Cheryl and Horace Richard (Dick) Hiner, Jr.

Dick and Cheryl (nee Jennings) Hiner met while students at E. C. Glass High School and married in 1961, when both had completed undergraduate college degrees—Dick with a B.A. from Randolph Macon College, Ashland, and Cheryl with a B. S. in medical technology from a cooperate arrangement by Lynchburg College and the Medical College of Virginia (1961). Dick went on to earn a master’s degree in communication from Boston University in 1964, working nights at WGBh-TV as a crew member. They have two daughters: Kathy Lett, husband Darren, and grandchild Calvin live in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Sharon Morehead, husband Fred, and grandchildren Anna and Austin reside in Columbia, Maryland. 

Cheryl, when newly married to Dick who had enlisted in the United States Air Force, worked for Aerojet General Corporation at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio conducting space environmental research for the Apollo Moon Landing. Later, employed at Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute, followed by the University of Wisconsin, Cheryl conducted Ophthalmic Research focusing on age-related macular degeneration. As she advanced in her career, she became one of the first researchers without a doctor of medicine degree to interpret 3-D photographs of the retina to determine the level of eye disease and to suggest treatment options. 

While with the USAF, Dick saw assignments in Ohio, Japan, Thailand, and the Pentagon. After 12 years of active duty, he changed his status to the Reserves, where he remained for 16 years, retiring as Lt. Colonel. Once a civilian again, Dick established a career in the fields of communication, journalism, radio, and television. He held a management position in Public Broadcasting at WETA-TV, Washington, D. C., for seven years, followed by employment with the University of Wisconsin in two capacities: as station manager of WHA-TV, a flagship station of Wisconsin Public Television, and teaching as Associate Professor of Communications. After seven years in Madison, Dick and Cheryl returned to Washington D. C., where Dick became Director of Navy Broadcasting Service and Naval Media Center. In 1994, he earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from American University. 

In 2000, the couple built an A-frame vacation home in Big Island, Virginia, and six years later increased its size, making it their retirement home. Since making that move, both Dick and Cheryl have been busy with hobbies and volunteering for community organizations. Cheryl enjoys reading and needlework, especially cross-stitch and needlepoint. She is an active member of the American Needlepoint Guild. Dick volunteers as a tour guide at Poplar Forest and Bedford’s D-Day Memorial. A Ham radio operator, he belongs to the Lynchburg Amateur Radio Club. 

The Hiners report that they have enjoyed their somewhat isolated years in rural Virginia, but now are excited about the changes that life at Westminster Canterbury will offer--meeting people and making new friends, engaging in social interactions, and no longer having to deal with those snowfalls that trapped them in their home for days.