719 S. Alfred St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
Home: (703)549-5381
Work: (703)276-2221
trumbh@smartdynamics.com
Howdy folks,
I’ve exchanged a number of emails recently with Tim Edwards, who loves his busy life in Richmond with his wife Mimi and their four kids: Taylor (10), Walker (9), Madison (8) and Michaela (7). Tim keeps in touch with Greg Sandway, who works in Alexandria and the Pentagon during the week, and lives in Chesapeake on the weekends.
Bill Ator was also in touch. Bill’s still at the Pentagon, but is now working with the Air Force Executive Review Secretariat planning a lot of conferences, symposiums, and forums for senior AF staff. He said he’s also busy coaching his boys baseball team and keeping his daughter entertained.
Mark Dick wrote that he’s still working his tail off at Walter Reed, and that he’s enjoying playing “farm-boy” on weekends. I think I’ll let you each decide what Mark’s doing on weekends. . . .
I found out that Glen Barr is working down the street from me in Rosslyn, VA for an engineering & construction company. He recently married Marijana, with a few witnesses: Dean Barr '87, Ian Dolan '89, Brian Albro and Neil Whitmore. Glen and Marijana work together, and live in Alexandria.
I got a note from Kevin Weedon Gallagher who had just returned from serving his time in Bagram. When he wrote he was really enjoying being back with Anne and his boys, and was getting ready to spend a weekend in Buena Vista. I’m sure the green valley of Virginia is a welcome change from Afghanistan!
Another of our classmates in the Middle East is Garrett Thompson. Yes, “Stork” was activated in January and was in Kuwait by the end of February. He was nice enough to send me some pictures of camels to prove that he was really there. In his own words, he says it’s “Really weird. Like a bad dream. The good news is that it is a lot like being back at VMI. They do the laundry, prepare the food, I have three roommates, I wear a uniform, etc... I cannot wait to get out of this place. No difference.” Garrett is the XO of an Army Cargo Transport Company, and is keeping up his real-world skills by working with the Navy doing chiropractic adjustments in the Troop Medical Clinic.
Major John Golden, USMC, let me know about his busy spring. John left the Pentagon in June after finishing his Masters and graduating from the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and assumed command of the Marine Corps Security Force Company-Bahrain on 1 July. He’s on a 1-year unaccompanied tour, while his wife, Debbie and their 3 kids are home in Fredericksburg, VA.
Pete Wick called in with some good advice towards our class reunion. He’s living in Fredericksburg doing Chem/Bio defense work, and spends some of his free time building guitars and learning how to play them. Not too far away, Gray Riddick and his family have made their 9th move in 14 years to land in Stafford, VA. Gray will be attending the Marine Corps Command and Staff College for the next year, and during that time his wife April is expected to have their 3rd child (a daughter).
Daren Payne dropped me a note that he has run into a lot of people over the last few months. Matt Hemenez was in Virginia with his family on vacation, and got together at Mike Mullori’s house for an alternate surf & turf cookout (shrimp and venison). Mike Manning was in touch with Daren, who relayed that he should be finishing up a 6 month deployment in Iraq about now if everything goes as planned. Daren is a VMI sports fanatic, and spends a bit of time on www.vmikeydets.com (you can probably find him in the chat room right now). He said that last season he saw Tom Slater on TV coaching with the Florida Gators, and I just heard that Tom’s been appointed the head coach at Auburn. Daren himself is now in Iraq for 12 months, as the Deputy Area Engineer for Tikrit and the surrounding area, and will probably return to Ft. Polk, LA to be in an Engineer Battalion.
Quill Healey called me from Atlanta, where he has a real estate investing company. He and Jennifer have a little Quill, and sister Olivia. He keeps in touch with Dave Amsden, who is a high-tech executive recruiter, Brian Tate who’s a managing director for a bank in Charlotte, and Tom Bailey who’s in the Air Force in Ohio.
Ley Havird’s wife Jenn made it to Virginia this spring and caught up with Trey and Theresa Rhodes. Both families are in Korea, where Ley stood-up the 51st Munitions Squadron in July. During the Havird’s East Coast tour they made it to Atlanta where they connected with Brent Wertz ’91, and then headed off to Osan.
Another BR in Korea is my roommate Brett Turner. Last year he was in Daegu, but he just moved his family to Seoul to become the S-3 of the 25th Trans Battalion. He’s been extremely busy trying to get the 2 ID deployed to Iraq. Another of my roommates, John Lanzillotta and I had dinner with our wives in Arlington recently. John is finishing up an “extreme Masters” program, which occupies every free moment for a year. His kids Keegan and Morgan hope to see daddy sometime around Christmas of next year.
I got a great update from Buddy Garbett. He let me know that Hunter Shirey went back to school to become a Physician Assistant, and is currently concentrating in Emergency Medicine with two local hospitals. Hunter is married to Jenny and they now have two children. Sep (4) and Jillian (2) keep Hunter and Jenny very busy. Rich Duke is the treasurer of McGuire Woods Law Firm, and works directly for the CFO of the firm. Rich is married to AJ and they have one daughter, Kelsey Grace. Buddy recently started his own Orthopedic Distributorship selling products from a few different companies, and teamed up with a couple of UVA boys to start a construction debris removal company called River City Rubbish. (talk about an entrepreneur!) He’s married to Shannon, and they have two sons (Charlie and Will). Shannon is expecting their third child in December, so it sounds like the holiday season will be busy. Buddy did ask for us to make a call out to see if anyone knows where Dennis Bundens is these days. If anyone has been in touch with him, please pass the word.
Thanks for all the notes guys – please keep them coming!
Hunter
Last Updated: October 22, 2009
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