Distinguished Alumnus Award
With a long-held desire to give back
to Williamson, Marty Jeffers 7W6 joined
the Alumni Association after his children
were grown. He served as president and
four years ago became head of the Asso-
ciation’s Golf Outing Committee. His golf
outings have been very successful and
have raised much money for the Associa-
tion to use in their efforts to help William-
son.
Jeffers began his career in the quality
control department at the Franklin Mint
in Wawa, Pa., a job he says he got be-
cause of Williamson’s reputation. He then
worked as a painter for Nieweg Painting
in Media. When he got laid off, he went to
Williamson’s placement office and found
a job as an estimator and project manager
for Pacor, a mechanical installation com-
pany in Philadelphia.
He then worked as an estimator and
project manager for A.C. & S. Co. in As-
ton, Pa., and then at Performance Con-
tracting in Berwyn, where he was also a
manager, estimator, and project manager.
Next, he became an estimator and project
manager at Thermal Solutions in Oreland,
Pa.
Jeffers says his Williamson background
definitely helped him in his career. “I’ve
been working 39 years in my trade and it
is because of my Williamson education.”
Because of his pride in the school, he
is often seen wearing Williamson clothing
and says it often opens conv ersations, giv-
ing him the chance to “talk up” the school.
In his spare time, he enjoys golf and home
improvements.
Jeffers grew up in Broomall, Pa., and
while attending Marple-Newtown High
School, had no idea what he wanted to do
after graduating.
He knew he liked his part-time job at
the Pantry Pride grocery store pushing
C.W. Schrenk ’49 Young Alumnus Award
Isaiah V. Williamson Award
shopping carts, stocking shelves, and ca-
shiering. The money wasn’t bad and he
thought this might be his future. But, he
decided to enroll in Williamson after talk-
ing about the school with a friend who
was a Williamson graduate and his father
told him he would always have a trade to
fall back on no matter what he did.
He learned the painting trade under
Glenn Stevick 4W0. “Mr. Stevick was a
wonderful man,” he said. “He was my
mentor and got me through Williamson.”
While a student, he played basketball
and says Williamson gave him the oppor-
tunity to participate that he had not had
in high school. He benefitted a lot from
the discipline and structure and made
many friends. “I did a lot of growing up at
Williamson and learned how to speak to
people and how to interact.”
He and Sita, his wife of 35 years, live
in Springfield in a home he is rehabbing.
Martin “Marty” Jeffers 7W6
They have three children, Marietta, Juli-
anna, Alex, one grandchild, Sloane, and
are expecting a second in July.
Dustin M. Shadler ’05
Since joining Williamson’s Power Plant
Program Advisory Committee several
years ago, Dustin Shadler ’05 has helped
get a donation from PPL Electric Utilities
of two 12 kW breakers, a used oil breaker,
and a new vacuum breaker for the Power
Plant Technology Program. PPL also al-
lowed Shadler to work on the breakers
during company time because they believe
in Williamson’s mission.
He began his career at PPL as a journey-
man electrician in 2005 and made journey-
man in September 2011.
Shadler grew up in Pine Grove, Pa., and
graduated from Pine Grove High School.
He had always enjoyed working with his
hands so when a friend told him of Wil-
liamson, he decided to apply.
Power plant technology was the only
trade he put down on his application and,
fortunately, he got it. While a student, he
never received hours. He sang with the
Artisans and often helped out around cam-
Dustin M. Shadler 0W5
25
Martin “Marty” Jeffers ’76
pus with various power plant projects as a
volunteer, usually in the evening, and says
those projects were sort of like working
off hours, even though he enjoyed them.
While a junior, he received the Alumni
Association’s Student Academic Achieve-
ment Award for having a high grade point
average and at Commencement he received
the PECO Energy/Thomas M. Callahan ’79
Memorial Award for reflecting the values
of Williamson, and the Academic Honors
Award for attaining a cumulative average
of 3.5 or better.
Shadler says he benefitted greatly from
his Williamson experience. “I have worked
with guys who went to Stevens and I have a
different work ethic than them. The mini-
mum is not enough for me. I’m always early
to work and late to leave. I love working and
want to do my best.”
He married his wife Noel in 2009. They
live in Harrisburg and have a son, Harrison,
3, and a daughter, Charleigh, 1 1/2. Dustin’s children are one of the most important
things in his life and he says “Having my
children was an awesome experience. It was
such a great joy. One of the best feelings in
the world.”
He enjoys hunting deer with a bow and
rifle and uses his technical skill to work
on car audio. He has a sound system in
his pickup truck that has such high quality
sound that it is almost like being at a con-
cert. He used to compete in audio contests
and once came in eighth. He now spends
most of his free time with his family and
doing home projects.
He has been a life member of the Alumni
Association since 2010 and a member of
the Pine Grove Masonic Lodge No. 409
since 2011, currently serving as secretary.
About five years ago he began work
on an engineering degree at Penn State-
Harrisburg, taking one class per semester
at night. He took a break to spend time with
his children and hopes to continue soon.
Flame Refractories, where he staffed most of
the team with Williamson graduates.
In 1992, he founded Storm Engineering,
a consulting company, in Albemarle, N.C.
Later, the name was changed to Storm Tech-
nologies and the company expanded into
design and fabrication of boiler and com-
bustion components. Now semi-retired, he
serves as senior consultant to the company
with 30-50 technical employees doing busi-
ness with about 400 power generation com-
panies around the world.
A registered professional engineer, he
has authored many magazine articles and
technical papers, is a contributing editor for
Power magazine, and teaches short courses
related to power generation.
Recently, he created Williamson’s first
3-day continuing education course, “Intro-
duction to Large Thermal Power Generation
Plants,” and was lead instructor. The suc-
cessful course was given this year and last.
Storm and Virginia “Ginny,” his wife of
53 years, have three sons: Richard Paul,
founder and CEO of Innovative Combus-
tion Technologies; Danny, owner and CEO
of Storm Technologies; and Stephen, pro- gram manager-combustion and boiler per-
formance, at Duke Energy.
His now enjoys time with his family and
living the good life on Hilton Head Island.
Richard F. Storm ’62
After Richard Storm ’62 joined William-
son’s Power Plant Technology Power Plant
Program Advisory Committee in the late
1990s and the board of trustees in 2001, he
decided Williamson needed to create an En-
ergy Island.
His vision was to return to campus-gen-
erated power with students operating the
power plant and generating most of the elec-
tricity just as they had been doing until the
mid 1980s. He felt the hands-on experience
he had received as a student was essential to
his success and he wanted to provide this
career foundation to future generations of
students.
The project slowly gained momentum and
Storm, his family, and his businesse s, donat-
ed financially as much as they could to keep
the project alive. Over time, many alumni,
individuals, corporations, and foundations
provided the support of money, talent, and
time. A recent generous endowment gift
from Lee Rowan to the Power Plant Tech-
nology Program through the “Building for
the Future” capital campaign secured major
funding for the project, though it is still a
ways from completion.
He said, “My efforts to make the Energy
Island a reality are my way of giving back
and saying thank you for giving me a suc-
cessful, rewarding, and enjoyable career.”
In 1989, he received the Alumni Associa-
tion’s Distinguished Alumnus Award and in
2007 was named Alumnus of the Year.
Storm left Springfield High School after
10th grade to enroll in Williamson’s Power
Plant Technology Program and was quickly
inspired with the creation of coal-powered
energy by instructor Harry Park.
He went on to a 50-year career in the pow-
er industry, developing an expertise cen-
tered in clean coal combustion for electric
power generation. His career included be-
ing an electrician at Standard Pressed Steel,
a utility operating engineer at Mobil Oil, a
mechanical/electrical assembler at Inducto-
therm, and a results engineer at Babcock &
Wilcox Co.
At Riley Stoker Corp., he worked his way
up to senior service engineer; at Carolina
Power and Light Co., he served as principal
engineer and superintendent of operations
at the Roxboro Station; and then he served
as vice president of technical services for
Richard F. Storm 6W2