Author: Alumni Secretary

Paul Seimers ‘ 61 ΣΩΤ, a dedicated engineer and loving family man, passed away peacefully on January 20, 2025. Paul was one of the 13 Charter Members who started Sigma Omega Tau Fraternity, our founding brotherhood, in West Eggleston Hall in October 1958.

Paul received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He did graduate work at The University of Virginia and Virginia Polytechnic Institute in fluid dynamics and heat transfer. Paul joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1961. During his NASA career at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, he was involved in many engineering, research, and flight activities as a designer, researcher, principal investigator, experiment development manager, project scientist, and project manager.

He designed hypersonic wind tunnels and arc jet facilities to address the Lunar mission rerun to earth reentry. He served on the Lunar Orbiter Spacecraft Operations team as the assistant to the Space Flight Operations Director.

Paul will be remembered for his pioneering spirit, his love for adventure, and his unwavering dedication to his family and community.

Click here to read more about Paul’s life and his family.

Sam Parsons ‘ 73 ΙΞ392 passed away on September 25, 2024.

Sam graduated from Holy Cross High School, then joined the Marine Corps, serving during the Vietnam conflict (Oorah!). His heart then took him out west where he ran hunt camps, worked cattle ranches and attended West Texas State Uniersity. Returning home, he attended Virginia Tech, majoring in creative writing. He wrote articles for western magazines, local newspapers, and even published a few of his own short story collections.

His professional career was in real estate, first working at Smith Mountain Lake in the early years, selling property by boat. He then moved to Lynchburg where he owned a tropical plant business and continued to sell unimproved property and farms as well as land tracts he bought and subdivided for resale.

Click here to read more about Sam’s life and his family.

Frank W. “Willi” Harksen ‘ 79 ΣΛ93 of Mechanicsville, VA, passed away on Monday, December 22, 2025.

Bill graduated from Virginia Tech and was a proud member of the fraternity. He worked for the City of Richmond for many years before joining Hanover County where he served for over 20 years, first in the department of public utilities, then as Deputy County Administrator. After he retired, he enjoyed spending time at Virginia Beach. Bill was a lifelong tinkerer and enjoyed “fixing” things around his home with near-daily trips to the hardware store.

Click here to read more about Willi’s life and his family.

Reid William Ammen ’74 ΣΛ51 of Roanoke, Va., and formerly of Calabash, N.C., passed away peacefully on Saturday, May 17, 2025, following a battle with esophageal cancer.

Reid lived a full life: he was his own boss working as a professional certified public accountant (luckily, as he took an afternoon nap daily), loved every dog he ever met, and selflessly served others through many volunteer endeavors in the community and his church.

Click here to read more about Reed’s life and his family.

Greg Venning’74 ΣΛ41, 72, of Roanoke, VA, passed away January 4, 2024. Greg was raised in Key West, Florida during his early childhood, and later moved to Roanoke, VA, and graduated from Cave Spring High School. He studied at the University of Miami School of Oceanography and finished his education with a business degree at Virginia Tech. Greg made Smith Mountain Lake his home since soon after he graduated.

Greg was a member of the fraternity when it selected Lambda Chi Alpha as the successor fraternity to our founding as Sigma Omega Tau and was the 41st initiate of Lambda Chi Alpha at Virginia Tech.

Throughout Greg’s 50 years living at Mountain Lake, he fished nearly every morning and embraced his passion for lake living by designing and building waterfront communities, homes, and decks.

Click here to read more about Greg’s life and his family.

George Washington Lester’97 ΣΛ401, IV, 48, of Cornelius, NC, passed away unexpectedly on Monday, February 27, 2023. He was born in Martinsville, Virginia, on December 30, 1974, the son of George Washington Lester, II and Beatrice Worrell Lester.

George greeted each day with gladness and brought spontaneity, adventure, wisdom and laughter into the lives of those who knew him. George found peace and joy on the water, even in childhood, and made his home on the shores of Lake Norman in North Carolina for most of his adult life. He loved music and could often be found strumming a tune on his ukulele. He was an Eagle Scout, a graduate of Virginia Tech, and a veteran of the United States Navy. 

More information on George can be read here.

Allen Roberts ’65 ΣΩΤ, 80, of Matthews, North Carolina, died Tuesday, November 23, 2021. Born and raised in Bristol, Virginia, Allen graduated from Bristol Virginia High School. He then attended Virginia Tech and joined Sigma Omega Tau and was a valued brother. He graduated with an Industrial Engineering Degree and received and MBA from Widener University.

He went to work with the DuPont Company in Camden, South Carolina as an engineer and later transferred with DuPont to Wilmington, Delaware After a long career with DuPont, Allen retired, then joined The Forum Corporation of Boston as a Director. Along with that came a move to Pittsburgh on a contract with Mellon Bank, where he became a vice-president. When Allen retired from Forum, he and Patty moved to Camden.

Allen liked the beach, the mountains and traveling. He especially liked Europe, particularly Sicily, Italy. He enjoyed old historic houses and buildings, antique furniture and silver, a glass of good wine, the music of Mozart, and the Rolling Stones.

A Celebration of Life for Allen will be held at a later date. His full obituary can be found here:

https://www.kornegayfuneral.com/obituary/james-roberts

Ivan Nelson Hall, Jr. ’71 ΣΛ16 passed away on October 31, 2021, at the age of 73 with his only son and wife by his side.

Ivan was the first-born son of Ivan Nelson Hall, Sr and Hazel Crowder Hall in Danville, Virginia. He was the eldest brother of three siblings.

In 1966, he graduated from Thomas A. Edison High School in Fairfax County, Virginia. In 1971, he graduated from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia with a degree in Electrical Engineering and as a brother of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Later he would go on to earn two post-graduate degrees, one at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California as one of the first civilians to do so, and another at the University of Southern California.

He met and married his wife, Patricia, at Virginia Tech. Their love never faltered over the 50 years they were married until his death. They have a single son, Ivan III.

Ivan was a career civil servant for the United States Navy which began as a co-operative student in college. Over the course of 30 years, he was named a Chief Engineer and appointed as a member of the Senior Executive Service. Ivan was well-respected and considered a hero to many people with whom he worked because of his courageous and servant leadership approach.

Ivan’s dedication to his son forged his passion for youth sports which led him to become Vice President of the Southwestern Youth Association (SYA) of Fairfax County, Virginia. He was part of the leadership team that laid the groundwork for the SYA Sports Park, at the time referred to as the Field of Dreams. He believed that all children should be able to experience the joy, health benefits and camaraderie of sports.

Although Ivan is no longer with us, he would have encouraged us all to remember the great times and move forward into our future with energy and compassion for others. He will be deeply missed because he showed great love to all his family and was there to lend a helping hand and advice whenever needed. Ivan loved life and always lit up a room with his big smile and encouraging words.

Ivan was predeceased by both his mother Hazel and father Ivan. He is survived by his wife Patricia, son Ivan III and his wife Rita, brother Michael, and sister Donna. Private services will be held for immediate family only.