Alumni

Alumni Return as Staff Members to Boys Home

One of the most valuable resources at Boys Home is the staff. The Boys Home mission comes full circle when men who were residents in their youth return to “pay it forward” for the boys who live here now. Only they can uniquely relate to the challenges and struggles the students face.

Administratively, the most well-known of the group is Executive Director Donnie Wheatley. Mr. Wheatley has led the way through capital campaigns, the creation of Boys Home School and the applied trades program and has become the resident expert on Boys Home’s history. It’s a big responsibility, but he always has time to say hello or share a piece of advice with the boys. Chad Whitmer, associate director of program, builds relationships with each boy and helps them develop leadership skills. On many weekends, he can be found leading a group of students through mountain passes on camping trips and teaching them life skills. Bobby Trice serves as director of support services and joined the staff in 2017 when he retired from the Army as a Master Sergeant after 20 years of service. Although Bobby’s full-time job keeps him busy seeing that the campus infrastructure is running smoothly, he makes it a point to know the students and spends time with them. He is also willing to come to your area and share his story about how Boys Home has made a difference in his life.

Danny Cale is the facility maintenance manager. Danny is a skilled organizer with his team and applies that same efficiency when teaching his home wiring class to students. Check out the December 20 post to the News section of the boyshomeofva.org website to see how this hands-on class causes students to begin to think like business owners. Rick Turner came to Boys Home after selling a successful heating and air-conditioning business. He teaches those same skills to students, also keeping busy with maintenance projects on campus. It’s also possible to catch Rick in a snappy Santa Claus outfit at the Boys Home Christmas Tree Farm!

None of Boys Home’s programming would be possible without houseparents. After graduation from college, Donnie Costigan and Milliyon Fesseha found their way back to Boys Home to share their experience and wisdom. Their influence for good in the lives of the boys is inspiring. David Powers also returned to Boys Home and worked on the farm. He has recently accepted a position in law enforcement, and we wish him all the best in that new endeavor. 

Lastly, Mike Nunnally became the Hilltopper’s basketball coach in 2018. A retired teacher and coach, he now impacts both players and spectators with his professionalism, work ethic, fairness, and general good humor. He excels at not only building basketball skills but at building character in team members.

The presence of these men on campus demonstrates the success of the mission of Boys Home. They bring depth and a breadth of experience that is invaluable as we offer today’s students a second chance at success.

Left to right first row: Donnie Wheatley, Bobby Trice, Milliyon Fesseha       

Second row: David Powers, Rick Turner                                                           

Third row: Mike Nunnally, Chad Whitmer, Danny Cale, Donnie Costigan

Pete Nunnally Serves as Chaplain Intern at Boys Home this Summer

Boys Home is delighted to welcome Pete Nunnally to campus this summer. He is working on his field education internship from Virginia Theological Seminary. Pete brings a unique history to his service, as his father, Mike Nunnally, was a resident at Boys Home and currently the basketball coach. Pete also brings a wealth of experience as a teacher, mission director, and youth minister prior to going to seminary.

Pete brought his guitar along to a recent campfire, offering singing and story telling along with s’mores. During chapel over the last school year, he led the boys in singing “Wade in the Water” and told the story of his own faith journey. More recently, he has engaged the boys in making and praying with Anglican prayer beads. During the summer evenings, he is offering a sunset compline service. Pete brings a keen listening heart, eager engagement, and deep faith to his service at Boys Home.

A biography from Pete Nunnally:

I was born and raised in Sterling, Virginia, and grew up hearing stories of Boys Home from my father Mike, who lived at Boys Home from 1956-1963. After graduating from Bridgewater College in 2001, I taught middle school physical education for 6 years before moving to New Orleans in 2008 to rebuild houses with the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana. While in New Orleans, I became the volunteer coordinator for the Rebuild Program and later, Program Director for Living With Purpose, an Episcopal Service Corps program. Upon returning to Virginia in 2014, I became Director of Spiritual Formation and Youth Ministries for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Richmond until enrolling at Virginia Theological Seminary in 2017. I am passionate about God’s dream for our lives, good music, people, reconciliation, social justice, and building true community that shimmers with the hope of the Kingdom of God. My experience at St. George’s Camp at Shrine Mont taught me that all God’s children are part of the Body of Christ and worthy of dignity and love, while my time in New Orleans instilled in me a passion for racial reconciliation and systemic change. I am a cradle Episcopalian and am deeply thankful for the richness of our tradition and its commitment to a sacramental corporate prayer life and a textured individual spiritual journey in which we search daily for the sacred in places expected and unexpected. 

An entry from Pete Nunnally:

I remember wishing as a kid that I could grow up at Boys Home. The stories Dad told about Boys Home and its residents and staff were so alive and electric, as though somehow life here was just…more. I have been at Boys Home as a chaplain for two and a half weeks. I have also been at Boys Home since 1956, when, after becoming a ward of the state and a brief stint in foster care, my father was brought here. These two realities are slowly weaving into one narrative about dislocation, struggle, hope, and redemption.

On the evening of my first day here, after prayer time with Mrs. Turner, Mrs. Sarratt and Mrs. Gordon, chapel time with the boys, and discipleship groups with each cottage, we had dinner. Eating dinner in the dining hall, I couldn’t escape the feeling that I was sharing the space with my 14-year old father, a skinny kid with a bright smile and big dreams. I remembered the story he told about when they used to turn out the lights to sing happy birthday during meals. When the lights came back on someone’s head had spaghetti dripping all over it. Today this would garner a whole bunch of demerits.

Dusk spread over my first evening and I sat under the trees by the field and watched boys run and play. Laughter and shouts drifted across the field and through time. Thousands of boys have romped in this field as evenings fell, pale skies slowly darkening to deep mountain blue, like a friend who doesn’t want to go home. Star after star began to twinkle their nighttime hello, the same stars that have shined over so many lives and so many boys. This wasn’t just a beautiful summer mountain night. It was something…more.

In the days since my first evening, I’ve spent time with all the boys and met most of the staff. Things have changed since the 50s and 60s, and even since the 90s and 2000s, and they are also the same. The boys that are here have lived lives of disruption. The individual levels of disruption may vary, but this much is clear: Boys Home is, and always will be, a place where boys find stability, consistency, and love. A place where former Boys Home boys come back to work, and where the staff pour out themselves, their love, and comfort like the Spirit spreading over the watery chaos of creation. Indeed, something new is being created here. Boys Home seems to me at this early stage in my time here as a wellspring of hope for boys who may not have any. A place of healing for those carrying deep wounds. And a place where God’s presence twinkles over the mountains, ripples through the bends of Dunlap Creek, and sparkles across the field in muffled shouts as evening descends, waiting for the new day God has promised.

Chaplain Intern Pete Nunnally 

Alumnus and Basketball Coach, Mike Nunnally with son, Pete Nunnally