There's something special about Virginia Tech. What else could explain the fact that so many families throughout the university's history have sent their sons and daughters to school here? Legions of alumni can claim siblings, parents, children, or other family members who also attended the university. From the hundreds of families who have sent multiple members--or generations--to Tech, here are just a few who helped make the university what it is today through their legacies of pride, loyalty, and service.

Apples don't fall far from the tree

The Hunts grow a variety of crops on their family farm in Williamsburg, Va.: apples, tomatoes, peaches...and Hokies? That's not too far off the mark. The Hunt family provides a living portrait of four generations of Hokies, from 103-year-old Harold J. Hunt Sr. (agriculture '21) to his great-granddaughter, Alisha Hunt, a sophomore at Virginia Tech. Along the way, several other family members have attended the university, including Harold's son, Jack (agriculture '50); Jack's son, Don (horticulture '74), and daughter-in-law, the former Carolyn Laffoon (biology '74), who are Alisha's parents; Jack's daughter, Marcia Hunt Million (horticulture '76); as well as Jack's niece, Susan Jamerson Frontain (clothing and textiles '84), who married Ken Frontain (finance '84), and Jack's nephew, Keith Jamerson (horticulture '84).

In 1918, Harold chose to go to VPI, beginning the family's multigenerational Hokie connection, because of his interest in staying on the Hunt family farm. "I figured if I was going to be a farmer, I'd better go up there to Tech," he muses. And Harold's memory of his years at Tech is nothing short of spectacular. When he talks about the flu epidemic at Tech in 1918 ("I was at VPI during the sick spell," he says), he can still recall the names of friends who died from the illness.

Jack was the next Hunt to attend Virginia Tech, continuing the family narrative along the Hokie timeline. He notes "I was there the year all the veterans came back--I started in 1946. The veterans were all over, everywhere! At least three to a room, maybe four sometimes." Jack continues his recollection of his first year with amusement. "That was a rough freshman year for me. I was a rat, and I had my tonsils out that year, around Thanksgiving." He marvels at the changes he's seen at Tech throughout the years, particularly the effects the '60s had on the campus. When he brought Don to the university for his freshman year in 1970, Jack says, "I was so surprised at how different the students looked! Their hair, the way they dressed....everything."

Don, who met Carolyn at Virginia Tech, pauses when asked whether he had a choice in going to Tech. "Uh...no," he answers, hastening to add that because he, like his father and grandfather before him, planned to work on the family farm, "it was the logical thing to do." He says, however, that he was well-indoctrinated in Virginia Tech lore before he ever set foot on campus. Carolyn says the same, proudly proclaiming that she comes from a big family of Hokies, too.

All members of the Hunt family express their pride in today's Tech students--one of whom is Alisha. Although the sophomore knows she wants to work with animals, she's not yet sure of the path she wants to take. "I've called Mom about it so many times saying, 'I don't know what I want to do!'" she notes. Mom's advice? "I keep telling her to go to the career center!" laughs Carolyn, who adds that, given the variety of classes Tech offers, she's sure Alisha will find her way.

Harold himself is quite proud that his great-granddaughter is a student at Virginia Tech. "VPI is a great place," he says. "I hope Alisha will get along alright there. I think she will."

Five generations of Ut Prosim

Virginia Sen. John C. Watkins (horticulture/agriculture '69) has what he calls "mighty big shoes to fill." His great grandfather, J. B. Watkins, himself a Virginia senator for three terms, sat on Tech's Board of Visitors from 1903-1908 and again from 1912-1928, serving as rector of the board for 14 of those years and during that time signing the diploma of his son, Benjamin Cornelius (horticulture '05). John's father, Benjamin Chewning (business administration '40), was also given to service, fighting in World War II alongside James "Jimmy" Monteith (class of 1941), the namesake of Tech's Monteith Hall and a posthumous Medal of Honor winner for his heroic actions in Normandy on D-Day.

John has done his part to fill the shoes of his predecessors and to fulfill Tech's motto, Ut Prosim ("That I may serve"). He's president of Watkins Nursery, a former Virginia delegate (elected to the House of Delegates in 1982), and a senator since 1998. He has served Tech by spending a total of six years--two terms--on the alumni board and is a founding member and president of the Tech Agriculture Alumni Organization.

It almost seems natural that John would have served his university with such devotion because not only did dedicated Hokies precede him, they also surrounded him during his college days. "I just happened to be a part of that famed, fabled class of 1969," he says, referring to his classmates Charles Steger, Tech's current president; Frank Beamer, head football coach; Tom Tillar, vice president of alumni relations; and Ray Smoot, vice president for administration and treasurer of Virginia Tech. At the opening of the Virginia Tech Richmond Center in September 2001, President Steger introduced Sen. Watkins by saying, "In all of his activities he has put service above all else, in the best tradition of Virginia Tech."

Service isn't the only tradition running through the Watkins family line--agriculture has also been a continuing part of their lives. "My family is made up of folk who grew up working with their hands, and most all of them got educated at the land-grant university. Its agricultural focus was and is a natural extension of our interests," John says. Other family members who attended Tech are his great uncle, John Benjamin ('05), and his brother, Daniel (electrical engineering '83). "I knew a lot about our family's legacy at Tech long before I got there," he says. "So it went without saying that I would also attend the university."

The Watkins family connection to Tech will continue to grow through the years. "Tech has been a part of our family and our business for a century. And that kind of relationship doesn't change," notes John. One of his sons, Robert, graduated from the university in 1997, making it five generations of Watkinses who have been Hokies, and John's niece, Mary, is currently a first-year student at Tech. "And we've just begun the Watkins family scholarship fund for a more centralized way to fund agriculture at Tech," John says. Giving back only makes sense to someone who says he feels "blessed to have been able to attend what I consider to be the best university in the state, but then, I've got a bias."

A room of their own in Hokie history

"My father [William Perry] compared a college education to 'keeping any bad spots off a beautiful apple,'" says Rubinette Miller Niemann (secondary education, home economics '58). "If one had any bad habits, college was a good place to rid them by rubbing shoulders with other students as a first step into the 'real' world."

For the Miller family, Tech has traditionally been the place to guard against bad spots. Four Miller brothers, out of 11 siblings total, attended Tech: Frederick (electrical engineering '09), George Napoleon (civil engineering '14), William Perry (agriculture Ô20), and Sheffrey Guy (agriculture '23). Tech's impact on the four brothers must have been quite impressive--15 of the 11 siblings' children also became students at Tech!

George Napoleon Miller	William Perry Miller

The prevalence of Virginia Tech in the Miller family history is the reason Rubinette and her husband, John P. Niemann, are planning to name a meeting room in the new Virginia Tech Alumni and Conference Center after the family. Rubinette's deceased sister, Elizabeth Miller, will be included as a joint donor, as are three others of the family's second-generation Tech alumni: Martha Ann Miller (biology '63), Peggy Sue Berger (secondary education, home economics '58), and Ida Berger Powell (general home economics '58). Naming a room in the alumni center will unite and commemorate their family's experience and lengthy history at Tech.

In fact, Tech figures so prominently in the family's history that Our Heritage: Miller-Rose, Niemann-Hedges, 1520-1981, a book Rubinette compiled, commemorates the family's connections to the university. One item in the book is a letter written by William Miller, the father of the four Tech alumni siblings, to then-Tech student Sheffrey. "Now is the important period of life with you. You are forming character upon which your future life, for weal or woe, depends. Act the true man,...put your word above life. But always think well before giving your word."

The book also describes how Rubinette's father, William Perry, and his twin, Sheffrey, hadn't been separated until college. "Their bags were packed for Virginia Tech when they realized that their aging father really needed to have one of them stay home to run the family business," Rubinette says. "Thus they flipped a coin to see who would go first. That would be my father." Sheffrey was compensated for his late start, however. He missed out on some of the hazing rituals of first-year life because everyone thought he'd already been through it--as William Perry.

The dedication to Our Heritage perhaps summarizes the Miller legacy at Tech: "To past generations for the foundations they have given us, and to future generations that they may build upon this heritage." The naming of the room in the Alumni and Conference Center will ensure that the Miller legacy isn't soon forgotten at Virginia Tech.

Their "Legacy" reflects progress, inclusivity

In 1993, Matthew Winston Sr. (mechanical engineering '59) and Matthew Winston Jr. (marketing management '90) funded the "Legacy" mural as a gift to the then-new Black Cultural Center. The mural hangs at the center's entrance in Squires Student Center, covering an entire wall and spanning centuries of black history. Some of the key figures skillfully rendered by artist Jerome Johnson include Queen Nefertiti, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, John Coltrane, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The mural's timeline begins on the left with a tribal African man and ends on the right with a black man who resembles the African man on the left but is wearing a cap and gown, signifying "the final connection between the motherland of Africa and the nurtured home of America," says Carol Crawford Smith, coordinator for the Black Cultural Center.

The mural's progression reflects the Winstons' special connection to Tech. Although Matthew Jr. did not attend Tech with the intention of creating a Winston legacy as the son of the university's fifth black freshman, his attendance did build on the legacy that his father began. "The title of the mural is pretty significant to me, being a sort of black legacy myself," says Matthew Jr. His attendance and subsequent dedication to his alma mater show a commitment to honoring his father's college days. The former Tech public relations employee says, "I don't appreciate it when students don't come back, never give back to the university, and keep such a negative attitude," he says. "Instead of pointing fingers about the faults of the past, we have to work together for the future." To emphasize his statement, he jokes, "My only problem with Tech is that the football didn't pick up until after I was gone!"

His attitude stems from his father, who endured the stings of segregation during his school days but didn't emphasize the negatives to his son. "A lot of things were changing in this country during his growing up," Matthew Sr. says, "and I was wary of influencing my kids with stuff that wasn't going to help them but might cause them to be inhibited or feel some sense of dread about facing challenges."

Indicative of the positive change in the racial climate over the years since Tech has been desegregated, Matthew Sr., who had never advised his son to attend Tech, says, "I would be pleased if my grandchildren became Hokies." In turn, Matthew Jr. says he won't force his own children to attend Tech but has already "discouraged them from attending that trade school in Charlottesville."

In addition to representing the Winstons' unique history at Tech, the mural symbolizes their desire to foster a spirit of inclusivity for the entire Tech community. "You must remember," says Matthew Sr., "that current and future generations regard the world of my youth as ancient history. Older visitors to the campus may indeed find deep meaning in what they see. I think the absence of symbols of inclusiveness would be more noticeable to the young, and for that reason, I believe that artistic depictions embracing all ethnicities should be exhibited in appropriate context throughout the university community."

Matthew Jr. says he hopes the mural's presence has helped foster a space where students can come together "to meet and greet, not just for black students, but for the entire university community to meet and exchange ideas."

A legacy that will ensure quality education for future generations

No collection of Hokie legacies would be complete without mention of the Pamplins. Robert B. Pamplin (business administration '33) and his son Robert B. Pamplin Jr. (business administration '64) are the largest contributors in Tech's history, with gifts totaling more than $30 million.

Pamplin Sr., chairman of the family business, the R. B. Pamplin Corporation, attributes his discipline and business sense to the fundamentals he learned as a cadet. After graduating from the university, Pamplin Sr. joined the newly formed Georgia Hardwood Lumber and helped it evolve into the giant Georgia-Pacific, which he later headed. Upon retiring from Georgia-Pacific, he started the Pamplin Corporation, of which Pamplin Jr. is now CEO.

Pamplin Jr. also founded the Portland Tribune, Columbia Empire Farms, and the Your Northwest Retail stores. The multi-talented businessman is also an ordained minister, author, and creative philanthropist and has been named Oregon's First Citizen. He has earned numerous degrees, including two doctorates, in business, economics, accounting, education, and theology, and has been awarded several honorary degrees, including two from Virginia Tech.

The Pamplins are proud of their connections to the university and have donated their time and expertise along with generous monetary gifts. Their legacy and name are forever a part of the university in the form of Pamplin Hall; the Pamplin College of Business; and several academic scholarships, including the Pamplin Leadership Scholarships program, which awards $1,000 to one qualifying senior from each of Virginia's more than 285 high schools. Their most recent act of generosity is a pledge to match gifts, up to a total of $5 million, made to the MBA program at the Pamplin College of Business until 2013. Their money-matching offer will aid the college tremendously, says Dean Richard E. Sorensen. "This latest example of their extraordinary support will help us raise the funds needed to further enhance the quality and national reputation of our MBA program," Sorensen says.