Rich Bassemir

I have been working for IBM since graduation. First in Poughkeepsie, NY but now in Austin, Tx

Married 25 years, now single parent with the youngest in a local community college

Still attempt to play golf, softball and basketball.

Our VaTech alumni org in Austin has grown and become much more active this year with watch parties and special events. Most are post 1995 alumni.

I still have that 1955 Buick (which I did not have on campus until my second year, 1974). Used to park where there are buildings now.

I build a Factory Five 1965 Cobra Replica which is a blast to drive. It has a bit more "pep" then the Buick. Steve Everett, my roommate was always talking about cars and fixing them up. I wonder if he ever built that Pinto with a V8 dream car.

I have been to Tech just a handful of times. I used to do recruiting trips when I was a manager at IBM on a regular basis back in the 1980s. Last visit was a couple of weeks before the April 6th incident when my daughter was looking a colleges. She would still like to go to Tech but currently does not have the grades to make it.

I had a great time at Tech. It is a super school and I wish I could have come by to see you all at the reunion.

Countless hours playing cards in the study hall. Countless water balloons that someone kept tossing out the study hall window. Filling the hall with a layer of water and sliding down the hall. Oh and I guess we actually did some school work once in a while also.

But the best story was 2 weeks before graduation when we arranged for "Duke" (Ed Ello) to get a letter telling him he was not going to graduate in his 9:30 Chinese history class.