“Other” Class Notes

Matthew C. Meade published his first book, Wisdom on the Way to Wall Street: 22 Steps to Navigate Your Road to Success, after nearly 15 years of working on Wall Street.  

Dorothy Blum (Educ ’77) received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her distinguished leadership, work and service to the profession of employee assistance and to the Employee Assistance Professionals Association. Blum received the award at the association’s World Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Blum is currently the employee assistance program manager for the architect of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. From 1987 to 2010, she worked as contracted EAP director for the Nationwide Employee Assistance Program for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, formerly U.S. Customs Service.

Robert M. Tata (Law ’89 CM), managing partner for Hunton Andrews Kurth Norfolk, was recognized by Virginia Business Magazine on its inaugural 2020 “Power List” as one of the Commonwealth’s top 500 business leaders, and as Best Lawyers 2020 “Lawyer of the Year (Norfolk) for Intellectual Property” and 2021 “Lawyer of the Year (Norfolk) for Trade Secrets Law.”

Virgil Atwell Motley Jr. (Med ’55 CM) married Jeanne Austin Preston on Aug. 8, 2020 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Abingdon, Virginia.

Lee Fanning (Med ’70) recently published Rescues from the Sky under the pseudonym Lee F. Walters. The book tells the harrowing real-life stories from his time with the U.S. Coast Guardas a newly trained flight surgeon.

Kenneth Monroe Jr. (Col ’60 CM) writes “Just living the good life while splitting my time between Virginia and Florida. Have two sons and two grandchildren living in Midlothian. Occasionally get to a UVA football game.”

Jon Perry (Engr ’92) suffered a spinal cord injury on June 21, 2020. A GoFundMe has been set up on his behalf. 

Lynne McNamee (Col ’92 L/M) was invited to moderate the first breakout session for the Rotary International 2020 Virtual Convention. “Using Virtual Tools to Engage Members” was attended by over 3,500 from around the globe, with the session simultaneously translated into 7 additional languages. 

Elizabeth Herbert Evans’ (Col ’01) family recently opened a cabin rental business in Nelson County, Virginia. Beech Grove Cabins is 40 minutes away from Grounds in the heart of all the great breweries, wineries and distilleries.

John Valliere (Engr ’76 L/M) retired in May after 11 years as the senior disaster planner at the U.S. Small Business Administration headquarters in Washington, D.C. In this role, he served as the deputy director of the Office of Continuous Operations and Risk Management and principle author of the agency’s Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Plan and its Continuity of Operations Plan. He previously served in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1997, and in the private sector. He lives with his wife, Shirley Hottot, in Montclair, Virginia.

Shannon Horton (Nurs ’98) shares how her family’s business, Horton Vineyards, supported the front line workers of COVID-19:

“As COVID began to grow into a pandemic I wondered how Horton Vineyards could help front line workers/service people.  I heard that distilleries had changed their operations over to making hand sanitizer.  I immediately called a local distillery, Silverback and asked if they wanted some wine to distill. They arranged for transportation and so far 2 – 18 wheeler loads have been transported to Silverback, made into hand sanitizer and made its way to the front lines. As of today Silverback has received from Horton Vineyards via donation over 11,000 gallons of wine to be distilled into Hand Sanitizer.by Silverback.  To put this into perspective it is over 4,500 cases of wine. There are many different ways to support front line workers/services.  We went a little outside the wine box.”

Richard Margulies (Col ’76 L/M) was recently featured in the Chambers USA 2020 Guide, a publication ranking the leading lawyers and law firms across the U.S. Margulies is managing principal of the Jacksonville, Florida, office of Jackson Lewis. He has more than 30 years of experience in counseling and representing employers in litigation matters.

John Jewett (Grad ’82)’s newest project can be found at www.jhowardcahill.com and on Facebook. Both are dedicated to expressions of the human imagination through poetry, haiku, imagery, stories, legends and myths. Jewett says, “We are our stories and the stories of others. As human beings, the only we can share who we are and who we may become is through our actions and our stories. They are how we see ourselves and how we share ourselves. If you find it interesting or worthwhile, please share it and follow or like and share its FB page.

Peace and many thanks!”

Andrew G. Lee (Col ’85, Med ’88) was named chairman of the board of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society. He also joins the board of trustees for the Houston Symphony. Lee is chairman of the Blanton Eye Institute, Houston Methodist Hospital and lives with his wife, Hilary Beaver (Med ’91), and two daughters, Virginia and Rachael .

To all the lovely alumni grads and undergrads in the class of 80′: Architecture, History , Landscape, Planning,  I was reminded by Mike Maxwell that our fortieth reunion will arrive June 4-7, 2020.  Should it be postponed to a latter date because we are in the over 60 category for the pandemic, I still hope you can make it, including faculty and spouses.  Best regards to my colleagues, Tony Karwoski

Ellen Klemm Feeney (Col ’87 L/M) has spent her career at Navy Federal Credit Union in Vienna, Virginia. She started in employee relations and is currently the functional lead for the consumer servicing branch. Feeney earned her master’s degree from George Washington University and lives with her family in Vienna. Her daughter is Jane Quinlan Feeney (Col ’23).   

Guy Sterling (Col ’70) spent nearly 35 years as a daily newspaper reporter before retiring in 2009. He was a reporter on the staff of The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey, that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news in 2005 for its coverage of the sudden and unexpected resignation of New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey. Four years earlier, Sterling had been a lead reporter in the coverage of the deadly dormitory fire at Seton Hall University that earned the paper its first-ever selection as a Pulitzer Prize finalist. In 2007, he won an ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award given nationally for excellence in music writing. He has also written two books.

Matt Coleman (Col ’03, Darden ’11 L/M) and his wife, Christine, welcomed their second child, Matthew Kais, on Jan. 9, 2020. Matt, Christine, big sister Alessia, and Kais live in Oakland, California, where Mr. Coleman is a director at investment manager Nephila Climate, and Mrs. Coleman is the executive director of Sol Sisters, Inc.