Woodberry Forest School

in memoriamin memoriamAt Woodberry, Angus Peytonwas a prefect and a member ofthe music and dramatic clubs, aswell as the Fir Tree and Oraclestaffs. He won varsity letters infootball, track, and basketball.Mr. Peyton took a year offfrom Princeton University toserve in the Merchant Marineduring World War II, returningto complete his undergraduatedegree in 1949 before enteringthe University of VirginiaSchool of Law, from which hegraduated in 1952.He returned to his nativeWest Virginia to practice law,establishing his own firm,Brown and Peyton, and servinghis state as assistant KanawhaCounty prosecutor, assistant attorneygeneral, top aide to GovernorHulett Smith, and interimcommerce commissioner. Hewas a director on many boards,including American ElectricPower, Kanawha Valley Bank,and the West Virginia Buildingand Loan Association. A founderof the Business and IndustrialDevelopment Corporation, hehelped to create jobs throughoutthe region, strengtheningCharleston’s position in nationaland global markets.Mr. Peyton served several termsas the civilian aide to the U.S. secretaryof the army. He also workedwith the West Virginia Symphony,Kanawha Valley United Way, andCharleston Area Chamber of Commerce.An art lover, he broughtnumerous works of public art tothe Charleston area, including thenineteen-foot-high bronze sculpture“Festival delle Arti,” which hecommissioned for and donatedto the city. He led the LeadershipLecture Series named for W. E.“Ned” Chilton III ’39, which attractedprominent speakers tohis community.A commitment to educationled Mr. Peyton to help establishthe West Virginia GraduateCollege, now part of MarshallUniversity, and the Science andTechnology Center of SouthernWest Virginia. He was an ardentsupporter of Princeton, Virginia,and Woodberry Forest. A tirelessclass agent, a trustee from 1977through 1983, and the recipient ofWoodberry’s Distinguished ServiceAward in 2004, he was alsoa proud grandfather to PeytonMorin ’05 and William Morin ’08.U.S. Senator Jay Rockefellerof West Virginia, quoted in theCharleston Gazette, described Mr.Peyton as “a civic leader, a generousphilanthropist, and a communityservant in the truest sense.He had a strong spirit I’ll neverforget, and he leaves behind a legacythat so many will cherish.”Mr. Peyton’s survivors includehis wife, Nina Andrews RatriePeyton, daughter of DwightF. Andrews ’30; a son and twodaughters; two grandsons; abrother and sister; and a nephew,Peyton Forbes ’77.John F. Rixey ’441926–2008John Franklin Rixey, a lawyerwho had practiced in Norfolkand Virginia Beach, Virginia,for more than fifty years,died on May 31, 2008.At Woodberry, Jack Rixey wasa member of the monitor board,the chapel council, the bookclub, and the Oracle staff. He wasa member of the varsity footballteam and lettered in tennis,which he also played at the Universityof Virginia.He graduated from the Universityof Virginia School of Law in1951, having served in the NavalReserve from 1945 until 1946.Active in state and local affairs,he served as a member of the VirginiaHouse of Delegates and as anofficer in both the Norfolk and VirginiaChambers of Commerce. Heserved on several boards, includingthe Dominion Bank SharesCorporation, the Industrial DevelopmentAuthority for Norfolk, theNorfolk Economic DevelopmentCouncil, and the State Council ofHigher Education for Virginia.Mr. Rixey was a seven-timeNorfolk city tennis championand a former Virginia state tennisdoubles champion. He was alsoinstrumental in the organizationof the Norfolk Neptunes professionalfootball team and the VirginiaSquires professional basketballteam of the former ABA.Mr. Rixey’s survivors includehis wife, Emily Sheffield Rixey;three children, J. Barbour Rixey,John F. Rixey, Jr. ’71, and MariaR. Gamper; two stepchildren;nine grandchildren; and fourstep-grandchildren. He is alsosurvived by his sister, Anne R.Ruffin, wife of Willcox Ruffin ’48.Samuel G. Robinson ’441926–2008Samuel Gilmore Robinsonof New Orleans, Louisiana,a former trustee of WoodberryForest School, died on November10, 2008. A lifelong residentof New Orleans, he workedin his family’s business, RobinsonLumber Company, until hisretirement in 1993.Sam “Tizo” Robinson enteredWoodberry Forest as a fifteenyear-oldfourth former in 1941.A member of the music club, thecurrent events club, and the FirTree staff, he was a prefect andpresident of his sixth-form class.He lettered in wrestling and footballand was co-captain of thefootball team. He served withthe U.S. Merchant Marine duringWorld War II and as an officerin the U.S. Navy during theKorean War. He received an A.B.degree from Princeton Universityin 1950. Mr. Robinson and hisbrother, Charles “Hooey” Robinson’42, received the ThomasF. Cunningham Award from theWorld Trade Center of New Orleansin 1997, “in recognition ofoutstanding service toward bettersocial, economic and culturalunderstanding and cooperationamong the peoples of the WesternHemisphere and to stimulate andinspire continued understandingand friendship among allAmericans.” He received the DistinguishedService Award fromWoodberry Forest in 2002. Hewas active in many professional,civic, and social groups, includingthe Southern Forest Products Association,the New Orleans MultipleSclerosis Society, and severalCarnival organizations.Mr. Robinson’s survivors includehis wife, Anne Soulé Robinson;four children, Mary R.Dunbar, Samuel G. RobinsonII ’74, William S. Robinson ’75,and Charlotte R. Pritchard; andfour grandchildren. His brothers,Charles W. Robinson ’42 and JohnT. Robinson ’39, died earlier. Heis also survived by several Robinsonand Plater nephews who areWoodberry Forest alumni.Macduff Symington ’441927–2008Macduff Symington ofWorton, Maryland,died on June 22, 2008.He had worked as a senior businessdevelopment officer andvice president of marketing salesfor Philadelphia National Bank/CoreStates Bank.Mac Symington’s Woodberrylife was full of activity. He was amember of the Oracle and Fir Treestaffs; the music, current events,and book clubs; the chapel council;and the prefect board. Heearned a letter in tennis and alsoplayed football and J.V. basketball.He was also active in sports andextracurricular activities at YaleUniversity, where he studied economicsand, as a senior, receivedthe Silliman College Cup for allaroundsupport of his college. Heserved in the U.S. Air Force from1950 to 1955.Mr. Symington held sales positionswith W. R. Grace & Company,Owens-Illinois, and RollineRubber, Inc., before joiningPhiladelphia National Bank,which later became CoreStatesBank. He was a founder and atwenty-seven-year board memberof the U.S. Pro Indoor TennisTournament in Philadelphia,and he was the first presidentof Philadelphia’s Arthur AsheYouth and Education Center.Mr. Symington’s survivorsinclude his wife, Joyce McCookSymington; three daughters anda son; two sisters; and twograndchildren.William L. Black ’521935–2008Cardiologist William LawrenceBlack, M.D., ofAsheville, North Carolina,died on June 24, 2008.Dr. Black, a member of themonitor board, played varsitybasketball and baseball at Woodberry.He graduated from DukeUniversity and the University ofNorth Carolina School of Medicine.He practiced cardiologyin Chapel Hill, North Carolina,and at Cox Heart Institute ofDayton, Ohio, and he was a cardiacresearcher at Wright StateUniversity in Dayton. He movedto Sevierville, Tennessee, in1980 to help establish an intensivecare unit and a noninvasivecardiac diagnostic laboratory atSevier County Hospital, and herelocated to Asheville after heretired in 1996.Dr. Black’s survivors includethree sons and six grandchildren.Henry E. Payne III ’531935–2008Henry Edmonson PayneIII of Charleston, WestVirginia, founder andpresident of Payne EngineeringCompany and a former memberof the board of trustees of WoodberryForest School, died on June27, 2008.Born in Charleston, HenryPayne, “a lanky lad,” accordingto the 1953 Fir Tree, enteredWoodberry Forest as a thirteenyear-oldsecond former in 1948.At the end of that first schoolyear, he received the Form IIMedal. He was a member ofthe prefect board, the chapelcouncil, and the Fir Tree andTalon staffs. He lettered in varsitybasketball and track. At hisgraduation he received the WilliamJ. Haines Memorial Medalfor excellence in science. He receiveda B.S. degree in mechanicalengineering from Yale Universityin 1957 and a master’s inaeronautical engineering fromPrinceton University in 1959.Mr. Payne founded PayneEngineering in Princeton, NewJersey in 1959. It was “a hightechmanufacturing companyof solid-state power controls,competing in a national andinternational market,” accordingto his Charleston Gazetteobituary, “with plant facilitiesin Scott Depot, West Virginia,and Palm Bay, Florida.” Thecompany’s many projects includedthe controls on NASA’sspace shuttle launch pad. Mr.Payne himself held or appliedfor patents for, among otherthings, submarine keel wingsand a deep-earth simulator. Healso launched the Bellanca SkyrocketAirplane Project, whichstill holds five world speed records,and co-founded the StateJournal newspaper with hisbrother, Robert Payne. A racingenthusiast and accomplisheddriver who enjoyed racingwith his son, Mr. Payne was anowner of Sports Vintage RacingAssociation and a memberof the Sports Car and PorscheClubs of America.He was a registered professionalengineer and a memberof the Society of AutomotiveEngineers and the Institute ofAerospace Sciences. He servedon Governor Rockefeller’s EconomicsCommission, the TransitAuthority of the city of Charleston,and the board of directorsof West Virginia Institute ofTechnology, which honored himwith an honorary doctorate ofscience in electrical engineeringin 1986.Mr. Payne’s wife, ConstanceWright Payne, died on September20, 2008. His survivors includehis son, Henry E. PayneIV ’80, and his daughter, PriscillaCarver Payne; four grandchildren;and three brothers,Robert C. Payne ’56, Stephen C.Payne ’61, and C. Randall Payne’68. His father, the late HenryE. Payne, Jr., was a member ofWoodberry’s Class of 1930.Harry Walker, Jr. ’541936–2008Harry Walker, Jr., ofPalmyra, Virginia, diedon July 2, 2008. His careerhad been in the paperboardindustry, and he was one of theoriginal founders of the HalifaxPaper Board Company in RoanokeRapids, North Carolina.He retired from Thomas Jefferson’sMonticello.Harry’s Woodberry activitiesincluded membership on themonitor board and working forthe Fir Tree and the Talon. Heplayed J.V. tennis, and he was cocaptainof the soccer team. Hewas a 1958 graduate of the Universityof Virginia.His survivors include his wife,Nikki Pihos; four children; andeight grandchildren.Charles P. Scott, Jr. ’831964–2008Charles Prioleau Scott, Jr., ofGreensboro, North Carolina,property managerwith Scott Realty Company, diedon August 18, 2008.Charles spent two years atWoodberry Forest and graduatedfrom Greensboro Day School andAppalachian State University.He attained the Certified PropertyManager designation fromthe Institute of Real Estate Management(IREM) of the National56 woodberry forest magazine and journal fall 2008 / winter 2009 57