Spire Spring 2018

class notes

1942 Helen Kingdon Mays of Bluefield, West Virginia, died March 11, 2010. She was retired from the West Virginia Department of Highways and was active with the Bluefield Garden Club, Bluefield Civic League, Lioness Club, Red Hat Ladies Society, Bluefield Elks Club, Bluefield Country Club, St. Luke’s Hospital, and American Red Cross. Dr. Donald H. McGlory of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, died July 11, 2017. A U.S. Navy World War II veteran, he was a chemical researcher for the Lorillard Tobacco Company before becoming the director of biochemistry at Rhode Island Hospital. From the basement of his home, he started New England Reagent Laboratory and later founded McGlory Scientific, a business dedicated to exploring the potential of vapor phase diagnosis of cancer. 1945 Frances L. Wayland of Bluefield, West Virginia, died May 20, 2016. A community servant, she helped establish the Bluefield Little League and organize the Chicory Square Summer Concert Series. For her service to the community, she received the Robert Francis Hamilton Award from the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce. 1946 Robert A. Vest of Clearwater, Florida, passed away June 3, 2017. A U.S. Army World War II veteran and onetime prisoner of war, Robert was a licensed real estate broker and insurance agent in Bluefield, establishing the Vest Insurance Agency and later becoming president of Citizens Real Estate Investment Company. Moving to Clearwater in 1972, he became vice president and trust officer of the First National Bank of Clearwater until his retirement in 1991. Surviving relatives include his two daughters, Nancy Vest Weinberger (‘72) and Kathryn Vest Aldrich. 1947 Jack B. Hall of Virginia Beach, Virginia, passed away October 29, 2017. He was a U.S. Army Air Corps veteran of World War II and a retired chemist. Douglas Howell Layman of Boynton Beach, Florida, died February 27, 2018. A U.S. Marine veteran of World War II, he was a retired civil service engineer with the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center. 1948 David B. Day of Conway, South Carolina, passed away September 2, 2016. 1949 James Holdaway of Lawrenceville, Georgia, died January 17, 2018. A U.S. Navy veteran, Jim was a professor at Bluefield College and a chemical analyst for government agencies. He was also active in Baptist churches, teaching Sunday School and serving as a deacon. June Crowell Nash of Hernando, Florida, died February 5, 2017. She was a teacher for Tazewell County Public Schools, a Cub Scouts den mother, church pianist, Sunday School superintendent, hospital volunteer, officer for the Tennessee Association of Woman’s Club, and president of the Citrus Hills Woman’s Club. During retirement, she and her husband, Paul (’48) , visited 48 states, Canada and Mexico and traveled on 14 cruises. Robert Lee Sult of Houston, Texas, died March 30, 2016 after serving as a broker, investor, vice president and founding shareholder of Rotan Mosle, Inc. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a retired Reserves colonel, Robert was also a member of the Kiwanis Club, Sagewood Country Club, Houston Racquet Club, Houston Yacht Club, the Regent of the Church Corporation at Rice University, and the vestry and Diocesan Council of the Church of St. John the Divine.

1950 Joe R. Burnett of San Luis Obispo, California, passed away January 8, 2018. 1951 William A. Counts of Sarasota, Florida, died May 4, 2017. A U.S. Army veteran, he retired from the Sarasota County School System after a lengthy career in teaching and coaching. Rufus R. Spence of Cedar Bluff, Virginia, died March 23, 2017. He was a longtime member of Bundy’s Chapel Baptist Church and served as interim pastor at several other area churches. He had retired from Tazewell County Public Schools after serving 30 years as a teacher and principal. Creed W. Trimble of Cohutta, Georgia, passed away February 9, 2018. Jack L. Workman of Alum Creek, West Virginia, died July 21, 2016. A U.S. Marine veteran of World War II, he was best known for his patented invention of a thermoplastic pipe that became widely used by the mining industry throughout the United States. 1952 Lonnie E. Yates, Sr. of Bluefield, Virginia, passed away November 23, 2017. 1953 David Willard Hess of Columbus, Ohio, died July 19, 2017. David served in the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict and retired as a commander from the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1989. He was also a news reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal and assistant editor and White House correspondent for the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau. As a journalist, he won the Worth Bingham Prize for investigative journalism and the grand prize for consumer journalism from the National Press Club. LeRoy Mabe , of Bluefield, Virginia, passed away April 30, 2018. After serving the U.S. Army’s Finance Corps and Army Audit Agency, LeRoy owned and operated his own certified public accountant (CPA) practice in Bluefield for nearly 40 years. He was also president of the Kiwanis Club of Bluefield, treasurer of the local Red Cross, treasurer and trustee of the Church of Christ in Duhring, West Virginia, and a lifetime member of the West Virginia Society of CPAs. 1955 James E. Akers of Palm Desert, California, recently passed away. Lawrence A. Ward of North Andover, Massachusetts, died January 1, 2016. 1956 Edward “Eddie” Broome of Christiansburg, Virginia, passed away April 11, 2017. He was the owner and operator of The Flower Box for 25 of his 45 years as a floral designer. Eddie was also a past member of the Blacksburg Jaycees, former treasurer of the Blacksburg Chamber of Commerce, and a charter member of the Blacksburg Breakfast Lions Club. Sarah Senter Wood of Danville, Virginia, died May 1, 2018. She was a retired elementary school teacher. 1957 Ferma “Dee” Stuart Bethel of Powhatan, Virginia, died November 16, 2017. Helen Fox Brittain died June 8, 2017 in Jacksonville, Florida. She taught school in Hanover County, Virginia. A. Kenneth Custalow, Sr. of West Point, Virginia, and of the Mattaponi Indian Reservation, died July 3, 2013. A retired auditor with the U.S. Treasury Department, Ken served more than 50 years in his church as a teacher, choir member, deacon, and staff administrator. He also served on the board of the Native American Rights Foundation.

Charles “Whitey” McNew of Goldbond, Virginia, passed away October 27, 2017. Whitey retired as an automobile salesman and was a faithful worshiper at Olean Church of the Brethren. Jorge R. Piercy of Lexington, Virginia, died December 5, 2017. 1958 Peggy Thomas Custalow of West Point, Virginia, and of the Mattaponi Indian Reservation, died January 6, 2017. She served Grove Avenue Baptist Church for more than 50 years as a Sunday School teacher. She also taught and served on the board of Grove Christian School and worked with youth at the Mattaponi Indian Baptist Church. Joseph C. Hall of Princeton, West Virginia, passed away December 1, 2015. Joe served in the U.S. Army National Guard during the Cuban Missile Crisis before becoming a school teacher. William R. Hall , Jr. of Roanoke, Virginia, passed away November 2, 2017. Wilma J. Lancaster , of Martinsville, Virginia, died November 8, 2017. Helen Rantis Stamoulis of Bluefield, West Virginia, died February 25, 2015 after teaching at Wade Elementary School for 28 years. 1959 Sam K. Crockett of Roanoke, Virginia, died March 31, 2018. A U.S. Navy veteran of the Korean War, Sam retired as principal of Graham High School in 1999 after working for nearly 30 years for Tazewell County Schools as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, assistant supervisor, and principal. He also briefly owned and managed retail businesses in Bluefield, Virginia, before moving to Roanoke. 1960 Wayne E. Booth of Christiansburg, Virginia, died January 18, 2018 after spending most of his career as an educator in the Montgomery County and Wythe County school systems. He also served several terms on the Christiansburg Town Council and as a deacon, choir member and Sunday School teacher for Cambria Baptist Church. Rev. John “Jack” W. Clough , III of Naples, Florida, died December 31, 2016. A former Baptist minister, Jack founded and was pastor of his own church in Frederick, Maryland, before serving as a development director for the United Way of the Virginia Peninsula. William P. Hodges, Jr. of Newport News, Virginia, passed away May 31, 2016. Bill worked at Newport News Shipbuilding before founding Yorktown Electronic and Supply Company. He was a lifelong member of Temple Baptist Church and is survived by his brother, Robert L. Hodges (‘63) , also of Newport News. Ralph Lee Riggs, Sr. of Salem, Virginia, died September 28, 2016 when he lost his battle with lymphoma. A U.S. Army veteran of the Korean war, his professional career was spent with Moore Business Forms and Systems. 1962 Mary Ward Holley of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, passed away February 14, 2017. She taught for more than 35 years at Tomahawk Elementary School in Lynchburg, Virginia, and was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Among Mary’s survivors is her sister, Barbara Lee Ward (‘67) , of Lynchburg. 1963 William “Bill” Bowerman of Berryville, Virginia, passed away October 8, 2017 after a long battle with cancer. Bill worked at the Bank of Clarke County (VA) for 37 years.

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