VT Stories Oral History Collection (Ms2016-015)

Dublin Core

Title

VT Stories Oral History Collection (Ms2016-015)

Subject

University history

Description

Initiated in 2015 by the President’s Office and managed by faculty and staff in History, English, TLOS, VT Libraries, and the Alumni Association, the VT Stories Oral History Project collects and examines stories, memories, tall tales, tragedies, and triumphs of all members of the Hokie community to help us know our shared history and to make sense of it. At the heart of the project is Hokies interviewing Hokies—largely student-staffed and trained by oral historians, interviewers engage with VT Alumni to learn their history and to make mentoring connections that go beyond the student experience. As we seek to understand why Virginia Tech is top rated in its success in engaging alumni, we highlight the exciting, memorable, historic moments in Hokie lives that have forged strong and enduring connections.

Any questions regarding this collection should be directed to Ren Harman, Oral History Projects Archivist, harman07@vt.edu

Is Referenced By

VT Stories

Identifier

Ms2016-015

Collection Items

VT Stories Oral History with Lawrence "Lonnie" Johns, April 22, 2016 (Ms2016-015)
Lonnie Johns was born and raised in Roanoke, Virginia with close ties to Virginia Tech. Although he was drawn to other schools, his mother receiving a PhD from the school and the architecture department led him to attend. He graduated from Virginia…

VT Stories Oral History with Calvin Jamison, April 22, 2016 (Ms2016-015)
Dr. Calvin D. Jamison grew up knowing he was going to attend college, the only question was where? He was born and raised in Martinsville, Virginia and upon visiting Virginia Tech, he ultimately decided to attend. A triple Hokie, Jamison received his…

VT Stories Oral History with John Owen, October 22, 2021 (MS2016-015)
John Owen was born in Lynchburg, VA to a military family. From his father's work, he moved to California, Greece, Alexandria, VA, and France during his childhood. Though upon retirement, his family settled back in Alexandria, VA where his interest in…

VT Stories Oral History with Bertram Kinzey, May 19, 2016 (Ms2016-015)
Bertram Kinzey, Jr. arrived in Blacksburg as an architectural engineering student in 1940. While living in Richmond, Kinzey enrolled in the engineering extension program, which led him to Virginia Tech for his final two years of undergraduate. As a…

VT Stories Oral History with Theodore King, Jr., November 21, 2015 (Ms2016-015)
Theodore King, Jr. grew up on a farm in Lunenburg County, Virginia. While in high school, King was recruited by many colleges, including Virginia Tech. He was drawn to the school because of its appeal to common people, as he was a lower class African…

VT Stories Oral History with James "Bud" Robertson, June 8, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
James "Bud" Robertson was born and raised in Danville, Virginia. There was a railroad close to his house, which led him to become interested in them (which he maintained throughout his entire life). The yardmaster understood his interest and offered…

VT Stories Oral History with James Boone, June 2, 2017 (Ms2016-015)
James Boone, born July 25th, 1915 is among the earliest Virginia Polytechnic students to be interviewed for VT Stories. He grew up in Holland and Ivor, Virginia, and arrived in Blacksburg in 1933. While at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, he studied…

VT Stories Oral History with George Fox, May 19, 2017 (Ms2016-015)
George Fox, born in Charleston, West Virginia, grew up in a Virginia Tech household. His father from Virginia Polytechnic Institute for industrial engineering in 1941 and claimed that their extended family has more than twenty graduates.…

VT Stories Oral History with Frank Nolen, May 17, 2016 (Ms2016-015)
Frank Nolen grew up in Macon County, North Carolina, raised with school in mind. In high school, he decided to attend North Carolina State College, but dropped out after encountering college chemistry. He transferred to Gaston Technical Institute, a…

VT Stories Oral History with Bob and Judy Slaughter, October 10, 2015 (Ms2016-015)
Judy Swecker Slaughter was born into a Virginia Tech family as her father graduated class of 1935. Growing up in Woodstock, Virginia, she had decided to follow her father's footsteps and also attend. She arrived in 1966, studying psychology and…

VT Stories Oral History with First African American Women Students, April 22, 2016 (Ms2016-015)
Marguerite Laurette Harper Scott, also known as Chick, grew up in Norfolk, Virginia in a family of Virginia State graduates. Although she intended on doing the same, when Virginia Polytechnic recruiters visited her high school, her father decided it…

VT Stories Oral History with John "Jack" Kise, May 19, 2016 (Ms2016-015)
Jack Kise was born in New Haven, Connecticut and moved around several times before landing in Portsmouth, Virginia where he spent most of his school years. In high school, he took an interest in Virginia Tech as he had several friends attend and…

VT Stories Oral History with Chris and Maria Kappas 6/6, May 13, 2019 (Ms2016-015)
In this final installment of an oral history series, Chris Kappas is joined by his wife, Maria Kappas, to talk about their life working in the restaurant industry and raising a family in Blacksburg.

In this interview, Maria recounts emigrating…

VT Stories Oral History with Chris Kappas 5/6, December 6, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
The fifth oral history interview in a series about the Greek community in Blacksburg, local history, and the restaurant industry with Chris Kappas.

In this interview, Kappas talks about establishing Souvlakis in the Blacksburg community as a…

VT Stories Oral History with Chris Kappas 4/6, August 31, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
The fourth oral history interview in a series with Chris Kappas, longtime Blacksburg local and restauranteur.

In this interview, Chris Kappas talks about becoming principal partner in the Greek's restaurant with his father's former business…

VT Stories Oral History with Chris Kappas 3/6, August 20, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
The third installment of a series of oral history interviews with Blacksburg local, restauranteur, and active community member Chris Kappas.

This oral history interview begins with Chris talking about his childhood growing up in war-torn Greece.…

VT Stories Oral History with Chris Kappas 2/6, August 7, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
The second session in a series of oral history interviews with Chris Kappas, local Blacksburg restaurateur and land lord.

In this interview, Chris Kappas recounts his early life growing up in the Greek countryside during World War II while…

VT Stories Oral History with Chris Kappas 1/6, July 30, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
The first in a special series of interviews with Chris Kappas, a local Blacksburg businessman, land lord, and restaurateur. Born in Greece in 1938, Chris Kappas is the son of Nick Kappas, early Greek immigrant and restaurateur in Southwest Virginia.…

VT Stories Oral History with Natalie Strawn Kelly, November 20, 2015 (Ms2016-015)
Natalie Strawn Kelly grew up in Blacksburg, and was nearly predestined for Virginia Tech. She graduated in 1974, majoring in Elementary Education. In this interview, she talks about her time at Virginia Tech, taking classes, living in Northern…

VT Stories Oral History with Jerry Hulick, June 8, 2018
In this VT Stories oral history interview, Ren Harman interviews Jerry Hulick, Class of 1973. Hulick discusses his time at Virginia Tech during the protests of the Vietnam War and the changing landscape of the culture in Virginia Tech and Blacksburg.…

VT Stories Oral History with Clara Cox, March 23, 2018
In this VT Stories interview from 2018, Manisha Sharma interviews the former Director of University Publications Clara Cox in the Holtzman Alumni Center. In this oral history Cox talks about her rise through the ranks of university relations, her…

VT Stories Oral History with Kevin Crofton, September 29, 2017
In this nearly hour long interview, Ren Harman, Project Manager for VT Stories, interviews Kevin Crofton, Class of 1982, in the Holtzman Alumni Center on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. In this interview, Kevin reflects on his time…

VT Stories Oral History with Bob Quisenberry, April 3, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Bob Quisenberry, Class of 1962, discusses his life and
career, including his time as a student at Virginia Tech and his continued involvement with the university in the decades since.

VT Stories Oral History with Ida Powell, May 17, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Ida Powell graduated from Virginia Tech in 1958 with a bachelor's degree in home economics. In this hour-long interview, Powell discusses her experience as a female student attending Virginia Tech's campus in the 1950s as well as her humanitarian…

VT Stories Oral History with Mary and Willis Blackwood, May 10, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
In an hour and 10 minute interview of Mary Nolen
Blackwood and Willis Blackwood, Ren Harman asks about
their lives as they connect to Virginia Tech. Along with
early life at Virginia Tech and family life, this interview
touches on their continued…

VT Stories Oral History with Roger H. Moore, April 26, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Roger H. More was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland in 1942. From an early age he knew that he would attend college, but planned on going to Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. These plans changed when his best friend and his bother went to…

VT Stories Oral History with Gerald Miller, May 16, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Gerald Miller grew up on a farm in Harrisonburg, Virginia. From an early age, he had responsibilities and schooling expectations drilled into him, which heavily guided his career. He attended Virginia Tech and graduated in 1965, majoring in Agronomy.…

VT Stories Oral History with Douglas Martin, May 5, 2019 (Ms2016-015)
Douglas Martin, Ed.D. is Director Emeritus in the
Department of Human Resources at Virginia Tech. This
nearly hour-long interview contains his first-hand account
of several impactful people and events that shaped Tech in
the last half century.…

VT Stories Oral History with Jim Hatch, March, 7, 2019 (Ms2016-015)
Jim Hatch went to Lynchburg College as an undergraduate, majoring in management. Upon graduating, he attended Virginia Tech for a Master’s of Accounting and graduated in 1972. Afterwards, he began working as a public accountant and remained active in…

VT Stories Oral History with Mallory Foutch and Anna LoMascolo, March 19, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Mallory Foutch came to Virginia Tech in 2016 after attending both undergrad and grad school elsewhere. During school, she was a passionate social activist and feminist, which she turned to in her work here with the Women’s Center as a program…

VT Stories Oral History with Rosemary Blieszner, March 19, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Rosemary Beiszner came to Virginia Tech as a foot in the door to the academic world. She attended undergraduate at Mercyhurst College, studying home economics. She went on to pursue a master’s degree in family and child development at Ohio State.…

VT Stories Oral History with Frank Beamer, June 7, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Frank Beamer was born in Mount Airy, North Carolina in 1946, but grew up just across state lines in Fancy Gap, a suburb of Hillsville, Virginia. Growing up on a farm, hard-work was instilled in him from an early age, along with the value of higher…

VT Stories Oral History with Pat Hyer, March 5, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Pat Hyer grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, in a household where education was paramount. She attended undergraduate school at Hillsdale College, receiving a scholarship to the University of Michigan for a master’s degree in French. After working for a few…

VT Stories Oral History with Mary "Prim" Jones, March 27, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Mary “Prim” Jones grew up in Blacksburg and around campus. Although she considered other colleges, she chose to attend Virginia Tech for her undergraduate degree, studying mechanical engineering as an early female student. She graduated in 1962, and…

VT Stories Oral History with Bill Starnes, April 26, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
William (Bill) Starnes, Jr., Virginia Tech class of 1955, never seriously considered any other school. Bill always knew that he was going to college, and because his father attended the university, having graduated in 1924, it seemed like the perfect…

VT Stories Oral History with Doug Montgomery, March 26, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Doug Montgomery grew up in Radford, Virginia, playing baseball and golf, knowing that he would continue in higher education. Now a proud triple Hokie of industrial engineering, Doug graduated with a BS, MS, and Ph.D in 1965, 1967, and 1969…

VT Stories Oral History with Susan Anderson, March 3, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Susan Anderson got her passion for social justice and community service from her family. From a young age, she was taught by her mother to stand up for those in need. Her grandparents were involved in their communities, and her grandfather worked in…

VT Stories Oral History with Ezra "Bud" Brown, April 3, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Dr. Ezra A. “Bud” Brown grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana knowing he was expected to attend college. After graduating high school, he attended Rice University and after switching majors a few times, ultimately chose math. When he graduated from…

VT Stories Oral History with Mayer Levy, April 6, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Mayer Levy was born and raised in Newport News, Virginia to a VPI family, and came to VPI partly on that influence and through a scholarship. He graduated in 1960 as a biology major, and continued to dental school at Georgetown. After finishing in…

VT Stories Oral History with Kimberly Williams, March 20, 2017 (Ms2016-015)
For Kimberly Williams, Virginia Tech has filled many roles. From 2002 to 2008 it was her university, and recently her place of employment – but it is, and has been, much more. A graduate of the class of 2008, she majored in psychology with sociology…

VT Stories Oral History with Rich and Libby Carpenter, November 19, 2016 (Ms2016-015)
Although Rich and Libby Carpenter each experienced their own unique version of Virginia Tech, they can both attest to the sense of community that they felt during their time here. Rich Carpenter, class of 1967, did not join the Virginia Tech Corps of…

VT Stories Oral History with Matt Winston Jr., April 6, 2017 (Ms2016-015)
As one of Virginia Tech’s first black graduates, Matt Winston’s father was able to share a number of stories, both positive and negative, about the university. While he did hear stories of his father being called by the university’s president and…

VT Stories Oral History with Neal Henshaw, April 13, 2017 (Ms2016-015)
Neal Henshaw took a roundabout path to becoming a Hokie. He was born in Buckingham, Virginia, and despite being familiar with Virginia Tech, he decided to go to BYU and pursue Spanish education. After graduation, he worked several jobs to help…

VT Stories Oral History with Linda Plaut, February 23, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
You don’t have to graduate from Virginia Tech to be a Hokie. After moving to Blacksburg as a faculty spouse, Linda Plaut joined the university’s staff as a part-time teacher. What started as a temporary position blossomed into a permanent career of…

VT Stories Oral History with Bob Bates, October 2, 2017 (Ms2016-015)
Education has always been important in the life of Robert “Bob” Bates, former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (now College of Science). Both of his parents were college-educated, and his mother was a teacher, while his father worked for the…

VT Stories Oral History with Mickey Hayes, October 19, 2017 (Ms2016-015)
Mickey Hayes, born as Charles Joseph Hayes, Jr. was born in Pittsburgh in 1941, moved to Norfolk very shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and finally settled in Virginia Beach for the rest of his childhood. Here, he mostly spent his time away…

VT Stories Oral History with Matthew Winston Sr., February 9, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Matt Winston Sr., Virginia Tech class of 1959, was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1938, the youngest of three children. Though he grew up in a time of warfare and racial segregation in a poor family, he enjoyed his childhood. He remembers being hardly…

VT Stories Oral History with Todd Ogle, April 03, 2017 (Ms2016-015)
Todd Ogle grew up in Northern Virginia and pursued his undergraduate degree at Virginia Tech from 1992 and 1996. Although he never planned on attending the school, during a visit his loved the student experience and he chose it. During undergrad, he…

VT Stories Oral History with Bill Latham, May 21, 2015 (Ms2016-015)
On the residential side of campus, there is an academic building where researchers from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and College of Natural Resources and Environment (CNRE) work diligently to find solutions to environmental…

VT Stories Oral History with Bill Roth, January 26, 2018 (Ms2016-015)
Bill Roth grew up in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania playing ice hockey. He attended Syracuse University studying multimedia journalism, wanting to work in sports broadcasting. After graduating, he was hired at Virginia Tech as the “Voice of the Hokies,”…
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