Washington and Lee University Winter 2015 Magazine

Page 1

and Lee University Alumni M ington agaz h s a W ine Winter 2015 The

An Outlaw Trade:

Three Cheers for Dick Duchossois ’44 Admit One: New VP of Admissions and Financial Aid

Alumni Writers Discuss Their Craft


Snapshot DEPARTMENTS

2 General Stats

By the numbers: Dick Duchossois ’44

3 Speak

Letters to the editor

4 Along the Colonnade

ODK initiates, new trustees, introducing the new vice president of admissions, Roger Mudd ’50 honored for philanthropy

10 Generals’ Report

Basketball Captain Gauf Works a Miracle Off the Court

11 Lewis Hall Notes

In Memoriam: Dean Roy Steinheimer

19 Milestones

Alumni president’s message, Beau Knows, alumni news and photos, President Ruscio’s column, financial report

FEATURE

12 An Outlaw Trade:

Alumni Writers Discuss Their Craft

—> By B e t h J o n e s


On the Cover: Photo illustration by Rebecca Logan This spread: Members of the Jazz Ensemble warm up before their performance at the Holiday Pops Concert in December. From l. to r.: Joseph Wu ’16, Scott Sugden ’15 and Cory Walker ’15. Photo by Patrick Hinely ’73

SCAN ME to go to the alumni magazine website


General Stats

Numbers

5

by the

That’s the number of recipients of W&L’s prestigious Washington Award, which recognizes extraordinary acts of philanthropy in support of W&L and other institutions, and distinguished leadership and service to the nation. The newest honoree is Richard L. Duchossois ’44, who received it on Feb. 6, during the winter meeting of the Board of Trustees. “To know Dick Duchossois is to know a person devoted to noble causes, to the service of others and to family,” said President Ken Ruscio ’76. “His humility, combined with his sense of decency and good humor, endear him to all. We are forever indebted to him for his commitment and support.” Duchossois, the chairman of the Duchossois Group, Elmhurst, Illinois, also serves as the chairman and chief executive officer of Arlington International Racecourse and on the board of Churchill Downs Inc. At W&L, he has supported the Duchossois Athletic Complex, which comprises Wilson Field for football, lacrosse and track; the fields for soccer, field hockey and baseball; the cross country course; and the outdoor tennis courts and the indoor Duchossois Tennis Center. He also has provided a named scholarship fund. His many philanthropic interests include the Beverly T. Duchossois Cancer Laboratory at the University of Chicago Hospital, named for his late first wife, and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Duchossois served in World War II as a second lieutenant in the Army, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and receiving a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars. In 2014, on the 70th anniversary of D-Day, Duchossois was inducted into the French Legion of Honor. His other honors include the American Jockey Club Medal, three Eclipse Awards and induction into the Chicago Sports Hall of Fame. Last year, he and his wife, Judi, received the Sword of Loyola award from Loyola University Chicago for their exceptional dedication to philanthropy and humanitarian service. Duchossois’ daughter Kimberly T. Duchossois is a trustee emeritus, and her son is Tyler R. Lenczuk ’08.

© Washington and Lee University

Volume 91

Number 1

Winter 2015

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

Jennifer Mero 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

Julie Grover Beth Jones Harry Landsiedel ’64 Jessica Willett CO NTR I BUTO R S

Rebecca Logan, Bart Morris, Denise Watts, 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

Julie A. Campbell ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

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

On Feb. 6, Dick Duchossois (center) also received a tribute — and a W&L letter sweater — from Austin Eisenhofer ’15 (captain of the football team) and Sonja Meighan ’15 (co-captain of the women’s tennis team). 2

W&L

Alumni

Magazine


A

Dr. Edward A. Brown ’62 Bethesda, Maryland

Reading the text of President Ruscio’s Convocation address, I was reminded once again of how fortunate W&L is to have such a man at its helm. As he clearly understands, these are trying times for higher education in the U.S., for a variety of reasons, some of which are new in our technological age. I was most heartened by his emphasis on the importance of integrity and humility to anyone who would responsibly face the challenges of active citizenship in a democracy composed,

like ours, of a great multiplicity of often competing and frequently ignorant cultures and constituencies. Reading his address to incoming first-years, it struck me that he was describing just the kind of college I had hoped W&L would be when I enrolled. A scholarship student who had graduated from a Connecticut public high school, the first in my family to attend college, I was naïve in many ways when I first glimpsed the Colonnade from Red Square and gasped in awe. However, I assumed I would be attending school with young men who, like me, were striving to be gentlemen in the mode of Robert E. Lee. I am both happy and grateful to think that due in part to leadership like that provided by President Ruscio, my assumptions may not have been as silly as they sometimes seemed to me during the four fruitful, productive and memorable years I spent as a student.

Len Blanchard ’69 Bradenton, Florida

A Testament to Community

It started on a sunny December morning in Singapore, when I pushed “play” on the W&L holiday video, only to find the lovely student (Alee Johnson ’15) who had reached out to me for advice on working abroad only weeks before. Later, leafing through the Fall edition of the W&L magazine, I was particularly pleased to see an uncanny number of familiar faces — classmates, tennis teammates, favorite professors and even friends of my father’s (Class of 1964). As an alumna who has spent the last 10 years in Europe, South America and now Asia, I’m still amazed that the W&L magazine consistently arrives in my mailbox. I’m equally happy to have been asked to participate in the vibrant exchange among alumni abroad regarding global learning and initiatives, and to have been given a few extra hours (due to the time difference)

Write Now! By Mail:

By E-Mail:

Editor

magazine@wlu.edu

Washington and Lee Univ.

By Fax:

7 Courthouse Square

(540) 458-8024

204 W. Washington St.

Website:

Lexington, VA 24450-2116

magazine.wlu.edu

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.

to participate in the very successful matching campaign. It’s a testament to the W&L sense of community — and to the excellent work being done by the leadership, faculty and staff — that, three continents later, I still feel as close to the school as I did on any winter morning in Lexington 15 years ago.

Virginia Brumby ’01 Singapore

A Look at History

Across the road leading to my house is the entrance to the Fort Valley, in northernmost Virginia. My ancestors were among the first settlers there in the mid-1700s. There are six Cullers Confederate soldiers buried in four family plots, including my great-grandfather and two great-uncles. We can trace several other related Confederate veterans on my grandmother’s side. In addition, much of this area was burned out, looted and devastated — mostly by Northern soldiers. These are the facts of history — and no matter how you attempt to twist, mold, distort and tweak them — the historical facts remain immutable. And the fact of the matter is that the leadership of W&L and the town of Lexington have succeeded in alienating a large number of the 70 million American descendants of those who fought for the Confederacy. In view of your politically correct recent decisions, my regular contribution to the Annual Fund this year is going to the Virginia Flaggers. Although my contribution is but a drop in your bucket, it does add up. Congratulations on being named the fourth in the nation on Kiplinger’s Top 50 list of best college values. But please don’t grow too big for your britches — or forget your roots!

Speak

President Ruscio’s pieces in the Fall 2014 edition were very interesting and illuminating. What resonated most strongly was the theme in his Convocation address concerning the “symptom of the current age . . . seeking refuge from complexity by fleeing into the protective arms of ideology.” I could not agree more. I believe that this behavior presents us with an incredible risk of our nation’s, and indeed the entire world’s, descent into an apocalyptic future. I fear greatly for my grandchildren. And what would be W&L’s role to play in this impending disaster? It would be to educate our future leaders as to the reality of our world and how, like it or not, the most fundamental laws of physics dictate that we will all have to travel down this foreboding path. It would be to teach them to manage this future to the greatest extent possible, to ameliorate this inevitable situation to the greatest extent possible. And it would teach them not to close one’s eyes to reality and hope that it goes away, because it won’t. Yes, a gloomy outlook indeed, but it is what it is, and we need individuals who are knowledgeable enough and realistic enough to lead us into that future world. That’s what W&L can provide.

Letters to the Editor

What W&L Can Provide

Robert M. Cullers ’55 Strasburg, Virginia

Corrections to the Fall 2014 issue:

Trustee Joe Luter’s correct class year is 1987. And we misspelled the last names of Ross Jagar ’04 and of our colleague Patrick Hinely ’73. Our apologies to these alumni. And we transposed the captions accompanying group photos for the Classes of 2004 and 2009. We reprint them on p. 35. Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

3


Along the Colonnade

Richmond Named Vice President for Admissions and Financial Aid

S

future generations.” ally Stone Richmond, dean Richmond joined Occidental as of admission at Occidental associate dean of admission in 2006. College in Los Angeles, has She was subsequently promoted to been named the next vice president director in 2010 and dean in 2012. for admissions and financial aid at As a member of the senior admission Washington and Lee. and financial aid leadership team, she A Virginia native, Richmond worked in close consultation with the previously served in admissions posidivision’s vice president and other setions at Davidson College, her alma nior staff to produce the most diverse mater, and taught and worked in classes in the college’s recent history. college counseling at Episcopal High Before joining Occidental, School in Alexandria, Virginia. She Richmond was associate dean of adholds a master of education degree mission and financial aid at Davidson from Harvard University. College, one of three members of Richmond will succeed Bill the office leadership team responHartog, who is stepping down at the sible for meeting enrollment goals, end of the academic year after 44 increasing selectivity, administering years of admissions work, 37 of them a select group of merit scholarships as W&L’s chief admissions officer. and meeting 100 percent of students’ She was chosen after an extensive Sally Stone Richmond, Washington demonstrated financial need. She renational search chaired by Sidney Evand Lee's new vice president for vitalized Davidson’s Alumni Recruitans, vice president for student affairs. admissions and financial aid ment Team, recruiting more than 100 “Sally’s extensive experience members. and success in her previous posi As associate director of college tions ensure she will build upon counseling and faculty member at Episcopal High School, W&L’s existing strengths, while preparing us for the Richmond coordinated the college application process for opportunities and challenges facing us in the future,” said some 80 juniors and seniors, including individual counseling, President Ken Ruscio ’76. writing letters of recommendation and hosting visits from Richmond said she is “humbled by the opportunity nearly 100 selective colleges each year. She also taught one to return to my home state to join the Washington and section of Advanced Placement U.S. government and one Lee family. of U.S. history. Additionally, she coordinated a longitudinal “The University’s impressive enrollment initiatives, research and consulting project on coeducation and gender notably the Johnson Scholarship and W&L Promise, reflect relations and managed a girls’ residence hall. the institution’s commitment to addressing a critical issue in Richmond began her career as an admission counselor American higher education — accessing and affording an at Davidson, rising to assistant dean, coordinating all merit intellectually rigorous undergraduate experience,” she said. scholarship programs among the advancement, athletics “Further, the community’s sincerity, ambition and integrity and admission offices. She then served a year as a research inspire me. assistant with the American Political Science Association’s “I am convinced that a liberal arts education is essenWomen’s Caucus for Political Science, where she compiled tial in our increasingly complex and multinational world,” archives and wrote a comprehensive history of the caucus for Richmond continued, “and I look forward to joining the its 30th anniversary presentation. efforts to introduce W&L’s transformative experience to

“The University’s impressive enrollment initiatives, notably the Johnson Scholarship and W&L Promise, reflect the institution’s commitment to addressing a critical issue in American higher education — accessing and affording an intellectually rigorous undergraduate experience. Further, the community’s sincerity, ambition and integrity inspire me.” —Sally Stone Richmond

4

W&L

Alumni

Magazine


R

oger H. Mudd ’50, the award winning journalist and founder of W&L’s Roger Mudd Center for Ethics, received the Award for Individual Philanthropy from the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) on Jan. 6, in San Diego, California. Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest ‘53, ‘55L received the award in 2008. CIC presents the award to honor “an individual who demonstrates the love of humankind through consequential giving and who provides an example of the philanthropic spirit.” Richard Ekman, CIC president, said the annual award is “an important way for CIC presidents to celebrate and honor individuals and organizations who have contributed generously to independent higher education — through their professional expertise, philanthropic generosity, or both.”

Roger H. Mudd ’50

President Ken Ruscio ’76, who represented the University at the presentation, said, “There can be no doubt that one of Roger’s most lasting legacies to higher education in the commonwealth of Virginia has been his interest in ethics and his involvement with the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges. Through both his financial support and his volunteerism, Roger has

demonstrated the best of the philanthropic spirit, and in so doing serves as a beacon for others to follow.” In accepting his award, Mudd said, “I do not regard myself as a philanthropist, but as an amateur historian turned journalist — two fields that are related in that historians need 20 years to get it wrong, but journalists need only eight hours.” He noted that journalists do have a code of ethics and a set of standards within which they strive to provide accurate information. He added, “Having lived with that code for the 50 years of my professional life, I began to wonder about the millions of students who will go through four years of college without ever being exposed to a code of ethics or an honor system.” You can watch the video and read the transcript of Mudd’s acceptance speech at go.wlu.edu/Mudd.

Along the Colonnade

Mudd ’50 Receives Philanthropic Award

ODK Initiates New Members on Jan. 19 Honorary ODK Initiates—Marylin Evans Alexander, property manager of Rockbridge Area Housing Corp.;

Dennis W. Cross, W&L’s vice presi-

dent for University advancement; Mark E. Rush, the Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Professor of Politics and Law at W&L and next director of the Center for Global Learning; and Julie A. Woodzicka, W&L professor of psychology.

Undergraduate Class of 2015—

Syed Haider Ali, Victoria Elizabeth Blackstone, Elizabeth Blair Davis, Anna Olivia Dorsett, Bailey Elizabeth Ewing, Mary Lynn Gabe, Wilson McGehee Hallett, Cort B. Hammond, Sarah Elizabeth Hampton, Ashley Renee Humbert, Sara Joanna KorashSchiff, Casey Ables Mackintosh, Anne Laura Persons, Katherine Cook Rush, Eric Michael Schwen, Brandon Elliot Taylor

Undergraduate Class of 2016— Chris Jihyun Ahn, Jacqueline Elizabeth Carson, Andrew John McCaffery, Alice Caitlin Moore, Emma Maria Swabb, Anna Russell Thornton, Pasquale Stellianos Toscano, Inga Louise Wells

Law Class of 2015—Terrence Anthony Austin, Stephen Robert Halpin III, Brendan P. McHugh, Ryan Christopher Redd, Richard Garrett Rice, Meg E. Sawyer Law Class of 2016—Aria Bianca Maria Allan, Julianne Catherine Freeman, Emily Elaine Tichenor Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

5


Along the Colonnade

N o t e w o r t h y STUDENTS Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder ’16 received a 2014 Barbara L. Frye

Scholarship from the Florida Capitol Press Corps.

Alex Yacoubian ’16, a politics and

French double major, received a William Jefferson Clinton Scholarship to attend the American University in Dubai (AUD) during the 2015 winter term. This is the second consecutive year that a W&L student has received a scholarship from the Clinton Presidential Foundation. The W&L team of Teddy Corco-

ran ’16, Cynthia Ho Yee Lam ’15, Connor Perkins ’15 and Austin Peterson ’16 won the Virginia

Foundation for Independent College’s 16th annual, statewide collegiate Ethics Bowl, held on Feb. 8–9. James Mahon, professor of philosophy, was their faculty coordinator.

FACULTY AND STAFF Henry P. Porter Jr. ’54, professor of

Speaker’s Corner

history emeritus, who holds a B.A. from W&L and a Ph.D. from Duke, recently earned two more degrees — in English and geography — from Virginia Tech. That makes him VT’s oldest graduate. “He contributed considerable wisdom that spanned generations into our classroom

6

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

discussions, enhancing the students’ and my own perspectives on natural resource topics,” said one of his VT professors. “He is a true gem.”

President Ken Ruscio ’76, chair

of the board of the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), attended the White House College Opportunity Day of Action on Dec. 4, 2014. He represented AAC&U at the event, which supports President Barack Obama’s effort to partner with colleges and universities, business leaders and nonprofits in encouraging students across the country to help the U.S. reach the goal of leading the world in college attainment.

Mark Rush, the Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Professor of Politics and Law at W&L, has been appointed the next director of W&L’s Center for Global Learning. He will lead the traditional international education programs, such as study abroad, and the continuing implementation of W&L’s strategic initiative for global learning, including the infusion of international topics across the curriculum, disciplines and schools. He will succeed Larry Boetsch ’69, the current director of international education and professor of Romance languages, who is retiring. Provost Daniel A. Wubah has been named a fellow of the American

Roslyn McCallister Brock, chairman of the national board of directors for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), on Jan. 18 delivered the keynote address of W&L’s multi-day program, “Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Fellows are elected by the association’s membership in honor of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. Wubah is only the second Washington and Lee educator to be elected. A member of AAAS’ Section on Education, Wubah was chosen for his outstanding contributions and leadership in improving undergraduate science education, undergraduate research, international education, and inclusion and diversity.

W&L Washington and Lee has been named to President Barack Obama’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, one of 120 schools in the nation to receive this designation. This is the third year in a row that the University has attained this status. During the 2013–14 academic year, W&L students tallied approximately 64,080 hours of service. The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation of Richmond has approved a $350,000 challenge grant to Washington and Lee — to be matched two for one — toward the $13.5 million renovation and restoration of Tucker Hall. The grant and match, totaling more than $1 million, will help the University complete the renewal of the Colonnade.

James C. Cobb,

the awardwinning author, historian of the American South and University of Georgia professor, delivered a talk titled “Would the Past Be Better Off Dead?” to the Founders Day/Omicron Delta Kappa Convocation on Jan. 19. Watch or listen to Cobb’s talk at new. livestream.com/wlu/founders-odk-2015.


W

ashington and Lee managing director and coadded two memfounder of Harris Williams bers to the Board & Co. He earned a B.S. in of Trustees at the February business administration, meeting, in Lexington. magna cum laude, and an M.B.A. from Harvard BusiJames R. Small ’81, of ness School. Williams has Midland, Texas, is the presinearly 25 years of transacdent of Icon Petroleum and a tional experience focused on founding partner of Element middle-market mergers and Petroleum. He graduated acquisitions assignments. He with a B.S. in geology and worked with Bowles Hollohas been employed in the well Conner & Co. before oil and gas industry since Trustees Small ’81 and Williams ’85 co-founding Harris Williams 1981. He has been an active & Co. in 1991 as a national volunteer both at W&L and investment banking firm in his community. He is the focusing on mergers and acquisitions. Since then, he has led past president of the Alumni Association, a class agent, the it to become one of the largest and most influential mergers AAP chairman for West Texas, on the Capital Campaign and acquisitions boutiques in the country. His board service Committee, on his 25th reunion committee, on the Parents includes the board of governors at St. Catherine’s School, Leadership Council, and the chairman of the Science AdviRichmond; the advisory board of the W&L Williams School; sory Board. He is the president of the board of trustees of the the Elk Hill School for troubled youth, Goochland, Virginia; Museum of the Southwest, in Midland; a trustee of Midland the Boys and Girls Club of Richmond; and The Community Community Theatre; and on the board of visitors for the Foundation, which serves charitable organizations throughMcDonald Observatory at the University of Texas. He and out Virginia. Williams lives in Richmond with his wife, his wife, Alison, have two children, Eileen ’15 and Patton, a Claire, and their three children, Emma Claire, 17, Terrell, 17, sophomore at Carleton College. and Grace, 14. Christopher H. Williams ’85, of Richmond, is the

Along the Colonnade

Board of Trustees Welcomes New Members

W&L Named a Top Producer of Fulbright U.S. Scholars

W

ashington and Lee University has been named to the list of American colleges and universities that produced the most 2014–15 U.S. Fulbright Scholars. Three scholars from W&L won Fulbright grants for 2014–15, making the university one of only six bachelor’s institutions nationwide to produce that many. The Fulbright Program is the federal government’s flagship international education exchange program, sending more than 1,100 American professors, administrators, professionals, artists, journalists, scientists, lawyers and independent scholars to other countries to teach or conduct research each year. All three of W&L’s Fulbright scholars this year are professors at the School of Law. Johanna Bond is studying access to legal aid in criminal proceedings in Africa while teaching a course in human rights at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Jill Fraley is conducting research on the development of property law in colonial Scotland and Ireland at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. J.D. King spent fall 2014 studying the evolution of criminal

defense in Chile at Universidad Viña del Mar in Chile. Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 360,000 participants with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar program operates in more than 125 countries around the world. It is funded by an annual congressional appropriation to the Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations in the U.S. and other countries also provide direct and indirect support. The Institute of International Education’s Council for International Exchange of Scholars administers and coordinates Fulbright activities on behalf of the Department of State, including selecting the scholars in the annual competition. The Fulbright Program also awards grants to American college students and teachers to conduct research and teach overseas, while bringing some 4,000 students and scholars from other countries to the U.S. to study for graduate degrees, conduct research and teach languages.

Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

7


Jeff Barnett, professor of Spanish

and director of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, launched his new book, a translation of Uva de Aragón’s “The Memory of Silence” (Chico: Cubanabooks, 2014). Considering the recent changes in Cuban-American relations, this novel, about the lives of two sisters who were separated at the outset of the Cuban revolution, is particularly timely.

b

Based on a true story of injustice and wrongful imprisonment, the book by Donald Lee Duncan ’58, “The Miscarriage of Justice by the FBI of Dr. Joe Parker: A Novel Based on a True Story” (CreateSpace), describes how assumptions, FBI ineptitude and judicial self-interest devastated one man’s life.

c

Brodie Gregory ’04 and Paul Levy ’84 co-authored “Using Feedback in

Organizational Consulting” (American Psychological Association). The publisher calls it “an easy-to-use resource that applies classic and current research findings to create actionable, evidence-based tactics that consulting psychologists, consultants, managers, and human resources personnel can use to improve feedback exchanges in any work environment.”

Bookshelf

Along the Colonnade

a

b

a

g

Lucas Morel, the Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and Politics, edited “Lincoln and Liberty: Wisdom for the Ages” (University Press of Kentucky), a collection of essays (including one of his own) by prominent Lincoln scholars who argue that far from advocating an expansion of government beyond its constitutional limits, Lincoln defended both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

8

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

d

h

c

James S. Sagner ’62 published

“Working Capital Management: Applications and Cases” (Wiley) to show how “business leaders and managers can continue to be successful in difficult financial times as reflected in the limited access to bank credit and other sources of short-term funds.”

f

i

e

Whit Thornton ’68, ’70L wrote “Strange Wonders: Searching For My Youth in America’s National Parks” (On the Road Press), the story of his attempt in 2012 to retrace the 1962 journey he took with his parents through 11 national parks.


Sarah Horowitz, assistant profes-

Holt Merchant ’61, professor of

history emeritus, published “South Carolina Fire-Eater: The Life of Laurence Massillon Keitt, 1824–1864” (University of South Carolina Press). It is the first book-length biography of Keitt, one of South Carolina’s most notorious advocates of secession and apologists for African-American slavery.

f

Seth Michelson, assistant professor

of Romance languages, translated a collection of poems by Indian author Rati Saxena titled “Dreaming in Another Land” (Akshara Offset). In his introduction, Michelson writes, “This book dares to dream in another land, through and of oneself, who is many, meaning you are traveling alone and with other selves, yours and otherwise, via Rati’s animated and vital poetry, which cleaves possibility from deep within the word.”

Bookshelf

sor of history, published “Friendship and Politics in Post-Revolutionary France” (Penn State University Press). She brings together the political and cultural history of post-revolutionary France to illuminate how French society responded to and recovered from the upheaval of the French Revolution.

e

Along the Colonnade

d

j

h

j

g

In “Around the Next Bend” (Morganland Press), part of the Windows in Time Chronicle, John Turman ’69 offers baby boomer adventure, historical fiction and action. The protagonist, Miller Townson, fervently hopes to escape his ancestors’ fates. The last six generations of men in his family all had to fight—from the Revolutionary War through World War II and the Korean War.

k

k

i

With his fourth book of poetry, “Once in the West: Poems,” Christian Wiman ’88 is a finalist for the 2014 poetry award from the National Book Critics Circle. The Farrar, Straus and Giroux website describes “Once in the West” as “intense and intimate as poetry gets — from the ‘suffering of primal silence’ that it plumbs to the ‘rockshriek of joy’ that it achieves and enables.”

Book ’Em Please let us know about your new books and CDs. You can do so by e-mailing a description and a high-resolution (300 dpi) image of the cover to magazine@wlu. edu. You also can send the actual book or CD to Alumni Magazine, Washington and Lee University, 7 Courthouse Square, 204 W. Washington St., Lexington VA 24450-2116. When we’re done with it, we’ll give it to the University Library for the collection.

Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

9


Along the Colonnade Generals’ Report

Basketball Captain Gauf Works a Miracle Off the Court BY BRIAN LAUBSCHER

T

for opening their own he W&L community home. “We had the recognizes Annie Gauf short-term goals of ’15 as a captain of the removing the children women’s basketball team and from the situation they an accomplished neuroscience were in so that they major. Sixteen boys and girls in would be safe,” said Gauf. Haiti, however, know her as a “The longer-term goals guardian angel. would be to provide Gauf has spent her collethem with a place where giate summers gaining experithey could discover their ence for a career in medicine. talents and be empowIn 2013, while on a churchered, and hopefully they sponsored mission to a medical could leave one day, clinic in Haiti, she visited an educated, with an ability orphanage with an American to have a positive impact nurse, Laura Schick. on society.” “It was a really terrible To their surprise, situation,” said Gauf. “The man Haitian social services who ran the orphanage was intervened. “They told basically using the kids to run us that if we could proa business. He would receive vide a home, they would food or monetary donations Annie Gauf ’15 with residents of All My Heart Haiti. take the children.” And intended to help the children, Learn more at allmyhearthaiti.org. so Gauf sought the help but . . . he would pocket the of her parents, Cindy money and sell the food and and Bernie Gauf, along with a pastor, Andy Hunt, and a famsupplies on the black market.” ily friend, Kara O’Malley. The result: All My Heart Haiti. The children were malnourished and wore soiled They leased a two-story building in Jacmel and hired 11 clothing for days. One night, Gauf witnessed a young boy full-time caregivers, laundry and cleaning services and tusobbing uncontrollably as they left. “What was going on tors. In February 2014, they welcomed was such a clear violation of human the children to their new home. rights,” she said, “and I think that’s Running a children’s home in why I felt so strongly that we needed a third-world country presents great to do something.” challenges. “Communication can be Gauf knew that assuming difficult, and once we have in-kind doresponsibility for 15 children in a difnations, it is safest and most reliable to ferent country would be a challenge. be sent with a person, since Haiti “If anything happened, it was going to has no postal system,” said Gauf. To be a miracle,” she noted. “There was transport the children, “we’re sending no sense of us having control over the our family’s Suburban. We are currently situation, because their legal system raising funds to ship it.” is so corrupt. We also had to find Despite the heavy responsibility, someone in social services that wasn’t Gauf is enjoying an exceptional senior corrupt. We just did as much research year. W&L named her a Scholar-Athas we could into other organizations lete during the fall term, and she led and reached out to as many people as —Annie Gauf ’15 the Generals to tremendous success we could. Then there was no guarantee on the court. that they would take the children from As she heads for graduation, the current orphanage’s owner, either.” Annie Gauf is also leading some fortunate young Haitians Schick and Gauf joined with Rubinste St. Louis, of to success. Community Coalition for Haiti, and laid the groundwork

“What was going on was such a clear violation of human rights, and I think that’s why I felt so strongly that we needed to do something.”

10

W&L

Alumni

Magazine


Along the Colonnade

PH OTO BY PAT R I C K H I N E LY ’ 7 3

R

Steinheimer’s deanship. “Our faculty, oy Lee Steinheimer Jr., dean our curriculum, and our student of the W&L School of Law body have been strengthened in ev from 1968 to 1983, and the ery dimension,” he wrote in the W&L Robert E.R. Huntley Professor of Law Review. Law Emeritus, died on Jan. 8, in Steinheimer’s primary field was Lexington. He was 98. commercial law. He served on the “Roy Steinheimer’s deanship Uniform Commercial Code commitwas a pivotal one,” said President tees of the American and Michigan Ken Ruscio ’76. “He left a genuine state bar associations and lectured legacy, and more than any other inwidely on the code. He belonged dividual shaped the Law School that to the American Bar Association, exists today. His contributions were American Arbitration Association profound, and we shall be forever and American Law Institute. In 1970, grateful for his service and dedicahe headed a White House task force tion to the University.” that investigated ways to explain the During Steinheimer’s landmark American legal system to children. tenure, the Law School moved He belonged to Phi Beta Kappa, into Lewis Hall, welcomed its first Omicron Delta Kappa and Order of women students, further diversified the Coif. its student body, and strengthened Steinheimer wrote many articles its national profile. Dean Roy Steinheimer nurtured the and books, including “Uniform Com “Dean Steinheimer made personal atmosphere of the Law mercial Code Forms with Practice the Law School a truly national School. “I thought we could turn out Comments” and “Desk Reference to institution and provided it with a finer professional people if we got to know them and were in constant the Uniform Commercial Code.” vision for teaching, scholarship and contact with them,” he told W&L Law The law faculty established the professional service,” said Dean Nora in 2010, “so that the professionalism Roy L. Steinheimer Jr. Commercial Demleitner, the Roy L. Steinheimer that we as professors had Law Award, and alumni and friends Jr. Professor of Law. could rub off on them.” created the Roy L. Steinheimer Jr. Steinheimer was born on Dec. Professorship in Law. Law students 2, 1916, in Dodge City, Kansas. He commissioned an artist to paint a received his A.B. in economics in portrait of Steinheimer, which now hangs in Lewis Hall. And 1937 from the University of Kansas and his law degree from W&L gave him an honorary law doctorate. the University of Michigan Law School in 1940. He prac Steinheimer was as well known for his colorful ticed law with Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City before sportcoats as he was for his oft-repeated answer to faculty teaching at the University of Michigan from 1950 to 1968. requests, “My hands are tied,” and for the slogan that an un Steinheimer came to W&L in 1968 as dean, and after known law professor coined after hearing that answer: “I’ve his 1983 retirement continued to teach at W&L. In 1984, been Royed.” Known as “The Sky Dean,” he piloted a Beech he spent a semester at the University of Alabama as the first Bonanza airplane until he was 76. occupant of the John Sparkman Distinguished Professorship. Steinheimer married Jane Powell Patchett in 1949; she In 1985, he was named the Robert E.R. Huntley Professor died in 1982. He married Frances Pugh in 1988; she died in of Law at W&L. He retired in 1987. From 1989 to 1999, he 2008. He is survived by Frances Pugh Steinheimer’s daughserved as an adjunct professor. ters, Sarah Pugh Dicks ’86L and Susan Pugh Morten. In 1983, President Robert E.R. Huntley ’50, ’57L lauded

Lewis Hall Notes

Former Law Dean Roy Steinheimer Dies at 98

“Roy Steinheimer’s deanship was a pivotal one. He left a genuine legacy, and more than any other individual shaped the Law School that exists today. His contributions were profound, and we shall be forever grateful for his service and dedication to the University.” —President Ken Ruscio ’76

Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

11


A

M LU

N

TER S DISCUSS THE I R IR IW

CRA

FT

By B E T H

J O N E S

a reading. More than a decade later, Makkai could still Matthew Neill Null ’06 took his first-ever writing class recite lines of a poem he had written for the class. with Lesley Wheeler, the Henry S. Fox Professor of “We were so intensely focused on each other’s work,” English and current chair of the English Department. Makkai says of those workshops. “It mattered so much. “People ask if writing can be taught,” says Null, who It felt so important.” won the 2011 O. Henry Award for a short story. “I don’t W&L gives birth to graceful writers outside really think it can, but you can encourage someone with the English Department, raw talent. That’s what she of course. All first-year did with me.” students must take an The English Department “We were so intensely focused on intensive writing course, launched a creative writing unless they have an minor in 2009 but offered each other’s work. It mattered so much. exemption from advancedcreative writing workshops It felt so important.” placement testing. Every long before that. Students student has access to tutors can also intern with the at the Writing Center. Every 65-year-old literary journal, student can delight in the University library’s collection. Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee University Review. “If you want to write, that’s really what you need,” “The liberal arts college model is: We have small says Null. “You just need to have access to a lot of books.” classes, we give a lot of attention to students, and we We talked to six very different writers — six of spend a lot of hard hours working with them on their the many talented alumni who craft poetry, fiction, writing,” says Wheeler. nonfiction, plays, you name it — about their work, about A few years ago, Rebecca Makkai ’99 ran into a what inspires them and about their W&L adventures. classmate from a W&L creative-writing workshop at

12

W&L

Alumni

Magazine


R

Let Silly Be Your Guide: Emily Ecton ’92

Winter 2015 magazine.wlu.edu

13

PHOTO BY SONYA SONES

Reader reviews of Emily Ecton’s books for middle graders often point to her uncanny ability to capture the way kids that age think. Ecton says that’s no accident. “I think it depends a lot on how old you are in your head,” she says. “I think I’m probably about 10 or 12.” It’s true Ecton chose a college the same way a 10-year-old might approach such a major life choice. “When I went to see the campus, it was pretty, and there were so many dogs,” she says. “People with dogs. Professors with dogs. I went on a doggy day or something.” Those instincts The Portland Book Review called Emily Ecton’s “Project Jackalope” “a laugh-out-loud-funny thriller.” proved to be right on. Ecton, who majored in theater, loved being on campus during the opening of the Lenfest Center for the Arts and taking playwriting a swamp creature that’s eating local kids. Ecton shopped the from Tom Ziegler, former W&L professor of theater and book around a little, but didn’t get any bites. playwright-in-residence. In 2003, she took a job as a writer and producer for “I learned how to write dialogue,” Ecton says of that class. National Public Radio’s lighthearted news quiz show, “Wait “I think that helped to be able to write in an approximation Wait. . . Don’t Tell Me!” She got itchy after the show’s host, of how people speak.” Peter Sagal, got a book deal. “I thought, ‘I’ve got a book,’ ” says Ecton had Ziegler laughing right away. “Most of the Ecton. students in my class could create believable characters, tell This time, she found a publisher. Altogether, she wrote a solid story, write natural dialogue,” he explains in an e-mail. three books in the Arlie series. In 2012, she published another “But Emily could do something few others could do. She adventure for middle graders, “Project Jackalope,” before could write funny. Funny flowed from Emily like honey from switching to the pen name Emily Fairlie to write two books a hive of bees.” set at Tuckernuck Hall school. At the Emily Fairlie website After graduation, Ecton attended Northwestern University, (emilyfairlie.com), you can listen to Tuckernuck’s where she received a master’s degree in fight song, which might sound a little familiar. playwriting. There, she heard a lot of feedback “I love the ‘Washington and Lee Swing,’ ” that her work “was kind of silly” — which she Ecton says. “I wanted them to have a fight song, never took as an insult. “It is,” she agrees. “It’s and that’s the best one, so of course I’m going totally silly.” to use it as a model.” One night, maybe around 2002, Ecton Ecton had long juggled writing with her dreamed about a girl who meets a terrifying radio job, which kept a demanding production monster. Instead of being scared, she explains, schedule. When the show’s venerable judge and “She’s like, ‘Oh, whatever.’ ” Ecton turned that scorekeeper Carl Kasell retired in 2014, Ecton moment of inspiration into “Boots and Pieces,” decided it was time for her to go, too. “It’ll be good her first book, which follows a girl named to be able to focus on writing now,” she says. Arlie and her best friend, Ty, who try to stop


Taking Time to Hone the Craft: Rebecca Makkai ’99

14

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

PH OTO BY PH I LI PPE M ATS A S AT O PALE

R

Rebecca Makkai had given up on her second novel, “The Hundred-Year House,” getting a review from the Gray Lady. The book came out in July 2014 to a warm reception. People magazine called Makkai’s writing “darkly funny,” while the Denver Post described it as “full of unexpected storytelling and wry humor.” Good Housekeeping magazine named it a summer read. “I’d been happy with the other reviews. They were all great,” says Makkai, who lives in Chicago. “But the New York Times Book Review is the one everyone hopes to get.” And then it happened. In the Oct. 10, 2014, edition of the New York Times Book Review, Meghan Daum wrote that Makkai “guides her twisty, maximalist story with impressive command and a natural ear for satire.” “They were nice to me,” Makkai exclaims. “Even if they’d been terrible to me, it still would have been a good thing, honestly, just to get a review in there. But they were nice to me.” Makkai penned her first short story at the age of three. The central character was her stuffed Smurf doll. By the time she was in high school, she says, “I was already deep into the writing world.” She did things like researching literary magazines, and that included Shenandoah. When it came time to pick a college, Makkai naturally thought of W&L. A tour of the campus sealed the deal. “When I visited, it felt right. It The Library Journal decreed Rebecca Makkai’s newest book, “The Hundred-Year smelled right. It was beautiful,” she says. “I felt House,” to be “stunning: ambitious, readable, and intriguing.” that when I got there, too. It just felt like the right place to be.” During Makkai’s sophomore year, she began a work-study position at Shenandoah. Its editor, R.T. Smith, noticed the intellect of the soft-spoken writer from the beginning. He was impressed again when he read a Makkai short story in the student magazine Ariel. He thought she was ready to submit her work to Shenandoah. released in July. She doesn’t want other writers to think she put Smith told Makkai he didn’t care that her work hadn’t been out three books in four years, though. “People say, ‘You write fast.’ published outside of campus. “It’s the story that matters,” he I don’t write that fast.” remembers saying. “The thing she said,” Smith “The Borrower,” Makkai says, took a decade recalls, “and I think she really believed, was, to write, while “The Hundred-Year House” ‘I don’t think my stories are good enough yet.’ ” took about five. Altogether, she’s spent 12 Makkai kept at it after graduation. Her novel years writing the stories that ended up in her “The Borrower” came out in 2011 and became collection. a Top Ten Debut for Booklist, an O: The Oprah “For three books in 12 years I will fully take Magazine selection and one of Chicago Magazine’s credit, ” Makkai says. “I was teaching full-time, choices for best Chicago fiction of that year. and I had two babies. I’ve been working my Next up for Makkai is a collection of short butt off.” stories, “Music for Wartime,” which will be


J

Chasing Characters: Jeb Rosebrook ’57

Winter 2015 magazine.wlu.edu

15

PH OTO BY PAT R I C K H I N E LY ’ 7 3

Jeb Rosebrook’s friendship with screenwriter and novelist Earl Hamner, of “The Waltons” fame, changed the course of his life. “He got me my first job in television,” says Rosebrook, who went on to his own career as a Hollywood screenwriter for television and movies. As Rosebrook tells it, Hamner bumped into “Wagon Train” producer Howard Christie, who told him he was getting ready to start a new Western. Hamner told Christie he needed to meet Jeb Rosebrook. “Three days later I was working at Universal on ‘The Virginian,’ ” he says. Rosebrook picked Washington and Lee because of the school’s proximity to the farm his When Jeb Rosebrook (right) visited campus summer before last, he shared memories parents owned in Carter’s about one of his journalism professors, O.W. Riegel, with Tom Camden ’76, the head of Special Collections Bridge, in nearby Albemarle & Archives. One of his readers commented on Amazon about “Purgatory Road”: County, Virginia. By his “Jeb’s dialog is right on and his imagination is boundless.” sophomore year, he found himself writing short stories. “I just one day decided to try it,” he says. He gave his one- and and “The Waltons,” created, of course, by his friend Hamner. two-page stories to English professor George Foster. “He called me Rosebrook also was nominated for two Writers Guild Awards, in and said, ‘In Greek, sophomore means wise fool.’ ” The teacher for the teleplays of the TV movie “The Prince of Central Park” told the student to keep writing. “So I did,” Rosebrook says. and for an episode of “The Waltons” titled “The Conflict” (now a The summer following his junior year, he scored a paid stage play). He served as co-executive producer on the TV series position as a writer trainee at NBC studios in New York. That’s based on S.E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders.” At the moment, he has four where he first met Hamner, who was writing for radio. In the screenplays on the market. mid-1960s, Hamner helped Rosebrook publish his first book by Rosebrook describes the occupation as similar to the life passing the manuscript to his agent. Rosebrook had penned the of a house painter, where you go from one job to the next. novel, “Saturday,” at night while working a day job at a Los Angeles Eventually, however, his phone stopped ringing. “As you get older advertising agency. “It’s somewhere in the bowels of the library at in Hollywood, it’s like athletics,” he says. “You can only play first W&L,” Rosebrook says dryly of his first book. base in the big leagues for so long.” A publisher paid an advance for a next novel, but Rosebrook With no film or television work, Rosebrook didn’t finish it. “I was in over my head,” he says. “I decided to write another novel. He set “Purgatory got lost with my own characters.” Instead, he quit Road: On the Road Between Heaven and Hell” his day job and became a screenwriter. Rosebrook in an Arizona town during a 1951 barbecue. It’s most famously wrote the screenplay for 1972’s the first book of a trilogy. Rosebrook had trouble “Junior Bonner,” the movie starring Steve finding a publisher for “Purgatory Road,” so he McQueen, directed by Sam Peckinpah and set in went the do-it-yourself route last year and sells it Rosebrook’s beloved adopted state of Arizona. His through Amazon. “With Amazon you get a pretty résumé also includes television movies like Kenny good percentage of what you sell,” he says. Rogers’ “The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Now that he’s made the switch to novel Draw” and “I Will Fight No More Forever” (for writing, Rosebrook plans to keep at it. “I’ve got which he received an Emmy nomination as the trilogy to finish,” he says. Spoken like a co-writer), as well as episodes of TV shows like true writer. “The Yellow Rose” (he was a writer-producer)


ISO a Few Thoughtful Readers: Matthew Neill Null ’06

16

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

PH OTO BY R E B E CC A G AY L E H OW E L L

M

Matthew Neill Null doesn’t dream of the day his book gets prominently displayed in an airport gift shop with other best-sellers. “I find some joy in working on something for two or three years and then maybe only being paid a hundred dollars for it and maybe a hundred people read it,” says Null. “I like how anti-commercial that is. It kind of flies in the face of what you’re supposed to do as an American.” Null tells a story of a now-shuttered experimental press with a sign on the wall that read “Wanted: 500 Readers.” “I really feel like that’s all I really want,” says Null, who grew up in West Virginia, a landscape that informs his fiction. Even this early in his career, it seems unlikely he’ll be able to keep such a low profile. Too many spotlights have already been shone in his direction. Null’s sweeping story, “Something You Can’t Live Without,” won the PEN/O. Henry Prize in 2011, and his collection of stories, “Allegheny Front,” won the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction in 2014. His novel, “Honey from the Lion,” comes out in An interviewer from West Branch Wired told Matthew Neill Null that his prose style September from Lookout Books, while his story was “lyrical, expansive, and seems to revel in the physical pleasure of words.” collection will be published by Sarabande in 2016. “They balance one another,” Null says of the two books. “The book of stories ranges over more of an expanse of time. There are stories that take place 300 years ago. There are ones that take place in what signifies today. But ultimately it’s the same world as the novel, and they have the same thematic skeleton.” Lesley Wheeler still remembers the first time Null, a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, remembers Null turned in a short story to her. “I just laughed reading it,” his early writing as being very rough. “I think for someone to she explains, “because he started off at a level I’d never been write it takes a good six, seven, eight years able to coach a student up to. The story evoked of apprenticeship, of working very hard and place vividly, conveyed a funny and plausible throwing away lots of work,” he says. “I don’t voice, and showed Matt as a gifted storyteller think there’s any way to speed that up.” who knows how to find the shape of a tale.” Even with all his success, Null doesn’t laugh Null’s work also quickly caught the attention when he says that some days he wakes up and of R.T. Smith, W&L’s writer-in-residence and wishes he’d gone into law. “I didn’t realize how editor of Shenandoah. “I’m pretty sure he’s the best tenuous it would be,” he says of the writing life. student I’ve ever taught,” Smith says. “He thinks in “I really didn’t. It’s not a respectable profession a very complex way. It leads to complex characters at all. It’s kind of an outlaw trade.” when he writes.”


C

Learning to Look at the World Differently: Courtney Miller Santo ’98

Winter 2015 magazine.wlu.edu

17

PHOTO BY RHAWNIE MILLER

Courtney Miller Santo stumbled upon inspiration for her second novel many years before she sat down to write. During her sophomore year at W&L, she and her roommates traveled to Alexandria, Virginia, for a weekend of fun. “We came out of the bar. We were wandering around,” she says. “We ended up by this spite house. I’m like, ‘This house is crazy.’ ” An obsession with spite houses — houses constructed for the sheer purpose of irritating a neighbor, relative or zoning board member — grew from there. Santo knew she wanted to weave a tale set in such an abode and got her chance with “Three Story House,” published last fall. “When I started to write the book, I knew it had to be in one of these weird spite houses,” says Miller Santo, who lives in Memphis, Tennessee. (Her first novel, “The Roots of the Olive Tree,” came out in 2012.) W&L also inspired a theme that her writing revisits: feeling out of place. “It was the best thing in the world for me to have decided to go across country to go to college and get those experiences where my life wasn’t comfortable,” says Miller Santo, who grew up in Oregon. “For a writer, that’s so important, because it forces you to look at the world differently because you’ve got to figure it out.” At W&L, Miller Santo’s classmates all donned khakis, which no one in Portland wore. She was also puzzled by a barbecue held to welcome new students. “I’m like, ‘What is this?’ “ she says. Courtney Miller Santo. Of her first novel, “The Roots of the Olive Tree,” “There’re no hamburgers. There’re no hotdogs. Redbook Magazine said, “Santo’s lush descriptions, rich dialogue, It was shredded meat.” and vivid characters will sweep you away.” If the late poet Claudia Emerson, who taught English at W&L for a time, hadn’t taken her under her wing, Miller Santo isn’t sure she would have made it. “I was so lost,” she says. “I swear I would have gone home if she had not really encouraged me.” Miller Santo studied journalism because it felt less “out there” than saying she wanted to be an University of Memphis, which led to signing up for an M.F.A. author. She doesn’t regret it. Miller Santo credits Brian Richardson “I went to school knowing I had to finish the program with a ’73, professor of journalism and mass communications, with novel,” she says. “With two kids, and my husband teaching her a lot about her craft. “I learned how to being so supportive, I couldn’t just dither around.” write good sentences,” she says. “All the writing we And she didn’t. Miller Santo’s thesis was a did in the journalism school was fantastic for me.” manuscript. Before she’d even graduated, she Richardson says that sometimes when he’s entered it in a contest sponsored by Amazon. She teaching, he looks out at a sea of faces and wonders didn’t win, but an agent saw her work and got her if what he’s saying is sinking in. He never had that a two-book deal — a turn of events that still leaves concern with Miller Santo. “She’s really attentive, Miller Santo shaking her head in disbelief. really observant.” “I will never go into the casinos again. After graduation, she married Charles I will never buy a lottery ticket again,” she says. Santo ’96. She worked at a newspaper and wrote “I cashed in all my luck this one time. And freelance. All the while, she knew she wasn’t doing I’m good with that. I’m fine.” what she was meant to do—until, at age 29, she signed up for a fiction-writing workshop at the


N

Alumni

Magazine

WA R D

W&L

T R E N TO N

18

BY

Stories of Courage: Alvin Townley ’97

P H OTO

Not long after graduation, when Alvin Townley found himself working with the global leadership of Arthur Andersen L.L.P., it never occurred to him that this was an unusual position for a guy in his 20s. “Coming out of Washington and Lee, I just felt there weren’t a lot of limits to what I could do,” he says. Townley’s career took a sudden detour when that company collapsed in the wake of the Enron scandal. He returned to Washington and Lee. “W&L re-centers me; it’s where I go when I’m not sure what to do next,” Townley explains. Back on campus, he worked in the Development Office while nursing an idea about a book on Eagle Scouts, the highest rank awarded by the Boy Scouts of America. Eventually, he decided to make a bold change. “It became apparent I needed to put a hundred percent of my effort and my heart into writing this book,” he says. Townley left his job and sold his house to finance his endeavor. William Connelly Jr., the John K. Boardman Professor of Politics, used his connections to help Townley land his first big interview: a one-on-one with U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar. When he sat down with the senator, Townley says, he didn’t get nervous. “I think going to W&L for four years, being with fellow students, professors and alumni, you’re just less intimidated by people,” he says. Good thing. Townley went on to interview other big names like Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and business owner Ross Perot. Alvin Townley’s “Defiant” drew praise from U.S. Sen. John McCain (“a riveting tribute”) and President Jimmy Carter (“inspirational and unforgettable story”). When Townley placed “Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of America’s Eagle Scouts” with St. Martin’s Press in New York, executives there told him they expected to sell 5,000 books. “We went through 10 printings in the first year and sold over 100,000 copies,” he says. Naturally, his publisher wanted another book on scouting. For “Spirit of Adventure,” Townley wives back in the United States who worked to free them while interviewed Eagle Scouts doing things like teaching at inner-city founding the nationwide POW/MIA movement. A review in the schools, providing medical care to villagers in Afghanistan and New York Times writes that the book, “Defiant: The POWs Who clerking at the Supreme Court. Endured Vietnam’s Most Infamous Prison, the With his third book, “Fly Navy,” Townley Women Who Fought for Them, and the One left scouting behind to explore the world of our Who Never Returned,” is “a gripping account” nation’s service members. He visited five aircraft and features storytelling that “is fresh and vivid.” carriers on three oceans. “There was a really Townley now juggles working as director of interesting, value-driven story about naval aviation corporate philanthropy for Atlanta’s Woodruff that the American public didn’t understand,” he Arts Center, partnering with an experienced says. “I don’t think I and other people saw very screenwriter to develop the film concept for far beyond ‘Top Gun.’ ” “Defiant,” and trying to decide which idea to From there, Townley set to work telling the focus on for his next project. “There are some story of the Alcatraz Eleven, America’s leading great stories out there,” he says. “The trick is prisoners of war whom the North Vietnamese finding the right one.” singled out for being die-hard resistors, and their


BY PATRICK J. WHITE ’96, ALUMNI ASSOCIATION PRE SIDENT

T

he Washington and Lee Alumni Association includes over 26,000 individuals across (and outside) the country. We come from varied backgrounds, lead different lives, and may even suffer the ignominy of supporting a football team that voluntarily released Jim Harbaugh (44–19). Not surprisingly, we are not You can contact White at pwhiteca@gmail.com. always of one mind, but we are bound by our love for W&L and our desire to see the next generation of students have the same transformational experience that we had. Over the past year, we’ve seen a handful of meaningful changes at W&L, some of which generated considerable publicity and comment. These changes include the new upper-division housing project, and President Ruscio’s decision to remove the replica regimental battle flags from Lee Chapel and to obtain and display original regimental battle flags in the Lee Chapel Museum. While much has been written of these changes, the Alumni Affairs Office and Alumni Board members received a good

1965

James W. Jennings Jr. (’72L), of

Roanoke, received the 2014 Excellence in Civil Litigation Award at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys. He has practiced law at Woods Rogers P.L.C. for more than 45 years.

1966

number of inquiries from alumni, which I believe illustrates that we have dedicated and active alumni who are tethered to W&L. In almost all cases, the inquiries were thoughtful, sincere and expressed in a civil manner. It was gratifying to see that the vast majority of alumni wanted the facts and were satisfied with additional information and explanations of the background of the issues and the actual steps taken to address them. Once most alumni saw the illustrations of the housing plans and learned the thinking of the Board of Trustees, their reservations turned to appreciation for this big step, if not outright envy of the students who will be able to live in such a beautiful community. While we continually try to improve the manner in which we communicate with the Alumni Association, I hope that alumni continue to ask hard questions and show such tremendous concern for the place we love. Our alumni-participation rates in chapter activities, oncampus reunions, student and alumni career support, and giving to W&L are the envy of liberal arts colleges across the country. I believe that an active and involved Alumni Association is a key component of the W&L community. Please continue to stay involved and to be an active part of the conversation. And, as always — go, Generals!

1971

B. Christopher Lee, of West

Chester, Pennsylvania, has been named the Best Lawyers’ 2015 Philadelphia Litigation-Construction Lawyer of the Year, for the ninth consecutive year. He is a shareholder of the Philadelphia law firm Jacoby Donner P.C.

Milestones

Ties that Bind

1974

Amos Workman was honored with the prestigious Tommy Thomason Award by the Greenville (South Carolina) County Bar Association. The award recognizes the Greenville lawyer who best exemplifies compassion, unshakeable integrity, strong personal values, dedication to the community,

James D. Humphries III (’69L),

a partner at Stites & Harbison, received the Randall L. Hughes Lifetime Commitment to Legal Services Award. He has worked with Atlanta Legal Aid for almost 30 years, serving as president of the board of directors in 1992. He was Legal Aid’s annual campaign chairman from 2003 to 2006 and raised more than $1.5 million for the program’s ongoing operating needs. Humphries was also recently elected to the Georgia Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

J. Robert Cross ’54 shared a picture of the Richmond W&L ’54 Christmas lunch, held at Westminster Canterbury on Dec. 10, 2014. From l. to r.: David Drum, Wiley Wright, Phil Councill, Bob Cross, Fletcher Lowe, Reno Harp, Stan Flinn, Gordon Leggett, Jim Trimm, Tink Williams and Larry Palmer.

Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

19


Milestones

humility and diplomacy. In 2013, he was named a Legal Elite by Greenville Business Magazine. In his practice at Wyche, he mediates cases in the family and circuit courts and handles commercial real estate transactions. An ordained minister, he serves as a member of the Foothill Presbytery Unity and Community Team and its Theological Examinations Commission. He is past president and board member emeritus of the Upstate Mediation Center and past chair of the United Way Campaign Clergy Division, and serves on the Samaritan House board.

1981

Jeffrey A. Buntrock gave a presentation, “Translation in the Former East Germany,” to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, in Chicago, at the annual conference of the American Translators Association.

1983

Christopher B. Power has moved to the Charleston, West Virginia, office of Babst Calland, a Pittsburgh-based law firm that focuses on the energy industry and engages in a national environmental law practice. Kip and his wife, Elizabeth, are empty-nesters who share their home with their old dog, Bruce, and they all like to escape to Kiawah Island, South Carolina, whenever they can.

1985

Kevin H. Kelley is the new manag-

ing partner for Husch Blackwell in its Denver office. A partner in the firm’s real estate, development and construction group, he co-leads the group’s investment real estate efforts. He is an active member of the Down-

A gathering of Pika alumni this autumn. From left to right: Jim Underhill ’78, John Leithead ’79, Jamie Vardell ’77, Dick Phillips ’76, Gordon Hough ’79, Nash Francis ’78 and Tad Leithead ’77 relaxing after a round of golf at Acorn Point Golf Club and Spa on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

20

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

1988

Matthew T. Harrington was

In July Bob Moll ’68, P’04, his son Tim ’04 and his brother Jonathan hiked the beautiful, but often rugged, Lake District portion of the Coast to Coast Path in England, a trail that traverses the breadth of the country near the border with Scotland. Their hike began in the village of St. Bee’s on the Irish Sea and ended six days later, after 85 miles and elevation increases of over 10,000 feet, in the market town of Kirkby Stephen. A highlight of their journey was climbing Helvellyn, the third-highest point in England, and scrambling along the jagged Striding Edge, a ridge which descends eastwardly from the mountain. From l. to r.: Tim, Bob and Jonathan.

town Denver Partnership and also serves on the board of directors and executive board of Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain Inc.

Robert J. Tomaso is the office managing partner of Husch Blackwell’s St. Louis office. Classmate and friend Kevin H. Kelley ’85 is a managing partner in Denver (see above).

1986

J. Anthony Paone II has been elected managing shareholder of Davison, Eastman & Muñoz P.A., with offices in Freehold and Toms River, N.J. He is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a civil trial attorney and practices commercial and corporate litigation.

confirmed by the U.S. Senate in September 2014 as U.S. Ambassador to Lesotho. Karl Brewer ’88 attended his swearing-in ceremony at the Department of State. Harrington has served as a diplomat in Ghana, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Togo, Portugal and Namibia. His son and daughter live in Arizona but will spend their vacations with Matt in the beautiful Mountain Kingdom.

1989

Anthony S. Waskiewicz Jr., Mer-

cy’s chief investment officer, has been named the first health-care CIO of the Year by one of the world’s leading business publishers. He joined Mercy in February 2010 and was recognized in part for helping Mercy generate strong risk-adjusted returns and for developing an investment structure focused on economic conditions. He oversees Mercy’s treasury department and manages the health system’s investment fund and pension plan. In 2012, he received an Institutional Investor’s Rising Star of Hedge Funds designation. He is a frequent speaker and panelist at national investment conferences, a member of the CFA Institute and the St. Louis Society of Investment Analysts, an adjunct professor at Webster University in St. Louis, and treasurer of the board of trustees for Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School.

1992

John T. Cox III, of the Texas litigation firm Lynn Tillotson Pinker & Cox, has been named among the Best Lawyers in America and Top 100 Texas Super Lawyers. He has also


Chester A. Lewis has returned home to Cincinnati after spending three years in Frankfurt, Germany, and four years in San Jose, Costa Rica, to continue working in Procter & Gamble’s corporate accounting department. During a leave of absence, he traveled throughout Asia with his wife, Beth, and two children, Reece, 13, and Alicia, 10.

1994

Daniel G. Katzenbach, has been

recognized by Business North Carolina magazine as part of the magazine’s Legal Elite program. He is a construction attorney at Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog L.L.P. in its Raleigh office.

1995

Kevin K. Batteh (’98L), is general

counsel to the Commodity Markets Council, a trade association that represents energy and agriculture future and derivatives market participants, as well as the exchanges that trade futures and swaps. He is also a partner at Delta Strategy Group, a boutique government relations firm that specializes in financial regulation issues with an emphasis on securities and derivatives. He resides in Washington, D.C.

1997

Adam M. Branson arrived in

Mumbai, India, with his family in August 2014, to begin a three- to four-

selman ’12L, formerly with Goldberg, Lowenstein, & Weatherwax L.L.P.

1999

Marc A. Granger (’05L) has been

John G. Podgajny ’76, of Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, joined three teammates from the 1976 Generals VCAA Championship basketball team at a Pittsburgh Pirates game in August 2014. This group gets together annually in a number of settings: a fall beach weekend; spring camping trips; or a trip to Lexington to watch a Generals game. John values the wonderful friendship they all share, how close their families are and how their children have grown up together. “It all started at W&L, and the experience we shared in Lexington laid the foundation for the fun we still enjoy today.” From l. to r.: Jeff Baum ’76, Bob Flint ’77, Don Berlin ’77 and Podgajny.

year tour for the Foreign Agricultural Service. The office covers cotton, coffee, wine and wood products and supports U.S. agriculture, food and beverage marketing, economic analysis, and trade policy challenges throughout India. He spent the last four years in Mexico City, Mexico, and was previously in China for six years.

Trevor V. Stockinger, along with

two partners, has opened a Los Angeles-based firm called Kesselman, Brantly & Stockinger L.L.P., which will focus on antitrust, employment and corporate litigation matters. Joining Trevor as an associate is Koral E. Fus-

promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins L.L.P. in its Washington, D.C., office. He is a member of the corporate department with a broad practice representing public and private companies and private equity sponsors.

Milestones

been honored in the 2014 edition of Benchmark Litigation: The Guide to America’s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys as a Litigation Star and as a Leader in His Field by Chambers and Partners’ USA Guide to Leading Lawyers.

Robert G. Weston Jr. and Katherine Busch Weston ’01 have moved

to Phoenix, where he has taken on a new role as chief financial officer of Alliance Residential Co., an apartment developer.

2002

Justin R. Arnold (’05L) opened

his own State Farm insurance agency in the D.C. metro area. Specialties include retirement planning, life insurance, long term care insurance and disability insurance.

Gerald L. Guilbert Jr. was named

deputy director of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, part of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. He oversees global operations for the Conventional Weapons Destruction Program, which assists over 40 countries with rendering safe vulnerable munitions stockpiles and remediating explosive remnants of war. Jerry and his wife, Britt Shaffer Guilbert ’02, live in Fairfax, Virginia, with their dog (also ’02) and cat.

Charron Hodges Montgomery, an attorney and CPA in Charlottesville, has become a shareholder

Kimberly M. Eadie ’89, of Leland, North Carolina, took part in a fourweek National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for K-12 teachers titled “Memories Divided and Reconciled: World Wars I and II in France Today.” From l. to r.: Professor Nathan Bracher, Kim Eadie and Professor Richard J. (Joe) Golsan ’74 (a trip leader, from Texas A&M University) on Omaha Beach, at the foot of the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer, France.

Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

21


Milestones

Ferris B. Mack ’77, of New York City, rode in the 2014 Registers Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa in July 2014. He wrote, “This year’s ride went from Rock Valley to Guttenburg, which is west to east on the north side of the state. There are 8,500 registered riders for the entire seven-day, 418-mile ride. Most people tent for the seven days, but some people are in motor coaches and have support teams. Usually you are asleep by 9 p.m. as you are on the road from 7 a.m. until 4 or 5 p.m. One morning someone played reveille! The routes take you through a town approximately every 10 to 20 miles, while also going through a lot of corn and soybean fields. At each town there is a great reception by the townspeople with food vendors and bands. It feels like you liberated Paris during WWII. I did my first long-distance ride when I was in college and wanted to go to Mary Baldwin College. At the time there was an oil-gas shortage, and I could not convince anybody to give me a lift. After spring exams, I got on my bike with tennis shorts and shoes and cycled to Mary Baldwin. My shorts ended up with a black stain from my black leather saddle, and my girlfriend at the time did not know what to make of me.”

in McCallum and Kudravetz P.C. She practices estate planning and administration, taxation, business and corporate law and real estate. She received her J.D. from the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond and her LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown. She joined the firm in 2006 and earned her CPA license in 2010.

2003

Carter N. Deupree (’06L), has

been elected shareholder at Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd P.A. He focuses on real estate and businesses transactions. He is a member of the Trident United Way Young Philanthropists Society Steering Committee and the

Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Charleston Class of 2015. He recently served as a committee member for LeadSC, a statewide young professionals’ summit.

Jonathan R. Wright (’09L), of

Washington, D.C., joined Gebhardt & Smith L.L.P. as an associate.

2005

Bradford J. Gower has joined Smith, Moore, Leatherwood’s real estate team as an attorney in the Greenville, South Carolina, office. He will represent clients in connection with real estate transactions including the acquisition, financing, developing, leasing and disposition of commercial properties.

Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Raton, Fla. She specializes in political theory, focusing on questions of cultural diversity and interpolity justice in ancient Greek political thought.

2009

Hunter C. Branstetter, of Nashville, Tennessee, has joined the law firm of Sherrard & Roe P.L.C. as an associate in the litigation practice group. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Bernice B. Donald of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He earned his doctor of jurisprudence at Vanderbilt University Law School in 2013, where he was development editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law,

2006

J. Robertson Clarke (’11L) is an

associate at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld L.L.P., in Washington, D.C.

2007 From l. to r.: John Embree ’75, Jim DeYoung ’70, Jim Lawson ’78 and Ted Martin ’80 gathered in Chicago for their annual fall paddle tennis W&L cup match. Lawson and Martin prevailed, in spite of Embree covering most of the court for an aging DeYoung. All four played on the W&L tennis team, although Martin did not last long.

22

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

Catherine Fulton Spivey has been named deputy district director for the 8th District of Texas by U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady. A former aide to Texas Congressman Michael Burgess and Nevada Congressman Joe Heck, she will work closely with local communities, leaders and constituents to identify ways Brady can serve them on a wide range of federal issues.

2008

Rebecca S. LeMoine received her

Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is now an assistant professor in the department of political science at

John Case ’86 (center), the CEO of Realty Income, helped celebrate his company’s 20th year as a NYSE-listed company by ringing the closing bell on the NYSE on Sept. 11, 2014.


content editor of the Obiter Dictum and president of the American Constitution Society. Between college and law school, he worked as an EMT with the Davidson County Rescue Squad.

Andrew S. Gerrish (’12L) joined Frith, Anderson & Peake P.C. as an associate in Roanoke. Chaz D. Klaes (’12L) of Houston,

Texas, is an associate attorney at Galloway, Johnson, Tompkins, Burr & Smith P.L.C.

T

Mary-Caitlin Ray (’12L) is an attorney at the Federal Aviation Administration, Office of the Chief Counsel, in Washington, D.C.

2011

Lauren J. Miller graduated from

Mercer University, Walter F. George School of Law, with magna cum laude honors and has joined Davis, Matthews & Quigley P.C.’s domestic relations and family law section. She represents clients in a variety of family law matters, including di-

Milestones

Jocelyn Bowman ’01, director of capital giving and communications at St. Luke’s School, traveled to KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, for 10 days to serve Makaphutu Children’s Village with nine fellow Redeemer Presbyterian volunteers from New York City. She wrote, “Fifty children call this colorful community home, while the local village suffers from staggering rates of HIV/AIDS, poverty and a poor educational system. Our volunteer team was tasked with a two-fold mission. One group taught a business class to local adults, and the other group planned activities for the children of Makaphutu during their winter break.” She thanks the “many W&L friends, professors and community members who helped me exceed the fundraising goal of $3,000. Together we raised a total of $5,100, and I will be forever grateful for those that made this heartwarming and perspective-shifting experience possible.” You can read more about her trip at jocelynbowman.tumblr.com.

vorce, child custody, child support, alimony, and equitable division of property.

Weddings

Lauren Travis ’08 to Matthew Everett on April 12, 2014, at the Winery at Bull Run, in Centreville, Virginia. Many alums from 2006–2009 attended. They reside in Arlington, Virginia, and work in Washington, D.C.

Let's Hear It for the Staff

he construction of the Center for Global Learning has included weeks of loud pounding and blasting. The skilled project manager for W&L, Carole Bailey, is doing a great job, balancing construction goals while handling those of us in the adjacent Alumni and Admissions offices with care and sensitivity. Talking with her recently made me pause to remember how lucky we are that the W&L culture of civility, care and respect runs across all parts of the campus team. I wish I had a dollar for every time a W&L staff person says, “Sure, how can I help?” This spirit illustrates the W&L attitude that each of us, regardless of title or job duties, is a partner in the special enterprise of educating and inspiring our students. The list of contributors is long. Let me give two examples. The Facilities Management people take great pride in maintaining the grounds all year, especially in sprucing up the campus before big weekends to give alumni tangible proof that their alma mater is well cared for. They exhibit the same pride in processing routine work orders timely and expertly all across campus.

Putting it mildly, the Dining Services team delivers top-shelf service and quality at hundreds of events large and small. They are pros whose work allows our guests to relax, enjoy and feel proud to be on campus. I will not forget the story of a student who had a gluten allergy. The Dining Services people got to know him over four years while cheerfully helping him manage his condition. During his Commencement festivities, he and his parents watched in amazement as a group of these W&L people surprised him with the hand delivery of his personal, gluten-free graduation cake. You can’t make it up! Our staff is also outstanding at practicing the speaking tradition and exhibiting a level of good cheer that many visitors find rare and special. Many alumni recall fondly a custodian, Co-op worker, campus security guard, fraternity or sorority advisor, cook, server or someone else. These four-year friends for life strengthen our ties to W&L by doing their particular jobs well and by taking a personal interest in our welfare. On behalf of thousands of alumni, three cheers for all Washington and Lee staff. They are a vital part of this institution, why it has flourished, and why it means so much to us. Be sure to thank them the next time you are here. —Beau Dudley ’74, ’79L Executive Director of Alumni Affairs

Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

23


Milestones Wedding Scrapbook

Hannah Kate Mitchell ’10 to John B. McWilliams ’11, on Nov. 8, 2014, in Lee Cha-

pel. The reception was held at Evans Hall, and the rehearsal dinner and after-rehearsal band party at the Robert E. Lee Hotel. Many alumni were in attendance, with the classes of 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 represented. The bridal party included Elizabeth Mann Rhodes ’10, Emily Whipple ’10, Hannah Murphy ’10, Meredith Mitchell ’10, Hardie Calvert Tatman ’10, Caroline Head ’10, Cristin Quinn ’10, Emily Wallace ’09, Kathleen Morphis Yabroudy ’09, Lauren Johnson ’08, Caroline Mann ’08 and Kristen Mallinson ’08. Groomsmen included Hank Scurry ’11, David Gibert ’11, John Hornbuckle ’11, Hugh Gainer ’11, John Ehrhardt ’11 and Pete Rathbone ’11.

W. Colton Payne ’10 to Briegel Moss ’12, on June 21, 2014, in Lee Chapel. The

reception was held at the Irvine Estate at House Mountain Inn. The wedding party included Lucas Payne ’18, Catherine McColloch ’12, Olivia Riffle ’12, Camie Carlock ’13 and Matt Mason ’10. The wedding was officiated by The Reverend Dr. John David “Jady” Koch ’00. Briegel and Colton live and work in Louisville, Kentucky, and are social chairs of the Louisville Alumni Chapter.

Robert J. Ahola ’60 to Susan Rachel De-

naker, on Aug. 23, 2014, in Malibu, California, where they reside. Robert is a member of the SAE fraternity and has worked and lived in Malibu as an author/playwright/ screenwriter for the last 20 years. Susan Denaker, schooled in dramatics at the West End in London, is also a classically trained pianist and still works on the stages of Los Angeles and San Diego.

Olivia Burr ’12 to Ross Koller, at Christ Church in Georgetown, on Nov. 1, 2014. They

live in New York City, where they met. The wedding party included Grace Clemow ’12, Liz Bell ’12 and Campbell Burr ’14, who was the maid of honor. The reception was held at the Chevy Chase Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Front row (l. to r.): Liz Bell ’12, Warren Nowlin ’84L, Campbell Burr ’14, Caroline Kingsbery ’13, the groom, the bride, Grace Clemow ’12, Emily Ackerman ’12, Cantey Hattink ’12, Allison Giblin ’13. Back row (l. to r.): Mac Davis ’12, Stewart Cory ’15, Woodie Hillyard ’12, Libby Currier ’12, Patrick Scully ’12, Lizzy Mann ’12, Thomas Underhill ’12, Andrew Detrick ’12, Lauren Borden ’12.

Lynn Bazzel ’10 to Samuel T. Wilmoth ’09, on Sept. 13, 2014, in Atlanta. Among the 70-plus Generals in attendance were father of the bride Frank Bazzel ’72, bridesmaids Rodes Bazzel ’03, Anne Russell Bazzel ’08, Sarah Diebold ’10, Cason Given ’09, Lindsay Strachan ’09, Susan Crook ’09, Katie Smith ’10, Ryan Giesen ’10 and Jenna Worsham ’10, and groomsmen Frank Bazzel Jr. ’02, Johnson Bazzel ’06, Crighton Allen ’11, Grant Russell ’10, Mike Gretchen ’09, David Straus ’09, Taylor Mitchell ’09 and Mike Cattaneo ’09. The groom’s brother, Daniel Wilmoth (VMI ’06), served as a best man. The couple reside in Atlanta.

24

W&L

Alumni

Magazine


Milestones Edward V. Arnold ’03, ’08L to Maia Schoonmaker, on June 7, 2014, at the groom’s family home in Baltimore. Alumni in attendance (l. to r.): Carter Deupree ’03, ’06L, Colin Ram ’08L, Andy Harding ’03, Bobby Littlehale ’03, ’08L, Chris Brady ’08L, Rebecca Merritt Deupree ’05, Jay Arnold ’99, Billy Arnold ’07, Chris Colby ’05, ’08L and Tommy Melanson ’03 (not pictured).

Megan A. Walker ’07 to William M. Kilpatrick ’05, on Nov. 16, 2013, in Seaside, Florida. They reside in Atlanta. The wedding party included Bradley Maroules ’07, Emily Barbour ’07, Megan Carter ’07, Caroline Kirk ’07, Kathryn Heaberg ’07, Stephanie Shafer ’07, Cara Nunnally ’07, David Larson ’05, Mark Woodward ’05, Henry Graham ’05, Tyler Archie ’05, Rory Dowling ’05 and Taylor Callaham ’05.

Serena T. Le ’05 to Robert L. Whitener IV ’07, on May 25, 2014, at Lee Chapel. The wedding party included (front, l. to r.) Jitendra Shrestha ’05, Jasmine Calix ’05 and Christine McAnulty ’05, the bride and groom, best man Adam Whitener ’07 and Peter Quackenbush ’05. Other alumni in attendance (back row, l. to r.) were Peter Djalaliev ’05, Jay ReVille ’87, father of the groom Rob Whitener ’79 and Robyn Konkel ’05. The couple reside in Gainesville, Florida.

Margaret Spalitta ’09 to William P. Holliday ’08, on Sept. 6, 2014, in New Orleans. There were over 100 W&L folks at the reception. They reside in Houston, Texas.

Births and Adoptions

Sarah A. Ryan-Knox ’94 and her husband, Alec, a son, Flynn, on Jan. 5,

2013.

Leah Schaefer Bennett ’00

and her husband, Christopher, a daughter, Marie Catherine, on May 5, 2014.

Scott, on May 20, 2014. He joins brother Jamie, 3. The family live in Wayne, Pa.

Matthew A. Thurlow ’00 and his wife, Jennifer, a daughter, Taylor Walsh, on April 28, 2014. Taylor joins brother Trevor. The family live outside of Philadelphia, where Matt is the executive director of the Decorative Arts Trust.

Brent O. Hilpert ’98 and Catherine Price Hilpert ’99, a son, Mason

Amanda McConnell Penitz ’02 and her husband, Chris, a daughter,

Lucinda Barnett Bennett ’97 and her husband, David, a son, Cooper

William, on Oct. 30, 2014. Sisters Molly and Mackenzie are enjoying having a baby brother.

Victoria Isabella, on Sept. 7, 2014. They reside in Cleveland, Ohio.

Blair Huffman Ellis ’03 and her husband, W. Chadwick Ellis ’03, a son, Oliver Redding, on Oct. 3, 2014. Oliver joins brothers Grayson and Everett. The family live in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where Chad is a scientist for Phillips 66, and Blair is a legal consultant and takes care of the kids. Elizabeth Igo LeRose ’03 and Garrett M. LeRose ’07, a son, Hudson

Michael, on Aug. 11, 2014. He is already a staple at Generals’ athletic events, cheering for the blue and white.

B. Bailey Edwards ’04 and his wife, Anna, a daughter, Mary Anna, on Sept.

3, 2014. They live in Washington, D.C. Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

25


Milestones

Helen Hughes Sanders ’04 and Ansel Sanders ’04, a daughter, Cary Stuart, on Jan. 11, in Memphis, Tenn. Stuart joins sisters Field and Walker.

Kenneth D. Hackman ’05 and Elizabeth Cone Hackman ’07, a

daughter, Beatrice Katherine, on June 9, 2014. The Hackmans reside in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Charlotte Grumley Orlando ’05 and Michael J. Orlando ’03, a

daughter, Juliette Lucia, on Oct. 25, 2014. The family live in Herndon, Va.

Christopher W. Weingartner ’05

and Rachel Turner Weingartner ’06, a son, Robert “Turner,” on July 14, 2014. They relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, from Birmingham, Alabama, where Chris is vice president of Founders Investment Banking, and Rachel is the social co-chair of the Birmingham alumni chapter.

Leye Moery Blount ’06, and her husband, Patrick, their third child,

Judkins Greenhow, on Sept. 6, 2014.

James R. Hart III ’06 and Leah Kershaw Hart ’06, a daughter, Vir-

ginia Grace Barnsley, on May 8, 2014. They reside in Chicago.

Christopher K. Salmon ’06 and his wife, Mairead, a son, Brayden

Christopher, on Sept. 23, 2014.

Michael T. Kuntz ’11 and his wife, Lindsay, a daughter, Reagan Leigh, on Sept. 2, 2014. They live in Boston.

The Texas KAs got together the weekend of Oct. 17-19, 2014, for a South Texas reunion. Scott Holstead ’92 hosted the event at his family’s ranch just south of San Antonio. The men of Alpha Chapter had a great time dove hunting and reconnecting. From l. to r.: Maury Purnell ’90, Clayton Kennington ’92, Jason Gordon ’92, Scott Holstead ’92, Robert Miggins ’93, Niko Lorentzatos ’91, Chad Hamilton ’93, Ed Hart ’91, Kevin Allen ’90, Mark Sikes ’91, Mike Whorton ’91 and James Jennings ’93. Photographer: Henry Sauer ’93

Obituaries

Frederick Strong ’35, of Beaufort, South Carolina, died Nov. 27, 2014. He served in the Navy during WWII as a lieutenant commander. He worked at Vick Chemical, West Point Pepperell, and McCalls Publishing as treasurer. He served as president of the Alzheimer’s Support Group, treasurer of Beaufort Little Theater and with Beaufort Harbormasters. In 1994, he received the Humanitarian of the Year Award for his work with CODA. He belonged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Howland Gary ’37, of Smithfield,

Virginia, died on July 31, 2012.

Joseph G. Kurth ’39, of Houston, died June 15, 2011.

William A. Smith ’39, of Raleigh,

Pika fraternity members gather and discuss the recent ’74 class reunion they attended, which promoted a renewal of friendships at Pawley’s Island. L. to r.: T. Berry Long, Rick “Doorstop” Jones, Neil Lutins, Johnny Russell and Joe Leary.

26

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

North Carolina, died Nov. 30, 2014. He served in the Navy during World War II on the USS Pocomoke. He worked for the state of Vermont as personnel officer, in the agency of environmental conservation and as director of classification and compensation in state personnel. He served on the first River Bend Town Council as mayor pro tem and on three subsequent councils.

Wilbur S. Metcalf ’40, ’48L, of

Lynchburg, died on Aug. 21, 2014. He served in the Army during World War II, as captain in the 17th Airborne Division in the European Theater. He was a special agent with the FBI for 22

years, agent in charge of the Pennsylvania Crime Commission for five years, and then a practicing attorney in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He served on the city council in Leymone, Pennsylvania, and volunteered with the Boy Scouts of America. He was father to Richard H. Metcalf ’74 and Robert G. Metcalf ’76. He belonged to Alpha Tau Omega.

Edwin H. Miller ’40, of Sarasota, Florida, died Sept. 5, 2012. Charles G. Thalhimer ’41, of

Richmond, died on Sept. 2, 2014. He spent 50 years in the family business, Thalhimers Department Stores, retiring as vice chairman. He received the 1992 Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award from the Capital Area District of the Virginia Council on Social Welfare. In 1994, he shared the Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award with his wife, Rhoda Rubin Thalhimer. He was inducted into the Greater Richmond Business Hall of Fame. Thalhimer served as campaign chair and board member for United Way Services and in leadership posts at several United Way agencies. He served on the Virginia Commonwealth University business school advisory board, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts board, the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond board and the Maymont board. He chaired Virginia Commonwealth University’s $52 million fund drive. He belonged to Zeta Beta Tau.


Edward Cabell Brand, a Roanoke Valley community activist who received an honorary doctorate of letters from W&L in 1999, died on Jan. 13. He was 91. He founded and chaired the Cabell Brand Center for Global Poverty and Resource Sustainability Studies, in Salem, Virginia, which collaborates with W&L’s Shepherd Poverty Program. Brand grew up in Salem and graduated from Virginia Military Institute. He served in the Army during World War II. He ran the family business, OrthoVent Shoe Co. (later called Stuart McGuire), until selling it to the Home Shopping Network. He also started and ran Brand-Edmonds Associates Advertising. In 1965, he founded Total Action Against Poverty (now called Total Action for Progress, or TAP), a community action agency in the Roanoke Valley. Among TAP’s programs were Head Start, the Child Health Investment Project (CHIP) and the Virginia Water Project. Brand also helped start the Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley; he founded the Brand Center in 1987. He wrote a book, “If Not Me, Then Who? How You Can Help with Poverty, Economic Opportunity, Education, Healthcare, Environment, Racial Justice, and Peace Issues in America.” Among his extensive community involvement, Brand served on the Alumni Advisory Committee of the Shepherd Program. W&L students have won scholarships from the Brand Center, including the Harlan and Debby Beckley Scholarship, which is underwritten by the recently retired director of the Shepherd Program, Harlan Beckley, and his wife, Debby.

C. Lane Sartor ’42 of Shreveport,

Louisianna, died on Sept. 24, 2014. He served in WWII as a base photo officer and aerial photo interpreter for the Air Force, including a post in China. He later served in the Air Force Reserve. Sartor worked for Barnsdall Oil Co., Pan Am Southern Corp., Wheless Drilling Co. as exploration manager, and board member and vice president of Tensas Delta Land Co. Upon retirement, he worked as an independent geologist with Ralph G. Richardson. Sartor was also the director and officer of his family-owned business, the C.W. Lane Co., in real estate development and management. He belonged to many professional organizations and was active in his community, receiving the Modisette Award from the Louisiana Library Association. He was uncle to Dr. R. Balfour Sartor ’71 and belonged to Kappa Alpha.

Markham A. Dickson ’43, of

Shreveport, Louisiana, died Oct. 17, 2014. He served in the Air Force during WWII, developing and producing weather instrumentation in support of the air operations in the Pacific. In Shreveport, he worked for the oil field equipment firm the Brewster Co. as production engineer and then became

president of the family businesses Shreveport Druggists and Morris & Dickson, retiring as chairman. He belonged to Kappa Alpha.

Frank Goodpasture Jr. ’43, of

Bristol, Virginia, died on Aug. 23, 2014. He served in WWII in the Navy, as executive officer on a landing ship tank during D-Day. He worked at Goodpasture Motor Co., a family business. He helped secure funding to build the Bristol Memorial Hospital. He was a long-time member of the Bristol Virginia Utilities Board and chair of the Chamber of Commerce. He belonged to Sigma Nu.

Hill Maury ’43, of Lexington, Kentucky, died Jan. 5. He served in the Army during WWII, attaining the rank of captain and receiving the Bronze Star. He was the business manager for the University of Kentucky Contract Team in Bogor, Indonesia, and worked for J.J.B. Hilliard/W.L. Lyons and Co. and with Lincoln Investment Planning. He chaired the re-election campaign of Woodford County Sen. Thruston B. Morton. He served one term in the Kentucky House of Representatives as a Republican from Woodford and Jessamine

Benjamin P. Brown Jr. ’44L, of Lewisburg, West Virginia, died Nov. 13, 2014. He practiced law in Summersville. In Parkersburg, he chaired the board and served as chief trust officer of Union Trust National Bank. In Lewisburg, he was a trust officer. He served on the board of governors of the West Virginia State Bar and was active in the Salvation Army.

Milestones

Cabell Brand, Recipient of Honorary Degree

counties and was a Kentucky delegate for Barry Goldwater to the 1964 Republican Convention. He belonged to Phi Delta Theta.

Edmund A. Donnan Jr. ’44, of Wilson, Wyoming, died Sept. 25, 2014. He belonged to Phi Kappa Psi. Robert P. Haley ’44, ’48L, of Alpharetta, Georgia, died Sept. 28, 2014. He belonged to Sigma Nu. Richard F. Hayes Jr. ’44, of Yonkers, New York, died Sept. 10, 2012. Richard L. Heard ’44, of Corpus Christi, Texas, died Nov. 16, 2014. He served as a sergeant in World War II. He worked for the Department of Labor for over 40 years. He was brother to John D. Heard ’53 and belonged to Kappa Sigma. Robert O. Crockett Jr. ’45, of Valley Center, California, died June 17, 2014. Robert M. Gill ’45, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, died Nov. 24, 2014.

Seymour M. Ingraham ’45, of

Bristol, Connecticut, died July 26, 2011. He belonged to Beta Theta Pi.

Thomas F. Leatherwood Jr. ’46,

of Memphis, Tennessee, died Dec. 15, 2013.

Harrison C. Eacho Jr. ’47, of

King William, Virginia, died Nov. 2, 2014. He served in the Navy during WWII. He belonged to the McNeal Society and was an active member of the Central Virginia Football Officials Association. He belonged to Pi Kappa Phi.

Kenneth E. Hogeland ’47, of

Norwell, Massachusetts, died on Oct. 11, 2011.

Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

27


Milestones

Carlton H. Segars ’47, of Columbia, South Carolina, died on Sept. 4, 2014. He served in the Army Air Corps during WWII. He worked for Eastern Airlines and as a partner in E.H. Segars & Co. in Lamar, South Carolina.

William S. Jeffries ’48, of Ruxton, Maryland, died on Aug. 8, 2014. He was manager of general administration and a general partner at Alex. Brown & Sons investment bank.

Robert H. Carr Jr. ’49, of Foley, Alabama, died on Nov. 21, 2011. He belonged to Sigma Nu. Thomas J. East II ’49, of Norfolk, Virginia, died on Dec. 12, 2012. Douglas S. Higgins Jr. ’49, of

Richmond, died on Aug. 20, 2014. He served in the Army during World War II, in the Pacific. He was a film news photographer for WDBJ and a private photographer. With Christ Episcopal Church’s Social Club, he organized dinners for persons with special needs. He was father-in-law to R. Noel Clinard ’68, ’75L.

George H. Gray ’50L, of Chesapeake, Virginia, died Dec. 8, 2014. He worked as a machinist apprentice for Newport News Shipbuilding Dry Dock Co. During WWII, he served in the Army, earning the Bronze Star and the Combat Infantry Badge. He joined the Virginia Army National Guard as a first lieutenant, assistant staff judge advocate. He served as deputy adjutant general of Virginia and brigadier general. He graduated from the Army Command & General Staff College and the Army War College. He was a partner in the law firm of Outland, Gray, O’Keefe and Hubbard in Chesapeake. He was father to Susan Gray Winstead ’79L and Ellen Gray Owen ’85L. Harold W. Kerr Jr. ’50, of Scar-

borough, Maine, died Oct. 25, 2014. He served in the Navy at the end of WWII. After owning a diaper service and then a commercial laundry in Newark, New Jersey, he served as an executive in the insurance industry.

William M. Lewis Jr. ’50, of

Wytheville, Virginia, died March 24, 2014. He served in WWII on a B-25

28

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

Earle P. Brown ’44, Holder of Distinguished Alumnus Award Earle P. Brown ’44, of Potomac, Maryland, who received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from W&L in 1999, died Oct. 1, 2014. He belonged to Pi Kappa Phi. During World War II, he served as a Navy PT boat commander in the South Pacific, receiving the Bronze Star (with combat V) and five battle stars. He served in the Navy’s Office of Public Information. In 1952, he founded his public relations and advertising agency, Earle Palmer Brown, a major company of 50 years. He also worked as a reporter for the Richmond News-Leader, an associate editor of Time, Inc.’s Architectural Forum and executive secretary of the Society of Industrial Realtors. He served as chairman of the Middle Atlantic Council of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and as president of the National Federation of Advertising Agencies. He was inducted into the Washington Business Hall of Fame and the Washington Public Relations Society Hall of Fame and received the American Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal. He was past chairman of the Maryland State Chamber of Commerce and received its 1995 Public Service Award. He also served as a consultant to two U.S. senators and six representatives from Maryland. In 1999, he completed two five-year terms on the board of regents of the University System of Maryland. He served as a director of the Greater Washington Board of Trade and chaired its Maryland State PAC. He served on the W&L Communications Advisory Board and the editorial advisory board of Trusteeship Magazine. For many years, he wrote a weekly column for the Maryland Gazette Papers. He was father to Jeremy E. Brown ’69 and A. Scott Brown ’74 and grandfather to Amy P. Brown ’07.

Mitchell as a top turret gunner, with his unit earning five Bronze Stars. He worked at Pine Chevrolet in Pineville, West Virginia, as the owner and dealer until 1982.

Ernest T. Love Jr. ’50, of Anchor-

age, Alaska, died May 8, 2014. He was father to Craig D. Love ’89 and Ernest T. Love III ’82.

Neal E. McNeill Jr. ’50L, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, died Dec. 2, 2014. He served in the Army during WWII. He was a Tulsa city attorney, and he belonged to Beta Theta Pi. Robert Van Buren ’50, of Palm Beach, Florida, died on Aug. 20, 2014. He was a descendant of President Martin Van Buren. He served in the Army during WWII. While at W&L, he established the Robert Van Buren Scholarship Endowment. He started his career at the Chemical Bank in New York City, then moved to Midlantic Bank in New Jersey as president, then chairman of the board. He served as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He also served on many corporate boards, as well as president of the board of The Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield,

where he and his wife established the Van Buren Intensive Care Unit. After retiring, he continued his philanthropy through the Van Buren Family Foundation. He was brother to William B. Van Buren III ’44 and father to Robert S. Van Buren ’82. He belonged to Phi Kappa Psi.

J. Arthur Wood Jr. ’50, of Charlottesville, died Nov. 4, 2014. He served as a cartoonist at papers in Washington, D.C., Richmond, and Pittsburgh. He was a founding member and former president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. He was best known as a collector of original cartoon art and gave over 40,000 drawings to the Library of Congress. He was father to The Rev. J. Arthur Wood III ’76 and belonged to Phi Gamma Delta. John H. Young ’50, of Roanoke, died Sept. 21, 2014. He served in the Navy and practiced law in Roanoke. He belonged to Phi Kappa Psi. Thomas J. Condon, Jr. ’51L, of Woodbridge, Connecticut, died Oct. 7, 2014. He served in the Army in WWII, in the European Theater, receiving the European Theater


The Hon. J. English Ford ’51L, of

Martinsville, Virginia, died Dec. 24, 2014. He served as the area’s juvenile and domestic relations courts judge. He started the Anchor Home for first-time offenders and a summer work force for troubled youth. He served in the Marines during WWII and belonged to the Sons of the American Revolution.

William C. Hagan ’51, of Roanoke, died on Sept. 10, 2012. Following his military service, he worked for a local Ford dealership. He was uncle to Robert C. Hagan Jr. ’80L.

Thomas E. Henry ’51, of Fort Pierce, Florida, died Feb. 2, 2014. He served in the Navy during WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He was also a dedicated member of Phoenix Hose Company No. 1 Babylon Fire Department. He was brother to the Hon. Patrick Henry ’59L. John A. Herring ’51, of Richmond, died on April 20, 2012.

Robert J. Ingram ’51, ’53L of Radford, Virginia, died on Sept. 29, 2014. He began his career as an Army JAG officer at Fort Meade, Maryland, before joining Gilmer, Sadler, Ingram, Sutherland & Hutton, serving as the managing partner. He received many recognitions, honors and awards. He also devoted himself to community

17

Brooks Brothers Check Shirt $105

service. He was grandfather to Robert S. Day ’12 and belonged to Delta Tau Delta.

James A. O’Keeffe Jr. ’51, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, died on Oct. 1, 2014. He worked in print journalism, hotel/motel management and as a realtor/appraiser and provided active service to his communities. He belonged to Sigma Chi.

Milestones

of Operations Ribbon with three battle stars, the Combat Infantryman Badge, two Bronze Stars, an award from the French government, the Army of Occupation medal and the Good Conduct medal. He also served overseas in Japan; he remained in the reserves, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He served as a prosecuting attorney in the Ansonia City Court; as unemployment compensation commissioner for the 5th District; and as a practicing attorney with Herbert Savitt in Condon & Savitt P.C.

John T. Sutton Jr. ’51L, of Stevens-

ville, Virginia, died Dec. 24, 2014. He served in the Army Air Corps during WWII. He helped run John T. Sutton Chrysler Plymouth and had a career in real estate, owning John Sutton and Co. Realtors.

Thomas H. Andrews Jr. ’52, of Springfield, Virginia, died Dec. 28, 2012. He was president and owner of the former Thomas H. Andrews Construction in Alexandria. He belonged to Pi Kappa Phi.

49 Legacy Hats $19.99

Washington and Lee

University Store Fossil Trident Watch $160

Smathers & Branson Needlepoint Pillows $135 each

celebrating a place like no other

View our full catalogue online at go.wlu.edu/store or contact us at (540) 458-8633.

Trident Cookie Cutter $9.99

www.facebook.com/wlustore Revenues from the University Store support W&L, including the Alumni Office.

Nike Navy Dri Fit Tee $32.99

Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

29


Milestones

Thomas H. Bruguiere ’52, of Roseland, Virginia, died on Sept. 30, 2014. He served in the Air Force for four years. He belonged to Delta Upsilon.

Stanley B. Funk Jr. ’52, of

Richmond, died on June 3, 2014. After serving in the Army during the Korean War, he returned to Ashland, Virginia, and worked in mortgage banking, real estate and appraisals. He belonged to Phi Gamma Delta.

Clifton T. Hunt Jr., ’52, of Dallas, died on Jan. 7, 2013.

James F. Ingalls ’52, of Bedford, Indiana, died Oct. 9, 2014. He was an Army veteran. With his father and brother, he started the Ingalls Stone Co. He served on the Bedford City Planning Commission and was the drummer with the Residue Band and a member of several organizations, including the American Legion. He belonged to Phi Gamma Delta. John P. Irwin Jr. ’52, of Cleveland, Ohio, died March 3, 2011. He belonged to Phi Gamma Delta.

J. Joseph Kindred III ’52, of Pema-

quid, Maine, died Sept. 19, 2014. At age three, he contracted polio, which led to a lifelong passion to eradicate polio in the world. He worked as a trust officer for Manufacturers Hanover Trust in New York (Chase Bank). He served on various committees, including the Rotary Foundation, whose main program is Polio Plus. He was also a member and trustee of the Hagedon Trust. He belonged to Delta Upsilon.

Dr. W.J. Kenneth Rockwell ’52, of Graham, North Carolina, died Nov. 24, 2014. He served in the Navy. He joined the Department of Psychiatry at Duke Medical Center. He specialized in eating disorders and was instrumental in building the student mental health program. He completed his career working in geriatrics at John Umstead Hospital. He belonged to Beta Theta Pi. Lewis A. Dixon Jr., ’53, of Norfolk, Virginia, died on Feb. 1, 2011.

Dr. Harry A. Fozzard ’53, of Dana, North Carolina, died Dec. 9, 2014. He was the Otho S.A. Sprague Distin 30

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

Earl T. Edwards ’69, Systems Engineer at W&L Earl T. Edwards Jr. ’69, of Lexington, died Nov. 15, 2014. He earned a B.S. in physics and engineering. Even as a student, he spent time in the Computer Center, the predecessor to Information Technology Services. After graduation, he taught science and coached basketball at Lexington High School, worked at Bluebird Bus Co. and worked at Structural Software. He joined W&L in 1987 to work in Information Technology Services, working first with the Williams School, then with other clients across campus. He co-coached the women’s basketball team with Barry Machado in 1992, when it was still a club sport. He also worked on the faculty-staff committee for the Shoulders of Giants Campaign Cabinet in 1991. Edwards liked to golf and held office positions in the Shenandoah Valley Bowling Association, but most of all he loved watching his grandchildren play sports. His late mother, Bea Edwards, retired from W&L after working here from 1976 to 1997. He is survived by his wife, Sharon (who worked at W&L from 1988 to 2005), his daughter, Khristi, and his four grandchildren.

guished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago. He served in the Navy Medical Corps and remained in the reserves, retiring as lieutenant commander. At the University of Chicago, he was joint chief of cardiology, director of the Biomedical Computer Lab, chief of the Graduate Committee on Cell Physiology and chairman of the Department of Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences. He pioneered in the establishment of coronary care units, use of beta blockers in management of myocardial infarction, computerized rhythm monitoring and invasive cardiac electrophysiology. He served on a number of professional organizations, was a Fulbright Scholar, a member of the US-USSR Scientific Exchange Program in Medicine and a visiting professor at Oxford University. He was brother to George B. Fozzard ’62 and belonged to Kappa Sigma.

Robert J. Maccubbin ’53, of Matthews, North Carolina, died Dec. 20, 2014. He served in the Navy as a pilot. He worked at Curt L. Rogers Co., a food brokerage company. He belonged to Delta Upsilon. Thomas L. Maker ’53, of Venice,

Florida, died Dec. 28, 2014. He served in the Marines and the Army. He had a long career in sales management in the textile industry. He belonged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Isham M. Sheffield III ’53, ’55L, of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico,

died Nov. 2, 2014. He worked in the insurance industry and in various civic endeavors in Atlanta. He was uncle to David S. Martin ’76 and belonged to Phi Delta Theta.

Jerome R. Brown ’54, of Barrington, Illinois, died on Feb. 2, 2014. He served in the Army Reserves as a medical aidman at Fort Benning, Georgia. He belonged to Beta Theta Pi. Joseph H. Crute, Jr. ’54, of Raleigh, North Carolina, died on Sept. 5, 2014. He taught English and history and coached high school football. He worked in pharmaceutical sales, was a businessman and and published several books on the Civil War. He and his wife owned and renovated Derwent Plantation, the home where Robert E. Lee lived before coming to Washington College. He belonged to Pi Kappa Alpha. Benjamin Frankel ’54, of Philadel-

phia, died on June 3, 2014. Along with his brothers, he expanded EJ Frankel Enterprises, founded by his father, into a large real estate development company.

Wallace C. Guest ’54, of Bedford Hills, New York, died Nov. 23, 2014. He served in the Marines during WWII and the Korean War, receiving 22 medals and a Purple Heart. He was the proprietor of X-Act Copy of Westchester. He belonged to Delta Upsilon.


George Evans Goodwin Jr. ’39, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and public relations executive who received an honorary doctor of letters from W&L in 1997, died on Jan. 21, in Atlanta. He served in the Navy during WWII, receiving a Purple Heart. He belonged to Delta Tau Delta. After the war, with a B.A. in journalism and mass communications, he began his career as a newspaper reporter with The Atlanta Georgian and then moved to The Atlanta Journal. In 1947, he wrote a series of articles on voter fraud in the Georgia governor’s race, which won him the first Pulitzer Prize in the category of Distinguished Local Reporting. The award was also the first Pulitzer for The Atlanta Journal. After leaving the newspaper business, Goodwin served as executive director of Central Atlanta Improvement Association, now Central Atlanta Progress, from 1952 to 1954. From 1954 to 1964, he served as a vice president of The First National Bank of Atlanta. In 1965, Goodwin opened the Atlanta office of Bell and Stanton Public Relations, headquartered in New York. Later Manning, Selvage & Lee, and now known as MS&L Worldwide, it was Atlanta’s first national public relations firm. Goodwin was a member of the Public Relations Hall of Fame at the University of Georgia’s Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communications and of the Atlanta Press Club’s Hall of Fame. His contributions to the PR industry are memorialized by two awards in his name: MS&L’s grant for community service and the award for volunteer service from the Georgia chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Goodwin was instrumental in forming the Atlanta Arts Alliance, chairing the city’s observance of the nation’s bicentennial, and championing the racial integration of the public libraries in 1959. He led the Forward Atlanta project to revitalize the downtown in the 1960s, and was a sponsor of the historic Atlanta dinner honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after King received the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. He also played a major role in creating MARTA, Atlanta’s public transit system. Goodwin was the father of Clark Milstead Goodwin ’69.

Dr. Thomas J. Kenny ’54, of Balti-

more, died Oct. 19, 2014. He was an Army veteran, a retired University of Maryland School of Medicine pediatric psychologist, and an expert in children’s behavioral problems. He was a charter member of the Society of Pediatric Psychology and served as its president. He belonged to Sigma Nu.

Dr. Henry D. Wagener ’54, of

Portland, Oregon, died Nov. 1, 2014. He served in Army counterintelligence and taught at the Citadel. He belonged to Phi Kappa Psi.

John E. Hughes ’55, of Staunton, died

Oct. 17, 2014. He wrote a monthly column for the Lexington News-Gazette, “Random Ramblings,” in which he offered his observations about, among other topics, growing up in Roanoke, attending W&L in the 1950s and working in journalism. He also worked at The Roanoke Times, The Charlotte Observer and W&L as sports information director and curator of Lee Chapel. He and his wife, Cynthia, had a court reporting business, Rockbridge

Reports. He served in the Army. He was cousin to Francis A. Hare ’50 and belonged to Kappa Sigma.

Conrad H. McEachern Jr. ’55, of Dallas, died on Aug. 21, 2014. He served in the Air Force and the Louisiana Air National Guard. He joined American Airlines and flew as an international captain and airman. He was an advocate for Vietnam POW airmen. In retirement, he flew his Cessna 182 for Angel Flight missions. He belonged to Kappa Alpha. Richard C. Miller ’55, of Cleveland,

Ohio, died May 4, 2014.

Alexander Eagles II ’56, of Fon-

tana, California, died on June 26, 2010. He belonged to Delta Upsilon.

Leonard C. Greenebaum ’56, ’58L, of Charleston, South Carolina,

died on Sept. 11, 2014. He practiced law in Washington, D.C., at Baker & Hostetler. He served as a 2nd Lt. USAR and served in active duty in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was a mem

Milestones

George Evans Goodwin Jr. ’39, Honorary Degree Recipient

ber of the Mentors Association of the Citadel, supported the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and served as the director of the Cold War Submarine Memorial Foundation. He also served on the citizens advisory board of the Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center and the board of visitors of Roper St. Francis Healthcare. He was father to Steven I. Greenebaum ’88 and Cathy Greenebaum Borten ’95L. He belonged to Zeta Beta Tau.

H. Bennett Meador Jr. ’56, ’60L, of Bassett, Virginia, died Oct. 29, 2014. He served in the Army. He worked at BB&T Trust Services in Martinsville, Virginia. He served as the executive director of the Virginia and Whitby B. Sale Foundation and did pro bono legal work, specifically as a guardian ad litem for the Henry County Court system. He belonged to Kappa Sigma. E. Rhyne Cannon Jr. ’57, of Char-

lotte, North Carolina, died on Aug. 25, 2012. He was a sales agent and manager at John Hancock Insurance Co. He was a member of the Charlotte City Club, Ducks Unlimited, and past member and president of the Charlotte Exchange Club. He belonged to Kappa Alpha.

Lawrence D. Kellogg Jr. ’57, of Miramar Beach, Florida, died Nov. 2, 2012. James M. Bailey Jr. ’59, of Winter

Garden, Florida, died Sept. 13, 2013. He belonged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Frank S. Dillingham ’59, of High Point, North Carolina, died on Dec. 24, 2013.

M. Daniel Miller III ’59, of Marianna, Arkansas, died Oct. 9, 2014. He served with the Arkansas National Guard, as president of Lee County Farm Bureau, as chairman of the American Farm Bureau’s National Cotton Advisory Committee, on the Arkansas Farm Bureau board of directors, as president of Cotton Council International, as a delegate to the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development and on the board of directors of All Saint’s Episcopal School in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He was the president of Miller Lumber Co. and president of Miller Farms. Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

31


Milestones

He also was a justice of the peace. He was father to Duncan L. Miller ’92 and belonged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Dr. Philip E. Palmer ’59, of New-

ton Centre, Massachusetts, died Oct. 6, 2014. He served as a flight surgeon in the Navy. He was on the staff of the pathology department at Tuft’s New England Medical Center, where he published research on alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Subsequently, he was chief pathologist and director of the clinical laboratory at the Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Massachusetts. He was brother to Laurence

C. Palmer ’54 and belonged to Phi Gamma Delta.

Sigmund Jr. ’03 and belonged to Zeta Beta Tau.

Donald W. Sigmund ’59, of Washington, D.C., died Oct. 14, 2014. He worked for The Meltzer Group. He was a life member of the Million Dollar Roundtable as well as several other professional organizations. He served on the corporate advisory board of Second Genesis, the advisory board of Citizens Bank and Trust Co., as an incorporator of Washington Health Care Corp., and as president of the Washington, D.C., W&L Alumni Chapter. He was father to D. Wright

John P. Gardner ’60 died on July 21, 2012. He belonged to Delta Upsilon.

Dr. Llewellyn L. Henson III ’60, of Melbourne, Florida, died on May 2, 2012. Frank A. Jacobs ’61L, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, died Aug. 12, 2012. Dr. Philip F.J. Macon ’62, of Lan-

caster, California, died Jan. 1, 2013. He belonged to Delta Upsilon.

Washington and Lee Traveller

Why I Like W&L Traveller

Dalmatian Coast Cruise • Oct. 2–10, 2014

I

Upcoming 2015 Trips

n 2010, after retirement, off I went on my first Traveller trip. I was hooked. I have since traveled once or twice every year with Traveller. Why should you go? For you right-brain types: The simple answer is, you will have lots of fun. For you left-brain types: There are four reasons why you will have fun. 1. You will see new places. On the Dalmatian Coast cruise (Oct. 2–10, 2014), I saw the emperor Diocletian’s palace in Split. The likelihood of me traipsing to Croatia on my own is between slim and none, but with W&L it was a piece of cake. I got to see Sarajevo, Dubrovnik, Venice and numerous islands, too. 2. You will learn new things. If you stop learning, it’s like a living death. I knew nothing about Croatia, and only that the archduke got shot in Sarajevo. But with lectures on the ship by Lamar Cecil and Wayne Thompson, I know quite a bit more about those countries.

32 32

W&L

Alumni

This unexpected bonus is #1 on my list for going on W&L trips. You are meeting people with a similar interest in lifelong learning and many who know a lot more about a subject than you do. You will learn not just from the professors. So there it is. The Traveller Program is a great way to make new friends, learn new things, things and andsee seenew new places. Hope to see you soon. —by Harry Landsiedel ’64

3. You will reconnect with old classmates. It’s fun to share a new experience and reminisce about W&L. 4. You will make new friends. There is something particularly convivial about W&L alumni that is hard to explain, but it’s real. You will experience that fellowship your first time. The next time, you will see familiar faces and have a mini-reunion. Fully 70% 70 percent of my fellow of my fellow guests guests on the on the Dalmatian Dalmatian cruise were cruiserepeat were travelers, repeat atravelers, great endorsement. a great endorsement.

wlu.edu/special-programs • Follow us on Facebook April 18–26

Flavors of Provence

May 22–June 3

The Danube by River Ship

June 13–21

Leonardo’s Milan and the Villas of Lake Como

Magazine

• spclprog@wlu.edu July 31–Aug. 7

Southeast Islands of Alaska

Aug. 23–Sept. 5

A Mediterranean Odyssey

Sept. 7–15

Shakespeare’s England


lahassee, Florida, died Oct. 24, 2014. He earned a degree in accounting from Florida State University. An active member of St. Peter’s Anglican Church, he worked at the church bookstore and Grace Mission. He belonged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Walker Y. Ronaldson Jr. ’63, of New Orleans, died on Aug. 19, 2014. He was an editor at Oxford University Press, then operated the St. Charles Gallery in New Orleans. He founded the New Orleans Chapter of the English Speaking Union and served as president. He was also an active member of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, the Aztec Club, the Society of Colonial Wars Louisiana, the Churchill Society, the Roundtable Club and many other civic, cultural and historical societies. Charles E. Hamilton III ’66L, of

Luray, Virginia, died June 29, 2014. He was an attorney for the Department of Justice for 35 years. He was cousin to Frederick H. Belden Jr. ’60.

Dr. Ulf K. Kristoferson ’66, of Uppsala, Sweden, died Oct. 13, 2014. Charles T. Milne ’68, of Warne,

North Carolina, died Nov. 6, 2011.

Richard H. Nash Jr. ’68, of Lou-

isville, Kentucky, died Nov. 2, 2014. While at W&L, he served on the Executive Committee all four years and as student body president. He joined his family’s law practice at Nash, Gildersleeve and Nash. He served as chief judge of Jefferson County Juvenile Court. He represented the Housing Authority of Louisville and other clients as a trial lawyer and mediator. His son joined him in practice. The Louisville Bar Association named him Family Law Practitioner of the Year in 2009. He was father to Sarah Nash Bumpas ’00 and Rodes Nash Bazzel ’03. He belonged to Beta Theta Pi.

Ronald G. Kinzler ’69L, of Northfield, New Jersey, died on Sept. 11, 2014. He was a practicing attorney in Somers Point.

Benjamin A. Williams III ’71L,

of Hampton, Virginia, died Nov. 15, 2014. He was an advocate for the city and served for many years as a

member and chair of the Hampton Industrial Development Authority. He was named the state’s Economic Development Volunteer of the Year by the Virginia Economic Developers Association. He served on many other boards, including the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Virginia Living Museum and as chairman of the board of trustees of Hampton Roads Academy. He practiced law for Patten, Wornom, Hatten & Diamonstein. He then worked as CEO of Basic Inc. of Newport News.

Joseph A. Garten ’72, of Midlo-

thian, Virginia, died on Aug. 14, 2014. He worked as director of psychological services at the Psychiatric Institute of Richmond, practiced clinical psychology, served as a managed care coordinator and partner at Horizons Inc. and worked as manager of behavioral health operations and as director of behavioral health services at WellPoint. He was brother to Charles T. Garten Jr. ’70 and William P. Garten ’75. He belonged to Phi Kappa Sigma.

John Charles Dovel ’73, of Freehold, New Jersey, died Nov. 3, 2014. He was a licensed clinical psychologist and maintained a private practice in Red Bank, New Jersey. He was a past president of the MonmouthOcean Psychological Association. He belonged to Psi Upsilon. A. Greer Lee ’75, of Houston, died

Nov. 13, 2014. Lee was vice president of sales at Scoggin Blue. For Hotel Brokers International, he served on various committees, the board of directors and as the association’s president in 2002. He earned the designation of a Certified Hotel Broker (CHB) and the program’s Commonwealth Title Award for Excellence. He taught portions of the CHB Program curriculum.

James M. Crytzer ’77, of Knoxville, Tennessee, died Nov. 24, 2014. He belonged to Phi Kappa Psi.

Stuart L. Craig Jr. ’78, of Wilmington, Delaware, died Oct. 8, 2014. He received an M.B.A. from Fordham University. William J. Evans ’78, of Boynton Beach, Florida, died on Aug. 29, 2014. In his career in finance, he worked for a number of companies, including Transamerica, AXA and Genworth.

Ellen L. Farnum ’78L, of Charlottesville, died Oct. 28, 2014. She practiced law, specializing in stocks and bonds, in New York City. Walter R. Devine ’86, of Lovettsville, Virginia, died Oct. 25, 2014. He was a ninth-grade reading specialist and honors English teacher at Briar Woods High School in Ashburn. He was also a teacher-consultant with the National Writers Project. He belonged to Phi Kappa Psi.

Reunion

Wallis L. Walker Jr. ’62, of Tal-

Karen R. Hammond-Nash ’87L, of South Bend, Indiana, died Oct. 9, 2014. She practiced law in Michigan, serving as an assistant prosecuting attorney and on the staff of the Michigan State Legislature. She was director of the Historical Preservation Commission and a volunteer for the Republican Party, serving as a delegate to the Republican State Convention. William P. Sears ’94L, of Washington, D.C., died on Nov. 28, 2014. He was a congressional staff assistant for Rick Santorum, where he focused on transportation law, election reform and Senate procedure. In 2001, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as chief counsel to the Federal Transit Administration. He started a consulting practice, The Peterson Group, where he guided public- and private-sector clients on statutory and regulatory matters related to transportation. Michael A. Tolliver ’96L, of

Raleigh, North Carolina, died on Dec. 24, 2014.

Other Deaths

Mary Jane Pettyjohn Stubbs,

who retired from W&L after 32 years as a guide in Lee Chapel, died on Oct. 19, 2014, in Lexington. She worked full time from 1967 to 1999 and as a temporary guide until 2003.

Ann McNutt Lothery, who retired from W&L after a 30-year career, died on Dec. 15, 2014, in Waynesboro, Virginia. She began her W&L career in 1951 in the ROTC Office, then worked in the Business Office as a student loan accountant. She retired in 1981. Her late husband, Thomas P. Lothery, was an assistant professor of physics at W&L from 1938 until his death in 1954. Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

33


Reunion

A full complement of Five-Star Generals. Charlie Guthrie ’39 (front row, first on the left) and Bill Jenks ’39, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of History Emeritus at W&L (not pictured), celebrated their 75th reunion. (You read that right — 75 years.)

festive five-stars

Five-Star Generals, including members of the Classes of 1954 (60th reunion) and 1959 (55th reunion), gathered in Lexington from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, 2014. Class Agent David Meese ’59 (far left) accepts two trophies from Lauren Jensen ’02, assistant director of annual giving, and Dennis Cross, vice president for University advancement. The Bierer Trophy goes to the undergraduate class (excluding those celebrating a milestone reunion five to 50 years postgraduation) with the highest percentage of members in The President’s Society; the Class of 1959 had 9.9% membership. The Washington Trophy is awarded to the undergraduate class (excluding those celebrating a milestone reunion five to 50 years post-graduation) that raises the largest amount of money; the Class of 1959 raised $120,731.55.

Distinguished Alumnus Award Recipients

These four accomplished men received our Distinguished Alumnus Award during their reunions. From l. to r.: John D. Bassett III ’59, president, CEO and COO, Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co.; Charles D. Hurt Jr. ’59, trust and estate attorney; Paul Maslansky '54, film producer; and Overton P. “Opie” Pollard '54, '57L, public defender. 34

W&L

Alumni

Magazine


Reunion The Class of 2004 smiles for the camera after their brunch.

Rewind: Young Alumni Weekend 2014

Here’s another look at the Classes of 2004 and 2009 at Young Alumni Weekend last September. We’re running them again because we accidentally swapped the captions in the Fall 2014 issue; our apologies to the members of these two classes.

The Class of 2009 during the Young Alumni Weekend brunch.

COMING SOON Alumni Weekend April 30 ­– May 3, 2015 An all-out extravaganza, Alumni Weekend is the University’s signature event held each spring. Alumni who graduated from W&L 11 to 50 years ago are invited to attend. Those celebrating their 50th, 45th, 40th, 35th, 30th, 25th, 20th and 15th reunions have additional class-only events. For more information visit go.wlu.edu/aw

Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

35


Along the Colonnade

Washington and Lee University Annual Financial Report, 2013–2014

This report provides a snapshot of our financial state and outlines how we use our fiscal resources to provide a rich and rewarding experience for students and faculty. Figures are as of June 30, 2014, unless otherwise specified.

highlights

Total endowment net assets and funds held in trust by others ended at a new high-water mark of $1.478 billion. Endowment per student increased to approximately $650,000 from $585,000. The University approved the smallest percentage increase in tuition and fees in the last 50 years with an increase of just 2.50%. Completed the renovation of Robinson Hall, Gaines Hall and the IQ Center, all integral elements of the University’s Strategic Plan. Annual Fund reached new highs in both total raised, $9.32 million, and undergraduate alumni participation, 54.7%. Honor Our Past, Build Our Future reached the $464.8 million mark toward the $500 million goal with one year remaining.

◗ ◗

◗ ◗

Set new highs for undergraduate enrollment with 1,852 FTEs, while Law School enrollment was at 422 students. Gross tuition and fees topped $99 million, while net tuition and fees revenues held steady at $59.4 million. University grants and scholarships were awarded to 49% of the undergraduates. Set new record number of students reached with institutional grant and scholarship support at 909 undergraduates. The percentage of undergraduates with University grants or scholarships has increased from 39% to 49% over the last six years. Faculty compensation, strongly supported through the Lenfest Challenge, stands at 94.6% of the mean of the Top 25 peer group of schools.

FIGURE 2

ASSETS Washington and Lee experienced continued growth in assets. From $1.740 billion, they grew to $1.918 billion. In the past five years, the University’s assets have grown by $600 million. Two areas have led this growth: endowment and physical facilities (Figure 1).

Endowment Value ($ Millions) June 30, 2014

FIGURE 1

Assets—June 30, 2014 $1.918 Billion Other Investments 5% Contributions Receivable 3% Unspent Bond Proceeds 1% Other 2% Plant, Net of Depreciation 12%

Endowment 72%

ENDOWMENT: It comprises gifts held in the investment pool and Trusts Held by Others. The University’s aggregate endowment grew to $1.478 billion (Figure 2). This was an increase from $1.345 billion. Strong investment markets that yielded returns of 14.7% on the internally managed endow 36

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

ment funds and inflows of gifts more than offset the allocation from endowment for operating support of $41.6 million. Trusts Held by Others increased by $22 million, while the internally held endowment grew by $110 million. Changes in endowment value reflect gifts and additions, distributions for spending and appreciation from the underlying investment funds. Gifts and appreciation accounted for an increase in funds available by $152.0 million, while distributions for spending totaled $41.6 million within the internally controlled portion of the endowment. For


LIABILITIES

They total $246.7 million. Three types of liabilities compose 92% of this total: debt, future annuity payments and postretirement benefits (Figure 3).

FIGURE 3

Liabilities—June 30, 2014 $246.7 Million

Along the Colonnade

Trusts Held by Others, appreciation accounted for $33.8 million, and distributions for spending totaled $11.6 million. Returns on a nominal basis for endowment funds with external managers exceeded the University’s long-term expected return (14.7% versus 7.5%). Over the longer term, the annual return of 8.28% for the 10-year period ending June 30, 2014, places the endowment in the top 30 percent of endowment performance (as measured by the Mellon Trust Endowment Universe). If the long-term goal of endowment management is to achieve equity-like returns at lesser volatility, then we believe that the University’s Investment Committee has achieved that result, since the University’s endowment over the past 35 years has bettered the S&P 500 by 1.75% on an annual compounded basis. PHYSICAL FACILITIES: The second largest financial investment. It does not appreciate over time but requires constant upkeep and preservation. At the same time, the investment in facilities is necessary to continue to create stimulating learning and social environments for our students and faculty. The University finished the renovation of Robinson Hall, the fourth of the five-phase renovation of the Colonnade; renovations to Gaines Hall for first-year student housing; the IQ Center in the Science Addition, which received significant funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and the renovations to Belfield, the home built by Dean Frank Gilliam, and now as the premier guesthouse on campus. We began the Center for Global Learning (duPont Hall), the Graham-Lees Residence Hall renovations, and the second phase of the fraternity-housing renewal. Continued investment in facilities will be structured to meet the University’s strategic objectives over the next five years: the final Colonnade project, Tucker Hall; renovations to Stemmons Plaza; a natatorium that will replace the pool in Warner/Doremus; a rebuilt Warner facility, with improvements to Doremus; alterations to the Law School; and a third-year housing community above Wilson Field. Our approach to funding these significant projects will rely on the success of the capital campaign and the University’s ability to secure more debt. It is an ambitious plan, but one that continues to build on the University’s strengths and attention to our core mission. CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVABLE: As Honor Our Past, Build Our Future continues to generate new commitments and gifts, many are in the form of multi-year pledges. These play a vital role in aiding our planning efforts to ensure that we can match timing of implementation of a strategic initiative with the funding that will support it. Contributions receivable were valued at $49.0 million. This is down from $50.1 million, reflecting continued strong pledge-payment receipts over the year. OTHER INVESTMENTS: These are primarily split-interest arrangements by which a donor gives the University a sum of money to invest and manage. The donor receives an income interest from these investments for a specified period of time, after which W&L receives the remainder to support University operations. These investments totaled $78.5 million.

Post-Retirement Benefits 6% Other 8%

Annuity Obligations 22%

Debt 64%

DEBT: Our largest liability is long-term debt secured over the years to support capital building projects. After holding fairly constant between $120 to $135 million over the last decade (Figure 4), the University took out an additional $35 million in debt in July 2013 to fund the FIGURE 4

University Outstanding Debt as of June 30, 2014 ($000s)

renovation costs for the first-year housing projects and to partially fund three years of annual capital projects across the campus. This has raised the outstanding long-term debt balance to $157.7 million. Over the past year, the University made $2.1 million of payments toward principal, extinguishing the 2008 Bank of America commercial note in the process, and $7.3 million in interest payments. The outstanding debt comprised six different instruments, all tax-exempt issues through either the Virginia College Building Authority or the Lexington City Industrial Development Authority. Of the outstanding debt, 90% is fixed rate and 10% is variable rate. As of this writing, the University’s debt is rated Aa2 and AA by Moody’s and S&P, respectively. Both ratings reflect a stable outlook from the agencies and reflect their evaluations of the University’s financial health and its ability to repay its obligations. The University will most likely add debt in the next two years in support of the capital program, principally the construction of the third-year housing. As has been our practice, we will assess appropriate debt levels and potential new debt within the context of our debt policy, which the Board of Trustees adopted in 2006 to ensure that we act prudently relative to amount and structure of the debt portfolio.

Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

37


Along the Colonnade

FUTURE ANNUITY PAYMENTS: The split-interest instruments create a liability based upon expected future payments to the donor. This liability was $54.1 million. The University welcomes an increasing liability in this area, since it reflects a growing deferred-giving program, which will lead to greater financial support in the future. POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS: Finally, the University has maintained a postretirement health benefits plan for those employees who serve 10 years or more and retire from the University. This commitment creates an annual expense for the program as well as a future obligation. This obligation, as actuarially calculated, now stands at $15.1 million, up modestly from $14.6 million. The University has altered this plan for employees hired after April 1, 2003, to shift to a defined contribution plan for employees. This will lead to an elimination of this obligation over the very long term. NET ASSETS In the corporate world, assets minus liabilities reveal the enterprise’s equity. Within higher education, this equity is referred to as net assets, which are broken down into the three following components. ◗ UNRESTRICTED NET ASSETS: These funds can be expended if necessary, and as such, they carry the greatest level of flexibility for the University to meet its long-term obligations. The build-up of these funds results from operating surpluses, the creation of quasi-endowments from large unrestricted gifts and the development of reserves over the years. With good investment markets, the University saw this class of net assets increase by nearly $25.4 million to $323.5 million. ◗ TEMPORARILY RESTRICTED NET ASSETS: These funds are fully expendable but restricted by either a purpose, time frame for use or accumulated gains of permanently restricted endowments. Examples are gift funds restricted for support of student financial aid; gift funds to support building projects; deferred-giving arrangements under which the University has an obligation to make payments to beneficiaries before receiving the remainder value to meet the donor’s intent; and unspent endowment allocations intended for programmatic purposes. These net assets also benefited from a strong year of growth and finished at $443.8 million, an increase of 20%. ◗ PERMANENTLY RESTRICTED NET ASSETS: These funds are given by a donor with the express condition that the University not expend the original value of the gift. Instead, the funds are invested, and the University benefits from the investment return on the funds. These funds are the underpinnings of our endowment and include many of the outside trusts that were established to be managed in perpetuity for the University’s benefit. The value increased by $39.1 million to $903.5 million. SOURCES AND USES The depth of University resources translates into the programs and services provided to students. Endowment, Trusts Held By Others and Gifts make an enormous contribution to the revenue stream of the University and provide Washington and Lee the ability to invest in the 38

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

educational program. However, they are not the only revenues available to the University, as Figure 5 depicts. FIGURE 5

University Operating Revenues—2013–14 $144.3 Million Auxiliary Enterprises 12% Other 1% Gifts and Grants 9% Net Tuition 41% Endowment Allocation and Distribution from Trusts 37%

Tuition and fees remain the single largest source of operational support. The last five years can be characterized as modest increases in the sticker price for tuition at the University coupled with planned and unplanned enrollment growth. Partially offsetting this growth in enrollment, and as a significant component of the Strategic Plan, we have increased financial aid to ensure that W&L can recruit the very best students. Net tuition revenues held steady at $59.4 million. This result occurred even with a decline in the number of law students by 9%. On the undergraduate side, we saw the number of full-time students increase by 16, as already high retention rates showed additional improvement. Financial Aid continues to be significantly funded through endowment and gifts (48.4%) and provides access for students who otherwise may not be able to attend. In reading the operating results of the University (Table 1), one must look at three pieces to understand our full commitment to financial aid. Within revenues, financial aid is shown as a reduction of tuition ($39.80 million); this is also the case with auxiliary enterprise revenues, which reflect an aid discount of $2.16 million. Finally, within the expenses section, a line item for financial aid totals $3.55 million. On a combined basis, student financial aid awarded by the University increased at more than twice the rate of student fees (or 3.8% for student financial aid compared to 1.8% for student fees) to $45.5 million. Endowment distributions, whether from the defined payout formula or allocations from Trusts Held by Others, accounted for 36.0% of the operating revenues, at $53.2 million. This source has grown in importance as a portion of the revenue stream (Figure 6), and as a result the diligence of management of the underlying assets and considerations of payout allocation models are as important, if not more important, than a decade ago. Prior to 2006–07, the University regularly exceeded a 5% payout from the aggregate endowment as measured against the beginning market value. In 2013–14, the endowment allocation to operations translated to a payout rate of 4.55%. Current gifts and grants also play a significant role in the University’s ability to provide a world-class educational program. For instance, the Annual Fund exceeded $9.3 million in total commitments for the first time and reflected an increase of $600,000. In addition, the University established new highs in undergraduate alumni participation, with 54.7% making gifts. These unrestricted gifts underwrite all aspects of University life. In the aggregate, Washington and Lee received $13.1 million in contributions and grants to underwrite operations. If the University had to rely on its endowment to generate the same level of contribution, the


Summary—Statement of Activities June 30, 2014 ($000s) Revenues: Gross Tuition Less donor funded student financial aid Less institutionally funded student aid Net Tuition Endowment Return Allocated to Operations Income from Funds Held in Trust by Others Contributions and Grants Auxiliary Enterprises (net of $2,158 of aid) Other Total Expenses: Instructional Academic Support Student Services Institutional Support Financial Aid Auxiliary Enterprises Other Total Operating Deficit Increase in Net Assets from Non-Operating Activities Change in Net Assets

$99,216 (22,009) (17,787) 59,420 41,619 11,604 13,072 17,296 1,258 $144,269 69,007 18,375 13,507 18,814 3,553 21,143 3,619 148,018 (3,749) 141,849 $138,100

FIGURE 6

Endowment Allocation

sistently spends a higher percentage of its budget for educational expenses than the peer average (59.9% versus 52.2%). However, the University’s aggregate expenses per student fall below the average expense per student of the peers by $8,350. Results from operations reflect an Unrestricted Operating deficit of $529,000 versus an Unrestricted Operating deficit of $95,000 in 2013. Overall, the deficit grew to $3.749 million, reflecting a drawdown of temporarily restricted assets to underwrite operations. The University does not formally budget for depreciation expense ($12.1 million allocated across the functional expenditures in Figure 7). However, we do budget FIGURE 7

University Operating Expenses—2013–14 $148.0 Million

Auxiliary Enterprises 14% Instruction 47% Other 3% Institutional Support 13% Student Services 9% Financial Aid 2% Academic Support 12%

for certain similar types of activities, including principal payments on debt and annual capital projects. In addition, the Board of Trustees approved a change in the University’s Reserves Policy in 2014 that, over time, should lead to an increase in the annual allocation to Capital Reserves, which should be able to substitute for Depreciation budgeting. This is a long-term commitment and solution, but will help to resolve one of the perennial challenges associated with our financial modeling. Beyond these steps, we also pursue significant fundraising to support the capital program, and make many of these commitments but allocate them to the project in a different year. This adjustment from temporarily restricted to unrestricted operations is made in the Non-Operating Activities section. We believe that this comprehensive approach to facilities capital management is a reasonable and thoughtful approach, and will be considered a best practice.

University would need an additional $279 million in endowment funds. We use these resources to fulfill our core mission — education. As demonstrated in Figure 7, Instruction and Academic Support (libraries, information technology services, etc.) comprise nearly 60% of total expenses. Figure 7 also demonstrates that only 13% of expenditures go toward administration, including fundraising. As in past years, comparisons of expenses within the Top 25 group of liberal arts colleges reveal that Washington and Lee con-

Along the Colonnade

TABLE 1

Summary and Outlook

Our strategy to stay true to our mission and avoid ventures into other areas of operation has served the University and its students well over the years. It has allowed us to invest in the fundamental programs that benefit our undergraduate and law students, while resonating with our alumni to secure purposeful philanthropic support. The two have gone hand-inhand at Washington and Lee. The result is an institution that understands its identity and has been well supported in staying faithful to that identity. During a time in higher education when many institutions deviate from their primary missions with the hopes of securing a more sustainable financial future, we have elected to double down on our wager. The result is reflected in the accompanying financial statements. We believe we are one of the fortunate institutions in higher education today. The University’s prosperity reflects both the extreme generosity of those who came before us as well as prudent but forwardlooking financial management of resources. We value the underlying strength that this support has yielded for our historic University. A more detailed version of this report may be read online at go.wlu.edu/financials_1314.

Winter

2015 mag a z ine.wlu.e du

39


Milestones Students prepare nitrogen ice cream at the Spring Term Festival.

Transformational? Try Preservational BY PRESIDENT KEN RUSCIO ’76

“I

n a world transformed by science and technology, globalization, and new economic, political and cultural realities, and where the solutions to problems require moral insight as well as analytical and technical skills, Washington and Lee must prepare its students for a daunting set of challenges. This does not mean changing the University. Instead, it calls for a renewed commitment to the timeless values of civility and integrity, enhanced by an ability to honor the quintessential Washington and Lee tradition: educating students for lives of consequence, motivated by a desire to serve others.” I wrote those words eight years ago to introduce the strategic plan that we adopted in May 2007 and that has been the basis for our historic capital campaign, Honor Our Past, Build Our Future. As we enter the final months of this campaign, we must describe our success. The urge would be to attach a familiar adjective to our results and to 40

W&L

Alumni

Magazine

call these last few years in Washington and Lee’s history “transformational.” I will resist that urge. Instead, I will coin my own adjective: “preservational.” Here is what I mean: In the midst of a tumultuous time in the world, and especially a tumultuous time in higher education, the persistence and focus with which we have undertaken our strategic plan have permitted us to remain true to our educational mission, to preserve what we have always valued most. Consider just a few of the academic programs to which we can now point with pride: a revitalized Spring Term, the Roger Mudd Center for Ethics, the Law School’s Bridge to the Profession curriculum, and the J. Lawrence Connolly Center for Entrepreneurship. These are examples of what I have described as Washington and Lee’s tradition of innovation — a curriculum that adapts to new realities while staying true to its core principles. What these programs have in common is that they are built around

solving problems; they are multidisciplinary; and they would not have been possible without the generosity of those who believe in our mission. They are also models of future development. As we look to the next strategic plan, we will be asking ourselves: How do you devise a curriculum around problems that confront us? How do you organize faculty across disciplines to form that curriculum? How do you weave that into a traditional liberal arts structure of departments and colleges? We have always had a distinctive model for the liberal arts; it combines the liberal arts and the professions and has that investigative, problem-solving orientation. More than ever, that is relevant to the world beyond W&L. Thanks to the timeliness of our strategic plan, and thanks to the support of so many individuals — including almost 80 percent of our alumni — we are in a position that many of our peers envy. We are true to our mission, which is to educate students “for lives of consequence, motivated by a desire to serve others.”


Class agents accept the Richmond Trophy, awarded to the class agent in each division who achieves the highest class participation in donating to the Annual Fund. L to r: Dennis Cross, W&L vice president of advancement, Bob Priddy ’67, Kelton Buchanan ’13, Caroline Schmidt ’13, Dave Berlinghof ’55, Annual Fund Chair Chip Nunley ’81

honoring our annual fund volunteers

The success of the Annual Fund each year is driven in large part by the work of our volunteers. As a whole, W&L class agents are able to connect with thousands of classmates each year whom the Annual Giving staff would not be able to personally contact alone. Our goals this year are to raise $9.75 million and to achieve 55 percent undergraduate participation. We rely on our volunteers to help us reach these lofty goals. The Annual Giving staff is very grateful for the time and talent contributed by our team of class agents, led by Annual Fund Chair Chip Nunley ’81 and Young Alumni Annual Fund Chair Charlie Yates ’06, ’10L. Class Agents Listed by Years of Continuous Service:

25 years or more

Mr. Howard C. Packett ’58

20-24 years

Mr. John C. Bovay ’79 David K. Weaver, Ph.D. ’60*

15-19 years

Mr. Rufus K. Barton III ’63 Mr. Harry D. LeTourneau, Jr. ’71 Mr. David W. Meese ’59 Mr. John M. Nolan ’70* Dr. Gary W. Seldomridge ’76

10-14 years

Mr. Brent Breedin, Jr. ’47 Mrs. Emma Thomas Dean ’03 Mr. J. Scott Fechnay ’69 Mr. Farris P. Hotchkiss ’58 Mr. John V. Howard, Jr. ’84 Mr. George W. St. Clair ’53 Mr. Matthew H. Steilberg ’87

5-9 years

Mr. David W. Alexander ’03 Mr. Gerard W. Barousse, Jr. ’80* Mr. David M. Berlinghof ’55* Mrs. Cory Mettee Birdsall ’99 Mr. Corbin P. Blackford ’07 Mr. George E. Calvert, Jr. ’73 Mr. Paul M. Davey ’86 Mr. Gavin B. Dean ’00*

Mr. Richard A. Denny, Jr. ’52, ’54L Mr. Sean F. Driscoll ’89 Ms. Katharine R. Emerson ’04 Ms. Margaret P. Fiskow ’10* Ms. Courtney Payne Fowler ’91 Mr. Terance F. Fowler ’91 Mrs. Meghan Joss Freeman ’07 Dr. J. Brodie Gregory ’03 Mrs. Lee Rorrer Holifield ’93 Mr. M. Ames Hutton ’94 Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Jones ’96 Mr. Timothy A. Litzenburg ’04 Dr. Roy T. Matthews ’54 Mr. M. Garrott McClintock, Jr. ’10* Mr. Murry G. McClintock ’80* Mr. S. Michael McColloch ’76 Mr. H. Frederick T. Moore ’80* Mr. Thomas P. O’Brien III ’88, ’91L Mr. Wesley B. O’Dell ’09 Mr. Robert B. Priddy ’67 Mr. Fred H. Renner III ’85 Mr. James R. Small ’81 Mrs. Camille Allen Snyder ’07 Mr. M. Theodore Van Leer ’51 Mrs. Olivia Mansfield Wall ’06 Mr. Floyd M. Wiley III ’88 Mr. Scott A. Williams ’80* Mr. W. Thomas Worthy ’05*

1-4 years

Mr. W. Blair Allen, Jr. ’92 Mr. Thomas C. Andrews ’13 Mr. Brian C. Bagdonas ’01 Mrs. Katherine Boozer Boone ’95* Mr. Christopher A. Cerone ’90*

Mr. Carlile M. Chambers ’68 Ms. Michelle P. Clark ’11 Ms. Jessica C. Cobb ’08 Mr. Justin M. Dardani ’96 Mr. James J. Dawson ’68, ’71L Mrs. Caroline Parker DeVos ’04 Mr. Edgar M. Duncan ’61 Mrs. Leslie Ratz Easterling ’95* Mr. Randolph L. Ellis ’86 Mrs. Amy McCauley Farnsworth ’97 Mrs. Ellen Sigler Featherstone ’89 Mr. Robert P. Foley ’72 Mr. James F. Gallivan ’51 Mrs. Emily Wolfing Heinauer ’05* Mr. E. Phifer Helms ’74 Mrs. Margaret Spalitta Holliday ’09 Mr. Sanford G. Hooper ’97, ’03L Ms. Kathryn V. Howard ’13 Mr. George D. Johnson III ’05* Mr. Hamill D. Jones III ’04 Mr. William L. Kauffman ’57 Ms. Ramsay K. Kubal ’13 Mr. William E. Latture ’49 Ms. Christina I. Lawrence ’12 Mr. Thomas O. Lawson ’56 Ms. Catherine E. Lee ’06 Mr. Tim J. Manson, IV ’08 Ms. C. Anne M. Martin ’12 Mr. Theodore B. Martin, Jr. ’80* Mr. Scott H. McClintock ’12 Mr. Thomas S. Meric III ’12 Phillip D. Mollere, Ph.D. ’66 Mrs. Brooke Evenson Moncrief ’02 Mrs. Almena McGowin Morgan ’92

Mrs. Kelly Sewell Nagel ’00* Ms. Catherine C. Overend ’05* Mr. Herbert M. Ponder III ’83 Mr. Charles H. Prioleau ’82 Mr. Rhett J. N. Rayos ’11 Ms. M. Schuyler Rideout ’91 Mr. William L. Roberts, Jr. ’62 Mr. William J. Russell, Jr. ’57 Mr. J. Wood Rutter, II ’65* Ms. Caroline M. Schmidt ’13 Mr. Robert T. Schmidt ’82 Mr. B. Wynne Sharpe, Jr. ’03 Mr. Stewart T. Shettle ’84 Mr. Christopher P. Simon ’92 Mrs. Mary Jo Mahoney Slidell ’98 Ms. Jaclyn M. Smith ’11 Mr. F. Andrew Tessier, Jr. ’11 Mr. David T. Thornhill ’02 Mr. Douglas M. Weissinger ’06 Mr. Warren R. Welsh ’57, ’61L

new or returning class agents this year

Mr. Evan A. Allison ’93 Mr. Kevin T. Anderson ’86 Mrs. Katherine Garrett Arcati ’07 Mrs. Amanda Basham Atkinson ’04 Mr. Joseph R. Burkart ’64 Ms. Mary E. Bush ’13 Mrs. Brooks Morgan Chew ’04 Mr. R. L. Andrew Curry ’98 Mr. T. Tate Davis, Jr. ’12 Ms. Margaret S. Dozier ’11 Mr. James E. Dunn III ’08 Ms. Laura Beth Ellis ’14

Mrs. Kimberly Dickinson French ’94 Mr. Thomas C. Frost, Jr. ’50 Ms. Kalin R. Harvard ’09 Mr. Lee M. Hollis ’86 Mr. D. Jonathan Howe, Jr. ’14 Ms. L. Paten Hughes ’08 Mr. Paul M. James, Jr. ’86 Mr. Tyson L. Janney ’53 Dean John A. Jensen III ’01 Ms. Ellison G. Johnstone ’14 Mr. Edward W. Kingsbery ’09 Mr. Howard F. Knipp III ’78 The Rev. Kenneth P. Lane, Jr. ’64 Preston C. Manning, Jr., M.D. ’52 Mr. Timothy J. F. Moore ’14 Mr. Anthony J. Nardini, Jr. ’08 Mr. Robert D. Rathbun ’77 Mrs. Katherine Lamb Rosengren ’01 Mr. Robert H. Rutherford III ’12 Mr. Mark A. Sowinski ’14 Ms. Anna Y. Thomas ’14 Mrs. Elizabeth Mills Viney ’07 Mr. Robert G. Weston, Jr. ’99 G. William Whitehurst, Ph.D. ’50 Mr. William C. Whitley ’14 Mr. Christopher G. Willett ’78 Ms. Kathleen A. Yakulis ’14 *These volunteers are currently in a milestone reunion year and are serving as a reunion chair or reunion committee member.

Washington and Lee’s class agents serve as the primary liaisons between each alumni class and the University. If you are interested in assisting with your class’s fundraising efforts, please contact Lauren S. Jensen ’02, assistant director of Annual Giving, at ljensen@wlu.edu or (540) 458-8364. To make a donation to this year’s Annual Fund, visit support.wlu.edu/af.


The Washington and Lee University A l u m n i M a g a z i n e

Non Profit Org

2 0 4

S t r e e t

P e r m i t No. 78

24450

R o a n o k e , Va

W .

W a s h i n g t o n

L e x i n g t o n ,

V i r g i n i a

U. S.

P

P o s t a g e

a

i

d

PH OTO BY PAT R I C K H I N E LY ’ 7 3

PHOTO BY KEVIN REMINGTON

Last Look

w w w.wlu.edu

Dick Duchossois ’44 (right) received the singular Washington Award from W&L on Feb. 6 for his extraordinary philanthropy, leadership and service. See p. 2 for more about this honor. President Ken Ruscio ’76 joined Duchossois at the celebration.


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.