The University of Lynchburg’s first all-virtual Westover Alumni Weekend will be held Friday and Saturday, March 19-20. All alumni are invited to attend and registration is currently underway.
The usual class meetings will be held prior to Westover Alumni Weekend. Virtual calls for the Classes of 1950, 1951, 1955, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1970, and 1971 are scheduled for Monday, Feb. 22, through Thursday, Feb. 25.
Also, Monday-Wednesday, March 1-3, there will be Google Meet training sessions for those who want to learn or brush up on virtual meeting skills before Westover Alumni Weekend starts.
The weekend itself includes a series of virtual events. A retirement celebration for Jan Cocke Sigler ’65, who worked at the University for many years, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, March 19, followed by a historical presentation about Westover Hall, the original campus building, presented by longtime professor Dr. Julius Sigler ’62, ’15 DSc.
The weekend also includes two virtual tours. A tour of Old City Cemetery, the city’s oldest municipal cemetery, will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, March 19. It includes African American burials and the story of the city’s first Black undertaker; the Civil War section; the “Pest House”; the Station House; and a segment on Victorian mourning traditions.
A tour of the University campus will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 20, followed by a welcome from University President Dr. Alison Morrison-Shetlar and the singing of the alma mater.
Following Morrison-Shetlar’s greeting, two historical plaques will be dedicated. Carnegie Hall, the second-oldest building on campus, was recently named to the National Register of Historic Places. The plaque honoring that designation will be unveiled.
A plaque also will be dedicated in honor of George “Terrill” Brumback ’62 and James Hunter ’63, who participated in a sit-in at Patterson’s Drug Store 60 years ago. Brumback, Hunter, and four other local college students were jailed for protesting segregation in Lynchburg.
“We are excited about the Westover Weekend programming,” Heather Garnett ’05 MEd, director of alumni relations, said. “There are a number of programs that will be offered that will help us remember our past as we look to the future.”
The full schedule of events can be found here. To register for Westover Alumni Weekend, click here.
