Veterans Resource Center room named in memory of alum killed in Vietnam
Nearly a half-century after his YSU classmate Kenneth Nervie was killed in action in the Vietnam War, a retired business executive and alumnus has found a way to honor the memory of his friend.
YSU alum Gary Wuslich of South Bend, Ind., gave $25,000 to the YSU Veterans Resource Center. The gift entitled him to have a room named in his honor, but Wuslich chose instead to name the Kenneth Nervie Student Office in memory of his classmate.
“I’ve always thought of Ken, what an extraordinary person he was, and that something should be done to remember him at YSU,” Wuslich said. “The student room is perfect for him because he was a teacher at heart.”
Nervie grew up in Youngstown, majored in History and was a member of the YSU-ROTC. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1967, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Reserve and began infantry training. A little over a year later, on Oct. 5, 1968, he was killed in action in Binh Duong, South Vietnam, a member of the Army’s 25th infantry division.
One of four YSU alumni listed on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C., Nervie was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.
As a student at YSU, Nervie worked for The Jambar as sports editor and wrote occasional political columns, was president of the History Club and had a student employment position in the university library.
Wuslich graduated with Nervie in 1967, also with an undergraduate degree in History, and went back to school in his 60s to earn a master’s degree in Business Management Communication from Northwestern University.
A veteran of the Marine Corps Reserves, he started his career at Youngstown Sheet and Tube and held a succession of management positions, retiring in 2014 as vice president of human resources for A.M. General in South Bend. His wife, Shirley, is also a YSU grad with a BS in Education in 1968.
Nervie’s sister, Mary Ellen Nervie Avritt of Spring, Texas, and emeritus History professors George D. Beelen and Hugh Earnhart joined Wuslich on campus to honor Nervie’s memory with the room naming.
Caption: Gary Wuslich and Mary Ellen Nervie Avritt unveil a plaque in memory of her brother, YSU alum Kenneth Nervie.