Rumshock Veterans Foundation
There is no way to adequately thank the men and women who sacrificed so much for our freedom and safety. But we can offer them a second chance – an opportunity to be successful members of a supportive community!
Board of Directors
IN MEMORIAM: TERRY ANDERSON, 1947-2024
Dear Rumshock Veterans Foundation Community,
It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of the passing of Terry Anderson, a beloved member of the Rumshock Veterans Foundation Board. Terry’s unwavering commitment to our mission and his tireless efforts in serving veterans have left an indelible mark on our organization.
Terri’s dedication, passion, and leadership have been instrumental in advancing the goals of the foundation, and his presence will be deeply missed by all who had the privilege of working alongside him. His kindness, compassion, and unwavering support for veterans have touched countless lives, and his legacy will continue to inspire us. During this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with Terry’s family, friends, and colleagues. We extend our deepest condolences to all who knew and loved him.
In honor of Terry’s memory and his contributions to the Rumshock Veterans Foundation, we will be dedicating a special tribute to him, later this year. Please join us in celebrating Terry’s life and legacy, and in honoring his profound impact on our organization and the veterans we serve.
Donate to Terry’s life and Legacy: https://givebutter.com/wtMdSk
Sincerely,
Bill Whetsel
President
Rumshock Veterans Foundation
William Whetsel
President
Bill was born and raised in Greensburg, PA. After high school, he attended Penn State University before enlisting in the US Air Force as an EOD technician. After his time in the Air Force, he moved to New York City and began his 13-year career working with Trans World Airlines as a ramp crew chief. After 9/11, he became one of the first 100 people hired to help form the Transportation Security Administration. He then became a part of the team who was in charge of transitioning all US airports from private security to federal security. After a year of traveling around the country with the transition team, he became the TSA security supervisor at Stewart Airport for 8 years. William then retired and has had the burning passion to help his fellow veterans that are in a time of need ever since.
In early 2019 he started the Rumshock Veterans Foundation with the help of his board. Because of trips back and forth to grandparents in the summer, he would stop and help and when a neighbor needed a house or a barn repaired. He would always lend a hand and help. Bill’s grandfather was a nurse in a surgical hospital in Dijon, France in WW2 and his uncles served in Vietnam; one in the Army and one in the USMC. His dad also served in the Navy.
Peter Lyons Hall
Vice President
As digital marketing professional Peter helps businesses and communities grow by improving their visibility through digital content management, devising marketing strategy, providing website development, traditional print media, and other digital marketing solutions.
He has been an active volunteer for many community organizations and events, including The Children’s Book Festival, Warwick in Bloom, The Warwick Farmers’ Market, The Summer Arts Festival, the Artists’ Open Studio Tour, Saint Stephen’s parish, and others. He designed and edited the final document that allowed the Town of Warwick, under the direction of John Hicks, to purchase the Mid-Orange Correctional Facility from the State of New York. He has developed websites and branding enhancements for a number of community organizations, including the Warwick Historical Society, the Florida NY Chamber of Commerce Farmers Market, the Vernon Chamber of Commerce, Vernon Earthfest, Village of Greenwood Lake, and Warwickinfo.net, a highly acclaimed community directory.
Peter has taught entrepreneurial marketing at Orange-Ulster BOCES and is a graduate of Marquette University; he has an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Roxanne Lopilato
Treasurer
Accomplished Kitchen and Bath Designer with 20 years experience managing three branches for a Plumbing and Heating Supply Company. Creative, active, diligent and consistent with the ability to work in a team oriented environment; persistent with the ability to get the best results.
My passion for non-profit work began when I was a child and joined the Ladies Auxiliary in Park Slope Brooklyn with my Aunt. Years later I found myself participating in several causes in my home town of Greenwood Lake. These included “Save the Lake” committee, a Board member at the Grace Lutheran Church and President for my homeowners association for many years. I currently hold the position of Secretary in my homeowners association.
I truly enjoy helping others, getting involved to make changes for the better. When people come into your life and volunteer to mentor you, or help you when you are struggling; you get to feel first hand how wonderful it feels to be helped and if I can give that feeling back to someone else it is all worthwhile.
Marie Fay
Secretary
Accomplished Communications executive with a proven track record of leadership and marketing management. I wore many hats in my 30 year career, Marketing Services Manager, Business Logistics Manager, Olympic Affairs Director and Communications and Planning Director. As a result, I have a unique ability to manage multi-disciplinary projects and to navigate complex challenges.
I am also a seasoned dog trainer with more than 10 years experience in the field. I am a member of the Board of Directors for HiTor Animal Care Center. My role on the Board is to provide leadership and management to the Fundraising Committee. I am a compassionate person who wants to offer my skills to nonprofit organizations like Rumshock Veterans Foundation.
John “Jack” Laroe
Trustee
I joined the Peace Corps in 1975 and was sent to Ghana (West Africa) in January of 1976.
I was connected with the Forest Products Research Institute in Kumasi. I traveled around the country visiting all the sawmills which were mostly owned by British German and Swiss companies. Most of the problems they had were around the fact that they were using equipment that was twenty plus years old and they had trouble bringing in new machines due to the foreign exchange issues. The Ghanaian currency didn’t have much value outside of the country because of the political instability. After about eight months I came down with the Typhoid Fever and was sent home.
Overall it was a positive experience as far as learning about a different culture which is one of the main goals of the Peace Corps.
Terry Anderson
Trustee
Mr. Anderson was abducted in Beirut on March 16, 1985, after playing tennis with an AP colleague. Islamist militants held him for more than six years — as part of an operation to negotiate prisoner swaps — an ordeal he survived in part due to “stubbornness.”
“You wake up every day. You summon up energy from somewhere. I don’t know how,” Mr. Anderson said shortly after his release, according to a 1991 Post story.
The men often worked alongside each other, chronicling the Middle East’s tumult, Reid told The Post.
“When he was kidnapped, we were obviously concerned, but we also thought if there’s anyone who can survive this, it’ll be Terry for sure.”
Running the AP’s Beirut bureau was a “complicated operation,” Reid recalled.
“I remember one night sitting around the office, and we heard these horrific explosions coming from Terry’s neighborhood,” he said. Mr. Anderson bolted to his home, relocating his then-wife, daughter and father to a hotel closer to the newsroom.
Then he came back to work, Reid said.
It wasn’t all hardship, Reid recalled. There were good times, too.
“We used to go over to his apartment and sit out in the evening on his balcony, sip his scotch, smoke his cigars, feeling the mist of the ocean blowing into our faces,” Reid said.
Later, when the AP offered to move Mr. Anderson to Cyprus, “where a lot of international media had moved,” Reid said, Mr. Anderson refused and insisted on remaining in Beirut. “Terry just felt that while it was risky, it was also necessary to keep a presence there.”
Shortly before Iran brokered his December 1991 release, Mr. Anderson joked with his jailers, as well.
“I said, ‘Mahmound, listen to this, I’m not here. I’m gone, babes. I’m on my way to Damascus.’ And we both laughed,” he told Giovanna Dell’Orto, author of “AP Foreign Correspondents in Action: World War II to the Present.”
Two years after his release, Mr. Anderson published “Den of Lions: Memoirs of Seven Years,” chronicling his experience as a hostage.
In 2000, a U.S. judge ordered the Iranian government to give Mr. Anderson $324 million, saying Iran was behind his kidnapping. It also said Tehran must give his wife, Madeleine Bassil, $10 million and his daughter Sulome Anderson $6.7 million. Mr. Anderson collected about $26 million, according to the New York Times, before filing for bankruptcy in 2009.
“We were all damaged, in some ways, you can’t help it, after that kind of an experience,” he said in an interview with the Bob Graham Center for Public Service.
In 2004, Mr. Anderson unsuccessfully ran for the Ohio state Senate.
“Though my father’s life was marked by extreme suffering during his time as a hostage in captivity, he found a quiet, comfortable peace in recent years,” she told The Post in an email Sunday afternoon. “I know he would choose to be remembered not by his very worst experience, but through his humanitarian work with the Vietnam Children’s Fund, the Committee to Protect Journalists, homeless veterans and many other incredible causes.”
Mr. Anderson is survived by his daughters Sulome and Gabrielle, Bassil, two other ex-wives, his sister Judy, and his brother Jack. His sister Peggy Say, a public advocate for his release, died in 2015.
Reid remembered that despite his colleague’s ordeal, Mr. Anderson didn’t seem too changed after his release.
“I saw him on television, I just thought that it was the same old Anderson,” Reid said. “I won’t say he suffered no effects, like many cases of traumatic experiences like that, it takes time to develop.”
But in that brief moment, Anderson remained composed. He knew what to say, like always, Reid said.
“His contribution, more than any individual story, was just keeping the train on the rails. And that’s not something to discount,” Reid said. “That’s an enormous part of any job like that or any mission. And that’s what I’ll remember Terry for: not so much for the writing and the reporting, as it was the leadership.”
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