ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 20, 1996 TAG: 9602200048
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
During the more than two decades he taught at Virginia Tech, Thomas Adriance came in contact with just about every student who went through the history department.
"He supervised two reforms in curriculum. ... He was a form of consistency since we changed department heads five or six times," said Dan Thorp, associate head for the history department. "What most students saw in the department was the creation of Tom Adriance."
Thursday, Adriance, 58, died from complications related to the AIDS virus.
In July, Adriance, then associate department head, wrote a moving letter announcing his failing health, Thorp said. Adriance had been on medical leave since then; Thorp took over as associate head last fall.
Adriance came to Tech straight out of graduate school at Columbia University in 1968 and shortly became the associate department head in charge of teaching schedules and curriculum content.
A French history professor, Adriance specialized in military battles. During the 50th anniversary of the World War II D-Day invasion, he led a tour of Americans through the beaches of Normandy.
Adriance received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College, where he was a member of the national academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa.
A founding father of the Tech chapter and chairman of the selection committee, he pored over student academic records to choose the top 10 percent in each class.
So, when Tech graduate Andrea Ballengee, the newly crowned Miss Virginia for 1995, claimed to be a member of the prestigious group, Adriance knew he'd never seen the name. Several days after he alerted The Roanoke Times of the false credential, Ballengee lost her title.
"He took the society very seriously, but he did get a chuckle out of it," Thorp said.
Adriance died before the Tech chapter could honor him for his service.
"In fact, I was going to head down the Toys 'R' Us and buy a pretend crown for him," Thorp said.
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