VT Stories Oral History with Danny Bird, October 9, 2015 (Ms2016-015)

Carmen: Okay. My name is Carmen Bolt. I'm here at the

Virginia Tech Alumni Center, and I'm interviewing today on October 9, 2015 Mr.?

Judge D. Bird: Judge Danny Bird, Danny W. Bird from Wytheville, Virginia. I

serve as a judge and retired in the 27th Judicial Circuit, State Court of

Virginia.

Carmen: Excellent. If you don't mind just starting out by telling me

where you were born, how you were raised.

Judge D. Bird: All right. I was born

in Bland, Virginia in Bland County, and was raised on a dairy farm. We used to

milk about 100 cows a day. I remember getting up early in the morning 5 or 5:30

and getting the dairy cows in the barn, milking from about 6 to 8 and then

coming up and taking a shower and cleaning up and 00:01:00breakfast. My mom would always

have a great breakfast with blackberry jam and biscuits and sausage and eggs. So

I had a great growing up in a working family, a dairy farm in Bland County

Virginia.

Carmen: Also maybe having those biscuits and jam made it a little

easier to wake up so early.

Judge D. Bird: Oh yes, I always looked forward to

that, and I miss it now that of course my mom is gone and so forth, but those

were great days. And I participated in 4H, FFA, and that's where I came to state

conventions in Blacksburg, Virginia from the time I was 6 or 7 years old through

high school and always wanted... My goal in life was to become a student and a

graduate of Virginia Tech.

Carmen: I guess you made that dream a reality huh?

Judge D. Bird: That 00:02:00is correct.

Carmen: So you were saying that that kind of had

been your dream all along, thinking about going to college?

Judge D. Bird: Yes.

I had two uncles who served in World War II and they both were graduates of

Virginia Tech. I was commissioned an officer in the Army after serving four

years in the Tech Corps of Cadets, so I really enjoyed it and that was my goal.

I did realize my goal. I served in the Army then really for about 15 years, only

a couple of years on active duty but the rest of the time as a reserved Army

officer.

Carmen: Because you had family members who had come here and you came

up to 4H conventions it was just a given; it had to be Virginia Tech?

Judge D. Bird: Yes, that's right, 4H and FFA. I served in 1956-57, which was my first

year at Virginia Tech as a rat in the Cadet Corps; I served as State President 00:03:00of the Virginia FFA Association. It got its start really from Henry C.

Groseclose who was a professor at Virginia Tech and from Bland County, so I got

to know him real well and I had a great year speaking to FFA, FHA banquets

throughout the State.

Carmen: That's excellent. So you have always kind of had

your hands in everything. You have always been a roll haven't you?

Judge D. Bird: That is correct. I always have stayed active and I never enjoyed doing

nothing. I always enjoyed to be doing something, even if it's reading, whatever.

I try to stay active.

Carmen: I think I'm kind of the same way, but maybe at

some point I will just go downhill. We'll see.

Judge D. Bird: You'll stay active I'm sure.

Carmen: Well you're encouraging me to now. Can you tell me about your

first 00:04:00memories of being at Virginia Tech, maybe what it smelled like, what it

looked like?

Judge D. Bird: Well yes. I can remember as a young grade school,

high school student my uncles come into Bland, into our home with their capes,

the Virginia Tech Cadet Corps capes.

Carmen: They still wear those.

Judge D. Bird: It was so impressive, so my first year at Virginia Tech in the Cadet Corps

I thought was the toughest year of my life, because I was traveling, speaking to

different high schools and banquets and so forth at FFA and FHA as State

President, and also trying to... And I was going through the rat line at Virginia

Tech and in those days it went until spring quarter, so it was a tough 00:05:00year and

hard on me. But looking back I've told many people even my college roommate who

is coming up to Tech today to meet me to go to the football tonight against NC

State, I told him it was the best year of our lives, it really was. We bonded

together with our classmates. Those in the Cadet Corps in the rat line have

stayed friends our entire life. Of course we've lost a few over the years. I

graduated from Tech in 1960, so it's been some and it's hard to lose your

friends, but when you get up our age about 77 you do lose some of your best

friends.

Carmen: I think it's pretty incredible that you just stay friends so

long though, despite going off in different directions. I'm sure everyone moved

kind of everywhere, but do you come back for games together and see each 00:06:00 other

at reunions?

Judge D. Bird: Yes. And Carmen I remember our 50-Year

Reunion some of our guys had spent most of their time overseas you know, in the

Army or different wars that we've fought over the years and so forth. So I saw a

lot of our Hokie classmates at our 50-Year Reunion that I hadn't seen for 50

years, but it was just like we were together yesterday.

Carmen: You picked it up right where you left off.

Judge D. Bird: Picked it up right away, and now that

they are retired we do stay in touch, so it's really great.

Carmen: That's very inspirational actually. I guess you foster relationships at

Virginia Tech that just really...

Judge D. Bird: All of us had such a love and respect for Virginia

Tech, and I have tried to motivate my kids and also other children. I used to as

a State Senator write letters, 150 letters a year to 00:07:00Virginia Tech to try to

help them get into the school, and I've never known anybody that went to

Virginia Tech that didn't love and respect Virginia Tech. The professors, the

faculty, the staff, just everything about Virginia Tech, and once you're a Hokie

you're a Hokie for life.

Carmen: I absolutely agree. Obviously I'm not far

enough out to really look back on it, but the way I feel now and still being

hear after six years I can see this being something that continues for the rest

of my life.

Judge D. Bird: That's right. It's just a bond and my best day is

when I'm coming to Virginia Tech, like today.

Carmen: Today is a good day.

Judge D. Bird: Yeah.

Carmen: Until football game day.

Judge D. Bird: That's right.

Carmen: It's a good day indeed. You kind of mentioned the professors and kind of

the way you fostered relationships that freshman year. 00:08:00Do you think there's

anything else specifically about Virginia Tech that really allows for that kind

of community to rise?

Judge D. Bird: Yes. I was in the College of Agriculture

and majored in Dairy Science, growing up on a dairy farm and I had always

planned on going back to the dairy farm. Actually we had a dairy farm for 55

years. The last 15 years I've had the farm it's a beef cattle farm, so I don't

have to milk cows twice a day. But anyway, we had small classes, and Professor

Paul M. Reeves, one of the buildings, and George Litton, Litton Reeves Building,

they were outstanding professors, outstanding. They had such a good rapport with

the students. Dr. G. C. Graf was head of the 00:09:00Dairy Science Department.

Dean Dietrich was our Dean of the College of Agriculture and they were just all

outstanding people and cared about their students and kept up with us throughout

life. Here I am 55 years later and just still think the world of them, although

they are deceased. I know they're up in Heaven pulling for us.

Carmen: There's always room for the Hokies, that's right.

Judge D. Bird: Right.

Carmen: Did you feel like any of those were specifically maybe your mentor or advisor?

Judge D. Bird: Oh yes, yes. They were great mentors and advisors. Of course my dad was a

dairy farmer. He came up in depression times and he didn't have the advantage of

a college education, but he was a great mentor and 00:10:00so were my Tech professors.

My FFA advisor and local agriculture teacher in Bland was Ralph Reynolds. He was

also a Hokie and he was a great mentor.

Carmen: So many Hokies. They're everywhere aren't they?

Judge D. Bird: That's right. We have Hokie blood running through our veins.

Carmen: That's right. Did you say your children went to Tech?

Judge D. Bird: Yes. I have three children grown and two of them went to Virginia

Tech. My daughter Jenny she was in the class of 90 and she majored in Business

Marketing in Pamplin College of Business, and my son Woody majored in Finance,

so he's a financial advisor in Richmond, Virginia. Jenny is in Philadelphia. My 00:11:00other son I tell people didn't necessarily want an education, so he went to VMI. [Laughs]

Carmen: A little different experience huh?

Judge D. Bird: And he's the one that majored in history at VMI. He's now a colonel so

he's done well. He's a colonel in the Army, a battalion commander in Fort Lewis Washington.

Carmen: That's excellent. So everybody is a little spread out. Are you able to

travel and see?

Judge D. Bird: Sometimes, but not a whole lot now. I do want to

get out to Fort Lewis Washington and Seattle and see my son and his family. I

have seven grandchildren, and of course I'm encouraging all of them to go to

Virginia Tech. My 17-year-old, the oldest grandson has just applied for

admission to Virginia Tech and he lives up in Philadelphia, so I'm hoping and

praying he'll be a Hokie.

Carmen: That will be an exciting moment for you all won't it?

Judge D. Bird: Yes it will be, yes.

Carmen: So when you're speaking with 00:12:00your grandchildren or your children do you

have any favorite memories or special moments you tell them about?

Judge D. Bird: Well they all call me Hokie Pawpaw. [Laughs] From the time they could speak

they've always called me Hokie Pawpaw. I tell them and my kids do tell them too that we have

Hokie blood orange and maroon running in our veins, so they're all very much

encouraged to attend Virginia Tech, and they know about Virginia Tech because

they've been here many many many times.

Carmen: As you tell them that are there any specific moments that just stand out to you, maybe

having to trudge across the drill field in a snowfall in a winter wind or something like that?

Judge D. Bird: On yes. I lived up in Monteith Hall, which the furthest way from campus

that you can get to the College of Agriculture and the 00:13:00Dairy Science Building

down at Saunders Hall. Anyway, I had many many incidents of that and in the

winter time we didn't have walkways in our day. We didn't want them because we

were drilling on the field and the Cadet Corps didn't want the walkways. So we

would swash through snow and mud to get across the drill field, so there were

many many times that that occurred.

Carmen: I think that's something that every Hokie can relate to, that bitter wind cutting

across the drill field. But you're right, we do have those pathways now, I guess saved

many a shoe from some mud.

Judge D. Bird: That's exactly, and I don't blame the students for having the

walkways because it is easier. But back in our day in the 50s we didn't want the

walkways. They tried to put them in and we said "no".

Carmen: It would interfere with the drilling?

Judge D. Bird: Yes, right.

Carmen: So that's one thing that's changed about Tech since you were here.

What else do you notice that's really a substantial 00:14:00 change?

Judge D. Bird: We only had about 100 girls in the student body that lived in Hillcrest Dorm.

We called it the Skirt Barn [laughs] and when I came in '56 we had about 3,500 students,

about 2,500 on campus in the Cadet Corps. The others were commuters and the girls at

Hillcrest. Virginia Tech today with over 30,000 students is an entirely different University from what it was

back in our day.

Carmen: It's definitely kind of blown up in size.

Judge D. Bird: Yes, and I think it's improved. I think everything we've done at Virginia

Tech over the years under presence from Dr. Newman forward had been certainly

nothing but progress. And I think it's good that we have about as many girls on

campus now as we have guys. I wish it were that way back 00:15:00then. [Laughs]

Carmen: Only 100 you said up there in Hillcrest.

Judge D. Bird: That's right.

Carmen: That's not quite the same ratio as it is now.

Judge D. Bird: No. Date night most of the time we would have to go to Radford,

which was a division of Virginia Tech at that time, Radford College. Now Radford is an

entirely different school too.

Carmen: So you had to do commuter dating back then because

there just wasn't a big demographic.

Judge D. Bird: And in the Cadet Corps you could only get a pass maybe for up until

11 o'clock on a Saturday night on Saturdays. There was only one day a week that we

had a chance to get off campus really.

Carmen: That's right. On the rest of the days were you able to go into

what is now the downtown area? I'm not familiar with what it was like.

Judge D. Bird: Yes, but we had to wear our uniforms at all times, and if you got caught

off campus or on campus in civilian clothes you got demerits. You had to walk

them off, so 00:16:00it was tough. You didn't want to get 15 demerits or more for

wearing civilian clothes so you wore your Cadet clothes. And after graduating

from Virginia Tech I remember going into the Army and I didn't have hardly any

civilian clothes at all. All I had was my Army uniform. [Laughs]

Carmen: I guess after so many years of just wearing non-civilian clothes you would just be

accustomed to it at that point.

Judge D. Bird: That's right, and that's what we

had. Now I had farm clothes that I wore on the farm in the summertime making

hay.

Carmen: A different wardrobe.

Judge D. Bird: That's right.

Carmen: Was there any food at the dining halls? You know Tech has this big reputation

now of the best food of all the colleges. What was it like?

Judge D. Bird: Tech used to complain, our students used to complain about the mess hall.

We called it the mess hall, but 00:17:00really the food was great at Virginia Tech back in the 50s and

60s. I thought the food was great. And they had all the milk you could drink

raised right here on the farm, and I grew up on a dairy farm so I loved the

milk. I had no complaints about the food, but there were some that did and I

remember one year when I was Regimental Manager of the Corps it was my senior

year, that was in '59 or '60, all the Cadets lined up beforehand and they went

in, and after they went through the buffet line they dumped food just over on

the table. This was a terrible thing to do because the food like I said was

good. Anyway, so we had to deal with that. I can't remember exactly what we did.

I think we gave demerits for doing that, but anyway, the whole Cadet Corps did

it, so everybody had to 00:18:00 suffer.

Carmen: That's a lot of cleaning up isn't it?

Judge D. Bird: Oh yes.

Carmen: Was that a sign of kind of resistance against the food?

Judge D. Bird: Yes, that's what it was. But we had a great

chef, a head man, Mr. Howard King. I just happened to remember his name and I

thought he did a wonderful job and I thought the food was out of this- really

good, and it still is as you know.

Carmen: I cannot complain. Not having be at home and cook my own food,

I can just go to a dining hall and pick it up. I will not take that for granted.

Judge D. Bird: That's right.

Carmen: So you remember the food being really wonderful. Were there any big events

that happened during your time at Tech that you recall?

Judge D. Bird: Well, in the Cadet Corps we always had a great rivalry with VMI.

The biggest game was a Thanksgiving Day game. VPI versus 00:19:00VMI at Victory Stadium

in Roanoke, Virginia, and we would go on the old Huckleberry Train to the game.

And sometimes the VMI Cadets would come down before the game and grease the rails

so that old Huckleberry couldn't get up the mountain, the Christiansburg Mountain.

So one time we had to get out and help push the train up the mountain.

But anyway, one year one of the companies in the Cadet Corps when I was

Regimental Commander, abducted a VMI keydet in Lexington, Virginia at VMI

and kept him in their barracks for a whole week. At the VPI VMI game at halftime

released him with not many clothes 00:20:00on, no shirt or anything. It was cold in November,

less in November in those days. Anyway, they had a big article about that in the Roanoke

and Richmond papers and editorialized who's in charge at Virginia Tech that let

them abduct a student. I guess they would put us in jail today for doing that. But anyway,

it was just a prank. It was a college prank, but they did, they kept him for a whole week.

And then I know of instances where Tech Cadets after that were abducted a day or two

before the game and they did the same thing at VMI, so it was a little give and

take on both sides.

Carmen: Back and forth, I guess that kind of fired up that rivalry too though.

Judge D. Bird: Oh yes, it did.

Carmen: Wow. So mainly the only thing that happened after that was just some

back and forth in the papers?

Judge D. Bird: Yeah, that's about all. What can they do really? It was a college

prank 00:21:00and they recognized it as such. It sort of blew over after a couple of

weeks.

Carmen: That is wild. That is a wild memory. I don't have any

memories like that.

Judge D. Bird: [Laughs]

Carmen: Were you a part of that?

Were you a part of the hostage situation?

Judge D. Bird: No, I was not a part of that. I was a Regimental Commander at the time and

I had to reprimand the Cadet company that pulled that off, but of course we behind the

scenes laughed about it.

Carmen: I'm sure. Wow. I wonder if anything goes on like that today. I

haven't heard of anything.

Judge D. Bird: I haven't heard of anything quite like

that, or it hasn't hit the newspapers. It might be but I haven't heard of it.

Carmen: I wonder if the rivalries kind of died down between VMI and Tech at this

point.

Judge D. Bird: Probably so. We still play them in basketball. We don't

play them in football. We play them in basketball and baseball. As a matter of

fact, they've come up with a pretty 00:22:00good baseball team. It's still a good

rivalry. Like I said, one of my sons went to VMI, so he calls us damn Hokies,

but that's what we are. We are Hokies. But yeah, we still have the rivalry but

not as great as it was back in the 50s and 60s.

Carmen: Do you think maybe some other teams have come in as rivals now?

Judge D. Bird: Oh yeah, UVA, yeah.

Carmen: It's those Virginia teams going at each other. That's what it's about

huh?

Judge D. Bird: That's right. That's right.

Carmen: It's part of the sport.

Judge D. Bird: Part of the sport.

Carmen: That is a pretty wild memory though,

and having to push the train up the mountain.

Judge D. Bird: Yeah, get out and...

Carmen: I can't imagine what that was like.

Judge D. Bird: Well that would make us late for marching in to the stadium and

of course that tickled the heck out of VMI keydets that they had pulled that off. [Laughs]

There was a lot of give and take like I say, 00:23:00but it was fun. We had fun doing it.

Carmen: That's great.

It sounds like your experience was it a very enjoyable time.

Judge D. Bird: A lot of times people would say, "I don't want to go to VPI at Virginia Tech,

there's nothing to do." Well, Lord we had all kinds of things to do. I know one

time when I was in the Tower as the Regimental Commander they tried to throw me

in the duck pond. That was another tradition that they throw the Regimental

Commander in the duck pond. That happened in the spring of my senior year, so a

whole company of Cadets, or rats mostly, freshmen, 25 or 30 of them would come

up and throw the Regimental Commander in the duck pond.

Carmen: Did they succeed in getting you into the duck pond?

Judge D. Bird: They got me part of the way down there, but not all the way.

Carmen: You weren't going down without a fight were you?

Judge D. Bird: That's right. I was fighting all the way. [Laughs]

Carmen: The Corps it seems had a lot of 00:24:00 traditions.

Judge D. Bird: Yes, oh yes.

Carmen: Do you remember anything going on in the larger

campus at that time?

Judge D. Bird: Well yes. The civilian student body had their own things and we had ring dance.

Back in those days the Cadet Corps we had raised sabers and you see pictures of the Cadet

Corps Ring Dance where the civilians had their own ring dance.

Carmen: Oh, so they were separate?

Judge D. Bird: They were separate, in separate places. It was the same weekend but

separate places, so it was a good time. We didn't interfere with the civilian

student body and they didn't interfere with us.

Carmen: What about, and this is just one of my memories,

but every year on the first big snowfall there's a

civilian cadet snowball fight. It's big and they usually 00:25:00knocked us all out. Was

that something you took part in?

Judge D. Bird: Oh yeah, we always did that.

That was fun. We would even come out and have that snowball fight. We also had

panty raids on Hillcrest, and that was a fun time too.

Carmen: Were those always successful?

Judge D. Bird: Uh, sometimes yes and sometimes not so

successful. Yeah. [Laughs]

Carmen: You all were sneaky it sounds like.

Judge D. Bird: You could get hurt because those gals didn't like putting up with that.

Carmen: That's right I'm sure. They probably put up a strong defense.

Judge D. Bird: Oh yes, most definitely right.

Carmen: Wow. I guess a little bit has changed in that way as well. Well maybe it's just because

I never hear about anything. That stuff can still be going on.

Judge D. Bird: Well the student body now is so 00:26:00diversified really, so you don't have an all-girl

dorm or all-boy dorm or something like that, so it makes a difference.

Carmen: I guess with this many students and still getting more every year that's kind of where it

has to go.

Judge D. Bird: That's right. And there will be a lot more students in the years

to come I'm sure.

Carmen: That's what I've heard, that they are just trying to

get more and more every year, and you know what? I don't think they would have

to try that hard because I really think that...

Judge D. Bird: People want to come, that's right.

Carmen: There's something about it.

Judge D. Bird: You know I was up at the Virginia Tech Ohio State game last year in Columbus,

Ohio and found out, I didn't realize it, they told us they had a student enrollment of

57,000.

Carmen: I believe that.

Judge D. Bird: Unbelievable.

Carmen: It's amazing.

Judge D. Bird: That's almost double the size of Tech, I mean student

body wise.

Carmen: I guess that's right though. I heard that but it never really

hit me. It feels like Tech despite 30-something thousand, but it even feels even

bigger 00:27:00than that doesn't it?

Judge D. Bird: That's right. That's right.

Carmen: I guess soon it will be.

Judge D. Bird: Yeah, that's right.

Carmen: We talked a little bit about your good memories and some snowball fights and panty

raids you said, and pushing trains up hills, but what about were there any

difficult experiences that you had during your time at Tech?

Judge D. Bird: Well yeah. Sometimes when you're a rat in the Cadet Corps you get picked on by

upper classmen, and sometimes an upper classman will overdo it. I think they have cut

a lot of that out now, hazing and so forth, but back in the 50s they used to

haze us. They would use switches or something on our legs, and I remember one

time challenging. We had a right to challenge an upper classman to the gym for a

little fist fight 00:28:00if they overdid it, and that happened in my situation one time

and I remember challenging an upper classman to the gym. I showed up but he

didn't show up, so it happens sometimes, and those are difficult times. I mean

looking back on it it's sort of funny, but at the time it wasn't funny; it was

serious stuff.

Carmen: I'm sure. Was anything going on at that time in the

broader United States that you feel like transformed something on campus or

caused any event on campus or anything like that?

Judge D. Bird: Well of course

I was there from '56. I was a student here at Virginia Tech from '56 to 1960.

Then I served a couple of years in the Army and then I went to law school at

Washington Lee University, which was the closest law school 00:29:00and a great law

school. I just had my 50-year reunion at Washington Lee. But anyway, the thing

that phased me more than anything I think was Jack Kennedy's assassination, and

that occurred in 1963. That affected campuses all over the country because he

was sort of the new frontier and the first President who had been elected

President of the United States, and was born in the 20th Century, so that was a

big thing. I'm thinking the Korean War was really before us, 1950-1953, and then

the Vietnam War didn't start really until I graduated from Tech, but of course

both of those wars affected our 00:30:00class and students. Of course we lost some good

people in both those wars from Virginia Tech.

Carmen: Right. So you feel that your time here that was kind of in a gap maybe in between?

Judge D. Bird: There really was a gap there between '56 and '60 where we had peace time

really.

Carmen: You can see that on campus as well, not a lot of strife or

anything?

Judge D. Bird: That's right. We enjoyed that time. That was a good

time. Some of the best years of my life were when I was a student at Virginia

Tech.

Carmen: How do you feel that your first year as a rat compared with the

rest of your time at Virginia Tech? Did anything change?

Judge D. Bird: Well, the first year as a rat you take a lot of, at that time hazing and so forth from

upper classmen, but 00:31:00you bonded with your classmates and your classmates in your

class are lifetime friends, so that's the nature of it. That's what happens and

it happens I think to all classes. You bond with your company in the Cadet

Corps. It might be 30 to 50 cadets in your class in the company. A company is

made up of over 200 cadets, and so you bonded and that was a great thing,

lifetime friends. You can't replace that anywhere in the country I don't think.

I think it's a great bond. It's a great love and respect that we had for each

other and pulling for each other and helping each other.

Carmen: So you would

say those kind of bonds initially fostered that 00:32:00first year and then throughout

the rest it just...?

Judge D. Bird: That is right and it continued throughout your

time. You didn't want anybody throwing off on your classmates.

Carmen: Of course. Were there any big, you know how Tech is always under construction,

always building something new, was anything during your time here built or

constructed that you recall?

Judge D. Bird: Well, they were building the Cassell Coliseum back in our time.

I don't think it opened until '61 or '62, but they

were building the Cassell- which is a $2-million - Lord, we couldn't believe it,

a large facility. Now they're still using it, 10,600 students can attend the

basketball game. But yes, we had a lot of construction going on during that

time.

Carmen: I think that's also kind of a staple of Tech, just always building

for the future I guess.

Judge D. Bird: That's right.

Carmen: I heard I think it 00:33:00was last year's ring for Ring Dance they have a crane on it

because of the construction.

Judge D. Bird: Yes, right. [Chuckles]

Carmen: I guess that represents Virginia Tech well.

Judge D. Bird: Very appropriate, right. [Chuckles]

Carmen: They'll never forget it.

Judge D. Bird: Yeah.

Carmen: So you said you studied dairy science which was kind of a natural fit for you because

you grew up on the dairy farm and you felt at home with that.

Judge D. Bird: Right.

Carmen: But then later you went to law school, so what kind of

happened between that...?

Judge D. Bird: Well, we had a small dairy farm milking

100 cows or so, and I have a younger brother about six or seven years younger

than I am and he stayed on the farm, so really the farm wasn't big enough for

you know three families or so. So one morning after I got back from the Army and

getting the cows in the barn in February with about two feet of snow on the

ground in Bland County 00:34:00and temperature 10 below zero, I told my father that

there's got to be a better way to make a living. So I was thinking about coming

back to Tech to get a master's and he insisted that I go to law school. He

thought that would be better and he was right, so I did go to law school. Of

course, I wouldn't have become a judge. I practiced law for about 30 years and

I've been a judge now for about 25 years, and I still hold court as a substitute

judge even up to this day. So my father was right and I'm glad that he gave me

good advice.

Carmen: Do you remember how you felt at the time he gave you that

advice though? Were you like, "Oh that's great advice," or were you like, "I

don't know, I kind of want to go back to Tech?"

Judge D. Bird: I felt that way, yes, but I went to Lexington and talked to the Dean of the Law

School and Dean Charles 00:35:00Light said, "Dan we love to have people from different occupations

and all." I told him I grew up on a dairy farm. I was a college agriculture

graduate. I didn't know whether I could make it at law school or not, and he

encouraged me to try. And he said, "If you don't like it it will just be a year

out of your life and you can do something else." So I made it that first year

and became a lawyer. Practicing law to me was like trying to help people. What

our motto is Ut Prosim, That I May Serve. And I went back to my hometown really

Wytheville is right next to Bland County and it was town, and I tried to help

people with different situations, and so I was trying to live 00:36:00up to our motto

that I May Serve.

Carmen: Right. That's kind of amazing that kind of

motto got engrained in you and you would say that's carried throughout the work

you've done for the rest of your life.

Judge D. Bird: That's right. And it was fostered by Virginia Tech. It was the foundation for what I

did for the rest of my life was trying to help other people with their problems.

Carmen: Do you remember any... I know now they do things like Big Event and service projects,

were there certain service projects that were going on with the broader

community when you were in school here?

Judge D. Bird: Oh yes. It was very much

like it is now. I'm sure it's on a larger scale now, but yes. We had YMCA, YWCA,

had all things and of course 00:37:00the Lyric Theater. Remember that was a staple that

we would sometimes slip off and go to a movie. [Laughs]

Carmen: Do you remember any of the movies you saw there?

Judge D. Bird: Oh I remember some of the old

movies you know that we saw. One of my favorite movies was Casablanca and it was

back in what 1938-39 with Humphrey Bogart. I loved doing those things. I don't

go to many movies now. I played baseball here at Virginia Tech on the varsity

team and I enjoyed doing that for the first two years, and then I got elected my

second year as President of the Class and then Chairman of the Ring Committee

and so I just had to tell our coach I didn't have time to go on traveling trips

and play baseball, so I didn't 00:38:00get to play the last two years. I always sort of

regretted that, but at the same time there's a priority you have to set and the

academics were more important. But I'm still a baseball fanatic.

Carmen: Do you ever come back to Tech for baseball games?

Judge D. Bird: Oh yes, I do. Yes, every year I come back.

Carmen: When the weather gets nice and warm in the

spring you can sit out there and watch them play and really enjoy that.

Judge D. Bird: That's right. Yeah. And I enjoy Tech baseball, Tech basketball, Tech

football, Virginia Tech golf. I'm a member of the Hacking Hokies which is a

group that goes with the golf team on some of the trips.

Carmen: That's right, so you're always coming back and traveling with Virginia Tech.

Judge D. Bird: That's right.

Carmen: Can't get enough.

Judge D. Bird: That's right.

Carmen: So this is kind of a fun question, but when I say the words "Virginia

Tech" what's the very first thing you think of what is it?

Judge D. Bird: Well, I'd have to 00:39:00say I think of our motto Ut Prosim, That I May Serve. I

think of helping others and helping each other. I think we need to teach more

civility in our high school and college because we've become a very divided

country politically. I know I served really as a Democrat for about 20 years in

the State Senate, but some of my best friends were on the other side of the

aisle Republicans and we're still... As a matter of fact, one of my Virginia

Senate friends called me the other day, a Republican, said he just wanted to

know if I was on my farm working. And he asked me, he said, "I just wanted to

know if old Danny Bird was still alive." [Laughs]

Carmen: Called to check in on you.

Judge D. Bird: Yeah, checking. So we were friends and we might disagree

during the daytime, but at nighttime we played 00:40:00cards, went to receptions, had

dinner together over drinks and we had a good time. It wasn't divided like it is

now. There was much more civility I think practiced back in those days than

there is now.

Carmen: So you think maybe Ut Prosim is kind of the key?

Judge D. Bird: I think that's a key that we may serve and help others. I think Virginia

Tech that's what it stands for and we need to realize and recognize distinctions

and differences of opinion, but do it agreeably. That's what we need to do, and

I think if we do the Virginia Tech Ut Prosim 00:41:00remember that motto that civility

will improve and we teach our young people coming up to work together with

others, even though they may disagree on a lot of things.

Carmen: There will always be people you disagree with.

Judge D. Bird: That's right. And you can be friends and respect people that have other

viewpoints from what your viewpoints are and I think that's very important in life, getting

along with others and working together and try to be a unifier between different factions

rather than trying to cause problems.

Carmen: We were talking a little bit when we first met

this morning about how you're still involved. I mean we're here. We're in the

Alumni Center; you're back for a game, but would you mind stating for the record

all the ways that you've been involved post graduating from Virginia Tech? I 00:42:00know there's a long list.

Judge D. Bird: Well, I guess I served on the Alumni Board. I've been an elected member

or appointed member for about 20 years, Virginia Tech's Alumni Board, and that was from

the time I was in my early 30s on up, and then they honored me by making me a lifetime

honorary member, so I enjoy coming back and trying to help others and let them remember

about civility and so forth. In our Alumni Board meetings we sort of bond.

Every Alumni Board might have different members over the years, over the last 30 or 40

years, but we always sort of bond together and it's bonding sort of like the

Cadet Corps when you're rats that you get to know people and you get to know 00:43:00people with different viewpoints and you enjoy hearing what they have to say. I

just enjoy staying active all the time and everything, active on my farm. I

raise beef cattle on my farm. I'm active at Virginia Tech on the Alumni Board.

I'm active as a substitute judge whenever they need a substitute, a judge is

sick or he has a funeral or something to go to. The Supreme Court might call me

and ask me if I can go anywhere in the State of Virginia to serve as a

substitute judge and I enjoy doing that. I enjoy meeting different people.

Carmen: You like staying busy.

Judge D. Bird: Yes.

Carmen: And then in any free time you come see Virginia Tech athletic events, right?

Judge D. Bird: That's right. I love Virginia Tech athletics.

Carmen: And sit down with me for an interview.

Judge D. Bird: That's right. I love Virginia Tech athletics and I'm

interested in whatever sport they're playing. I think 00:44:00Virginia Tech just does

things right. They're a class act and that's expressed by our Coach Frank Beamer

who I have a lot of UVA friends in the legal field and they all highly respect

Frank Beamer because he's a class act. That's a good role model for students and

for all of us to look up to.

Carmen: I really enjoy going to some athletic

events myself. What do you feel about the Lane Stadium experience when "Enter

Sandman" is played?

Judge D. Bird: Oh I think it's wonderful. I'm 77, but I enjoyed jumping up and down and it is a

wonderful experience. I think it's been voted one of the top in the country.

Carmen: I believe so. I know at the very

first home game this 00:45:00year the north end zone up right there beneath the

jumbotron there was so much jumping and so many people they broke some of the

bleachers. Right under their feet they broke them. Everybody was jumping.

Judge D. Bird: Yeah. And that shows you the passion that Virginia Tech

students and Virginia Tech fans have for this University, and I think that

speaks well of it.

Carmen: Why do you think, if you had to give a couple of

reasons why at the very core you think that is why so many students go on to be

involved in alumni and come back? Why do you?

Judge D. Bird: I think it's bonding with their friends. You don't see that at a lot of other colleges

and universities in the country, but you certainly see it at Virginia Tech. Now I

might say they also have that at VMI and probably at UVA, but I don't see how it

could be any 00:46:00better than it is at Virginia Tech. We just love coming back.

People come back from Florida, come back from Maine, come back from all over the

country to Virginia Tech athletic events, and also other events too going on

here at Virginia Tech.

Carmen: Like reunions. I guess there is the reunion

that's going on this weekend.

Judge D. Bird: That is correct.

Carmen: and it's just ideally during football season. That way they can catch a game while

they're in.

Judge D. Bird: And I want to give a nod to the Alumni Office for Tom

Tillar's retiring of course, but for 40 years he's given to Virginia Tech.

They've done a great job with reunions and getting people to come back. I think

that's wonderful, so it's great to be a Hokie and I think once a Hokie always a

Hokie 00:47:00all your life.

Carmen: So we were speaking a little bit earlier about you

feel as though Tech is just continuing to progress and it's obviously just

continuing to grow. Are there any changes you would specifically like to see?

You said a little bit about civility, but any other changes you would like to

see happen at Virginia Tech over the years?

Judge D. Bird: Well, I think Virginia Tech is in excellent position to maybe someday have a

law school. I would like to see that. I think there are many other things. One thing that I

don't know, the old Monteith Hall where I lived for three years back in the 50s

is being torn down and they're going to put another large dorm. I hate to see

that, but I hope they name something after Jimmy Monteith who was a

Congressional Medal of Honor winner. 00:48:00I'm sure they will, because those are just

traditions. That upper quadrangle was all Cadet Corps at one time. Now

they are with a larger Corps and we've done it by scholarships. Having served as

National President of the Alumni Association one year we had the commandant of

Cadets at Texas A&M. They had a 45,000 student body with 1,800 members of the

Corp and our Corp had dwindled down back in 1993-4 to 250 or so, so we were

afraid of losing the Corp of Cadets. So what we did was asked the commandant to

come and he spoke to us one day in an Alumni Meeting and said they did it by

scholarships, by giving 00:49:00scholarships. So most of the Cadets that come to

Virginia Tech now are on scholarships that have been given. I think we've raised

over close to $10-million in scholarships to help students, and then they go on

to become officers in the military. And Virginia Tech has graduated more

officers, or commissioned more officers than has VMI and some of the other

military schools because of that.

Carmen: Really?

Judge D. Bird: So I think it was a good thing. We've gone from around 250 cadets 15

years ago, 15 to 18 years ago to up to over 1,000. I think almost 1,100 cadets now.

Carmen: There's certainly more than 250.

Judge D. Bird: Yes.

Carmen: I see a bunch because the History Building is in the upper quad. It's Major Williams

Hall, so that's where I always 00:50:00am in there. The flagpole is right out there in the quad.

Judge D. Bird: Right in front of Lane.

Carmen: That's right.

Judge D. Bird: The oldest building on campus.

Carmen: Still standing.

Judge D. Bird: And you know it's great to see that because we need commissioned

officers to know what they're doing and Virginia Tech Corp of Cadets helps provide that.

Carmen: So you appreciate the Corps experience you had.

Judge D. Bird: Yes.

Carmen: And you can see that continuing.

Judge D. Bird: Most definitely.

Carmen: To be very valuable.

Judge D. Bird: Yes, very valuable throughout my life and throughout

the lives of all the Cadets that went through the rat line and graduated with

commissions in the military. I think it's been a great help to our country.

Carmen: 00:51:00So here's kind of a many-pronged question. What do you think

that people don't know but should know about Virginia Tech? What would you like

them to know that maybe a lot of people don't know about Virginia Tech?

Judge D. Bird: Well, I can give you a good example. One of our governors of Virginia said

when he came to Virginia Tech that it was maybe Virginia's most hidden treasure.

And I sort of look at it that way, although really I think I've seen figures of

about a third of our student body or more from Northern Virginia, DC area and

so, and we've held Alumni Board meetings in Northern Virginia and the

participation is wonderful. I would say that 00:52:00Virginia Tech is not hidden as much

as it used to be. It's pretty well known nation-wide. Of course the tragedy here

was 2007 and that just broke our hearts. That was a tragedy, a tragic tragic

event. So many good people that we lost and we've got to find some way to help

people with mental illness or recognize it quicker before something like that

happens, and I'm sure Virginia Tech's working on that as best they can.

Carmen: Do you think that moment kind of stands as an event that we can learn

from in a way?

Judge D. Bird: Yes, yes.

Carmen: But it is interesting that you say "hidden treasure" because I think you're right,

I think a lot more people 00:53:00know Virginia Tech is, but I think some are still so surprised

when they drive and drive and drive on 81 and 460 into what they think is the middle of

nowhere Southwest Virginia and they find Blacksburg.

Judge D. Bird: I'll give you a good example of that. My daughter graduated from the

Pamplin College of Business in 1990 and she's lived in St. Paul Minnesota and now

they live in Philadelphia. Well she talked to her neighbors, her neighbors mostly they

had been going to Penn State or University of Pennsylvania or some of those schools,

and she talked her neighbors into coming to see Virginia Tech. To make a long story

short, their daughter came to Virginia Tech as a result and she is a freshman

and she loves Virginia Tech. And like I said 00:54:00before, anybody that ever

has come here seems to really love this university and love the faculty, the

staff, the students. And so that's one example, but it happens all the time. I

think other Hokies get the word out so when they come they want to be here.

Carmen: We're proud of our school. We like to talk about it.

Judge D. Bird: Yes. And other thing, after that tragic incident, and I've had many people from

other schools say the same thing, the media interviewed a lot of students on campus

about that tragic event in 2007 where 32 wonderful lives were taken and every

student they interviewed had showed 00:55:00love and respect for Virginia Tech. They

were trying to get something negative to put on television, on the nightly news

and so forth and all they got was love and respect from the students. Doesn't

that tell you something about the school?

Carmen: Absolutely.

Judge D. Bird: It just warmed my heart to see it and to see that they didn't point fingers.

They didn't blame anybody. They took up for Dr. Steger, our President at the time. It

was just heartwarming to see the reaction of the students to that tragedy.

Carmen: They really came together. Don't quote me on this but I think I, I have

a friend who came in the class the year following that event and she said she

believes at the time she was part of the largest 00:56:00group of admissions up to that

point.

Judge D. Bird: Yes.

Carmen: And I think that was surprising to some people that the year following such a

tragedy even more people than ever before

Judge D. Bird: Wanted to come to Virginia Tech. That tells you something. And it

was not unrecognized by people from other colleges and universities throughout

the United States. They saw that the student body of Virginia Tech was behind

the President and they were really deeply saddened by the tragedy, but did not

point fingers, did not blame anybody and they were very positive about the

direction Virginia Tech had to go in the future, so it's wonderful to see that.

Carmen: Would you say you feel like that Virginia Tech is heading in the right

direction?

Judge D. Bird: Yes, most definitely, the right direction.

Carmen: So that was a little bit about 00:57:00what you think people should know about

Virginia Tech, but what about you, what do you think people should know about

you that they don't know?

Judge D. Bird: [Laughs] I have been in politics as I

told you for 25 years and then a judge for the last 25 years. And I have

probably been called everything in the book over time by different people, so I

just want to be Danny Bird and be a person, be a Hokie that wants... I like to be

recognized as a person who wants to help and live up to the motto of Ut Prosim,

That I May Serve and that's all I ever ask for.

Carmen: That's what you want people to know about you?

Judge D. Bird: That's right. And I think in my

community people do identify, when Virginia Tech loses a football game they

blame it on me. [Laughs] 00:58:00Carmen: Oh no, you don't want that coming down on your shoulders.

Judge D. Bird: But that's not... You know everybody has a bad day. It's

not the college football coach's fault. It's just things that happen and some

things happen in life that are good, some things that are bad and when you get

knocked down you've got to get back on your feet and go again.

Carmen: Great. And I guess if people are blaming you for Virginia Tech's football

losses they at least associate you with Virginia Tech most of all don't they?

Judge D. Bird: Yes they do, in my community they do. What is wrong with Virginia Tech?

Why aren't you down there doing something about it? But anyway, I think Virginia

Tech will be back. They will be back. Don't worry about that. We may have a bad

day but we never lose, we just sometimes run out of time. 00:59:00We never lose. We just

run out of time.

Carmen: That's right. Well, tonight is an opportunity for a comeback is it not?

Judge D. Bird: That is correct. It will be wonderful if it happens. If it doesn't happen

maybe we will run out of time again, but Virginia Tech will survive and will be stronger

as a result, regardless how it comes out.

Carmen: Yep, absolutely, and then there will be another opportunity.

Judge D. Bird: Exactly, and that's what we've got to realize. We have tremendous hope for

the future for this University and it's got so many ways to go. I mentioned

about a law school here someday. That may happen and it may not happen, but at

the same time it's something that could happen at a large university like this.

And I'm sure there are other things that... 01:00:00Well I tell you one thing,

women's golf, women's lacrosse, some of these things are good because we have as

many women on campus as men, so it's good that we have more teams and comply

with all the NCAA standards. I like to see it just at the highest level of

compliance.

Carmen: Yeah, we like competing don't we?

Judge D. Bird: That's right.

Carmen: People in competition as many as it can have in every sport

possible.

Judge D. Bird: That's right. If you have some on your football team or

baseball team or basketball team you have some bad eggs then they shouldn't be

here, and I think the student body has addressed those situations before.

They've taken care of that. We like to keep the good eggs.

Carmen: Would you consider yourself a good egg?

Judge D. Bird: 01:01:00[Laughs] I try to be. I try to be.

Carmen: Me too. Me too. So I've pretty much fired off a ton of questions toward

you this whole time. Is there anything that I haven't asked you that you thought

I would ask or that you would like to talk about?

Judge D. Bird: I think we've pretty much covered almost everything. I see the line of questions.

Carmen: Before you saw this line of questions did you have something in mind

that you thought I might or whoever you met would ask you today?

Judge D. Bird: I really didn't know. I talked with a couple of my kids and told the

Hokies I didn't know what questions I would get today but I would try to do the

best I could. I'm sure there are things that have happened over the years at 01:02:00Virginia Tech that we're so proud of that I haven't mentioned. Not just

athletics, but like the arts. The P. Buckley Moss Center is a wonderful thing

for the University and for not just the University, but for all surrounding

areas. I think the enlargement of the air field, the air strip. We had to move

the Dairy Science Department Buildings down to Kentland Farms. And that's where

it should be because we have 1,900 acres down there by the river and that's a

much better place for it than where it is now, and that way we can expand the

airport. So I think Virginia Tech has just done things right. I

remember back when I was in the 01:03:00Senate of Virginia and I was on the Alumni Board

too at the same time, the old horticultural farm that was out really where the

New River Mall is now, they made a trade and it was a wonderful thing for

Virginia Tech. We've got 1,900 acres down by the river by the New River, 1,900

acres for about 100 acres or so, so it was a great thing for a research and

extension program. They tried to make it...the media tried to make it look like we

were really getting screwed. Well baloney. It was a wonderful thing that

happened and I told the people at the time in Richmond that was a great thing

for Virginia Tech. Kentland Farm was where the farm should be for research and

extension, 01:04:00and New River Valley Mall is where it should be, so it was a great

thing. It blew over after a while, but they were trying to blame the President,

blame the athletic director and the media was pointing fingers, but at the same

time we survived just like we always have. Virginia Tech survived.

Carmen: I think that's a common thing that Virginia Tech does.

Judge D. Bird: That's right. And the moves we make sometimes may not look right at the time,

but for the future they have been head-up, hit the nail on the head, been the right

thing.

Carmen: I guess we will see what decisions that are made at this point

now and how those affect the future.

Judge D. Bird: I haven't mentioned the Corporate Research Center which is a wonderful thing.

I remember coming to the...A congressman spoke at the initiation of the 01:05:00 groundbreaking

ceremony for the Weather Station in Blacksburg, but we get our weather from the Blacksburg

station right here on campus near the Corporate Research Center. There's so many

things like that. The Vet School. I remember helping Governor John Balton and

Dr. Lavery running the plow to plow up the ground for the Vet School to start.

That was a wonderful thing. That was a highlight back in the 80s. I had the

occasion to sit with the Dean of the Vet School, Dean Clarke who was from South

Africa just at breakfast the other morning, and he had so many good ideas about

the future in Virginia Tech and the Vet School.

Carmen: Yeah. People come from all over the world really. I mean we said the country earlier,

but all over the world come to Virginia Tech.

Judge D. Bird: Dean Clarke, the Dean of the Vet School had been at 01:06:00Oklahoma State for 20

years, so he had some great ideas for what Virginia Tech will become in the future.

Carmen: Wonderful.

Judge D. Bird: It's wonderful.

Carmen: So, are there any final thoughts you have or anything final you want to add?

Judge D. Bird: I'll just say go Hokies. Go Hokies. [Laughs]

Carmen: Thank you so much for sitting down with me. It's been

wonderful to hear about your experience here at Virginia Tech. I get to compare

that a little bit to mine, so it's been wonderful. Thank you so much.

Judge D. Bird: Well thank you Carmen. It's wonderful to be here and Virginia Tech's been

good for the Commonwealth of Virginia and for Southwest Virginia.

Carmen: Thank you.