WVSOM president signs agreement for continued curation of the Greenbrier Military School Museum

LEWISBURG, WV (WVNS) — Every year, Daniel Pennington makes the trek from his home in New Mexico to Lewisburg.

When he was around 15 years old, he arrived on the campus of what was then the Greenbrier Military School, now the campus of the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.

Mr. Pennington now meets annually with others who spent their teen years at the military school.

He said on Friday, October 18, 2024, that the visits never fails to bring back memories.

“I consider us multi-generational 18-year-olds, all from different mothers, but we’re brothers,” Mr. Pennington said during the reunion, indicating the sense of timelessness experienced by those men reuniting on the campus.

During a special ceremony on Friday, WVSOM President James Nemitz met with members of the GMS Alumni Association and others, signing an agreement to continue curation of the Greenbrier Military School Museum on the WVSOM campus.

“We honor a great legacy that started before West Virginia became a state,” said Dr. Nemitz, after noting that GMS was in operation from 1875 until 1972. “While the relationship between GMS and WVSOM isn’t that old, like West Virginia, it’s wonderful.”

Gov. Jim Justice, who had visited the campus on Friday for a ceremonial signing of legislation which mandates $13.6 million for deferred maintenance and other needs on the 200-year-old campus, is also an alumnus of GMS.

Gov. Justice sparked laughter in the audience when he told of his own memories, including minor antics and resulting discipline, on the GMS campus.

Mr. Pennington said his parents were originally from Fayette County.

They were living in Asia when Mr. Pennington was a teenager, and they wanted him to receive a quality education, he said, so they sent him to West Virginia to attend GMS.

He said the time he had spent there as a young man made a lifetime impression.

“It’s a camaraderie,” he explained, recalling his time at GMS more than 50 years earlier. “When you’re away from your home, and your family, the people you’re with, become your family.”

Curation of the GMS museum ensures Pennington’s memories, and the memories of other alumni, will be kept for future generations.

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