major emphasis on WSMC at the 2011 Homecoming, he couldn’t resist flying across the country to get reacquainted with the great friends and students that graced his life at Southern. Although he enjoyed the entire experience, a special moment was when he returned an old baseball mitt to student and friend, Ray Minner, ’70. Some 40 years ago, Hannum had wound up with Minner’s mitt by mistake. Over the years, Hannum’s children had grown up playing catch with the mitt, and as he headed back for the reunion, he brought it along. During an event on Friday evening, Hannum revealed the mitt in front of everyone, told the story of how he had ended up with it, and tossed it back to Minner. They all laughed as Minner caught it and made an impromptu speech about how he remembered losing it so many years before. Not a year later, Minner suddenly passed away. Hannum is grateful that he chose to attend Homecoming and had the opportunity to return the mitt and have those special moments with his old classmate.
Along with becoming equipped for his future profession, it was at Southern that Lazor formed some of the strongest, most nurturing friendships he had ever known. Since then, Lazor has made keeping up with his classmates from Southern a priority by attending Homecoming. “I actually started going to Homecoming while I was still a student,” Lazor remembered. “It was fun, and I thought it was a good way to keep in touch with my friends who had already graduated.” After Lazor graduated and became busy with his career as a pastor and as
ed, his favorite was his 25-year-reunion because so many of his classmates were there. “I love it,” he said. “The programs are good, the food is good, and the fellowship is my favorite part of all. It is a highlight of my year.”
Joy-Lynn (Philpott) Norris, ’99 Biology/Pre-Physical Therapy Even as a little girl alongside her missionary parents in Bangladesh, Norris knew that medicine was her calling. “I saw the need that people had, and I wanted to help them get better,” Norris remembered. To further that dream, Norris pursued a strenuous double major in pre-med biology and pre-physical therapy at Southern. In spite of her heavy workload, she enjoyed her studies, especially in the areas of botany and zoology. Her classes took her beyond the textbooks with canoeing, bird-watching, camping in the Smoky Mountains to observe flora, traveling on field trips to see wildlife in Florida, and scuba diving in the coral reefs of Belize to examine firsthand the natural phenomena that she was studying. In her free time, Norris connected with a group of friends who shared her interests, and together they went almost every weekend on exciting
“Attending vespers and then afterglow really made me feel like I was experiencing Southern all over again—all except for handing in my vespers card.”
John Lazor, ’80
Theology After a rocky childhood, Lazor became a teenager who was addicted to drugs, alcohol, and a partying lifestyle. As he grew older, he began to realize that his present lifestyle wasn’t sustainable or desirable. Although he tried several times, he found it hard to leave those bad habits behind. At the age of 20, for the first time in his life, he fell down on his knees and prayed to God for strength to overcome. Since that day, he has never used drugs or alcohol. Not long afterward, he became an Adventist and felt called to the gospel ministry, which brought him to Southern. 14 Columns
the director of a self-supporting ministry, he kept up his tradition of attending Homecoming. He has ministered in foreign countries, with short-term mission trips to Thailand, Romania, and the Philippines. Most recently, his ministry led him to Hawaii, where he has been living for 15 years. In spite of all this, he has not let distance come between him and his friendships. Since 1980, he has attended Homecoming 24 times. When Lazor comes, he takes part in almost every event, from Sabbath programs to the afternoon men’s lunch. Of all of the homecomings he has attend-