Courtesy Patrick Richardson ’03
Maj. Patrick Richardson ’03
William Henry Ruffner Alumni Award
They range from a retired Chesterfield County judge to a Marine helicopter pilot. They are teachers, parents, professionals and people of vision. Connected by their love for Longwood University, each uniquely embodies the ideals of a citizen leader.
They join the many other alumni and friends of the university who have been recognized since the awards program began in 1970. Through their professional achievements, acts of service and dedication to others, as well as to Longwood, this year’s recipients represent the best of the best.
Maj. Patrick Richardson, a helicopter pilot with the Marine Corps, has provided transportation to the president of the United States and the pope, among other world leaders. But most meaningful to him are the missions where he provided support to fellow Marines fighting for their country.
A Cobra pilot’s sole mission is to protect the servicemen and servicewomen engaged in combat on the ground, said Richardson, who flew roughly 600 missions during two deployments to Afghanistan and one to Iraq. “Protecting them and keeping them alive through close air support was the most important and satisfying thing I’ve done in the Marine Corps,” he said.
His four-year term as aircraft commander and flight leader for Marine Helicopter Squadron One no doubt runs a close second. His assignment with Marine One, which provides helicopter transport to the U.S. president and other world leaders, coincided with Barack Obama’s presidency. Richardson transported Obama numerous times, and Pope Francis and Vice President Joe Biden were also among those on the passenger list when Richardson was at the controls.
Currently stationed in New Orleans, Richardson is the operations officer for the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773 that operates and maintains attack (Cobra) and utility (Huey) helicopters. His primary responsibility is training pilots to fly the Cobra, but he also oversees the squadron as a whole. And he’s still flying Cobras himself.
Through it all, the advice that has resonated with Richardson came from former Longwood baseball coach Buddy Bolding. Richardson played for Bolding and then for a minor league team before signing up with the Marines in 2005.
“Coach Bolding taught us that anything we wanted we had to work for ourselves. It wouldn’t be handed to us. That’s something that was definitely echoed in my Marine Corps training,” he said.
Richardson and his wife, Jamie Rudzenski Richardson ’04, have two sons.
Photo credit: Casey Templeton
Bonnie Davis ’71
Thomas Jefferson Professional Achievement Alumni Award
Like many girls growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, Bonnie Davis dreamed of a career that was considered unrealistic for a woman.
“I remember being in seventh grade and really wanting to know the answers to things,” said Davis, who wanted to become an attorney. By the time she was ready to enter college, gaining admission to law school was still considered a long shot, so her high-school counselor convinced her to pursue a teaching career instead, and Longwood was the obvious choice.
Far from having regrets, Davis remembers her time at Longwood and the subsequent six years of teaching at Salem Church Middle School as the most formative of her life.
“I loved teaching and truly believe it is the highest calling,” said Davis, who eventually did go to law school and retired in 2016 after 23 years as the 12th District Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court judge in Chesterfield County. “Being a teacher was the best possible preparation for my time on the bench and for my legal career.
'Being a teacher was the best possible preparation for my time on the bench and for my legal career.’
Bonnie Davis ’71
“Teaching gave me the experience to understand the mental and emotional development of children and adolescents at particular stages in their lives. As a judge, that experience helped me in dealing with children in both civil [custody and visitation] and criminal cases as I attempted to find a solution to the problems heard during the course of the trial,” said Davis, who lives in Colonial Heights.
A 1980 graduate of the University of Richmond School of Law, Davis worked in private practice and as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney for Chesterfield County before taking her seat on the bench. In addition to her work in the courtroom, she oversaw the construction of the present-day Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courthouse.
Courtesy Tom Bailey ’84
TOM BAILEY ’84
Page Cook Axson Mcgaughy Lifetime Loyalty Award
Tom Bailey’s connections to Longwood stretch back almost a hundred years. His paternal grandmother, Mary Pickett Wilson Bailey, attended Longwood in 1922, and his wife’s grandmother, Louise Haskins Hawthrone Siddons ’24, attended at the same time.
The two families founded the Siddons / Bailey Scholarship Fund in honor of the two matriarchs—just one example of Bailey’s continuing support and involvement with his alma mater.
“There has always been a lot of respect and appreciation for Longwood in our family,” said the Richmond native, who employs his business degree from Longwood in his work as the president of PeopleSolutions, a Richmond-based staffing firm. He has served as an Alumni Association Board member, a member of the Longwood University Foundation and Longwood Real Estate Foundation boards, on the steering committee for one of Longwood’s major fundraising campaigns and as a member of the College of Business and Economics Corporate Advisory Board.
He also joined the Parents Council while his daughter, Sarah Bailey ’17, was working on her undergraduate degree, and he continues to serve as she pursues a master’s degree in special education. Watching his daughter follow in his footsteps at Longwood has been gratifying for Bailey.
“She’s made fantastic relationships. It’s a confirmation of all this work that we are investing and of the terrific experience of going there. We get to see firsthand what a Longwood education does for students today,” said Bailey, who lives in Midlothian. He and his wife also have two sons.
While Bailey feels deeply humbled to have been selected for recognition, his efforts have been aimed at achieving a higher purpose.
“It’s an honor to be a part of the Longwood tradition and live out the legacy, but it’s not about us,” he said. “It’s about what we hope to leave for those who come after us.”
Courtesy Noah Wood ’89
Noah Wood III ’89
Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry Humanitarian Alumni Award
“I see so much need all around me, and I am compelled to do something.”
Noah Wood III is one of those people who backs up his words with action. His job as operations manager for global law firm Mayer Brown in Los Angeles is demanding but it doesn’t prevent Wood from getting involved.
Since 2010 he has volunteered as a crisis worker for the Trevor Project, a suicide-prevention organization for at-risk LGBTQ teens.
He serves as the board chair for SLAM Program Los Angeles, which delivers co-curricular music education programs to underserved schools in the LA Unified School District, where arts programming has been virtually eliminated.
He is currently training for AIDS/LifeCycle, a weeklong bike ride in June from San Francisco to Los Angeles. An event volunteer for seven years, this year he’ll be pedaling the 545 miles for the second time. His goal is to raise $10,000 to support the Jeffrey Goodman Clinic in Los Angeles and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
'The feeling of giving completely for its own sake … is such an incredible, powerful feeling.'
Noah Wood III ’89
There are many other organizations he supports, and he has touched the lives of many more people in the Los Angeles community through a variety of other programs.
“The feeling of giving completely for its own sake, without any possibility of reward or return, is such an incredible, powerful feeling. It’s one that I wish more people could experience for themselves,” he said.
Much of what drives Wood are memories of his own struggles as a young person. “Growing up as a gay teen in central Virginia in the early ’80s was not easy. When I arrived at Longwood, I was lost. It became the perfect place for me to find my voice and learn how to use it to make a difference. In doing so, I found myself,” he said.
Dr. Theresa Clark, M.E. ’88
Nancy B. Shelton Spirited Contributor Award
As Dr. Theresa Clark prepares to transition into retirement after 30 years at Longwood, her trademark work ethic and determination remain in full force.
After receiving her undergraduate degree in sociology from Virginia State University, Clark worked in the human services field before obtaining her Master of Education degree from Longwood. Originally hired as the university’s first full-time director of minority affairs, Clark quickly transitioned to the faculty side, working her way from instructor to her current role as associate professor of social work. While teaching, she obtained her doctorate in social work from VCU.
“I have either been a student, employed or teaching all of my life,” said Clark, thinking ahead to her retirement. “The adjustment for me is going to be great.”
A longtime resident of the Farmville area, Clark was the first woman appointed to the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors. During her time at Longwood, Clark has found her students to be a constant source of inspiration and motivation.
“They have challenged me,” Clark said. They’ve given me a reason to want to get up in the morning and come to work. My great joy has been to encourage and empower my students to want to know my subject matter.”
What she learned from them and from Longwood was just as important, she said.
“You can’t imagine what I’ve learned about life itself in this environment,” she said. I learned that you don’t necessarily try to do for people, but you teach them how to do for themselves. That’s the best thing you can do.”
Clark feels particularly honored to be recognized with the Nancy B. Shelton award.
“I worked with her for so many years, and I know what qualities she exhibits. To think I would be aligned with her is very positive for me,” said Clark. She and her husband have two grown children, including Megan Clark ’05, who received this year’s Young Alumni Award.
Megan Clark ’05
Rotunda Outstanding Young Alumni Award
When it was time for Megan Clark to choose a college, she decided she didn’t need to look any farther than her own backyard.
“I knew I wasn’t ready to leave home,” said Clark, whose childhood home backed up to the Longwood campus. “Longwood was absolutely the right place for me to be. It felt right.”
She earned a communication studies degree before going on to law school at the College of William & Mary. Armed with her law degree, she immediately stepped into a prosecutor’s role, working first in the Appomattox County Commonwealth’s Attorney Office and then serving six years in Henrico County.
In November 2015, Clark made a successful bid to become the Prince Edward County commonwealth’s attorney, becoming the first woman and the first African-American to be elected to the position.
“Why not take what I’ve learned and come home and try to make the community better and be a part of helping it progress,” Clark told the Richmond Times-Dispatch after her election.
Two years later, she said the time has “gone by so quickly. I have done a lot, but there’s a lot left I can’t wait to get started on.”
Where does she get the confidence to take on big challenges, especially so early in her career? Clark again doesn’t have to look very far.
“It was at Longwood that I truly realized people outside of my family looked at me and saw potential,” she said. “My professors saw me in a way that I had always struggled to see myself, and that was life-changing for me.”
Clark feels particularly honored to be receiving her award alongside her mother, Longwood faculty member Dr. Theresa Clark, who is being recognized with the Nancy B. Shelton Spirited Contributor Award.
Photo credit: Casey Templeton
Rita Smith
Horace Mann Honorary Alumni Award
Rita Smith was pleased when the Longwood University Foundation asked her to serve as a parent liaison on its board. It soon became clear, however, that the highest and best use of Smith’s skills lay in a different area.
“I came on the board, and very quickly they found I could raise money,” said Smith, whose daughter, Hilary, graduated with a theatre degree in 2002.
Years of experience in investment planning and wealth management made Smith, who at that time was a senior vice president and senior trust officer at a major bank, an excellent fit.
She served from 1999 to 2008, spending the last four years as president. She also served on the Hull Springs Farm Board and retains a special place in her heart for the gorgeous 662-acre property bequeathed to the foundation in 1999.
'It does my heart good to see ... what the institution has done for Virginia and the world.'
Rita Smith
Currently working as an independent fiduciary and charitable consultant, she looks for opportunities for gifts for Longwood whenever she can.
“Longwood is an institution that I love. I am so grateful I have the ability to find resources for the university and grateful, as well, that the foundations and people who give to Longwood do it because they see the university’s value and worth,” said Smith, who lives in Midlothian.
Her feelings about being recognized as an honorary alumna make it clear why she received the award.
“It does my heart good to see the caliber of students and people that Longwood is turning out and what the institution has done for Virginia and the world,” said Smith. “It has touched many lives.”
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