Marshall University Alumni Association

If so, send you story to alumni@marshall.edu and we will include them
on this page.

Gary D. Caudill ('84). In March 2002, I took my Mom and aunt for their first trip to London. Knowing it would still be cool there, I made sure to pack a few Marshall sweatshirts. Prior to leaving I had a strong feeling I was going to come across another MU person. On our second day there, we decided to go shopping the in Food Hall at Harrod's. We had been there for a few minutes when I noticed a woman wearing a University of Kentucky jacket. My aunt and I went over and spoke to her and found out that she was from Lexington. I told her that I now live in Atlanta, but am originally from the Huntington/Ashland area and had gone to Marshall. She commented that her friend (who walked up about that time) went to Marshall. We chatted for awhile, then bid farewell, going back to our shopping. After that the strong feeling about seeing someone from MU went away.

Richard Burger ('61). In 1988 I was attending a conference in Washington State when I took a trip to Mt. St. Helens. On my way up the mountain with my Marshall green sweatshirt on, a young man stopped me and asked me if I went to Marshall. I said yes, I graduated in 1961, and I asked him when he graduated. He said 1972. I asked him if he knew anyone of the plane that went down with the football team and he said that his brother was on the plane. We talked a long time.

Marc E. Williams ('82). My wife and I were on a trip to Rome in May 2004. We were walking to a museum when we passed a young man wearing a Marshall ball cap. We stopped him and told him that we were from Huntington. It turns out he was a Marshall student from Point Pleasant studying for a semester in Rome. How about that!

Gwen Cadwalader Melis ('00). In 2001, when my husband and I were on our honeymoon in Yellowstone Park, we pulled over, along with everyone else, to look at a nesting bald eagle. Marc stayed to take a few pictures and I went back to our convertible (the top was down) to wait. It was chilly and I had on a hooded Marshall sweatshirt. A middle aged man passed me and said "Thundering Herd!"

Lynzee S. Grooms ('03). My husband and I, who currently live in Colorado Springs, Colo., met in grad school at Marshall and my parents had recently bought us the green “We Are Marshall” t-shirts that can only be found in Huntington. We proudly wore our shirts to the opening night of the movie and other people in the theater were asking us where we got them. We also saw another girl with the same shirt and although I’m not sure if she attended Marshall but we heard that she is originally from Huntington. The group of her co-workers that were with her were also proudly wearing the t-shirts she had brought back from Marshall. I’m always asked when I’m wearing my t-shirt if I had seen the movie or had gone to Marshall… and I without a doubt proudly say “yes.”

Kristin Dial ('02). My husband, Rob, and I are 2002 grads. We are big New York Jets fans since we attended Marshall with Pennington. We traveled to Indianapolis in 2004 to watch the Jets play the Colts and while walking through the mall in our Marshall apparel, we were approached by another group of people all wearing Marshall Shirts who were also Pennington fans going to the game.

Paula Cyrus Foreman ('70). On a trip back from a Marshall game in November 2006, we stopped for gas in Flatwoods, W.Va., on our way home to Lancaster, Pa. While looking at the Marshall gear in the gas station (not much there, mostly WVU things), I noticed a guy looking through the shirts. We started talking and found out he lives in Philadelphia which is only about an hour from us. He had been at Marshall in the '80s. We exchanged e-mail addresses and I sent his contact info on to the Baltimore Alumni group. He was pretty excited to know there were alumni events in the area. We had a great time talking "MARSHALL!" Herd fans are never strangers, for sure!!

Tom Ellis ('67, '69) and his wife, Tena ('70), and Fred Ellis ('71) and his wife, Clara, went to the Good Morning America program in NYC on Dec. 14, 2006. "The GMA people wanted to know if the Warner Bros. people sent us. We informed them that we were alums and at MU when the crash occurred. (My brother Fred, was a Pike and lost five fraternity brothers on the plane.) One of the GMA camera men has a friend who is an MU grad, another young lady in the crowd has a friend who currently plays baseball for the Herd and a young man walking by on his way to work was an '85 MU grad. Small world! "Later, when my wife and I were returning from a Jeep trip in the West two years ago, we spent the night in Sheridan, Wyo. In the morning while loading the Jeep to continue our trip into the Dakotas, a gentleman saw our MU decal and came over to talk. He was from southern W.Va. and his daughter was a senior at Marshall. On another Jeep trip, we were off-roading at about 12,000 feet in the Rockies and a couple came over to ask if the Marshall decal on our rear window was Marshall University in West Virginia. When I told her yes, she informed me that her husband, who was with her, had been (former) President Dan Angel's vice president at a college in California, don't remember which one."