Watkins Legacy

Legacies Leave Their Mark on Virginia Tech

by Christina D. French ‘98, M.A. ‘01, and Sherry Bithell

There’s something special about Virginia Tech. What else could explain the fact that so many families throughout the university’s history have sent their sons and daughters to school here? Legions of alumni can claim siblings, parents, children, or other family members who also attended the university. From the hundreds of families who have sent multiple members–or generations–to Tech, here are just a few who helped make the university what it is today through their legacies of pride, loyalty, and service.

Five generations of Ut Prosim

Virginia Sen. John C. Watkins (horticulture/agriculture ‘69) has what he calls “mighty big shoes to fill.” His great grandfather, J. B. Watkins, himself a Virginia senator for three terms, sat on Tech’s Board of Visitors from 1903-1908 and again from 1912-1928, serving as rector of the board for 14 of those years and during that time signing the diploma of his son, Benjamin Cornelius (horticulture ‘05). John’s father, Benjamin Chewning (business administration ‘40), was also given to service, fighting in World War II alongside James “Jimmy” Monteith (class of 1941), the namesake of Tech’s Monteith Hall and a posthumous Medal of Honor winner for his heroic actions in Normandy on D-Day.

John has done his part to fill the shoes of his predecessors and to fulfill Tech’s motto, Ut Prosim (”That I may serve”). He’s president of Watkins Nursery, a former Virginia delegate (elected to the House of Delegates in 1982), and a senator since 1998. He has served Tech by spending a total of six years–two terms–on the alumni board and is a founding member and president of the Tech Agriculture Alumni Organization.

It almost seems natural that John would have served his university with such devotion because not only did dedicated Hokies precede him, they also surrounded him during his college days. “I just happened to be a part of that famed, fabled class of 1969,” he says, referring to his classmates Charles Steger, Tech’s current president; Frank Beamer, head football coach; Tom Tillar, vice president of alumni relations; and Ray Smoot, vice president for administration and treasurer of Virginia Tech. At the opening of the Virginia Tech Richmond Center in September 2001, President Steger introduced Sen. Watkins by saying, “In all of his activities he has put service above all else, in the best tradition of Virginia Tech.”

Service isn’t the only tradition running through the Watkins family line–agriculture has also been a continuing part of their lives. “My family is made up of folk who grew up working with their hands, and most all of them got educated at the land-grant university. Its agricultural focus was and is a natural extension of our interests,” John says. Other family members who attended Tech are his great uncle, John Benjamin (’05), and his brother, Daniel (electrical engineering ‘83). “I knew a lot about our family’s legacy at Tech long before I got there,” he says. “So it went without saying that I would also attend the university.”

The Watkins family connection to Tech will continue to grow through the years. “Tech has been a part of our family and our business for a century. And that kind of relationship doesn’t change,” notes John. One of his sons, Robert, graduated from the university in 1997, making it five generations of Watkinses who have been Hokies, and John’s niece, Mary, is currently a first-year student at Tech. “And we’ve just begun the Watkins family scholarship fund for a more centralized way to fund agriculture at Tech,” John says. Giving back only makes sense to someone who says he feels “blessed to have been able to attend what I consider to be the best university in the state, but then, I’ve got a bias.”