Annual reunion includes belated tribute to WTI veterans
Published 04.06.2019
– Photos by Cindy Davis Meixel, writer/photo editor
A different type of drafting table! From left: Everett Brandt, ’65, industrial drafting; Ronald Good, ’67, draftsman mechanical; Chalmer Van Horn, ’58, mechanical drafting; Robert Kotarsky, ’66, mechanical drafting, and son Robert Jr. (Van Horn also instructed Brandt, Good and Kotarsky.)
Marlyn Stauffer, ’63, mechanical drafting, enjoys an early morning coffee klatch with former classmates.
James Harmon, who studied carpentry and building construction, sports a WTI hat.
Robert Fries (left), ’45 aviation mechanics, and Walter Doebler, ’62 pattern making technician, readily reminisce.
The bright smiles of D. Frederick Wascher (left), ’56, automotive mechanic, and C. Richard Miller, ’51 automotive, add to the palette of Wildcat blue and daffodil yellow.
A display of items from the makerspace
Timothy L. Yarrington (left), instructor, brewing and fermentation science, converses with John Hertel, ’48, electric and acetylene welding, and ’49, agricultural equipment and repair; Hertel’s daughter Sandra; and Edmond Wozniak, ’61, machinist, pattern making-wood.
Copies of this 1950 WTI catalog were shared with alumni; the original (shown to guests by the college president) was recently found at an estate sale.
Rebecca A. Davies (at podium) and Anthony F. O’Koren deliver The Dr. Welch Workshop presentation and share various projects and their extreme excitement for the makerspace. On screen is one of Davies’ wall guitar mounts that she created in the workshop. Davies is enrolled in building construction technology: masonry concentration; O’Koren is an electronics and computer engineering technology student.
Yarrington shares a brewing and fermentation science video (produced by the college), and details both the in-demand industry and his personal path to Penn College.
A photo from WTI's 1963 entry into nursing education is projected while Val A. Myers, assistant dean of nursing, balances yesterday's beginnings with current technologies.
Beaver, a 25-year Army veteran, presides over the presentation of honor cords. Included in the tribute was Paul Schriner, ’63, welding, and a longtime faculty member. Wife Shirley (to Schriner's right) joins in the applause; she also was a college employee, retiring in 1999 as secretary of academic support services.
Denice Palmeter, '59, electronics, proudly wears his honor cord while exchanging sincere appreciation with Beaver.
A gathering of groundbreakers in the Thompson Professional Development Center
Thomas C. Heffner, assistant dean of sciences, humanities and visual communications, with alumni in the brewing lab
O’Koren discusses 3D technologies in The Gilmour Tinkertorium section of the makerspace during the alumni’s optional tour.
In the makerspace, Davies “talks shop” with William Olson (left), ’58, carpentry, and Ronald Good, ’67, draftsman-mechanical. Olson was impressed with Davies’ woodworking skills.
Roberta Schwenk, makerspace assistant, leads a tour into The Logue Fabritorium side of the workshop.
A measure of past success in a latter-day haven for tinkerers: Olson views a WTI ruler displayed on a makerspace wall. The ruler originally belonged to the late Joseph B. Gehret, a 1938 graduate, who received it when he was a student.
President Gilmour (center) shares a laugh with husband Fred, '66, technical illustration, and '72, individual studies, and Loni N. Kline, vice president for institutional advancement.
Cassel helps kick off the reunion, an annual celebration for nearly two decades.