719 S. Alfred St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
Home: (703)549-5381
Work: (703)276-2221
trumbh@smartdynamics.com
Greetings BRs,
I hope 2004 is treating everyone well, and I want to say thanks for all of the cards, letters, emails, and phone calls. Being the class agent is giving me a great chance to catch up with a lot of people – please keep the information coming!
John Stehn sent me a note from New York, where he’s working for LORING doing project and engineering management for the Central Utilities Group. His group designs large central boiler and refrigeration plants, and small power plants. John got married to Christine Martin on September 20, 2003, and bought a home in Port Washington, NY, where they met. John said that Tim Witt had re-established contact with him in the aftermath of 9-11. He said Tim recently moved to Scottsdale, AZ, where he is working in the home construction industry and stays in touch with Don Bowers.
Jenn Havird, Ley's wife was in touch to fill us in on what Ley's been up to recently. He's been deployed since November 9th and is due home sometime this spring. He can’t say where he is or what he’s doing (even to Jenn), but does share that his days walking to and from the showers at VMI prepared him for this deployment. The Havirds are stationed at Fairchild AFB, Washington where Ley's a maintenance officer, and they expect to be moving in the summer of 2004. They think the next stop might be Korea, but the USAF will make that decision for them soon.
Barry and Karen Johnson just had their 3rd child in July ‘03, daughter Haley. With Carter (6) and Tyler (3 ½), it sounds like the Johnson’s home is a busy place! Barry is a mechanical project manager for G.J. Hopkins in Roanoke, where he’s been for a little over 6 years. Hopkins is a mechanical/electrical contractor and has been on some big jobs at VPI and in Roanoke over the past few years. He even made it back to Lexington last year to work on the Central Elementary School, and on a job at W&L. The Johnsons met Mike Doczi and his family at a football game this year and had a great time. Mike has 4 boys now and his business is doing well.
Barry also keeps in touch with Hal Jones who is working for the Cox company in Charlottesville. Hal has a 2 year old boy and another child on the way. Another of Barry’s roommates, Dave Walsh, has touched down in Little Rock, AR. A few of you might have gotten emails from Dave about what’s going on with him – please pass one on if you did!
Matt Henning sent me a card telling me about his role as a Pastor/Developer for the Lutheran Church. Matt’s currently starting (they call it “planting”) a new congregation in Grayson, GA, and they will break ground on their building in the spring of 2004. Matt and his wife Jill (a Lutheran Pastor in a nearby congregation), have been married 10 years now, and they have 2 girls: Sarah (6) and Ashleigh (1 1/2).
Checking in from “freezer cold” Ft. Drum, Mark Hennigan sent me an email that he was getting ready to head over to support Operation Iraqi Freedom 2. Mark is the Battalion Commander for 1-201st Field Artillery Battalion located in Fairmont, WV. He finished up his Master’s in Strategic Leadership over the summer, and took command in October ’03. His wife Gretchen, and kids Alex (9) and Katie (7) will miss Mark, but hopefully he’ll be back in about a year. Mark has been teaching a Bachelor’s program in Organizational Leadership for Mountain State University, and since most of his students are in his unit he’s going to keep the class going after they’re deployed. He’s taking the Command and General Staff College correspondence courses too, so I think even his “free time” will be filled. Mark’s been in touch with Chris Bish who’s flying C-5’s with the Delaware Air Guard, Brian Albro, and Glen Barr. I’ve heard rumors that Glen is living about 5 minutes from me near the Pentagon – I’ll include details in the next set of notes if I can arrange a sighting.
After 10 months on active duty in the USMC as the Operations Officer for a Military Liaison Group working in San Jose and Costa Rica, Luis del Valle is back in Miami and once again enjoying the good life. Luis said Kenny Kovac’s graduation from the Secret Service academy was a great ceremony. To celebrate they met up with Pablo Martinez and Mike Nafie ’91 and they had a great time in DC.
Fellow Charlie company Rat, John Franklin sent me a note with an update. John is a partner in a small law firm in Fredericksburg, and in 9 years of marriage his wife has blessed him with 5 boys (two sets of twins). I have to say, I’m impressed. John’s sister Raisa was a Rat this year, so while he’s really busy he has a new reason to get over to VMI more often in the next few years.
Another Fredericksburg resident is Minter Ralston. Mint’s still in the Marines and has been stationed at Quantico since the summer of 2002. I hear he’s teaching at the Expeditionary Warfare School. ”I live here with my German Shepherd, but will add a wife in June of 04. Stacy L. DePew and I got engaged on Halloween day.” They are getting married down in Kilmarnock, VA this summer and expect to stay in the Fredericksburg area for at least another year.
John Brethour had a very eventful 2003. He started working for the pharmaceutical market research firm Roger Green and Associates, which required a move from Kansas to near Philadelphia. As a result he changed Army Reserve Units, joining the 5115th GSU out of Baltimore, MD. Then to top off the year, John married Elizabeth Wallace in November 2003. While busy, that sounds like a pretty good year!
Bob & Marcella Butler have been married 13 ½ years, and they had their 6th child in January. Joy Noel follows three sisters: Kendal (10), Kelsey (8), Anna (2) and two brothers: Isaac (6) and Daniel (3). Bob’s been working for the American Funds mutual fund company for 10 1/2 years, currently as a supervisor assisting brokerage firm back-offices on the east coast. They’re living in Chesapeake, VA and didn’t make it to any football games this year, but are planning to make some next year. I can only imagine trying to negotiate 6 kids through a football game - 1 keeps me busy. Bob said that in August ’03 his crew visited family in Atlanta and had lunch with Foster Taliaferro, his wife Tiffany, and their three children.
Another busy family man is Terrance Kerner, with 4 boys and a girl. His wife Kelly has been keeping him on his toes for 10 years, and he can’t say enough nice things about her. After 12 years with the same company Terrance recently became the VP of Commercial Sales for a Richmond-based mechanical contractor, Atlantic Constructors, Inc. He recently spoke with his VMI roommate, Tony Zang. Tony and his wife Lisa (sister of his Rat-Dyke), have two children, and live near Atlanta where he works for Turner Construction. Terrance also ran into Rob Gudz at a meeting on a project they are pursuing, where Rob was the lead mechanical engineer on the project. Terrance also gets together with Mark Cunningham, his wife and two daughters, every few months. Mark works for Dominion VA Power.
Sam Stocks and his wife Rita had their first child, Mason, in September 2003. They started early, taking him to several VMI football games this fall. At one they met Chuck & Wendy Smith and their kids Trevor and Emily, as well as Jeff & Julia Crist and their kids Joe and Hunter. The Stocks family lives in Richmond, where Sam is working for KBS, Inc., a large general contractor. Sam is currently overseeing the addition and renovation to Patchin Field House at VMI. KBS has seven VMI grads ranging from class of '65 to '03. One of the seven is Mark Loving '92 who is the younger brother of Monte who works for Timmons, an engineering firm.
Sam sees Terrence Kerner, Charlie Plageman, William Gaspar, Dave Kaulfers, John Cabell and Tim Whitt occasionally. He shared that Charlie just bought a sign company, RPM Graphics, William works for Moseley Architects as a structural engineer, Dave works for VDOT, John is at Capital One and that he sees Tim jogging all over Richmond.
Bill Madison checked in from the hills of Blacksburg where his company is busy with work from local governments. Bill and Coleen Ramsey were married in March 2003, and daughter Linden Maura joined them in December. Bill heard from Chris Whittaker who is still in Germany with his family. Chris just had his tour extended, but the family is doing a lot of touring and enjoying the chance to explore Europe.
I received one short note from Mark Dick who is back from the desert and is working at Walter Reed in D.C. That’s quite a hike from Front Royal where he, Karen and Alex live. Mark ran into Pete Finan in Kuwait, and Trey Rhodes when he moved over to Arifjan. He’s planning a trip to the Outer Banks this summer with Tim Feagans, Bill Ator, and Jeff Mousheigan – now that sounds like a good kind of trouble . . .
Chuck Ellis let me know that he and his wife had their first child, Charles II, in Janurary 2004. Chuck got his MA in Management in October and has been a Deputy US Marshal in El Paso, TX for three years. He got a call recently from Bill Bowers, who is finishing Naval Command and Staff school, and speaks to Don Roberts, Travis Mabrey, and Erroll Martin regularly. Don is in Detroit about to launch his own company, and Travis is a manager for Verizon in Southeastern VA. Erroll is with the FBI in Philadelphia, and recently completed the FBI sniper course. Chuck is still in the Marine Corps Reserves, and in December while training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in GA, he received a visit from Chip McWilliams (a corporate lawyer in Atlanta). Thanks to Chuck, I was able to track down Mike Trahar who recently got out of the Marines and transferred to George Washington University Law School here in D.C. Mike and his wife Mary are living in Kensington, MD with their 2 year old son Noah.
And this in just under the wire: Jonah Michael Strong Ibanez was born at 5:34 PM on January 29, 2004. He weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long, and papa Ramil could not be more proud.
Thanks for all the input guys – please keep it coming.
Hunter Trumbo ‘90
Last Updated: October 22, 2009
Site Created by: Richard L. Neff II, '90 - Network Technologies Group