Alumni Spotlight

2008 Ripples Society Medal

Retired treasurer and controller, John Samuel Flory Jr., has traveled a long and distinguished road since his birth in Bridgewater, Va., on Sept. 5, 1910.

Mr. Flory – the son of Bridgewater College pioneers Dr. John S. and Vinnie Mikesell Flory – graduated from Bridgewater High School in 1928 and from Bridgewater College in 1932. After graduation, Mr. Flory became an accounting laboratory assistant at the College, a job he held from 1933-34. In 1935, he became an accountant with Loener Granite and Marble Co. in Harrisonburg, where he worked until 1937.

Mr. Flory moved to Chicago where he was an accountant for the firms of Franklin MacVeigh & Co. and Illinois Zinc Co. From 1938-41, he took accounting courses at Northwestern University School of Commerce in Chicago and, in 1943, married Helen Hunt Humphreys (deceased 1958). From 1943-53, Mr. Flory served as controller for Illinois Zinc Co. and also worked as secretary for that company from 1953-58.

In 1958, Mr. Flory returned to Bridgewater to preside over the Bridgewater Plow Corp., a job he held until 1963. During that time, he served two terms on the Bridgewater Town Council and, in 1963, married Helen Crumpacker Flora. Moving back to Illinois, Mr. Flory worked as controller for Don L. Dise Inc. in Aurora until 1981 and as controller for Primus Corp. in Aurora until 1985.

In 1985, Mr. Flory founded Coldwell Banker-Primus, a real estate firm that became a leader in the industry in northern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin. He retired in 1990.

Mr. Flory has been intensely active in church and community organizations, serving on the board of administration and various committees of the Bridgewater Church of the Brethren, as deacon of the First Baptist Church of Oak Park, Ill., and elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Aurora, Ill.

He also is past president, treasurer and Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Clubs of Bridgewater and helped create and organize the Ashby Recreation Association.

After the August 2005 death of his wife, Mr. Flory returned to the town of his birth and currently lives in the Bridgewater Retirement Community. His hobbies include coin collecting, golf, tennis, travel and watching BC Eagle sports. Mr. Flory has a daughter, two step-children (one deceased), two grandchildren, five step-grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and nine step-great-grandchildren.

Mr. Flory and his sister, Margaret Flory Wampler Rainbolt, have been instrumental in founding the Flory Fellowship of Scholars, an honors program begun at Bridgewater College in 2006 in tribute to their father, John S. Flory Sr., president of Bridgewater College from 1910-1919.

In recognition of his distinguished career, his commitment to his community and his devotion to Bridgewater College, Mr. Flory received the 2008 Ripples Medal.