Edgar B. Boynton (ME '21), recipient of the 1996 Virginia Tech College of Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Award, doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word "retire." At age 97, he goes to the office for an hour or so several times a week. He also exercises regularly.
Boynton's entire professional life has been with the Richmond-based engineering firm of Wiley and Wilson, which he joined in 1921 and left briefly to earn a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois.
In 1926, Boynton designed the first air conditioning system in Roanoke, for the American Theater, at a time when no texts were available on air conditioning equipment. He also was the first recipient of the state's "Engineer of the Year" award, in 1961, and first Virginia member of the American Institute of Consulting Engineers.
He is former president of the Virginia Society of Professional Engineers, a fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, former national director of the national Society of Professional Engineers, and member of the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board from 1965-1987.
Robert Hosier (BAD '28) of Lebanon, Tenn., carried the Olympic torch through Carthage, Tenn., as it made its way to Atlanta for the centennial games. Hosier, 91, was the oldest person in his state selected for this honor. Hosier spent 34 years as swimming coach and history instructor at Castle Heights Military Academy in Tennessee before his retirement in 1973.
He was nominated to carry the torch by a former student who is also the father of former Olympic swimming medalist Steve Lundquist. Another former swimming student, Bill Dudley, became an Olympic medalist in the relay swimming competition in the 1940s.
During his years at Virginia Tech, Jay Stewart (ANSC '54) became active in the Baptist Student Union and Blacksburg Baptist Church and made a commitment to foreign missions.
Stewart and his wife recently returned to the United States after more than 30 years in Kenya. In retirement, they spend much of their time speaking at churches around Roanoke.
After graduation from Virginia Tech, Stewart earned a divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as a pastor in Southwest Virignia before being appointed as a Southern Baptist missionary to Kenya in 1964.
Stewart was an evangelist in the Nyeri, Kenya, area from 1965-66. He taught agriculture and managed the Nyeri Baptist High School's 13-acre demonstration farm from 1966-75, and served as headmaster of the school from 1971-75. During the next 20 years, he helped produce Baptist publications for African churches. He was executive director of Baptist Publications House in Nairobi and later director of International Publications Services for eastern and southern Africa.
When a flood hits a river basin, Richard (Rip) Sparks (BIOL '71 Ph.D.) can expect to be up talking to reporters from around the country most of the night. He also was recently featured in a PBS program filmed on the Illinois River, 1993 site of the nation's most expensive flood. Sparks sometimes surprises reporters with his take on flooding.
He recalls the time a disbelieving New York Times editor called to verify a reporter's story, asking, "You mean to tell me that floods are good?" Floods are vital, according to Sparks. "In a river flood-plain area, the absence of a flood is more of a disaster than a flood. This is a flood-adapted system, and fish that spawn on the flood plain depend on a yearly flood," he says.
As fish that spawned after a major flood in 1993 mature, scientists and sportsmen are finding a much greater variety of species and higher populations than earlier. And even though mature trees were killed, new growth is replacing them in much the same way a forest regenerates after a fire.
Sparks, director of the River Research Lab for Illinois, is recognized as the leading national expert on river flooding. He has testified in Congress and was advisor to a federal task force on flood plain management. Sparks also provided background information for a recent PBS Nova program on public television that focused on the $16-billion Illinois river flood.
Carol Cooper Morter (PSCI '78) was teaching at John F. Kennedy High School in Richmond in 1990 when she decided to counter student apathy and low self-esteem with a student newspaper that focused on positive things at the school.
"When the first issue came out, the kids were reading the paper and bumping into each other in the halls," she says.
The successful project encouraged Morter to quit her job to start a 5,000-circulation community newsletter. With the support of her husband Wayne Morter (BE '78), she has upgraded to magazine format and added two more neighborhood magazines, bringing the total circulation to more than 38,000. Morter finances the free magazine with paid advertising.
Morter says she started the magazine to "to unify neighbors, to promote the positive, to help people feel like they belong and are important." Each issue contains neighborhood news as well as coverage of special area events, school news, scout troop news, information about new businesses, and interviews with long-time residents. A recent issue included an article about the Richmond-area Virginia Tech alumni softball team.
You never know where a Virginia Tech class ring might turn up. They've been found in a reef in the West Indies, in a school gutter, and in a parachute drop zone. Many of these rings find their way back to their owners.
In January, British tourist Ian Williams found a Tech class ring buried in a sandy reef a few miles off the Cayman Islands. He e-mailed the Virginia Tech webmaster, who forwarded the request for information about the person whose name was inscribed inside the ring to the Virginia Tech Alumni Association. They sent Weaver the address of the owner, James Slaght (ARCH '88) of Irondale, Ala., who had lost the ring on a diving trip the previous month.
A Congressional Budget Office employee was cleaning a gutter at a D.C.-area elementary school during a recent volunteer clean-up day when she found a Virginia Tech class ring. The finder, Clare Doherty, mailed it to the alumni association, where it was identified and returned to John Burge (BAD '67) of Locust Grove, Va. According to Burge, the ring was stolen in a February 1995 burglary.
Charles Bowser, a paratrooper at a Fort Bragg, N.C., drop zone, was searching for his watch, lost during a drop. Instead, he found a ring embedded in a lump of clay soil. Bowser had the ring cleaned and discovered in the inscription that it belonged to LTC Hal Maynard Johnson (SOC '70) of Woodbridge, Va. Bowser found Johnson's address through the alumni association office.
Virginia Tech is one of a few universities to design a new ring collection each year. A student committee decides annually upon a ring design that incorporates traditional symbols and elements meaningful to that class. Rings are presented to junior class members each spring at Virginia Tech's Ring Dance.
A new display case in the Williamsburg Room in the Squires Student Center contains all Virginia Tech class rings since 1921. The display was dedicated during the 1991 and 1986 class reunion in November.
LT Wynans Frankfort (ME '44) didn't survive his tour of duty in the western Pacific during WW II, but his class ring did. In 1944, Frankfort's plane was shot down in what is now Indonesia. His remains were returned to the United States in 1994. This year the Indonesian defense department discovered that a man in the town of Biak, near where the plane went down, had a Virginia Tech ring inscribed with Frankfort's name.
Through the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets office, Indonesian officials located Frankfort's next of kin--0his older brother, Philip Frankfort (IE '40) of Franklin, Va. The ring was presented to Frankfort in a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on August 12. Frankfort then donated it to the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Museum, which holds other memorabilia belonging to his brother, including a recently-awarded silver star.
A. Phillip Meadows (FIN '83) of Martinsville, Va., was incorrectly identified as belonging to the Class of '77 in a photo in the summer magazine.
Teaching her students to cure hams, make butter, apply for loans, and cook a side of meat are just a few of the classroom activities that helped Sherry Heishman (AGED '85) earn the title of nationally distinguished agricultural educator. She received the award in Denver last November. Heishman also was named Outstanding Agriculture Teacher for the state of Virginia.
Heishman, who teaches agriculture at Central High School in Shenandoah County, Va., says she believes it's impossible to teach agriculture without teaching practical science. She supplements hands-on activities with field trips to local businesses and farms. Heishman, who was raised on a beef and sheep farm, brings cattle, sheep, horses, and hogs to the school to demonstrate livestock parts.
In addition to teaching, Heishman advises the Future Farmers of America and coaches meat evaluation, livestock, dairy, poultry judging, and public speaking teams.
She and her family raise sheep and cattle on their farm in Mt. Jackson, Va.
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Liang shot by San Diego student
Chen Liang (ME '90 Ph.D) was one of three San Diego State professors shot and killed in August at a critique of a graduate student's thesis.
Liang, 32, was faculty adviser to Frederick Davidson, who allegedly fired upon the faculty members gathered for his thesis defense. Davidson and Liang had received a grant from McDonnell Douglas to research "shape memory alloy," a metal that can be twisted and will hold its shape until heated.
At Virginia Tech, Liang had worked with Craig Rogers, former director of the university's Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures. After receiving his Ph.D., Liang taught and conducted research at Virginia Tech and was a senior researcher at Rogers' Blacksburg firm, Paradigm Inc. He left Blacksburg in August 1994 to accept a tenure-track position at San Diego State and to build his own research program.
"He was an internationally renowned researcher," Rogers says. "He was truly a gem for San Diego State University."
Liang is survived by his wife, Bai Hong, a chemist, and their two sons, Jesse, 4, and George, 18 months.
A project Karen Blaisure (FCD '92 Ph.D.) started to provide programs for divorcing parents in Michigan has grown into a nationwide effort. Now she's working with Margie Geasler (FCD '90 Ph.D.) to collect and evaluate information from divorce education programs around the country.
After surveying the divorce education programs offered in the United States, the two have concluded that programs focusing on skill building, such as role playing conflict resolution, work best.
In order for divorced parents to agree on how to raise their children, they must be able to communicate with one another, Geasler says. Divorce education programs can expedite that process.
"We've found people are more likely to seek additional services such as therapy, mental health services, or self-help books if they have been through a program," says Geasler.
Both alumnae teach at Western Michigan University, Blaisure in counselor education and Geasler in family studies.
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MBA cuts country CD
Wendy Powers (MBA '96) took a sidetrip to Nashville while working on the MBA she recently earned. She's hoping that side road will lead to success as a country music singer. Her renditions of "Whoa" and "Life's Too Short" are included on a new CD called "New Artists and Songwriters'1995" released by Platinum Plus Records.
Two auditions for the Crystal Image Talent Agency opened the door for Powers to record the songs for a compilation CD of new country artists. In March, "Whoa" peaked at No. 47 on the National Weekly Country Charts.
Last October, Powers played a 30-minute showcase at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville. Now she is working to record a full album. "The Wildhorse performance was one of the greatest things I've ever done," Powers says. "I just had chills."
Robert Metzgar at Capitol Management, who is working with Powers, says he develops about a dozen new artists a year. Of those, two or three may be signed. He's optimistic about Powers, who has a certain "all-American girl next door" appeal.
Meanwhile, Powers began working as a management consultant for Coopers and Lybriand in McLean, Va., in August.
It took two tries, but Charles Camarda (AOE '90 Ph.D.) realized his boyhood dream--he was selected by NASA for astronaut training as a mission specialist.
"When I was a kid, one of my big dreams was to become an astronaut," Camarda says. "But the first time I applied, I only had three years of experience and a B.S. degree. Back then, most of the (mission specialists) had doctorates." Camarda, the class's second-oldest recruit at age 44, believes his Virginia Tech doctorate, as well as his diverse, extensive background with NASA, helped him get selected. He interned at NASA Langley as an undergraduate at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and worked there while earning a master's in mechanical engineering from George Washington University. Before entering astronaut training, Camarda was head of the thermal structures branch at NASA Langley.
"A mission specialist is really a jack-of-all-trades," he says. "It's good for them to have a broad background, rather than one specialized area of expertise."
Camarda transferred to the Houston training center in August for a year of general training in skills such as land and water survival, flight training, and detailed knowledge of how the space shuttle operates. After that, Camarda said the trainees will be qualified for mission training--another six months to one year.
"It's pretty sure we'll all get a mission," he says."It's just a matter of time."
This year's NASA astronaut class consists of 10 pilots and 25 mission specialists selected from more than 2,400 applicants.
Do you know a young person who is (or should be) interested in Virginia Tech? You can help spread the word. To obtain informational materials, contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office, identify yourself as an alumnus/a, and give your address or that of the student.
The address is: Virginia Tech Admissions
201 Burruss Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061
phone: 540-231-6267; fax: 540-231-3242
e-mail: vtadmiss@vt.edu (for first-year students) or transfer@vt.edu (for transfer students)
A variety of recruitment materials, including applications, campus visit planners, information sheets on specific colleges and majors, and other materials are available. Admissions information is also available on the World Wide Web at http://www.admiss.vt.edu.
Admissions application deadlines for 1997 are Feb. 1 for freshmen and March 1 for transfers.
Alumni who are interested in becoming more involved in undergraduate recruiting through participation in the Alumni Admissions Council should contact Jacqueline Nottingham, assistant director of admissions, at (540) 231-3092, or by e-mail at ntnghm@vt.edu.
Alumni living overseas who are willing to recruit international students should contact Lee Drowne at (540) 231-9339; fax (540) 231-3242; and e-mail drowne@vt.edu. She says alumni may be partially responsible for doubling the number of international undergraduates at Tech this fall.
