WTI Reunion Takes Grads on Round Trip Through History

– Photos by Cindy Davis Meixel, writer/photo editor

Eugene C. Breiner, ’44, aviation – whose connection to the campus was featured in the Summer 2011 issue of the college magazine – is joined by current aviation students.

An old logo makes an appearance on notepads handed out to alumni.

In a treasured WTI baseball cap, James Harmon, carpentry and building construction, enjoys the event with wife, Elaine.

John Shafer (left), ’50, automotive mechanic, and Robert Fries, ’45, aviation mechanics, enjoy coffee and conversation over a Lycoming engine.

Many alumni brought family or friends to the gathering.

Debra M. Miller, vice president for institutional advancement, chats with guests in the gathering space: a second-floor classroom at the Aviation Center.

Edward Danneker, ’56, sheet metal, discusses days gone by and current news with former classmates.

An animated George Gardner, ’62, carpentry, reminisces.

The president makes her way around the room.

Raymond Eck, ’41, drafting, whose World War II valor was featured in the Spring 2017 issue of Penn College Magazine, shakes hands with the college president.

Kimberly R. Cassel, director of alumni relations, welcomes the crowd to the 17th annual reunion.

A “full house” listens to President Gilmour’s comments, which included deep appreciation for helping to form the college’s foundation.

Fedele (with Doebler in the background), shares his summer internship plans – measuring black walnut trees in Nebraska.

Christy details his General Electric Co. borescope project.

Vandevere introduces Herr, an accomplished student-athlete.

In his red Patriot Scholarship T-shirt, Beaver discusses various veterans affairs topics.

WTI grads, the bedrock on which the college has flourished, proudly assemble for a group photo.

Alumni and their guests make their way through the buffet line.

Aaron N. Stabley, an Army veteran and welding student, assists Hertel with luncheon fare.

Staffing the beverage station is Jonathan R. Sutcliffe, an Army veteran and manufacturing engineering technology student.

Attendees enjoy a tour of the hangar, including “93-year-old kid” Carl McDaniel, who took machine shop classes at WTI and playfully engages the camera on reunion day.

The tour moves out onto the tarmac where aviation students engage in lab work.

James Oberlin, powerplant mechanic and airframe mechanics alumnus, engages aviation technology student Jesse L. Pittenger in conversation on the tarmac.

Enjoying the Aviation Center surroundings are John Hertel, (left) ’48, agricultural equipment and repair, and ‘49, electric and acetylene welding, and Ralph Mills, ’58, plumbing.

Chalmer Van Horn, (center) ’58, mechanical drafting alumnus and professor emeritus of drafting, enjoys the company of two former students, David Cross, (left) and Arthur Mann, 1965 graduates in mechanical drafting.

At every WTI get-together he attends, Mann wears his student ID card – signed by then-Registrar Grant Berry Sr. (whose grandson, Philip G., works in the Registrar’s Office as the external records evaluator).