×

Ring Melt for Class of 2004

Categories: Ring Memorial Program, Grad News
Class Years:

On 10 March 2003, Cadet John Zdeb, 2004 Class President; Cadet Lori Williams, 2004 Chair of the Ring and Crest Committee; CPT Schawn Branch ’93, Class Advisor to the Class of 2004; and Tony Ferraiuolo, Director, Class Support Program, AOG, made a trip to Pease & Curren, Inc., for this year’s meltdown.

Mr. Keith Edwards ’85, Vice President for Sales with Pease & Curren, facilitated the process by putting together a program of recognition for the donors with participation by many graduates, spouses, and widows living in the New England area. For the past two years the program has continued due to the interest and participation of representatives of the L. G. Balfour Company, the company that made the rings for the Class of 2004. Regional Vice President Bill Petrasek and Jayne Roland, the contact person for West Point at Balfour, were there to represent the company.

The Class of 2004 received their rings containing gold from the rings of 68 graduates of the United States Military Academy, on 22nd of August 2003. This program provides a tangible link from past, to present and future, of the Long Gray Line.

Class of 2004 Ring Memorial Donor Listing

1901* COL William L. Guthrie
1919  COL John H. Madison
1920  BG Sherman V. Hasbrouck
1920  MG Charles G. Holle
1925  MG Robert L. Howze, Jr.
1928  MG Samuel Roberts Browning
1928  MG William H. Hennig
1928  COL William T. Moore
1930* MG John S. Guthrie
1930  GEN Hamilton H. Howze
1932  COL Edward E. Farnsworth, Jr.
1932  COL Francis R. Hoehl
1934  COL Stacy W. Gooch
1935  COL Warren S. Everett
1939  MG John L. McCoy
JUN 1943  COL James A. Betts
1945  Mr. Robert P. Smith
1946  COL Philip J. Frank
1957  LTC Donald L. Winters

*same ring worn by father and son

Grad News

Subscribe to get grad news or cadet news delivered to your inbox daily around 4:30 EST when a new story is posted. We use Feedblitz for email delivery, which is separate from the WPAOG email system and preferences.

Ring Memorial Program

In 1999, LTC(R) Ron Turner ’58 submitted an article with the suggestion that “We, as graduates of West Point, should establish a Memorial Class Ring Program… whereby graduates may bequeath (or graduates’ descendants may donate) West Point class rings for the specific purpose of incorporating the gold into the class rings of future graduates.” Turner’s idea became a reality as 31 rings were melted at the Herff Jones company, and the Class of 2002 became the first to receive the gold from this historic undertaking in their rings. A small portion of each year’s gold ingot is preserved and added to the rings that are being melted for the following year’s Ring Melt. The gold shavings are known as the Legacy Gold because it contains gold from every ring that has been donated over the years.

More News