The Institute Report

The Institute Report Vol. X No.1 September 3, 1982 An occasional publication of ,hi.' Public Information Offict, Virginia Military In.sh'tutt, Lexington, Virginia 24450. Tel. (703) 463-6207. Editor; CAPT O. Lawrence Burnette, Jr., USNR. New Merrtbers of Board COL Heflin Dies COL Sterling Murray Heflin, of Lexington, retired professor of physics at VMI, died Sunday, Aug. 29, at Stonewall Jackson Hospital at the age of 87. He had spent 46 years as a member of the VMI faculty before his retirement in 1965, subsequently becoming coordinator between the Institute and its then-developing New Market Battlefield Park, a position he still held at the time of his death. Accurate restoration of the battlefield and its complex of buildings was due largely to his thorough research. A native of Leesburg, COL Heflin was graduated from VMI in 1916 after a cadetship marked by academic, military, and athletic achievement that won him the Cincinnati Medal, awarded annually to the outstanding graduate. Following military service in World War I, he joined the VMI faculty in 1919 and was head of the physics department from 1940 until giving up the post in 1964 when he was named senior professor. During his long faculty career, COL Heflin was also actively involved in the VMI athletic program. He served more than 35 years as coach of the rat football and wrestling teams, was a former chairman of the VMI athletic Hon, It H, Spilman, lr, Fabian Bachrach, Hon, B. p, Harrison, lr, AI/en Studio, council, and a former vice president of the Southern Conference. In community affairs, COL Heflin was a current member of the board of Four appointments, each for a four-year term ending in 1986, were made to directors of public television station WVPT in Harrisonburg, Sunnyside the VMI Board of Visitors in July. They include the second-term reappoint Presbyterian Home, and the Lexington Boys Club; a member and elder of the ments of board president Vincent J. Thomas, of Norfolk, and Frank A. lid Lexington Presbyterian Church; and, for more than 50 years, a member of dell, Jr., of Houston, Texas. Both are graduates of the Institute and have the Masonic bodies and Shrine. A former chairman of the Lexington School served on the board since 1978 Board, he served during World War II as secretary of the Selective Service The new members of the VMI board are retired insurance executive B. Board in Rockbridge County and had worked as a state counselor with the Powell Harrison, Jr., of Leesburg, and Robert H. Spilman, Jr., of Bassett, American Association of Physics Teachers to improve the quality of high chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Bassett Furniture In school physics teaching in Virginia. He was also a graduate of Cornell dUstries. University and co-author of a physics laboratory manual. New additions to the Board of Visitors also include Brig. Gen. John G. COL Heflin is survived by a daughter, Mrs. James B. Newman of Lex Castles, Adjutant General of Virginia, who was appointed to that position by ington, three granddaughters, and four great grandchildren, two sisters, and the Governor in August. The Adjutant General serves as an ex-officio a brother. His wife, the former Della Frye, who gave equally devoted service member of the Board. to VMI, died in 1979. Graveside services were held Wednesday at Stonewall Harrison, a 1933 graduate of VMI. where his father was also graduated in Jackson Cemetery. 1896, is a prominent civic leader in Loudoun County, which in 1970 named him citizen of the year. He is nationally recognized for his interests in conser vation and historic preservation and has served in numerous capacities with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Harrison retired in December after more than 40 years in the insurance field. He is a former director of the Virginia Association of Insurance Agents and continues to serve on numerous boards of civic and business organiza tions. He is, in addition, a nationally known lay leader of the Episcopal church, a trustee of the George C. Marshall Research Foundation, and a holder of an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree from the Univeristy of the South at Sewanee, Tenn. Spilman, who attended Davidson College and was graduated from North Carolina State University, is a director and past president of the Southern Furniture Manufacturing Association, a director and former chairman of the Furniture Factories Marketing Association, and a member of the board of governors of the Atlanta Merchandising Mart and the Dallas Market Center. He is. in addition, chairman of the Virginia Port Authority, a member of the Governor's Economic Advisory Council and the Blue Ridge Airport Authori ty, and holds director positions with numerous business corporations. Both Harrison and Spilman are former officers in the United States Army. GEN Castles, commanding general of the Virginia National Guard, is a combat veteran of World War II and has been a member of the Guard for more than 20 years. He also is the owner-operator of a Caroline County beef cattle farm. GEN Castles entered the Army in 1943 and is a graduate of (continued on page 2) COL S, M. Heflin Editorial Post Profile Every institution is but the lengthened shadow of especially dedicated in This is the first in a series of word portraits on personalities at the Institute. dividuals. men for whom there is no such thing as retirement in the sense that it means a withdrawal from service. Colonel S. M. Heflin. retired professor of physics, who died this week at age 87, was such a man. No one in modern times has meant more to the Virginia Military Institute than Colonel "Sam" Heflin over the long period of his VMI association - seven decades. almost half the life of this college. As cadet, teacher, coach, and adviser, he net>er failed to give his best effort, whether in labor or ideas, to make VMI purposeful. productive, and always honorable. His mind was keen and perceptive, his heart generous, and his physical vigor astounded mel! half his age. He made us all significantly richer for his presence. Superintendent Keynotes New Year The 144th year in the life of VMI began last month with several keynote addresses by the Superintendent, GEN Sam S. Walker. Throughout, the tone was upbeat. signaling another challenging and busy session. On Aug. 16 the Superintendent welcomed the Cadre back to the Institute and emphasized the expectations of that group. He stressed the importance of setting a good example, knowing one's job, maintaining a positive environ ment, and "drawing out" the potential in the new cadets. Defining the mis sion of the Cadre as "to train, develop and support the rat, not to terrorize, threaten, insult, degrade, or humiliate him," the Superintendent went on to reemphasize that hazing and physical punishment have no place in the VMI system. In a welcome to the new cadets on Aug. 19, the Superintendent gave them a verbal portrait of the group of about 385 selected from 1300 applicants. -Nineteen percent have SAT scores of 1200 or better, or stood in the top 10 Mr. Stanley D. Mays percent of their high school class, or both. -Fifty-one percent stood in the top fourth of their high school class. While some recite the high S.A. T. scores of the new cadet class, or perhaps -Seventy-seven percent have had two or more years of varsity sports ex the percentages of those who were high school class officers or varsity perience. athletes, class profile figures which come from military store manager At the general meeting of the faculty and staff on Aug. 20, 38 new Stanley D. Mays have a difference perspective: 15%116 ... 38 regular ...l0D. members of the VMI community were introduced (see "New Faces" section in To the uninitiated, those are uniform sizes - average ones - for the white this issue), and the Superintendent discussed a number of events and issues of collars, blouses, and shoes issued to members of the new fourth class. And concern to all. The principal topics were: the impact of the Governor's recent Mays ought to know, In the last 21 years, he's measured more than 8,300 new directive to reduce expenditures by 5 percent of the state appropriation; the cadets for their initial stock of uniforms. It's an annual task that the popular schedule of re-accreditation for the departments of civil and electrical "Bunny" Mays can do almost on instinct alone. engineering; the possible implication for VMI of the recent Supreme Court "I can just about look at a cadet and tell what size he's going to take," says decision in the case of Hogan v. Mississippi University for Women; the Mays, who is actually in his 40th year at VMI. years during which he has possibility of VMI joining a new athletic conference; and an explanation of served under six of the Institute's eleven superintendents. From 1943 until the procedures followed and funding employed in establishing faculty and moving to the military store in 1961. he was manager of the meat department staff compensation for the current year. in the mess hall and in its one-time commissary. Concluding his remarks to the faculty and staff, the Superintendent struck Over his years in the military store, Mays has also become aware of a again the upbeat tone: "If I had any doubts about the wisdom of my return definite pattern in a cadet's changing measurements. "Smaller cadets," he ing, the past year has long since wiped them away.

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