Hall of Fame inducts 16 new members
SALEM – It was the cream of the crop, as far as Salem graduates from the past are concerned.
There were scholars, a historian, authors, football players, basketball greats, the owner of a Richmond catering firm who grew up at the former Lutheran Children’s Home, two pair of brothers and a father-and-son duo. In all, 16 graduates of Andrew Lewis High School, Salem High School and George Washington Carver School were inducted into the Salem Alumni Hall of Fame on Oct. 14.
2011 inductees of the Salem Alumni Hall of Fame at their induction at the Salem Civic Center on Oct. 14. Photo by Meg Hibbert
They were nominated by friends, family and educators who believe they are outstanding – usually in more than one way. In addition to being recognized by all the guests in the Community Room at the Salem Civic Center that night, the name of each was engraved on plaques prominently displayed at Salem High School.
The honorees are among 136 distinguished alumni elected to the Hall of Fame out of the more than 19,000 students who graduated from Salem schools since Academy Street High School, Salem’s first secondary school, opened in 1895.
The Hall of Fame was begun by the Salem Education Foundation and Alumni Association.
The idea of Dr. Dick Fisher, president in 1995, Vice President Walter Hunt and Robert A. Craighead was to select people who would be examples to current students as well as a way of recording local history.
The first 56 alumni were inducted in 1996.
Members of the Hall of Fame are encouraged to make donations and set up endowed scholarships that provide money for SHS graduates each year. To date, more than $2 million in scholarships have been awarded. At June’s graduation, almost $160,000 in scholarship money was awarded by the SEF & AA to 90 graduating seniors.
This year father and son D. James Bean, ALHS 1952, and Lt. Col. James Earl Bean, SHS 1983 were inducted in their Army uniforms. The younger Bean was a face on the U.S. Army Special Forces poster and a member of the Golden Knights parachute team.
The brothers were David Petersen, ALHS 1969, former art teacher at SHS who started the girls tennis team, and Roger Petersen, ALHS 1977, a railroad attorney; and Charlie Givens, ALHS 1970, an industrial engineer for Eastman Chemicals who developed robotics, and Sam Givens, ALHS 1964, a Ph.D. in statistics who is an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University.
Because Sam Givens was unable to get to the ceremony from his home in New Jersey, their mother, Mimi Givens, accepted the award for him. The presenter for that group of awards was another son, Salem Vice Mayor John Givens, who nominated them.
Other inductees were:
• Cece Bell Angleberger, SHS 1988, a children’s book author;
• Edward “Skip Lautenschlager, ALHS 1968, an attorney;
• Dr. Betty Rhodes McCrary, ALHS 1967, a counselor and mediator;
• Charles L. Morgan, ALHS 1973, a basketball great and now coach;
• David Napier, ALHS 1979, who grew up at the former Lutheran Children’s Home and now owns one of the largest catering firms in the Richmond area;
• Brewster Milton Robertson, ALHS 1946, a writer who recently published an epic novel about the Korean War;
• Billy Sample, ALHS 1973, who scored the winning touchdown in 1971 during the state quarter final football game. The Lewis squad then lost in the state final to T.C. Williams High School, the team fictionalized in the movie “Remember the Titans” and played Major League Baseball for the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves. He also worked as a broadcaster for the Atlanta team;
• Dolores Chelf Smith, ALHS 1949, a retired teacher active in history efforts of the Daughters of the American Revolution and United Daughters of the Confederacy.
• William Shepherd, George Washington Carver High School 1957, a basketball and football star; and
• Sherri Shupe, SHS 1979, seventh-grade science teacher at Andrew Lewis Middle School and Salem’s Teacher of the Year.
Salem School Superintendent Alan Seibert told the crowd Shupe “touches a child’s heart,” and added “She is the perfect blend of humility and confidence.”
Among the numerous accolades and achievements of this year’s inductees, it was noted Dolores Smith researched and proved Sgt. James Walton, a gunner in the Salem Flying Artillery during the Civil War, who is said to havefired the last shot at Appomattox Courthouse. There is a Virginia Marker telling about him adjacent to East Hill Cemetery where Walton is buried.
Note: This article originally incorrectly noted Napier’s graduation date from ALHS and the name of the children’s home where he was raised.
David Napier was from the Lutheran home and not old enough to be from my class (1969, ALHS), though the food business we are both in does age us a bit.