diebold, Dan Austin,
Lynn Bazzel, Tara O’Neil, Winston
Stagg and Nick Talluri. They reside in
Atlanta.

Births and
Adoptions

Margaret Hawn Kelley ’96 and
her husband, Doug, adopted a son,
Andrew Douglas. He was born on
Sept 16, 2013, and came home on Oct.
29. He joins brother Drake, 4. They
reside in Dallas.
Dr. Wendy Case Kjeldgaard ’01

and her husband, Nicholas, a son,
Rasmus Clement, on April 17, 2013.
They live in Yarmouth, Maine.

Robert O. Moynihan ’02 and his
wife, Colleen, a daughter, Kerry Ava,
on June 15, 2013. They live in New
York City.
Kerri Linthicum Cabacar ’03, and
her husband, Brian, a son, Bryson
Kerrick, on May 20, 2013. He joins
brother Riley. They live in Woodbridge, Va.

Samuel T. Wilmoth graduated

from the University of Georgia
School of Law in May 2013 and
passed the Georgia bar exam. He
is an associate with the law firm of
Morris, Manning & Martin L.L.P.,
in Atlanta., where he practices commercial real estate development and
finance.

Susan Mahoney ’09 to Paul D. Crook ’09, on May 11, 2013, in Richmond.
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2014

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Milestones

Wedding Scrapbook

Hunter F. Armstrong ’97 to Jay Meisel, on Oct. 13, 2013, in
Prospect Park in Brooklyn. In attendance, l. to r.: Jonathan Small
’97, Chad Sartini ’97, Kris Fegenbush ’95, Kathy Lu ’97, Theresa
Jones Pugh ’97, Meisel, Armstrong, Doak Sergent ’96, Phil Vong
’97, Tara Hebert ’97, Laura Knapp Chadwick ’99 and Philip Ficks
’96. Not pictured are Anne Spencer Hatch ’97 and Rob Neel ’96.

Anna Stuart Burnett ’10 to Matthew E. Lambert, on Oct.
5, 2013, in New Kent, Va. Alumni in the wedding party included
Catherine Kruse ’11 and Hila Yashar ’09. The couple live in
Richmond, where Anna Stuart works as a consultant for Angler
Environmental, and Matt works for BrownGreer P.L.C.

John E. Kelly III ’66, ’69L to Rufus

“Randy” Sutphin, on Sept. 21, 2013, in
Rehoboth Beach, Del. They live in Philadelphia. From l. to r.: Bruce Lee ’71, Dave
Christovich ’71, Sutphin, Kelly, Steve
Haughney ’71, Joe Bates ’69 and Mac
Bogert ’70.

Anne Taylor Tipton ’07 to S.C. Reid Manning ’06, on Sept. 14, 2013, in Memphis,
Tenn. Alumni in attendance included Kirk R. Manning ’68, the groom’s father and best
man, and Blair Manning Meyer ’02, the groom’s sister. They live in Dallas.

Caroline Echols ’10 to Christopher J. Prugar ’09, on July 13,
2013, in Houston. Members of the wedding party included the
maid of honor, Alison Love ’10, Kate Becker ’10, Maureen Ford ’10,
Lindsay Grant ’10, Caroline Head ’10, Mary Hipp ’10, Kirk Jones ’09,
Elizabeth Krausnick Malmo ’10, Chris McHugh ’09, Billy Murray
’09, Julie Sanders ’10, Stuart Sitterson ’09, Anna Rogers Smith ’10
and John Thackston ’09. Also in attendance were alumni ranging
from the Classes of 1978 to 2012. The couple reside in New York
City, where Chris works for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and
Caroline works for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Jessica Ulrich ’09 to Edward W. Kingsbery ’09, on June

29, 2013, at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Va. Guests included
alumni from the Classes of 1978 and 2006 through 2013. They live
in New York, where Ted is the director of business development
for Daymond John, one of the stars of the ABC’s business TV
show, “Shark Tank,” at his marketing consulting firm, Shark Branding. Jess is an account supervisor at the advertising firm Roberts
and Langer D.D.B. Their wedding was featured in the February
2014 issue of Virginia Living, with a cover photo of the couple and
coverage inside.

Daphne Trainor ’05 to Andrew Bahl ’04, on Sept. 14, 2013,

in Lee Chapel. Alumni in attendance included Ryan Nelson ’01,
Ed Finley ’03, Brian Becker ’04, Ian Eustis ’08, Matthew Nelson ’04,
Kendall Priddy ’05, Kathryn Temple ’05, Nisha Kaul Cooch ’05,
Ben Krasnoff ’04, Matt Renwick ’05, Emily Ballengee Renwick ’05,
Michelle Chastain Raby ’05, Daphne Trainor Bahl ’05, Andrew
Bahl ’04, Joe Cooch ’06, Jeff Bahl ’02, Courtney Berry ’05, Greer
Johnson ’05, Elizabeth Amoni ’05, Lora Farris ’05, Charlie Moore
’04, Andrew Richards ’06, Cara Cronin ’05, Justin Bates ’05,
Susanna Brailsford Jones ’05, Hamill Jones ’04, Eleanor Williams
Hohnstein ’05, Peyton Lane Hostetler ’02, Steve Hostetler ’02,
Lindsey Kneipper Richards ’05, Austin Scott Bader ’05, Ted Maffit
’04, Lee Walker ’04 and Jimmy Zunka ’04.

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Alumni

Magazine

Cate, on Oct. 31, 2013. She joins
brother Cullen. They live in Charlottesville, Va., where Andrew works for
Sam Hill Entertainment, and Elizabeth
works for SNL Financial.

Sarah Sturtz Valentine ’03 and
John A. Valentine ’01, a daughter,

She joins sisters Anna and Ellen. They
live in Charlotte, N.C.

Laura Farrell Bracis ’05 and
Colin W. Bracis ’03, a son, Connor
Farrell, on Nov. 21, 2013. They live in
Arlington, Va.

Marion Frierson Kacos ’05 and
her husband, Ben, a son, Wilds Wil-

Swenson Catherine, on Sept. 26, 2013.

heit, on Aug. 29, 2013. They reside in
Shreveport, La.

Patrick O’Connell ’98 hosted the WNETThirteen (PBS) premiere party for the
“American Masters” episode titled “Mel
Brooks: Make a Noise,” at Caroline’s
Comedy Club in Manhattan. The film
earned outstanding ratings on PBS
and won two Emmy awards. L. to r.:
O’Connell, comedian Sasha Srbulj and
George King ’98.

Brad Martin ’92 was appointed to the
Virginia Beach City Council to finish the
term of a retiring council member. He
joins Jim Wood ’85, who was elected
in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Martin, a civil
engineer, will help set policy to guide
the commonwealth’s largest city, with
a population of nearly 450,000 and an
annual municipal budget of $1.7 billion.

The combined Calvert and Bazzel families celebrated the
Atlanta Alumni Chapter Presidents Day event on Jan. 24 at
the home of Laura and Tom Pearce ’85. Front row, l. to r.; Anne
Russell Calvert Bazzel ’08, Hardie Calvert ’10, Lynn Bazzel ’10,
Rodes Nash Bazzel ’03, Barbara Bazzel, Helen Calvert, McQueen
Calvert ’05. Back row, l. to r.: Frank Bazzel Jr. ’02, Johnson Bazzel
’06, Brett Tatman ’09, Sam Wilmoth ’09, Frank Bazzel Sr. ’72,
Matt Calvert ’75, ’79L.

Bradley Arendall Maroules ’07

and her husband, Nick, a daughter,
Minnie Brooks, on Sept. 5, 2013. They
live in Birmingham, Ala.

Julie Mancini Grove ’09 and
Cale G. Grove ’10, a son, Samson

Rock, on June 21, 2013. They live in
Pittsburgh.

Milestones

Andrew L. Juge ’03 and Elizabeth
Schoen Juge ’03, a daughter, Lila

Allison Doyle Bass ’99 (left) completed
her master’s in education policy
at the University of Washington in
August 2013. To celebrate, she and
her husband, Will, spent three weeks
travelling in Spain. They recognized
fellow Generals Emily McDowell ’07
and her parents by Mr. McDowell’s
W&L baseball hat.

Generals gathered in Chicago on Jan. 4 to support the men’s
basketball team. Those in attendance included Noah Walters
’09, Maggie Fiskow ’10, Susanna Craib-Cox ’10, Fran Thompson
’93, Elizabeth Little ’06, Carla Taylor ’06, Anthony Cardona ’11,
Jenna Finger ’11, David Margolies ’12, Brett Kearney ’08, Amanda
Askew ’08, Allison Hamil ’06, Shaun Edwards ’08, Annie Martin
’12, Meredith Freeman ’10, Jennie Norcini ’11, Ben Goetsch ’10,
Howard Mocerf ’68, David Stone ’72 and John Phifer ’93.

Ralph H. Smith II ’73 (far right with wife, Betsy), of Birmingham, Ala., was appointed by
Queen Elizabeth II to the Order of St. John, a major international charity whose organizations
provide first aid, health care and support services in 40 countries. The order is an Order of
Chivalry of the British Crown, with historical roots in the 11th-century Knights of Malta and
Knights Hospitaller. Smith is CEO of The Ralph Smith Group, a special counsel at Jones Walker
L.L.P. He served for almost a decade as general counsel and as a member of the chancellor’s
senior policy staff at the University of Alabama System, where he teaches and advises on
international initiatives. He belongs to the executive committee of the Association of American
Rhodes Scholars and is responsible for the Rhodes Scholarship selection process in Alabama,
Florida and Tennessee. A corporate and business transactions lawyer by training, he attended
Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar from 1973 to 1976 and helped launch the Global
Innovation Alliance in 2012 to promote scientific innovation and economic development.
He served as chancellor for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama from 2000 to 2003.
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Milestones

Clarke Morledge ’85 of Williamsburg,
Va., joined several friends for a reunion
of Lampost, an off-campus house
from 1983 to 1993. L. to r.: Morledge,
Jim Hudson ’84, Scott Ferrell ’87,
David Shugart ’87, Jim Sloat ’89 and
Laura Musser Sloat ’92.

Charlie Stieff ’78 reports:

In 1975, W&L defeated No. 1 seed Hopkins in the
first round of the NCAA tournament. I played in that
game using my royal blue stick with the W&L letters dyed

Obituaries
Dr. Paul E. Holbrook ’33, of

Ashland, Ky., died on May 29, 2013.
He served in the Army Medical
Corps during World War II, attaining the rank of captain. He practiced
medicine in Ashland.

Vincent H. Tornfelt ’36, of Wilmington, Del., died on Dec. 4, 2013.
He was a veteran of World War II
who served in the South Pacific.
He and his brother managed the
family’s auto dealership, the Argyle
Garage, in Kearny, N.J.
Howell W. Roberts Jr. ’37, ’38L,
of Greensboro, N.C., died on Sept.
20, 2013. He served in the Air Force
in World War II in Hawaii and
Guam, as well as in the Korean War.
He worked for the New York Port
Authority at Kennedy Airport and
the Greensboro Regional Airport.
32

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

into the top of the head. That summer, the head split, and,
unbeknownst to me, my mother threw the stick out.
Fast forward to December 2013. Dr. James Hamilton
was investigating schools for his daughter; met my wife,
Ann; and asked if she was related to a Charlie Stieff. When
she replied yes, he told her he had lived near my house
growing up; one day, he was walking in the alley when he
spotted my W&L stick in the trash can. He took it home,
where his father bolted the head together so his son could
learn how to play lacrosse. Dr. Hamilton ended up giving
the stick to his good friend Josh Levinson ’93, who would
go to W&L and become an All American lacrosse player.
He told my wife that Josh still had the stick.
I contacted Josh, who was now living back in Baltimore, and we met at a Baltimore Chapter lunch for W&L
lacrosse coach Gene McCabe. Josh brought the lacrosse
stick head for me, 38 years after it went missing. I brought
this picture, taken right after that amazing game, showing
me with the stick and the scoreboard in the background. I
am very grateful to Josh for giving the stick back to me.

Hamilton P. Fox Jr. ’41, ’43L, of

Salisbury, Md., died Nov. 26, 2013.
He served in all major theaters of
World War II, including the landing at Omaha Beach on D-Day.
He was promoted to first lieutenant and received five Battle Stars.
He practiced law in Salisbury and
was elected state’s attorney for
Wicomico County for two terms.
He founded Fox & Houlihan. He
formed the Bi-Racial Commission
to desegregate Wicomico County’s
schools and public facilities, serving as chair for many years. He
served as a delegate to the 1967
Maryland constitutional convention and to the 1972 Democratic
convention. He served as a member
and director of the Salisbury
Chamber of Commerce, president
of the County Community Fund
(now the United Way) and president of the Jaycees. Fox belonged to

Phi Gamma Delta. He was father to
Jefferson K. Fox ’69.

William J. Wilcox Jr. ’43, of Oak
Ridge, Tenn., died Sept. 2, 2013. As
part of the Manhattan Project, he
worked on uranium purification
processes for Tennessee Eastman
Corp., in Rochester, N.Y. His career
included posts as research chemist,
technical assistant, physics department head and division director for
gaseous diffusion and gas centrifuge
at K-25. He was the technical director for Union Carbide’s Nuclear
Division. He served on numerous
boards in the Oak Ridge community. In 2006 he received the honorary
title of Oak Ridge City Historian
from the Oak Ridge city council.
Robert A. Hite ’44, of Honolulu,
Hawaii, died on Dec. 24, 2013.
He was a World War II veteran

Clarence D. Lamar ’44, of Pen-

sacola, Fla., died on Jan. 5. During
World War II he piloted B-24 and
B-29 aircraft. He and his B-29 crew
were the first U.S. combat aviators
to land on Japanese soil following
Japan’s surrender in August 1945.
During the Korean War, he was
a pioneer in the Air Force’s new
force-projection strategy using aerial
refueling. He worked for the MartinDashiell Agency before joining the
Chemstrand manufacturing plant.
He belonged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

John H. Stansfield ’44, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died on Aug.
30, 2013. During World War II, he
served as a navigator on B-17s with
the 385th Bomb Group of the 8th
Air Force, completing 29 combat
and two humanitarian missions. He
worked in insurance and retired as
a senior home office underwriter
for Lone Star Life Insurance Co., in
Dallas.
Erwin D. Latimer III ’45, of Look-

out Mountain, Tenn., died Sept. 24,
2013. He served as a bomber pilot
in the Army Air Corps World War
II. He settled in Chattanooga and
established Shoney’s South Inc., with
over 150 restaurants.

Cmdr. William A. Warde ’46, of

Jacksonville, Fla., died on Dec. 26,
2013. He served in the Navy during
World War II as a pilot of scout
planes, flying from battleships and
cruisers, then flying 93 combat missions in F9F-2 Panther jet fighter/
bombers during the Korean War. He
also served as an air intelligence officer in Europe during the Cold War
and as a reconnaissance pilot during
the Cuban missile crisis. He was
director of the Naval Experimental
Laboratory. He co-founded The 200
Club of Jacksonville, a trust that
assists families of first responders
killed in the line of duty. He enjoyed
a second career as a life insurance
underwriter. He belonged to Sigma
Alpha Epsilon.

E. Webster McLeod Jr. ’47, of
Asheville, N.C., died on Dec. 17,

Charles F. Clarke Jr. ’38, Distinguished Alumnus
Charles F. Clarke Jr. ’38, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, died on Jan. 17. He
served as president of the Alumni Board of Directors from 1970 to 1971,
received the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1975 and belonged to the
Honorary Order of the Coif.
Clarke obtained his law degree from the University of Michigan. He
practiced law in Detroit before joining the Army in World War II. He served
with the Army OSS and on the Manhattan Project.
After the war, Clarke joined the law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey,
where he worked for the rest of his life. A successful trial lawyer, he served
as head of the litigation practice and on the firm’s executive committee. He
worked on cases that involved desegregation, the United Steelworkers and
national railroads. Among his criminal cases was a pro bono defense of a
member of Hells Angels.
Clarke was a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a master
bencher of the Judge John M. Manos Inn of Court, the past president of the
National Association of Railroad Counsel, and a life member of the Sixth
and Eighth Circuit Judicial Conferences. He founded and led Cleveland’s
Free Clinic and founded the local Civil War Roundtable.
He is survived by his wife, Lesley; four children; four stepchildren; and
14 grandchildren.

2013. During World War II, he
served as an officer in the Navy in
New Guinea and the Philippines. He
was a radio news writer at United
Press, followed by work at several advertising agencies. For Time
Magazine, he had postings in New
York, London and Buenos Aires. He
served as interim vice chancellor for
development at the University of
North Carolina, Asheville, chairman
of the board of visitors at Warren
Wilson College and treasurer for the
Cathedral of All Souls. He belonged
to Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Dr. Robert F. Stephens ’47, of

Peabody, Mass., died on Nov. 24,
2013. He was a veteran of World
War II. He worked at the U.S. State
Department as a foreign affairs
officer, serving as vice consul and
cultural affairs officer in Nairobi,
Kenya, and later as chief of the Eastern, Central and Southern Africa
Bureau of Cultural Affairs. He was
associate director of the East African Studies Program at the Maxwell
School, Syracuse University, and the
assistant director of the International Development Studies Program
at the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy at Tufts University. He
served as president of the Potomac
Research Institute in Washington
and as as a development associate

Milestones

and served in the Hawaii National
Guard. He worked for Hawaiian
Trust Co. He belonged to Pi Kappa
Alpha.

with the School of Education at Boston University. He authored “The
Kenyan Student Airlifts to America:
an Educational Odyssey 1959-1961.”
For many years, he owned and operated the Antilles Yachting Services
in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
He belonged to Phi Delta Theta.

William M. Wilcox Jr. ’47, of

Wilmington, N.C., died on Nov. 3,
2013. He was a veteran of World
War II. He retired from BF Goodrich after 43 years. He was father
to William M. Wilcox IV ’75. He
belonged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Nate L. Adams II ’48, of Vero

Beach, Fla., died on Nov. 20, 2013.
During World War II, he served
with the First Marine Division in
the Pacific Theater. He also served
in the Korean War and the Vietnam
War. He was vice president of the
Atlantic Ridge Corp. He was father
to Nate L. Adams III ’81L and
grandfather to Robert H. Adams ’09.
He belonged to Delta Tau Delta.

James T. McKinstry ’48 of

Wilmington, Del., died on Oct. 25,
2013. He served in the Navy during
World War II as a quartermaster in
the South China Sea. He worked for
Richards, Layton and Finger. He was
a founding member of the Blood

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Milestones

Bank of Delaware in 1954 and was
Delaware’s founding member of the
Bicentennial Council of the Thirteen
Original States, along with second
chairman of the Delaware Heritage
Commission for the Bicentennial.
He was father to Thomas N.
McKinstry ’85.

Charles L. Apperson ’49, of
Bowling Green, Va., died on Dec.
31, 2013. He served in the Marine
Corps during World War II. He
practiced law in Roanoke and Salem.
He belonged to Phi Delta Theta.
Charles F. Blackburn ’49L, of

Henderson, N.C., died on Oct. 15,
2013. He served as a pilot during
World War II. He established Blackburn & Blackburn, Attorneys at
Law, with his brother. After serving
as prosecuting attorney for Vance
County, he was elected to the 1959
session of the state senate representing Vance, Warren, Halifax and
Northampton counties. Gov. Terry
Sanford appointed him to the North
Carolina Commission for the Study
of Exceptionally Talented Children
and as a member and then chairman of the John H. Kerr Reservoir

Development Commission. He was
city attorney of Henderson and was
chairman of the board of trustees of
Vance County Technical Institute
and of Vance-Granville Community College. He was president of
the Henderson-Vance Chamber
of Commerce and was named its
Outstanding Citizen of the Year in
1990. He served for many years in
the North Carolina Army National
Guard, retiring with the rank of
colonel, after serving several years
as judge advocate general for North
Carolina. He received the Order
of the Long Leaf Pine during the
administration of Gov. James B.
Hunt Jr. He was brother to George
Blackburn ’43 ’49L.

Carter C. Chinnis ’49L, of Richmond, died on Sept. 29, 2013. He
served in World War II as a battery
officer in the Navy and returned to
active duty during the Korean War.
He was editor of The Law Review
and a member of the Order of
the Coif. He worked for Milbank,
Tweed, Hope & Hadley and the
RCA Corp., and founded the Cabell
Corp. of Virginia and Maryland.

The Rev. Ben Haden ’49L, of
Chattanooga, Tenn, died on Oct. 24,
2013. He served with the CIA during
the Korean War. He was owner and
president of Long Oil Co. and vice
president and general manager of
the Kingsport Times-News before
graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary. He served as pastor of
Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church
and founded Changed Lives. His sermons were broadcast on the radio,
television and Internet. The sermon
he preached following the Kent State
massacre won a Freedoms Foundation Award and was inserted in
the Congressional Record. Among
the honors he received were the
Love of Chattanooga Award and
the Sertomans’ National Heritage
Award. Haden wrote four books:
“Pray! Don’t Settle for a Two-Bit
Prayer Life,” “Rebel to Rebel,” “I See
Their Faces” and “Kingsport—An
American City.”
Philip C. Bond ’50, of Charleston,
W.Va., died on Aug. 24, 2013. He
served with the Air Corps in the
South Pacific during World War II.
He worked for Bond, Rider and Jackson Co., which his father founded.

Beau Knows—Leading The Way
Self-governance is on the list of
special things that distinguishes
W&L and makes the student experience more impactful for those
involved in leadership.
Of course, the Executive
Committee is frequently mentioned at the top, deservedly so
given their job and their privilege of
administering the Honor System.
You’d be inspired to know today’s student representatives,
to whom we entrust this solemn duty plus the funding for
student organizations.
The members of the Student Judicial Council operate in a world that is very different from the one of 25
or 50 years ago. Laws and the enforcement of them are
more strict, the drinking age of 21 causes stress points,
they must judge their peers when mistakes are made,
they uphold community standards, and they have to
take some heat from hard decisions. Yes, it is true that
the days are gone when one beloved dean supposedly resolved everything in his office or with a short
Colonnade chat. Our talented group of Student Affairs
professionals supports and guides student leaders as

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Alumni

Magazine

and when appropriate, but the students lead.
I’d like to salute the contributions of a much broader
group of students (and alumni) who have held other posts.
Over the years, they have led countless organizations,
including Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council, individual Greek houses, Mock Convention, athletic teams,
Hillel and a student investment club that invests sevenfigure University assets. The Rugby Club, Kathekon, the
Multicultural Student Association, the W&L Law Review,
Contact, political clubs, the Outing Club—I could go on
and on, because at last count we have over 120 student
organizations, about one for every 15 students.
These student leaders handle money, regulate members and advance programs and causes of importance.
They set a tone on campus. They accept the responsibility
that comes with leadership, and they learn life lessons of
fiscal management, organization, listening, fairness, holding to principles and setting an example for others.
Make no mistake—W&L students lead early, often
and very well. Please trust me, you’d be proud. They serve
W&L and make a difference each day.

—Beau Dudley ’74, ’79L

Executive Director of Alumni Affairs

Former Law Dean Randy Bezanson Dies at 67
Randall P. “Randy” Bezanson, the dean of the School of Law from 1988 to 1994, died
on Jan. 25, in San Antonio, Texas. He was 67.
Bezanson is credited with enhancing the national reputation of the Law School
and laying the groundwork to secure its financial future. Among his numerous accomplishments, he rejuvenated the first-year curriculum
with the introduction of small, writing-intensive classes.
“The University owes a great debt of gratitude
to Randy, for during his deanship, he played a key role
in strengthening the reputation and curriculum of the
Law School, as well as in improving its facilities,” said
President Ken Ruscio ’76. “A measure of his influence
is the Randall P. Bezanson Award, which the Law
School bestows each year upon the graduate who has
made the most outstanding contribution to diversity
in the life of the Law School community.”
“Randy’s deanship brought about monumental
changes,” said Law Dean Nora Demleitner. “While his
death is to be mourned, his legacy will live on through each of us and our law school.”
Bezanson received his B.S. and B.A. from Northwestern University and his
J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law. After clerkships on the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia and U.S. Supreme Court, he returned to the
University of Iowa to teach, where he established himself as one the nation’s leading
experts on the First Amendment, libel law and mass communications law.
In 1979, Bezanson became the University of Iowa’s vice president for finance
and university services. He served in that post until 1984, directing one of the then
largest budgets in state government and overseeing three successful capital improvement projects, including the construction of Iowa’s Boyd Law Building.
He left Iowa in 1988 to become dean of W&L Law. During Bezanson’s tenure
at W&L, the University planned and constructed a major addition to Lewis Hall,
named in honor of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. ’27, ’31L. This
addition included more space for clinical programs, the library reading room, faculty
offices and the archives, to which Powell donated his papers.
At W&L, Bezanson emphasized what he called “the role of writing as the
principal medium of learning” in making curricular changes. Even in expanding
clinical programs, he pointed to W&L's “taught clinics” with their “focus on the skills
of analytical writing and oral expression.”
“More than any single individual, Randy made the Law School what it is today.
He was a visionary leader who, together with President John Wilson, articulated
and built the liberal arts model of legal education that emphasizes small classes,
close student-faculty interaction, intensive writing instruction and interdisciplinary
inquiry,” said David Millon, the J.B. Stombock Professor of Law. “In the decades since
Randy’s deanship, many law schools have tried to emulate our model, but it was
Randy who set us on our on-going course of leadership in curricular innovation.”
Bezanson returned to the University of Iowa in 1994 after the completion of his
W&L deanship. In 1998, he became the Charles E. Floete Distinguished Professor of
Law, and in 2006 he became the inaugural holder of the David H. Vernon professorship. An extraordinary teacher, he was recognized in 2009 with the President and
Provost Award for Teaching Excellence, the University of Iowa's highest teaching
honor.
Bezanson’s scholarship spanned the fields of administrative law, constitutional
law, the First Amendment, defamation and privacy law, law and medicine, and the
history of freedom of the press. The author of dozens of articles, Bezanson also
wrote, co-wrote or edited eight books, two monographs and six book chapters. His
book with co-authors Gilbert Cranberg and John Soloski, “Libel Law and the Press:
Myth and Reality,” received the National Distinguished Service Award for Research
in Journalism in 1988 from the Society of Professional Journalists.
His wife, Elaine Croyle Bezanson, died on June 21, 2013. He is survived by their
two children, Melissa Bezanson Shultz and Peter Bezanson, and five grandchildren.

nelia, Ga., died on Nov. 14, 2013.
During World War II, he served in
the Naval Reserve, where he was
in the Naval V-5 program at Duke
University. He worked in the textile
industry, including a year on the
faculty of the School of Textiles at
Georgia Institute of Technology. He
was a member of Pi Kappa Phi. He
was cousin to Joseph L. Lanier ’54.

Milestones

Bomar A. Olds, Jr. ’50, of Cor-

E. Gerry Barker IV ’51, ’53L,
of Sellersburg, Ind., died on Oct.
31, 2013. He served in the Marine
Corps. He practiced for 50 years in
the firm he established. He belonged
to Phi Gamma Delta.
Stephen P. Coco ’51, of Jennings,
La., died on Jan. 1. He served in the
Judge Advocate General’s Corps at
Barksdale Air Force Base. He had a
law practice in Jennings, handling
criminal and civil cases. He sat on
the Zigler Foundation board, served
as president of the Jeff Davis Parish
Bar Association and volunteered
as a scoutmaster. He belonged to
Kappa Alpha. He was father to
Stuart W. Coco ’77.
Rush P. Webb ’51L, of Sandusky,

Ohio, died on Dec. 16, 2012. He was
a commonwealth’s attorney for Carroll County, Va., and entered the Air
Force in 1952. He served three years
as judge advocate officer in the Strategic Air Command. He joined the
Red Cross as assistant field director
in the Service at Military Installations Program. He also practiced
law at his own firm in Sandusky.

Roy V. Wolfe Jr. ’51L, of Mason,

Ohio, died on Oct. 29, 2013. He was
a World War II veteran. He was a
member of the Virginia State Senate
and held the offices of deputy clerk
of the Scott County Circuit Court,
the Scott County commonwealth’s
attorney and magistrate for the U.S.
Court of the Western District of
Virginia.

J. Kelley Hutcherson ’52, of

Versailles, Ky., died on Dec. 22,
2013. He was a veteran of the Naval
Reserve and served as a special services officer during the Korean War.
He worked for IBM in executive
sales management. He belonged to
Pi Kappa Alpha.

Winter

2014

mag a z ine.wlu.e du

Milestones

Emeritus Trustee Ray V. Hartwell III ’69, ’75L
Ray V. Hartwell III ’69, ’75L, of Anniston, Ala., who served on the Board of
Trustees from 1999 to 2009, died on Feb. 7. He was a retired attorney and partner with the law firm of Hunton & Williams, in Washington.
From 1969 to 1972, Hartwell served in the U.S. Navy as an antisubmarine
warfare and nuclear weapons officer on a guided missile destroyer.
At Hunton & Williams, Hartwell was a senior partner in the global competition practice group, specializing in antitrust investigations, litigation and
counseling. From 1992 to 1994, he lived in Brussels, Belgium, and managed the
firm’s offices there and in Warsaw, Poland.
A former council member of the ABA Section of Antitrust Law, he chaired
the antitrust sections of the District of Columbia Bar and the Virginia State
Bar. He held leadership positions in other bar organizations, including chair of
the Compliance and Ethics Committee of the ABA Antitrust Section. Hartwell
belonged to the editorial board of The Antitrust Bulletin and served as editor of
the ABA Handbook on Antitrust Grand Jury Investigations.
He published op-eds and book reviews in such publications as the Washington Times and the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
At W&L, Hartwell chaired the Student Control Committee (now the
Student Judicial Council) and belonged to the Student Affairs Committee and
Omicron Delta Kappa. He was editor-in-chief of the Washington and Lee Law
Review, won the John W. Davis Prize, was a finalist in the Burks Moot Court
Competition and belonged to the Order of the Coif and Delta Theta Phi. He
belonged to Beta Theta Pi.
Hartwell belonged to the Washington Society, was a former president of
the Law School Alumni Association, volunteered with the Alumni Career Assistance Program, served as a class agent, and served on reunion committees for
both classes.
He is survived by his wife, Marianne; three sons; and one grandson.

Thomas S. Miller ’52 of St.
Petersburg, Fla., died on Oct. 26,
2013. He served in the United Army
Corps of Engineers. He worked for
McCutcheon Miller Real Estate and
Insurance, Florida National Bank,
Union Trust Co. (NationsBank) and
United Bank. He was past chairman
of the Salvation Army Board and the
Better Business Bureau and served
on the boards of the Rogers Heart
Foundation and Pioneer Park. He
belonged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
Stuart A. Peltz ’52L, of Newport

News, Va., died on Jan. 12. He
served in the Navy during World
War II. He owned and operated the
Modern Cleaners for many years.
He also practiced law in Newport
News and Virginia Beach.

T. Louis Spilman Jr. ’52, of Ori-

ental, N.C., died on Nov. 6, 2013.
He owned three weekly newspapers in northeast Tennessee and
was named Man of the Year by the

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

Tennessee Press Association in
1958. After moving to Fayetteville,
he owned Worth Printing Co. and
started the first quick-copy shops,
SpeediPrint. He was involved with
many organizations in the community, including District 27, U.S.
Power Squadrons; the Cumberland
County, N.C., Board of Education;
the Fayetteville Salvation Army
Advisory Board; and the 75th
Fighter Squadron. He also served
for more than 43 years as a member
of the Methodist University’s board
of trustees. He received many accolades from this institution, including
an honorary doctorate, the Methodist College Medallion, the Methodist College Outstanding Alumni
Service Award, the Distinguished
Alumnus Award and induction into
ODK. He belonged to Kappa Alpha.

Paul D. Weill ’52, of Weatogue,

Conn., died on Nov. 17, 2013. He
served as an officer in the Marine
Corps and was a veteran of the

Korean War. He was a structured
benefit consultant with Aetna for 33
years. He belonged to Delta Upsilon.

David L. Fisher ’53, of New York

City, died Sept. 27, 2013. He was
founder and CEO of Exhibit Corp.
He volunteered at The International
Center, which helps resident aliens
improve their English language
skills.

P. James Kurapka Jr. ’53, ’55L, of
Gate City, Va., died Oct. 26, 2013.
He was a veteran of the Army and
was a federal employee.

C. Richard Lovegrove ’53, of Roanoke, died on Dec. 17, 2013. He had
a 43-year career in public relations
for American Electric Power, first at
Appalachian Power in Roanoke and
then as director of public relations
for Kentucky Power, in Ashland,
Ky. He was a longtime editor of the
Episcopal Diocese of Southwest
Virginia newspaper and a columnist
for the Thibodaux, La., Daily Comet,
and penned poetry. He belonged to
Pi Kappa Alpha. He was father to
Richard L. Lovegrove ’77.
The Rev. Benjamin C. Martin
Jr. ’53, of St. Louis, Mo., died on

Nov. 17, 2013. He served as a naval
officer during the Korean War.
His first ministry was at United
Presbyterian Church of Milford,
Conn., after which he moved to
St. Louis to pastor the old Peters
Memorial Presbyterian Church. He
later became associate executive for
community ministry for GiddingsLovejoy Presbytery. He belonged to
Pi Kappa Alpha.

Dr. Thomas L. Fieldson ’54, of
Ft. Washington, Md., died on Nov.
12, 2013. He served in the Navy. He
practiced medicine in Brandywine,
Md., and Waldorf, Md., for 51 years.
James A. Oast Jr. ’54L, of Virginia
Beach, Va., died on Dec. 24, 2008.
He served in the Army and was a
retired assistant U.S. attorney. He
belonged to Kappa Alpha.

Newman C. Carmack Jr. ’55, of
Libertytown, Md., died on May 23,
2013. He served in the Army. He
was the owner of Carmack’s Mobile
in Kensington and an independent

Joseph H. Chumbley ’55L, of St.

Petersburg, Fla., died on Sept. 5,
2013. He served on the W&L Law
Review. He practiced law for more
than 50 years in St. Petersburg. He
was a former Marine, a former city
manager and former judge in Pinellas Park. He served on the Governor’s Commission, working on
handicapped issues. He was uncle to
the Hon. Douglas J. Chumbley ’82L.

Chase W. Clements ’55, of
Toledo, Ohio, died on Nov. 4, 2013.
He served two years in the Army
with the 86th Infantry Division. He
taught history at Ryder School and
Libby High School. He worked for
the then-radio station WTOD as a
news broadcaster and WTVG. He
switched to print journalism and
worked with The Blade, and was
known for his weekly column, “The
Political Notebook.” He belonged to
Kappa Sigma.
Anthony F. Gerike ’55, ’62L, of

Medford, N.J., died on Sept. 9, 2013.
He worked for Powers and Gerike
and later owned a title search/
real estate transaction company,
Mohawk Abstract, and practiced
law with his son, Paul Gerike ’86, at
Gerike and Gerike, in Medford.

Michael P. Ryer ’56, of Ridgefield,
Conn., died on Oct. 15, 2013. He
served in the Army. He founded
Ryer Associates Commercial Real
Estate Inc. and as president and
chair of Centerbank of Waterbury.
He was active in his community and
a number of professional organizations. He was named Man of the
Year by the Ridgefield Rotary Club
and honorary chairman of the Connecticut Society to Prevent Blindness’ People Vision Dinner, and he
received the Good Scout Award
from the the 2012 Connecticut
Yankee Council of the Boy Scouts of
America.
Carl F. Barnes Jr. ’57, of Rochester
Hills, Mich., died on May 25, 2012.
He was professor emeritus of art
history at Oakland University in
Rochester, Mich. He had previously taught at Pennsylvania State
University and the University of

Wisconsin-Milwaukee. At Oakland
University, he served as chairman
of the Department of Art and Art
History, assistant to the dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences and
director of the Center for the Arts.

Donald A. Miller ’58, of Ensenada, Mexico, died on Sept. 14, 2013.
After retiring as president of Marine
National Bank, he owned the Adobe
Guadalupe Inn.

Charles R. Currin III ’57, of

mond, died on Oct. 20, 2013. He
belonged to Phi Kappa Sigma.

Carmel, Ind., died on Dec. 20, 2013.
He served in the Army with the
82nd Airborne Division. He worked
for the Coca-Cola Co. and owned
and distributed Northern Indiana
Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in LaPorte,
Ind. He served on the boards of
LaPorte Hospital and the First of
America Bank and as president of
the YMCA. He belonged to Sigma
Alpha Epsilon.

Douglas K. Frith ’57L, of Martinsville, Va., died Oct. 6, 2013. He
served in the Army, conducting
military intelligence work during the
Korean War. He practiced law for
42 years. He served as president of
the Martinsville-Henry County Bar
Association and as state director of
the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association. He served as a substitute judge
for the General District and Juvenile
and Domestic Relations Courts of
the 21st Judicial District. His public
service contributions included serving as attorney for the MartinsvilleHenry County Economic Development Corp., as a volunteer for the
Central Business District’s uptown
renewal, as a board member of Virginia National Bank and as a board
member and president of the Patrick
Henry Scholarship Foundation.
Richard A. Moore ’57, of Phoe-

nix, Md., died on Oct. 4, 2013. He
was the owner of Gaylord Brooks
Realty. He served on the board of
trustees of St. Paul’s School, which
presented him its Distinguished
Alumnus Award. He also was the
first board chair of St. James Academy, in Monkton. He was father to
Thomas R. Moore ’89 and brother
to Thomas O. Moore ’57.

Alexander B. Platt ’57, of
Riverside, Conn., died on Sept. 29,
2013. He was a dean of students at
Columbia College and a publishing
executive before opening his own
practice as a management psychologist, consulting with corporations.
He wrote “The Nature of Joy.”

Philip H. Weeks Jr. ’58, of Rich-

Albert E. Schlesinger ’59, of

Milestones

carrier for The Frederick News-Post.
He belonged to Delta Upsilon.

Scarsdale, N.Y., died on Nov. 4,
2013. He was a trader and specialist
on the American Stock Exchange
and also served as a board member.
He belonged to Phi Epsilon Pi.

H. Holden Smith Jr. ’59, of Phoenix, Ariz., died on Sept. 18, 2013. He
served with the Army Reserves in Ft.
Bliss, Texas. He worked for the securities firm of Refsnes, Ely, Beck and
Co. and established Young, Smith
and Peacock. He served as president
of the Bond Club of Phoenix and
was a governor of the National Association of Securities Dealers. He
belonged to Sigma Chi.
Frank S. Harris II ’60, of Hillsboro, Va., died on Nov. 6, 2013. He
was the president of Harris Goldstein Associates and worked for L.E.
Peabody & Associates. He belonged
to Phi Gamma Delta.
George N. Chandler II ’61, of
Vero Beach, Fla., died on Dec. 28,
2013. After serving in the Army,
he joined Pickands Mather & Co.,
where he became president. He
was also senior vice president of
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. He was active
in civic and educational organizations, including Hattie Larlham,
where he was president and emeritus trustee, the Lochland School,
the Cleveland Council on Foreign
Relations and the Cleveland Council
on World Affairs. He belonged to
Phi Delta Theta.
L. Hunter Tracht ’61, of San Diego,
died on Sept. 27, 2013. He served
in the Marine Corps. He practiced
law for 47 years and was president of
California Children’s Society.

Barton S. Mitchell ’62, of

Brooklandville, Md., died on Oct. 6,
2013. He served in the Coast Guard
before joining the family asphalt
business, E. Stewart Mitchell Inc.

Winter

2014

mag a z ine.wlu.e du

H. Loy Anderson Jr. ’65, of Palm

Milestones

He also owned or controlled the Bituminous Emulsion Co., MDG Inc.,
Mitchell Industries Inc., Montgomery Construction Inc. and Superior
Paving Corp. He belonged to Phi
Kappa Psi.

in the Historical Society of Palm
Beach County, Palm Beach Atlantic
University, the Hanley-Hazelden
Foundation, the Holocaust Memorial Museum, the YMCA, BenGurion University, the United Way,
Rosarian Academy, the Leukemia
Foundation, the JCC of Palm Beach
and the Boy Scouts of America. He
was a founder of the Academy of the
Palm Beaches, now known as Palm
Beach Day Academy. He belonged
to Pi Kappa Alpha.

Beach, Fla., died on Dec. 8, 2013.
He served in the Army Reserves.
He worked as president of Worth
Avenue National Bank. He was
also a restaurateur, a citrus grower
and a developer. He was a leader
in several business organizations,
including the Young Presidents
Organization Inc., the Banker’s Association, the Economic Council of
Palm Beach County and the Worth
Avenue Association. He was active

Michael E. Bowerman ’65L, of

Virginia Beach, Va., died on May 13,
2013. He practiced at Kellam Law
Firm and founded his own practice.
He co-founded an organization to
protect and restore the Back Bay.

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A 40-year member of the Virginia
Beach Exchange Club, he served
as president and as legal counsel.
He was instrumental in forming
the Youth Service Federation. He
belonged to Sigma Chi.

H. Benjamin Jones Jr. ’65L, of
Irvington, Va., died on Oct. 21,
2013. He was a founding partner of
Walker Jones P.C., in Warrenton, Va.
W. David Hasfurther ’66, of

Gaithersburg, Md., died on June 28,
2013. He studied at the University of
Vienna under a Fulbright and served
in the Army. He practiced contract
law. He belonged to Delta Upsilon
fraternity. He was brother to Bruce
N. Hasfurther ’73.

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kana, Texas, died on Aug. 9, 2010.
He retired from International Paper
and was a former math teacher at
North Heights Junior High.

George F. Biehl Jr. ’68, of Galveston, Texas, died on July 17, 2012.
He belonged to Sigma Chi.

James R.M. Hughes Jr. ’70,
of Richmond, died on Dec. 15,
2013. He was a reporter for the
Richmond News Leader and the
Richmond Times-Dispatch and
president of The Martin Agency.
Hughes helped create the graduate
Brandcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University and chaired its
board of directors. He belonged
to the One Club’s Creative Hall of
Fame and the Advertising Hall of
Fame. He belonged to Sigma Phi
Epsilon.
H. Franklyn McCranie Jr. ’70, of
Wayne, Pa., died on Dec. 9, 2013.
He worked for Aetna and Cigna in
New York. He belonged to Sigma
Alpha Epsilon.

David Wargo ’71, of Hudson,
Fla., died on Dec. 6, 2013.
Joseph H. Ramsey Jr. ’73, of
Pueblo, Colo., died on Jan. 1. He
worked as a printer for more
than 35 years in New Mexico and
Colorado. He was also an abstract
painter.
G. Watson Tebo Jr. ’74, of
Baton Rouge, La., died on Oct.
24, 2013. For 30 years, he had a
career in medical sales. He was a
board member of The Brighton
School, a volunteer at SCORE of
Baton Rouge and a member of
TaxBusters. He also served on
the board of the Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control and was
president of the Baton Rouge Area
Chapter of the W&L Alumni Association. He belonged to Sigma Chi.
Bradley H. Bethel ’76, of Laurin-

burg, N.C., died on July 30, 2013.
He worked at Scotland Memorial
Hospital for 24 years, serving as
chief of the medical staff and a
member of many committees. He
also volunteered for Hospice of
Scotland County, Century Care

Nursing Home and Scottish Pines
Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.

Reid H. Griffin ’77, of Trabuco

Canyon, Calif., died on Oct. 31,
2013. He belonged to Zeta Beta Tau.

Jonathan W. Pine Jr. ’79, of Bal-

timore, died Nov. 28, 2013. He was
senior executive editor at Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins and was named
Editor of the Year several times.
He belonged to the Society of the
Cincinnati and served as lieutenant
governor of the Society of Colonial
Wars in Maryland. He belonged to
Beta Theta Pi.

Edward L. Weilbacher ’79L, of

Pocomoke City, Md., died on Sept.
6, 2013. He served in the Coast
Guard, attended Officer Candidate
School in Yorktown, Va., and rose
to the position of lieutenant commander. He flew T-34, T-28, T-29,
TS-2A, C-54, HU-16E, HC 130B
and EC 130B aircraft and received
many Coast Guard medals. After his
military career, he served as head
of the Legal Aid office in Lexington
and as an adjunct professor of law
at W&L, and then joined John E.
Bloxom in law practice. He was the
city attorney for Pocomoke City for
14 years.

Susan L. Pilcher ’81L, of San

Francisco, died on Dec. 23, 2013.
She pursued a career in finance and
wealth management with Arthur
Andersen and served as director of
wealth management at U.S. Trust.
She also worked for Morgan Stanley
and concluded her career as the
managing director of private wealth
management at First Republic Bank.
She was aunt to William H. McNair
Jr. ’88.

He owned the Gregory Jewelry
Store in Farmville. He belonged to
Delta Tau Delta.

Holly Young Walter ’91L, of Wellington, Fla. died on Nov. 3, 2013.
She worked at James A. Hartman
P.A. and South Florida Water Management District. She was sister to
Heather Young ’84L.

Michael S. Fuller ’94, of ManakinSabot, Va., died on Dec. 10, 2013.
He worked at Private Advisors
L.L.C. in Richmond. He belonged to
Beta Theta Pi.

Valerie Nichole Hale ’00L, of
Roanoke, died on Aug. 29, 2013. She
was active in a number of community service organizations and
had served as president of the City
of Roanoke Fair Housing Board,
past president of the Blue Ridge
Independent Living Center and legal
advisor to the Young and Powerful,
a national service organization. She
belonged to the Beta Chi Omega
Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and the Roanoke Chapter
of the Links Inc.
Caleb F. Dayton ’13, of Minneapolis, Minn., died Nov. 12, 2013.

Kelsey H. Durkin ’14, of New

Canaan, Conn. died Dec. 3, 2013.
She served as a trip leader with the
Volunteer Venture Pre-Orientation
Program and on the Relay for Life
committee. She was a provisional
member of the DAR. Active in
W&L’s Shepherd Program, she
interned at Camp Interactive. She
belonged to Kappa Kappa Gamma.

Other Deaths

Frank W. Brower III ’82, of McKinney, Texas, died on Sept. 29, 2013.
In 2001, Tripp co-founded Capstone
Partners in Dallas. Prior to Capstone,
he served as executive vice president of OffRoad Inc., co-head of the
private fund group at Stephens Inc.,
founder of Stonebridge Partners and
as a vice president at J.P. Morgan &
Company. He was brother to Barrington D. Brower ’85.

Clyde W. Hartless, who retired in
2003 after 36 years as a carpenter
and shop foreman in Facilities Management, died on Nov. 24, 2013.

Michael D. Gregory ’83, of South

sergeant in 2013 after 20 years with
Public Safety, died on Jan. 8.

Boston, Va., died on Nov. 3, 2013.

Milestones

Clyde L. Nipper ’66, of Texar-

Della Sorrells Mayo, who worked
as a circulation desk attendant in
the University Library from 1980
until retiring in 1996, died on Dec.
18, 2013.

Tony L. Stinnett, who retired as a

Winter

2014

mag a z ine.wlu.e du

Milestones

J
Something to Talk About
BY PRESIDENT KEN RUSCIO ’76

s Oscar Wilde famously wrote
in “The Picture of Dorian
Gray,” “[T]here is only one
thing worse than being talked about,
and that is not being talked about.”
That line occurred to me earlier
this year when I appeared on a panel
in Washington to discuss President
Barack Obama’s proposal for the
federal government to develop a new
college ratings system. He wants to
ensure that students receive value
for their education, and also that the
federal government’s expenditures on
higher education produce the desired
result.
Since that proposal was made last
August, anxiety has run high in the
higher education community. There
are legitimate reasons to worry about
what such a system might mean. But
we should not consider the government our adversaries in this case. The
motivations behind a rating system are
understandable. If there is a silver lining to the discussions, it is that higher
education is being talked about.
Unfortunately, the conversations are often framed in a way that
defines education down, reducing it to

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

primarily an instrumental pursuit.
More and more, the value of
education is defined by how much
money a degree is worth. Every day,
a new study concludes this major or
that, this college or that, is the ticket
to higher starting salaries. Here in
Virginia, the legislature has mandated that the state publish salary data
for graduates of all colleges and universities, public and private. W&L
actually fares well—or we would,
except we are excluded because most
of our recent graduates are receiving
their salaries outside of Virginia. Our
data can’t be captured.
Concerns about college affordability and return on investment are legitimate. Students and families should
have as much information as possible
when making a college choice.
But I do despair over what I see as
a loss of focus on the real and significant value of an education. Students
are not consumers. They should see
their stake in education as an investment in their future and one that pays
off in how they choose to lead their
lives, not just a higher-than-average
starting salary.

At Washington and Lee, we believe what our mission statement says:
that our graduates are “prepared for
life-long learning, personal achievement, responsible leadership, service
to others, and engaged citizenship in a
global and diverse society.” Those lofty
aspirations do not lend themselves
to simple measurements. The danger
in any ratings system is in measuring
what is easily measured rather than
what is truly of value.
There’s an irony here. The challenge for us in higher education is
not a lack of information. It is how
to help students make sense of it, to
separate the wheat from the chaff,
the signal from the noise. How disappointing, then, that the national
conversation about the purpose of
higher education has devolved into
a debate over how to construct the
best spreadsheet. Rather than raising our sights and forcefully arguing
for a deeper meaning to education,
we are defining education down by
focusing on metrics that are conveniently available.
Maybe there is something worse
than not being talked about.

•

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Last Look

J
On the front campus,
enjoying the Feb. 13
snowstorm that
dumped about 10
inches on the area.

PHOTO BY KEVIN REMINGTON