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For many years, my view of West Point was more of a fairyland, or magic place. As a little girl, my parents often took us up to West Point to see a parade and enjoy a picnic. As a college student, I dated a handsome young cadet ~ and oh, my, how glamorous those weekends seemed. After graduating from Manhattanville College, I headed down south to Wake Forest Law School. There, I met my future husband … my sounding board, my best friend, the maintainer of my sanity, and the only person whom I can unashamedly torment. Dutch, a 1968 graduate of West Point, was in his third year of law school when I entered, so in addition to us enjoying (?) a long distance relationship for two years, it took the poor, gentle guy five years to finally be through with Law School! We married in August of 1977, shortly after I took the bar exam, and then started our married life much the same as we had "enjoyed" our courtship - in true Army fashion, Dutch was stationed in Washington, D.C., while I served a clerkship with the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court …. in New Jersey! After a year of commuting, and seeing each other weekends and holidays, I joined Dutch in Washington, D.C., and went to work with the U.S. Department of Justice - Tax Division, Criminal Section. (talk about having a chilling effect on folks at a cocktail party …) A criminal tax prosecutor by profession, there came a point when Dutch and I decided that our family life was inconsistent with having a mom who traveled often, and often for extended periods of time. You could say that we decided that if anyone was going to warp our kids, it might as well be me. So…. I traded business suits and legal briefs for car keys, khakis and volunteer work, and have never looked back. Over the years, I've coached soccer, taught religious education, coordinated the design and building of a community playground, helped with cub scouts, served on many community boards and commissions and volunteered in college placement and career counseling … and been home to enjoy our sons. When asked once whether I continued to practice law, I honestly answered that in my own way, I have: I prevent juvenile delinquency on a small scale. Somewhere along this ride, we moved to Connecticut ~ close enough to enjoy visiting West Point often. And so our sons grew up, clambering on cannons, going to parades and concerts and football games. But it was not until our older son decided that he, too, wanted to join the Long Gray Line that I saw the "other West Point". It's not all glamour and parades …. It's a great deal of hard work, a place where young men and women grow up quickly. Of course, Dutch well knew this, and yes, intellectually, I did as well. But going through the admissions process with our older son, made us so well aware that folks need help navigating the process, and so, when Dutch was asked to help as an Admissions Representative for his alma mater, he jumped at the chance, and volunteered my help, as well. Our older son, David, graduated from USMA in 2004, and is currently attending Duke Medical School, preparing to serve a career as an Army doctor. Our younger son, Christopher, is a member of the Class of 2007, and looks forward to joining his Dad and brother as a member of the Long Gray Line. I am honored and humbled to serve as one of your Moderators. I only hope that my experiences as the spouse of a West Point grad, and mother of a recent grad and a current cadet will help other parents survive the roller coaster that so typifies the West Point experience. Megan is now a WP-ORG Advisor! |
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I was born in Seattle, Washington a mere 60 years ago and spent my growing up years in Washington, Arizona and California before returning to the Northwest in 1975. My husband, Don, and I live in Spokane, Washington from whence he hails. Unlike the other moderators, I have neither a prior connection with West Point nor military experience in my immediate family. In 1965, I graduated from Dominican College in San Rafael, California (actually as a Dominican sister) as a biology major and chemistry minor. Since then I have also obtained a Masters degree in Administration, Curriculum and Instruction from Gonzaga University in Spokane and am currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies. I have been a teacher and school administrator - mainly in the Catholic schools - since 1965 (with time off, not for good behavior, but to raise my children to school age). I am now a vice-principal (or principal of vice as some students claim) and full time teacher at St. John Vianney Catholic School in Spokane. Other pursuits include volunteering for my parish and diocese in liturgical areas, for various arts groups, and for Habitat for Humanity. I am an admissions field force representative for West Point. I also enjoy gardening, cooking, and traveling. I have two children: Vance and Anne McClain. Vance, 26, lives in Seattle and is pursuing a career in sales. 2LTAnne (2002) branched aviation and is presently doing graduate work in aerospace engineering in England. |
| Pam Sutey : PLEBE-NET / Prospective-net NO PHOTO / INFORMATION AVAILABLE PER MODERATOR REQUEST |
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Born in Los Angeles, CA - 1940 United States Military Academy
- 1958-1962 Military service in Germany,
United States, and Vietnam. Began civilian career in Commercial
Real Estate in 1970. Moved from Newport Beach (Southern California) to Sacramento (Northern California) in late 1979. Commercial Real Estate Developer from 1980-1990. Built the IRS office facility in Sacramento and was the landlord of the IRS there and four other IRS facilities in Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. Also built and owned office buildings and shopping centers. Entered the Residential home building business in 1990 as a small subdivision builder. Have built and sold hundreds of homes in the Sacramento area in the past 14 years. Still active in the business. Currently President of the West
Point Alumni in Northern California. I also serve as a National
Trustee for the alumni association at |
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I have accepted the offer to co-moderate Plebe-Net in the hope that I can make a difference for Plebe Parents just as others did for us in the summer of 1999. We are the parents a 2003 WP Grad currently serving in Iraq. During 8th grade our youngest son came home and asked, "Did you know that there are military academies for college?" His dad and I assured him we were aware of that. He was slightly disgusted that we had not informed him of this previously. That day started his quest for admission into a service academy. We have two older children, grown and successful, who followed their paths into civilian colleges. My husband and I are not from military families and we knew only the beginnings of the reputation and traditions of the service academies. We had no idea what we were in for! Our first visit to West Point was R-Day. After returning from R-Day, my husband left on a 3-week business trip. I had only the dog to talk to and he was answering me! Thankfully I found Plebe-Net and read every message over and over again. I had no idea what an email listserver was but I started getting brave enough to ask questions. Plebe-Net and our local West Point Parent Club became my lifeline. I was Secretary of our local Parent Club and also ran our club email list for awhile. My husband was our club President during our son's last two years at USMA. We visited WP as often as we were able. This was harder because we live far away, Arizona. My husband, Jeff, has left the hectic world of manufacturing and went back to college. He is now a Social Studies instructor at the secondary level and also works with our State Admissions Coordinator. He brings the perspective of a recent cadet parent and also a teacher who has first hand knowledge of the academic road these prospective candidates need to follow to succeed in the WP Admissions process. I am still the webmistress for the Elementary School where I used to work. I spent 25+ years working with the year round United States Swimming team our children belonged to. I was President for two years and also was the Meet Director and Clerk of Course for more swim meets than I care to remember! I do PR work with the Arizona Society DAR and also help train other members in computer skills. I did not start with these skills; I just kept working at it and am self-taught. Having an older son who is an IT guru helps! I also take care of my little granddaughter several days a week. I look forward to being able to serve as one of the Plebe-Net moderators. I think because of geography and our non-military background I may bring a slightly different perspective to the group. |
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Has the unique position of being an Advisor, one of two paid employees for WP-ORG, and volunteer moderator for several lists, including Gray-Net. She tends to the day-to-day needs of our community. If you have any concerns about the parent list(s) of which you are a member, please contact Dian by clicking on her name above. She and her Husband Dan are the parents of a West Point graduate, class of 2002. Dian started her association with WP-ORG after building a site for her family, who had never seen USMA. The "2002 Memory Page" gained popularity with the parents of the class, within 2 months had over 10,000 visits, and many of the parents were contributing to it. The page was moved to WP-ORG, http://www.west-point.org/family/mem2002/ and began a trend for each class of parents to start their own sites. Dian has worked in collaboration with other parents and grads to create the WP-ORG Bicentennial site, which continues to develop. http://www.west-point.org/family/bicent/ The Bicentennial site brought Dian and Dick Breakiron (USMA '51) together to build the Tradition pages within that site. Quickly realizing the value of the stories they were receiving from Grads, the idea to put these into a book was formed. Dian and Dan have four children and six grandchildren. They Live in Acton California. Dian is also an emergency room nurse by profession, but has reduced her hours at the hospital and enjoys her job with WP-ORG. Her first love is the showing and breeding of Labrador Retrievers. With her new found interest in computer work, she is lucky to have Dan, who tends to the kennel work, while she fiddles with the computer. |
HONORABLE MENTION : (Past Moderators, who served for many years in the postion)
Joannie Parr is one of the original co-moderators of Parent-Forum. While not a member of the 2% Club (the designation for those who are dating on R-Day, stay together throughout the four years of West Point, and then marry upon graduation) she did start dating Tom the summer after his plebe year, and they married ten days after he graduated, in June, 1967.
Their first duty assignment was in Germany, where she taught remedial mathematics to selected soldiers who were seeking a GED, while Tom was always busy and away from home as the commander of an armored cavalry troop (company). Immediately following, during the year Tom was serving in Vietnam as a mechanized infantry company commander, Joannie was back home in Austin, Texas with their new-born son, Robert. Tom came back from Vietnam determined to become a physician, and thus their second son, Stephen, was born while Tom was attending Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, TX. She spent the remainder of their 20 years on active duty mentoring young physicians spouses and working to improve the educational opportunities for military dependents in the communities where they were stationed. For the past 15 years, Joannie and Tom have been very active supporting West Point in a variety of ways. Tom assists the Houston Area MALOs in getting prospective candidates through the DODMERB maze each year, and Joannie continues to be responsible for putting on the annual Houston Founder¹s Day Dinner, a volunteer job she has done for many years.
Joannie has two Bachelor Degrees (Education and Business/Finance) and a Masters in Federal Tax Law. She is a CPA and manages Tom¹s orthopedic surgery practice in Sugar Land, TX (S.W. Houston). Prior to her switching careers, she taught junior high mathematics for ten years. And as you can see in her picture, Tom and Joannie are the proud grandparents of Bailey, which they say is the greatest job they have ever had.
Carolyn
Donnell
Carolyn Donnell - I volunteered to
act as a temporary co-moderator of Parent-Forum in May 2000 and
I'm still here. I can't believe how much I have learned, and how
many wonderful parents I have met through this venture.
I was born in Canada and had no
idea what West Point was all about. The summer of '68 changed
all that. I met my husband Alton who was Class of '67 and our
fun began. We lived in Germany for three years and returned to
West Point after graduate school where my husband taught in the
Physics
Department. My first child Tyler was born at West Point in September
'79.
We have lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico since 1980 where my second
child Ashley was born in October '83. We were very proud when
Tyler decided to join the Bicentennial Class of 2002. Tyler is
a descendent of Francis Nathanial Berrier, his 5x-great-grandfather
who was in the Class of 1815. Although Ashley was recruited to
go to West Point, she has decided to go to Denver University this
fall and hopefully major in pre-med.
Although I have had several paying jobs outside the home, I have had the opportunity to be a stay-at-home Mom and have been involved with every volunteer job imaginable. Everything from ski patrol, to treasurer of the little league, to Soccer Mom, to president of the parent advisory board, to coordinating regional college coaches soccer and olympic development soccer programs in New Mexico...so why not take on being a moderator for the WP-ORG Parent-Forum list??
In my spare time, I enjoy skiing, walking, photography, and Alton is trying to convince me I like golf. I am a cat lover, and have two cats, but I am thinking that I need a puppy to keep me company next year when we become empty nesters.
update: Yes, we got the puppy!
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I was born in NYC, but grew up in the Garden State. Although we lived about 90 miles from West Point, I never heard of it till my high school sweetheart applied there for college. I married him five years later (we were "2%-ers"!), and was whisked off to a foreign country 3 days after our wedding to begin his Army career. Bruce ('76) is still on active duty and is stationed at Ft. Belvoir, VA. We've lived at our present address, the 14th in 26 years, for over 4 years - longer than any place else. We're the proud parents of 3: Steven '01, Cristine '04, and Brian, a senior in high school who is hoping to pursue graphic design in college. Prior to this assignment we were stationed at Ft. Monmouth, NJ, the home of USMAPS (the Prep School), and we sponsored a few prepsters who were USMA '02.
I've been fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom to raise my kids. I've held a few part-time jobs over the years but have mostly volunteered in church, community, and schools. I can't quite remember how I was "recruited" to moderate Prospective-Net. Although I'm "technologically-challenged", I had time, some knowledge of West Point, and had already been through the application process once, so I figured that qualified me. (I never even touched a computer before Steven left for West Point - and then it was out of necessity in order to stay in touch with him!) My computer skills remain limited, but I'm happy to be of service. |
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I've served as President of the
Rhode Island West Point Parents' Club for two years, am an active
USMA Admissions Representative, and founded Operation Support
Our Troops. Some of you might even remember the Spirit Parade
before the Army-Navy game a few years ago when we had banners
from all the states and threw candy kisses to the cadets ~ some
cadets and recent grads still call me "the Hershey Kiss
Lady". |
