2022

Recently, Mr. Vishio’s son Anton ’86 sent me a kind note after I wrote to him following his father’s passing. In return, he sent me a photo of me and Mr. Vishio taken at the Roman Coliseum in 1986. I was visiting Rome with my parents and heard a familiar distinctive voice. I followed it and found a group of students surrounding Mr. Vishio listening intently to some story to which added some unasked-for levity which did not go over well with Mr. Vishio. He yelled out, “Who said that?” and I emerged from the crowd with a big grin and received a bear hug from one of my favorite teachers. A moment I will never forget. I was touched that Mr. Vishio kept that image after all these years and knowing too that I was not one of his stellar students! 

My wife, Leigh, and I have now been in Mountain Brook, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, for 12 years. I continue in my role as CMO of Thompson Tractor, the exclusive provider of Caterpillar equipment in Alabama and northwest Florida, and Hyundai Forklifts in Georgia and Tennessee. My eldest, Patrick, is moving to New York City where he works in the data consultancy practice for Ernst & Young. My youngest, Sean, is graduating from the University of Georgia magna cum laude and is about to start his working career as a data analyst with Yancey Brothers in Atlanta.