28r1_UAFS_SPSU11:alum news 6/10/11 6:46 PM Page 28
Alumni+Friends DON’T KEEP US WONDERING!
Let’s Grow Together n May, I had the honor of welcoming more than 650 new graduates into our alumni family. Among them was 72-yearold Maureen Didion, finally earning her bachelor’s 55 years after taking her first college class. And Joshua Bull of the 188th Fighter Wing, who hopes his degree will help him become an officer. And Dana Broad, who will use her double major and campus leadership experience as an accountant with Ernst & Young. And Clint Johnson, a Chancellor’s Leadership Council scholar, who enters seminary this fall. That same kind of diversity is represented in our Alumni Association. Every day I meet alumni who are scholars, military leaders, faith leaders, and lifelong learners. As different as they are, they all share the same story: they were influenced by special professors, they forged lasting friendships (or maybe even met their spouse), and they left here with a solid, practical education. Whether you attended FSJC, Westark, or UA Fort Smith, chances are you share it too. That common experience is part of what makes alumni travel so much fun, and we’ve recently forged partnerships that allow us to bring you some very exciting opportunities. We’ll also be offering great new insurance discounts through the Association. A new website is just around the corner, too. We hope you’ll get to try out the online registration function when you sign up for our 2nd Annual Alumni Weekend, October 14–15. Stay tuned to www.uafortsmithalumni.com. Finally, please take a moment to let us know how we can make the Association better. You don’t have to wait for an event or magazine to share your ideas. You can reach me anytime at (479) 788-7026 or eunderwo@uafortsmith.edu. Let’s use all this new technology—or the old phone call—to grow together!
I
ELIZABETH S. UNDERWOOD Director of Alumni Affairs
28
BELL TOWER spring/summer 2011
KAT WILSON ’96
Sincerely,
Let us—and the people you went to school with—know what you’ve been up to! Please take five minutes to sit down and tell us what you’ve been doing since your time at UA Fort Smith, Westark, or FSJC. Tell us about your job, your family, your hobbies, your adventures, your plans— whatever you want to share with other alumni. We love to get photos too, and we’ll happily run them in this section. Be sure to include your name (and your name while you were in school if it has changed since then) and the year you graduated or the years you attended. Email your class note to alumni@uafortsmith.edu or mail it to Alumni Office, UA Fort Smith, P.O. Box 3649, Fort
Smith, AR 72913.
1970s
1980s
James Riddle ’70 retired in 2007 after more than 35 years with KFSM-TV, a job he landed with the help of a classmate, Taylor Joyce, who at the time was an anchor at the station. His wife passed away in 2004 after the two had been married just five years. It was Riddle’s first marriage. He now lives in Clarksville.
Karen Bettis Abernathy ’80, holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in special education and lives in Broken Arrow, Okla., where she co-owns a landscaping business with her husband, Steve, and serves as road manager for Rockin’ Acoustic Circus, the band for which her youngest son plays mandolin. One of Abernathy’s two daughters plans to transfer in the fall to UAFS.
Monica Heinrichs Vaughan ’75 holds a bachelor’s in voice performance from the University of Houston, a master’s in voice from Rice, and a law degree from Houston. She has performed with the Houston Grand Opera, practiced law, taught music, and advocated for students with disabilities. She has two sons—an attorney and a musician. Rev. Doug Beasley ’79 was recently chosen by the national office of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity to serve as Ritual and Spiritual Advisor to the UAFS chapter. He was a member in the ’70s at UCA after transferring there to finish his bachelor’s in music education.
Tom Jarmon ’83 works full-time as a nurse in a local hospital. Lori Loum Patten ’88 lives in Tulsa, where she has worked as a registered nurse in the ER, cath lab, recover room, surgery, and quality department, as well as teaching advanced cardiac life support.
1990s Heath Roach ’98 is working on his master’s degree at Liberty University. He lives with his wife, Mollie Weaver ’99, and their three sons in Sapulpa, Okla.