Magazine
ADMINISTRATION Ruth A. Knox ’75 President of the College Vivia L. Fowler Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs Patricia M. Gibbs Vice President for Student Affairs C. Stephen Farr Vice President for Enrollment Services Richard P. Maier Vice President for Business and Fiscal Affairs/Treasurer Andrea Williford Vice President for Institutional Advancement Matthew Martin Dean of the Faculty WESLEYAN MAGAZINE STAFF Mary Ann Howard, Editor Director of Communications mhoward@wesleyancollege.edu Brandi Vorhees, Art Director Cathy Coxey Snow ’71, Alumnae Director csnow@wesleyancollege.edu Mary Kathryn Borland ’04, Alumnae Director (Classes 1980 - 2014) mborland@wesleyancollege.edu Millie P. Hudson ’75 Director of Development Julie Jones Director of Advancement Services Kim Casebeer, Director of Foundation Relations and Donor Stewardship Susan Hagemeyer Director of Applicant Records Abbie Smoak Lacienski ’01 Class Notes Editor CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jill Amos ’87, Lauren Hamblin Beatty ’06, Brooke Bosley ’16, Caroline Brown ’15, Barbara Donovan, Devyn Foti ’13, Shelly Walden Gable ’06, Ashley Garrett ’90, Katherine Hutto, Licia Drinnon Jackson ’74, Debbie Jones Smith ’76, Debra Carter Williams ’12 PRINTING Panaprint SPECIAL THANKS Abby Breaux, Morgan Burgamy, Sergey Chernokov, Kathleen Crownover, Ed Grisamore, Destiny Higdon ’15, Alicen Cross Hilton ’15, Holly Hollis, Quintress Hollis, Roger Idenden, Anna Little, Amy Maddox, Woody Marshall, Doc Nelson, Tom Premtaj, Steve Schroeder, Donn Rodenroth, The Telegraph, plus alumnae and friends for providing photos. Wesleyan Magazine is published twice a year by the Wesleyan College Office of Communications 4760 Forsyth Road Macon, GA 31210-4462 phone (478) 757-5137 Contents may be reprinted with permission of the editor.
From the President Dear Friends, Our 2014-2015 academic year has been one for the history books, and we are delighted to share several highlights with you in this issue of the Wesleyan Magazine. The April 9 Consecration of Pierce Chapel, after 15 months of construction and 87 years of dreaming, certainly ranks among the major events in the life of the College. The Chapel, looking as though it has always stood there overlooking Foster Lake, has already been used for worship services, student gatherings, and even a concert marking the dedication of the beautiful Bosendorfer piano given to the College by the estate of Neva Langley Fickling ‘55. We hope you enjoy reading about the consecration service and seeing photographs of this newest addition to the Wesleyan campus. Be sure to visit Pierce Chapel in person when you have a chance. Later in April, alumnae from near and far celebrated together at one of the largest Alumnae Weekends in recent memory. The tagline “Alumnae Weekend – It’s not just for reunion classes!” has really caught on, and we welcomed to campus those who had official class reunions and others who just wanted to be here for all the fun. And, in spite of a little rain, we did have fun!
to graduate schools from Arizona to the Netherlands and to jobs across the globe. Some, including the majority of our nursing students, are settling in to new jobs in the Central Georgia area, enriching the local community. Our traditional spring feature, Five Faces, will give you a real understanding of the depth and talents of this outstanding class of 2015 (which, by the way, also won the STUNT Cup for the third year in a row). This issue also tells the stories of several wonderful alumnae who have found their calling through serving others. Service continues to be an integral part of the Wesleyan experience, as you will see in the feature about Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table and its new home on the Wesleyan campus. You also will learn more about our exiting new program called “From Here to Career,” which connects the liberal arts with professional development. These truly are exciting times for Wesleyan College, and we are thrilled to share this magazine with you. We are blessed beyond measure by our many loyal and generous alumnae and friends, and we never forget that you and your support are the reason for our success. Thank you! With appreciation and best wishes,
On May 9, we celebrated with 126 graduating seniors, 25 of whom made Wesleyan history as the first to earn the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. These new alumnae are now scattered
Ruth
Contents Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
2 10 12 14
24 Oh happy day! From Here to Career 26 A mountain of a teacher 30 Today’s social media 36
Teaching disabled children
The consecration of Pierce Chapel
Wesleyannes who make it their life’s work
Aunt Maggie’s new home
Introducing the College’s new QEP plan
Bringing the children to Wesleyan’s campus
Real world experience Students partner with The Methodist Home
Andre Mountain, M.Ed. Class of 2005
Meet this year’s 5 Faces
How Wesleyan has responded
Representing the Golden Hearts of 2015
20 The Carnes Lecture Series 34 Designer Terry Holland 46 Alumnae Weekend
22 Campus Ministries 38 STUNT
28 First BSN Cohort
40 Campus News
50 Alumnae Connections
32 3D Sculpture
44 Commencement
54 Class Notes
68 Elizabeth Reed
SERVICE MINDED TEACHERS 2
Photo by Amy Maddox
Faculty and staff at Georgia Academy for the Blind (GAB) in Macon bring a dedication to their work that reflects a combination of service-mindedness and a willingness to take on new challenges every day—two traits frequently exhibited by Wesleyan women. Perhaps that is what attracted nine Wesleyan graduates to accept teaching and administrative positions with the school. Five of GAB’s current teachers are graduates of Wesleyan’s department of early childhood education: Lauren Eckman, M.Ed., ’04, Kristen Applebee ’09, Cheryl Ann Lasota-Moore ’09, Dawn Mullis ’09, and Meredith Sagnibene Minick ’10. Until recently, Dr. Margaret Arnold Jackson ’70, June Forester McCormick ’78 (story, page 4), and Kristi Flanders ’09 were also teachers at the Academy. Tyrene House Neil, S.Ed. ’89 serves in the school’s administration. Several of these alumnae attended Wesleyan as non-traditional students and some turned to special education as a second career. Kristen Applebee moved to Georgia fourteen years ago when her husband, Dennis Applebee, accepted a job teaching art at Wesleyan. A year later, she began teaching art at the College as a part-time adjunct professor. After several years of teaching art to education majors, Kristen realized how much she enjoyed writing lesson plans and integrating art with art history and other disciplines. She enrolled in Wesleyan’s early childhood education program and earned her degree in 2009. Four years after completing the program, Kristen saw an announcement for an art teacher position on GAB’s marquee. “My heart skipped a beat. I knew it was where I was meant to teach.” Meredith Minick was working in a special education program with the Bibb County School System when she began her studies as a non-traditional student at Wesleyan. Now an assistant teacher at GAB, she teaches reading to first, second, and third graders who have significant disabilities beyond visual impairment. Because the students with whom Meredith works have different skill levels, she has incorporated interactive Adapted Books and Experience Books into her curriculum. Adapted Books offer sensory appreciation beyond sight by using textures and objects so children can feel the story as it is being read to them. The same concept is used with Experience Books. The teacher and student work together to create object representations
of actual experiences by gluing relevant items to the pages. Students may also be encouraged to perform activities that are being described in the book, creating a physical interaction with the story. According to Meredith, “These books and experiences promote literacy regardless of whether or not my students can actually read.” The mother of six children, Cheryl Moore was also a non-traditional student at Wesleyan. Experiences with her own autistic child fuel her ambition to teach children with special needs. A kindergarten through fourth grade teacher at GAB, Cheryl said teaching a child with special needs requires multiple strategies. “I want to help struggling kids not have to struggle as much.” Drawn to Wesleyan because of its small class sizes, Cheryl knows she benefited from the close relationship she had with her professors and the creativity they used in the classrooms. “My professors made learning fun and that’s how I want to teach my students. When any student - especially a student who struggles - masters a concept, the rewards are awesome.” Dawn Mullis, an assistant teacher for grades nine through twelve, believes that most Wesleyan graduates have a heart for service and says she never questioned that she was born to help others. Earning her degree as a non-traditional student at Wesleyan, she remembers doing her homework while her children were doing theirs. The arrangement worked well for the mother of three. “When I left Wesleyan, I knew how to teach children to read and write.” She loved Wesleyan’s small classes, the focus on community service, and the educational demands of her Wesleyan professors. Lauren Eckman ’04, a summa cum laude graduate, said her Wesleyan education set her on the path to teaching at GAB. For her devotion to teaching and for the high success rate of her students, Lauren, who teaches grades nine through twelve, was chosen by the Georgia Department of Education as Georgia Teacher of the Year in 2013. Lauren’s students have gone on to graduate from institutions such as Morehouse College and Georgia College and State University and are currently pursuing careers in fields as varied as technology, criminal justice, social work, and pharmacology. Tyrene Neil earned her bachelor’s degree in communication at Wesleyan and spent several years as an education reporter in Houston County. While writing a story about children with special needs
she began to consider a new career. She left the newspaper business and took a position as an assistant teacher at Happy Hour Service Center, a program for adults with developmental disabilities in Warner Robins, Georgia. It didn’t take Tyrene long to realize that she had found her calling. She enrolled in Georgia College and State University and earned her master’s degree in special education. For twelve years she taught at Feagin Mill Middle School in Warner Robins. Today, Tyrene serves as GAB’s special education administrator and enjoys working with students with special needs as well as being an administrator. Following in the footsteps of her Wesleyan sisters, rising senior Kristina Battles ’16 is gaining her field experience as a student teacher at GAB. For an education major, field experience is the equivalent of an internship for other majors. Kristina spent the spring semester observing and working in two classrooms. “I taught a mini-unit on geometry concepts to fourth and fifth grade students and a five-lesson unit on Paul Revere to third graders. The field experience is one of the best attributes of Wesleyan’s early childhood education program because each experience is specifically tailored to fit a student’s own career goals.” Kristina plans to make teaching disabled children her life’s work. The Georgia State Legislature established the Georgia Academy for the Blind in 1852 to meet the educational needs of visually impaired students. Located in Macon, the Academy serves students between the ages of three and twenty-one within the State of Georgia. GAB’s goal is to help students achieve their highest level of independence in the areas of functional living and community involvement. More than twenty-five years ago, GAB was one of the first institutions to accept students who have disabilities beyond visual impairment. Although every student at the Academy is visually impaired, not all are completely blind. Approximately fifty percent have additional disabilities. With an enrollment of just over 100 students, twenty-seven full time GAB teachers serve their students with a ratio of four to one. The Academy remains Georgia’s only part-residential/part-day student state school for the visually impaired. Thanks to Shelly Walden Gable ’06 for contributing to this story.
Front row: Cheryl Moore, Lauren Eckman Back row: Dawn Mullis, Tyrene Neil, Meredith Minick Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Country music star, mother, and teacher for the visually impaired June Forester McCormick ’78
When Canaan McCormick graduated from Georgia Academy for the Blind (GAB) on May 23, 2014, she became the fourth member of her family to receive a diploma from a school in Macon. Her mother, June Forester McCormick, graduated from Wesleyan College in 1978, and her Aunt Kathy is a Wesleyan graduate, Class of 1976. Canaan’s brother, Carter, received his degree from Mercer University in 2012. At graduation, Canaan had a prediction that her mama, who taught Braille at GAB for seven years, was “gonna cry.” Canaan was right. June did cry. She didn’t try to put the brakes on her emotions. They were happy tears. Proud tears. June’s three sisters -- Kathy, Kim, and Christy -were there, too. Canaan has been blind since birth. She was born four months premature and weighed 1 pound, 4 ounces. Her twin sister, Cless, did not survive. Canaan wasn’t given much of a chance either. “But she’s a fighter, and she made it,” June said. For seven years, 2007 through 2014, Macon was June’s and Canaan’s second home September through May. After Canaan graduated from GAB, they returned to their close-knit family in New Salem, located in the northwest corner of Georgia. June’s parents, C.D. and Vonnie Forester, still live in the same house where they raised their four talented daughters. June’s husband, Joel, is the chief magistrate judge in Dade County.
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Canaan’s famous mom and aunts, The Forester Sisters, have been making music in those mountains for more than a generation. Some of their best known songs include “I Fell in Love Last Night,” “(I’d Choose) You Again,” and “Mama’s Never Seen Those Eyes,” all number one hits for the sisters during the 1980s. The Foresters grew up in a musical region two hours south of Nashville. Most everybody could pluck the strings of a banjo on bluegrass Saturday nights and carry a tune in the church choir loft on Sunday mornings. The Foresters didn’t believe they were any more special than anyone else. Kathy and June are the oldest sisters. When Kathy was ten, the family got a piano. The two sisters sang “Silent Night” the next Sunday at the New Salem Methodist Church. “We wouldn’t let Kim sing with us because she was little,” June said, “but when she was five she started singing so loud from the pews that people in the congregation said we had to let her sing with us. Then we wouldn’t let Christy sing until Mama finally said if we didn’t, ‘y’all won’t get to go swimming in the creek on Sunday.’ That was a big social event, so we finally relented.” Kathy was a piano performance major at Wesleyan and June joined her on campus to pursue a degree in education. Coming from a family of all girls, they had no trouble adjusting to the all-female college. June said that hearing some of her favorite Macon artists, like Greg Allman and Wet Willie, play in Porter
Auditorium while she was a student made it “over-the-top-special” that the sisters later got to perform there too. After college, June, who was a member of the Washboard Band, and Kathy both returned to Dade County to teach school. Their roots were as humble as ever. Their mother was a spinner in a nearby textile mill. Their father drove a truck for the water authority in Chattanooga and farmed soybeans and corn. The Foresters began singing with local bands. They made a demo tape in December 1983 and later did a showcase concert in Calhoun with country singer Larry Gatlin, who told them, “If you’re not big stars, you ought to be.” A drummer with connections to Warner Brothers Records was able to get them an audition in Nashville in July 1984 – thirty-one years and ten albums ago – and they were signed on the spot. “We were in the right place at the right time,” June said. The Forester Sisters became the first act in Billboard history to have their first fifteen singles all reach the Top 10 on the country charts. They toured for twelve years, spending as many as 320 days a year on the road. June’s husband, Joel, was the group’s road manager. They were named Top Vocal Group at the 1986 Academy of Country Music Awards and have worked with some of the biggest acts in country music including Alabama, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, and Johnny Cash.
On Thanksgiving Day 1992, June was admitted to the hospital. Cless was born eighteen weeks prematurely and died. “Then, like a miracle, everything stopped,” June said. “I held on to have Canaan. She was born two weeks later.” June chose her daughter’s biblical name, appropriately enough, from a hymn book. June stayed in the hospital until almost Christmas. Canaan did not go home for 105 days. When Canaan was three months old, doctors confirmed to June -- a lady who sang harmony on the Forester Sisters song “Mama’s Never Seen Those Eyes” -- her daughter was blind.
The first time Canaan went on the road with her mother, she was seven months old and weighed just seven pounds. With Canaan almost like a newborn and still fragile, June said she held her on the plane all the way to Las Vegas. “When Canaan was born it was a turning point for me. I had to prepare to help her.” June returned to school and got her master’s in education for the visually impaired from Middle Tennessee State. She taught Canaan and other blind students in Dade County for a dozen years before she and Canaan came to Georgia Academy for the Blind. It was a blessing for mother and daughter. Canaan received a specialized education she would not have had if she had been mainstreamed in the public schools. June taught grades K-3 and 6th
at the academy and became the lead Braille teacher. “When you have a visually impaired child, you are their eyes. But to understand the world, they have to be out in it. They have to live it, touch it, and feel it.” Canaan said, “My mom has encouraged me to never give up, to pursue my dreams, and to not sweat the small stuff.” Special thanks to Ed Grisamore and The Telegraph for allowing Wesleyan to reprint parts of Ed’s column. Since moving back to Dade County, June has continued her teaching career, now in its twenty-fifth year. Canaan has been accepted at Northeast Community College where her Aunt Kathy, now Dr. Adkins, teaches various music classes.
Photo by Woody Marshall/The Telegraph
“When we started having children, we took them with us,” June said. “We were one big, rolling family. The kids would say we were interchangeable. They didn’t care which one of us they were with.”
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
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Tail Wagging WESLEYANNES
Wesleyan is known for attracting women who thrive on serving their community. Today, more than 75% of Wesleyan students are engaged in community service through the Lane Center for Service and Leadership. Gail Carrington Goldberg ’67 and Dr. Jessica Prince ’05 are just two examples of Wesleyan women who have continued their community service work after graduating by volunteering in a unique way. Both women were drawn to become handlers with Therapy Dogs International (TDI) and to join TDI’s effort to promote early childhood literacy. The literacy program is known as Tail Waggin’ Tutors (TWT) and serves to train dogs and their handlers to work with young children. The dog/handler teams go to local schools, libraries, and day care centers to encourage children to read. The theory is that reading to a dog is far less stressful than reading to a teacher or to a classroom full of children. According to Gail, “As the child reads or shares her book with a dog, the teacher can observe where the weaknesses are and target them in her lessons.” Gail’s husband David suggested she look into therapy work with Biscuit, their seven-year-old Great Pyrenees rescue dog. Today Gail is certain that the work she is doing with Biscuit is what she was born to do. Biscuit and Gail help children throughout Georgia improve their reading skills by showing them the fun side of reading. During the last two years, Gail and Biscuit have made more than 150 therapy visits which prompted the Ferst Foundation to donate 150 books to Sheltering Arms in Biscuit’s name. Sheltering Arms is an early education and family center started in 1890 by women of the First Methodist Church in Atlanta. Gail also collects donated books and gives them to children to keep as
their own. She often tucks in a picture of Biscuit. A retired kindergarten teacher who has lived in the Atlanta area for most of her life, Gail has witnessed firsthand the struggles of children learning to read. Several years ago she began writing a simple book for the sole purpose of helping her grandson learn to read. By the time Gail finished the book, she had discovered a new purpose. Drawing on three decades of classroom experience, she used her knowledge and skills to write and illustrate two books intended to help children learn to read or to improve their reading skills: Animals A–Z: Poems for Early Readers and Months and Seasons: Poems for Young Readers (co-written with her brother, Randy Carrington). Gail is surprised by how far this project has come. She realized early in her retirement that she is “making a greater impact on more children than I did during my thirty-year teaching career. It’s unbelievable that my talents are being used in such important ways at this time in my life.” She credits Wesleyan with giving her the skills she needed and still uses today. “I decided to go to Wesleyan because I wanted to teach and Wesleyan’s education department has always had an outstanding reputation. The professors at Wesleyan teach the nuts and bolts of running a classroom and how to instill the love of learning in students.” Hailing from Ephesus, a small town in northwest Georgia, Dr. Jessica Prince followed her older sister, Dr. April Prince ’02, to Wesleyan. After college, Jessica made her way to Oklahoma where today she works as a psychologist in the only medium/maximum security women’s prison in the state with the highest rate of female incarceration. The women
Jessica works with have a history of sexual trauma, drug dependence, and domestic violence. The work can be so challenging that most people experience burnout between three and four years of working in the prison system. Now in her fourth year, Jessica has found that being a Tail Waggin’ Tutor with her six-year-old Rottweiler Isis helps keep stress from taking its toll. Jessica chose to name Isis after the Egyptian goddess who, among other things, was known as the goddess of children. She did not know when she named Isis just how appropriate her choice would be. Jessica loves being a Tail Waggin’ Tutor. “Some parents are initially hesitant when they see a big Rottweiler walk into the room, but as soon as they see the children run up and hug Isis, they start smiling. I hope that Isis and I can help reduce breed bias as so many people perceive Rottweilers as dangerous dogs. Isis is my big baby— she loves a good belly rub, cheese, and playing in the snow.” Jessica believes that her experiences at Wesleyan helped her to meet the trials she has faced. “I believe I was ahead of my cohort in graduate school because Wesleyan prepared me so well. At Wesleyan, I was taught how to develop and cultivate critical and analytical thinking skills, and I had professors who challenged me to think in ways I never knew I could.” She recalls happily about pulling all-night study sessions and getting through days on power naps, saying that she loved it. “Wesleyan challenged me to do my best. My professors challenged me to think, and I appreciate them so much.” Thanks to Shelly Walden Gable ’06 for contributing to this story.
Clockwise from top left: Gail Goldberg and Biscuit, photo by Abby Breaux; Jessica Prince and Isis; Gail and Biscuit visiting Anna Leigh Little’sFelts kindergarten class at Atlanta Academy in Roswell, Georgia. Photo by Anna Little. Morgan ’07 Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
A citizen of the world L i n d a
by Licia Drinnon Jackson ’74 When Linda Rich graduated from Wesleyan in 1969 the Vietnam War was raging. Linda joined the staff of the American Red Cross and was sent to that troubled nation to serve in military hospitals. “My experience in Vietnam changed my life,” she said. “I had never been out of the United States before I went to Vietnam. I experienced the commonalities we share across cultures: love of family, grief and loss, love of beauty, seeking meaning in life.” This experience helped Linda become the citizen of the world her friends know. Susan Lutters Northcutt ’69 says that Linda’s Vietnam experience “reinforced her commitment to peace, justice, and healing that was nurtured by her undergraduate study of religion at Wesleyan.” Linda has spent her long career working as an advocate for women and children, for their mental as well as their physical health. Her work has garnered many honors, but to Linda, seeing someone rise above their problems and become self-sufficient is far more important. She says she knew very little about Wesleyan until she traveled from her home in Savannah, Georgia, to take part in the Governor’s Honors Program (GHP) the summer before her senior year of high school. At GHP, she roomed with Karen Garr ’69, and both of them decided to go to Wesleyan as roommates and members of the Pirate class. The two have remained friends ever since. A major influence on Linda’s life was Dr. Harry Gilmer, religion professor at Wesleyan at the time. “He taught the core values that have guided my life, giving me a firmer resolve that my career would be about service,” she said. Graduating at a time when having a career was not automatic for many women, Linda knew that, for her, a career was vital. She went on to earn a master’s degree in social work at the University 8
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of Hawaii at Manoa and served a clinical social work fellowship at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Her career has been spent helping victims of abuse, serving as a mental health therapist or clinical social worker, leading programs for women recovering from substance abuse, and teaching university courses in social work. But far and away her most rewarding job has been the twenty years she spent with Salvation Army Family Treatment Services in Hawaii. She worked first as clinical director and then as executive director at a drug and alcohol treatment program for women who were pregnant or had young children. “Through treatment I got to see them turn their lives around and go back to school,” Linda said. The Salvation Army center is the only women’s treatment program in Hawaii that admits infants and toddlers along with their mothers and provides therapeutic and developmental services for the children while their mothers are in treatment. The clinical workers listened and learned from the women and their children about their needs and how to help them. They expanded the preschool connected with the center and added transitional housing. Linda was able to get a community health center to locate a clinic on the treatment services’ property so that the women and children had access to medical care. “Lives were changed and families were reunited, and women discovered their strengths because we built a continuum of care that provided long-term, intensive intervention and support,” Linda said. When she retired in 2013, all twelve women in the transitional living program were enrolled in college — something none of them had ever dreamed would be possible. Under her leadership, Family Treatment Services became nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARE). Linda was invited to become an accreditation surveyor for CARE and traveled all
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over the United States helping other organizations improve their services. Among many awards, Linda has received the Partners in Community Service Award, The Hawaii and Pacific Islands Division of the Salvation Army; the Excellence in Social Work Award, 2014, Western Territory of the Salvation Army; and the “Andy Anderson Award” (Hina Mauka Treatment Center) for Advocacy for Women and Children, 2014. Linda currently serves as interim director of Pacific Health Ministry, which provides clinical pastoral training to prepare clergy and lay people for hospital chaplaincy. She expects to complete that work by the end of the summer, and then she will be “really retired.” She chairs the national board of the Institute for Healing of Memory, which promotes healing and reconciliation. She has gone to Arizona to lead a workshop for veterans and has worked with women transitioning out of prison. “When you have unhealed trauma, it’s difficult to lead a peaceful life,” Linda explained. As if all this weren’t enough, Linda also is a hula dancer. It has helped her understand Hawaiian culture and is a source of relaxation, joy, and selfexpression. With so many native Hawaiian women in the programs she has directed, Linda felt the need to learn more about their traditions. “Hula has been such a blessing in my life,” she said. “I have learned so much about Hawaiian culture and it has been a joy to discover that I can dance. It certainly was not a talent I ever thought I had.” Linda truly views the world as her community. “My experience in Vietnam opened my eyes to how much we have in this country, how much we waste, and how so little can make a big difference to people in developing countries. I also saw how humans all have the same needs, feelings, and potential for good or evil. My faith teaches me that we are all God’s children. No exceptions. We need to act like family.”
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
A newhome
for Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table
Photo by Amy Maddox
For more than fifteen years, Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table (AMKT) has provided support to the families of Anthony Homes, Macon Housing Authority’s largest federally funded community. Families have benefitted from Wesleyansponsored after school tutoring, cultural programs, classes for parents, community meals and celebrations, and referrals to other free or low cost resources like health services and GED preparation. These services and others have been made possible by the Lane Center for Service and Leadership and a dedicated group of Wesleyan students, faculty, staff, community volunteers, and generous donors.
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In December 2014, mandatory restructuring within the Macon Housing Authority (MHA) made it necessary for AMKT to move out of the two residential units it occupied at Anthony Homes so that those apartments could once again be used as family residences. Very quickly, the Lane Center began working
with MHA Senior Property Manager Pat Garrett to temporarily reserve the Anthony Homes Community Center for AMKT while Wesleyan reenvisioned the future of Aunt Maggie’s. Lane Center Director Jill Amos ’87 met with parents confirming the continued interest in and strong need for the outreach program. While discussion of a Saturday school concept was developing, immediate planning for a new location for AMKT also began. The former Solomon House located on Wesleyan’s campus emerged as the ideal spot. The house provides a tranquil location complete with large rooms for individual and group work, substantial grounds for outside activities, and a carport for pottery and art projects. As well as being receptive to Wesleyan’s providing transportation, parents were excited about the new opportunities for their children on Wesleyan’s campus.
The new AMKT on Tucker Road provides easier access for Wesleyan students; allows for extended time to teach, guide, and mentor children; and offers state-of-the-art facilities for engaging in science, art, music, and sports. On March 21st, WOW! A Day for Macon volunteers painted, cleaned, and landscaped to revitalize Aunt Maggie’s new home, and Wesleyan’s art department provided several original pieces to decorate the walls. On Easter Saturday, twenty children came from Anthony Homes for games, arts and crafts, lunch, and an Easter egg hunt – complete with a visit and pictures with the Easter bunny. While coloring and decorating her eggs, twelve-year-old Akayla exclaimed, “I love Aunt Maggie’s because it is always so much fun and because there are always great lessons that we learn.” Breanna, age nine, added, “Everything we do is really exciting and fun.” Her sister, Jayla said, “I have made more friends through Aunt
Maggie’s and I love learning something new every time I’m here.” Currently, thirty-six children are registered to attend Saturday school at AMKT. Pre- and posttest indicators have already shown an increase in positive attitudes in the areas of safety and self-esteem. Many individuals and organizations have contributed time and resources to ensure the success of the new Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table. Under the direction of Mike McCue, Stratford Academy donated sixty computers for the children who attend AMKT to use at home. Eagle Scout Nick Dorogy is heading a project to lay a foundation for a garden so the children can grow plants and vegetables while learning about harvesting, making healthy food choices, and preparing nutritious meals. Wesleyan’s nursing department is providing lessons on topics such as indoor and outdoor safety, drug and alcohol awareness, hygiene,
WOW! A Day For Macon by Brooke Bosley ’16 A big smile brightened Ms. Leola Jenkins’s face as she saw the fresh coat of paint on her house. On March 21st the semiannual service event WOW! (Women of Wesleyan) A Day for Macon hosted more than 175 volunteers including students, faculty, staff, alumnae, community leaders, and high school students from First Presbyterian Day School. Created more than ten years ago as a community service initiative sponsored by the Lane Center for Service and Leadership, WOW! A Day encourages students to become actively engaged in service, thus fulfilling one of the four cornerstones of the Wesleyan College experience. In previous years WOW! A Day events have divided students, faculty, and staff into small groups to work with different non-profit organizations around the Macon community including Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill, and Loaves and Fishes Ministries. This year participants worked to renovate four area homes identified by Rebuilding Macon as well as refurbishing the former Solomon House on Wesleyan’s campus, the new location for Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table. Jill Amos ’87, director of the Lane Center said, “Partnering with Rebuilding Macon this year gave our students an opportunity to work directly on homes in need of repair while also learning the life stories of the homeowners. The goal was for students to gain greater awareness and a deeper understanding of how serving others is reciprocal. Experiencing first-hand how their hard work led to such joy for those proud homeowners is a feeling far greater than can ever be put into words.” nutrition, and bullying. In June, The Confucius Institute at Wesleyan College will host a week-long East Meets West summer camp for the children where they will learn about Chinese culture through calligraphy, mask making, dance, and a special celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival. The Lane Center’s work with Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table is the visible expression of Wesleyan’s mission to teach young women to study, analyze, think, understand, love, care, and use all that is within them to serve others. The goal is that students will continue service as a way of life well after graduation. Wesleyan junior Brooke Bosley ’16 has been actively involved with the Lane Center for three years. “I have discovered my real purpose, and I have enjoyed every moment of it. Working with the children has helped me realize what I have to give. My senior thesis will focus on the impact poverty has on children - a direct inspiration from my Lane Center work.”
Co-founder of the Lane Center Eleanor Adams Lane ’58 summed up her spirit and enthusiasm saying, “We have the leadership in place to get the work done. We are blessed with our volunteers and with exemplary projects and programs.” There are many ways that you too can contribute to the success of this vital program. Items currently on Aunt Maggie’s need list include fencing for the yard at AMKT, a television, a projector, tables and chairs, and art and household supplies. You may also be interested in sponsoring a camp or special event for the children. For more information, please contact Jill Amos, (478) 757-3800 or jamos@wesleyancollege.edu. Special thanks to Katherine Hutto, chair of the Lane Center advisory board, for contributing to this story.
Planning for this year’s partnership took several months. Lane Center servant leaders and staff worked tirelessly to prepare for the event. Servant leader Shelby Rivers ’16 said, “Planning was an exciting experience because we knew we were doing something different from previous years. It was a rewarding process because I believe we were able to create a desire within Wesleyan students to continue their service to others.” Sharlatina Lackey ’15, administrative assistant for the Lane Center and director of AMKT, and her father Chris Corbin also played an important role in the planning process. Gerald Henderson and Carlos Ferguson, who work for Mr. Corbin at S & L Construction of Musella, Georgia, created task and supply lists and helped prepare the homes for painting. During the event the three men rotated among the houses helping the volunteers with their tasks. According to Sharlatina, “My family loves participating in WOW! A Day. We have always enjoyed giving back to the community and helping where we can.” Local businesses Lowe’s and Porter Paints donated items such as paintbrushes, a picnic bench, pine straw, and other items needed to complete the renovations. Wesleyan student and volunteer Summer Mouzon ’16 said, “I am amazed at the teamwork and commitment from the volunteers. We were able to complete renovations at all five homes within four to five hours.” With support from the Lane Center, initiatives like WOW! A Day can serve numerous agencies throughout the community, proving that things some may view as small or practical can make a big difference in improving the quality of life for others.
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
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Photo by Amy Maddox
Tags of Hope Wesleyan students partner with The Methodist Home When Caroline Brown ’16 and her classmates enrolled in the Senior Project class, they had no idea what to expect. “As we settled into our seats the first day, Dr. Meyer announced that we would be creating a name, logo, and advertising materials for The Methodist Home’s thrift shop. We were so excited. I wish a camera could have captured the looks on our faces!” Senior Project is the capstone course for advertising and marketing communication (AMC) majors and requires students to apply their accumulated knowledge of art, communication, and business in the analysis of an assigned topic. In addition to writing a paper, students develop a portfolio or project and give an oral presentation at the end of the semester. This year the class was called on to design a marketing plan and supporting materials for The Methodist Home, a residential care home that provides housing and specialized programs to meet the needs of abused, neglected, and abandoned children. In 2013, The Methodist Home opened a thrift shop on its campus to raise money for the children and youth served by the Home. Over the next eighteen months the shop became so successful that it required a larger space to accommodate more shoppers and more merchandise. That’s when President and CEO Alison Evans asked Dr. Glenna Meyer, Wesleyan’s D. Abbot Turner Professor of Free Enterprise, for help. The shop needed a name, logo, sign, advertising materials such as a brochure and flyer, and a grand opening media plan. Evans said, “As we contemplated moving our small thrift shop off campus, I knew we would need expertise in branding, marketing, and advertising. Wesleyan and The Methodist Home share our Methodist heritage so working together was a natural fit. This collaboration would give the students a real life, real money, real results experience in marketing and advertising which has a direct social impact on the lives of children in need. The Methodist Home would
benefit by receiving fresh, new ideas and tremendous support in expanding the store.” Evans came to campus to discuss the project with the students. According to Brown, “Ms. Evans said, ‘You are directly helping our kids with this project. You are doing this for the kids.’ While those words are simple and short, they became our motivation for the semester, and even made it into a few drafts of logos and brochures. ‘Doing it for the kids’ motivated everyone to put in long hours and do her best work. This project means more than a good grade or our professor’s approval. It is special to us. It is for the kids in our own community.” Facing a tight deadline, the students wasted no time getting started on the project. Each student suggested names and created rough designs and presented them to the class for discussion and critique. After several revisions and a combination of ideas, the class took their final suggestions to a board of volunteer judges selected by Evans who chose elements from the presentation and settled on the name “Tags of Hope Thrift Shoppe.” The class developed a logo and began working on a flyer and a brochure that explain the thrift shop’s journey and mission. Students in Stacie Barrett’s ’11 (EMBA Program Coordinator) advertising business class developed a two-week pre-grand opening marketing plan that included commercials on television and radio and space on an outdoor board, plus a second plan for the two weeks after the grand opening. Students wrote the advertising copy while Julie Rogers, class member and assessment coordinator for Wesleyan’s Education Department, filmed and edited the television commercial. Evans said, “The students embraced the chance to name the store, design the logo, and implement a multi-channel advertising campaign to help us launch our new Tags of Hope Thrift Shoppe. With the help of a wonderful grant from the Pitts Foundation to seed the campaign, Wesleyan students made the media
buy, which included print, TV, radio, and outdoor boards.” Dr. Meyer calls this project a perfect example of textbook theory being integrated into business practice. The student team members spent many hours applying the principles they had learned in the classroom to a real-world advertising project. Brown said that while all of the business, marketing, advertising, and communication classes she took at Wesleyan prepared her for projects such as this, “you don’t know exactly what a complete advertising campaign entails until you have the fate of a business in your hands. But as time progressed, we all became more confident in our skills and abilities.” Student Dingxiu Wu ’15 said that working in a group is sometimes difficult but knows the project enhanced her ability to think creatively as part of a team. “Having gone through this process will help me once I enter the business world. I have a better sense of how to operate a business of my own.” Similar sentiments have been expressed by other students in the class. On April 24, a large crowd including Wesleyan students, President Ruth Knox, Macon Mayor Robert Reichert, Methodist Home volunteers, Macon Bibb County Chamber of Commerce members, and many others gathered for the grand opening of Tags of Hope Thrift Shoppe at its new location on Vineville Avenue. According to Evans, “The grand opening was well attended, and we set a new daily sales record in our opening week! In week two, we topped that with nearly $2,000 in sales in one day! I attribute this tremendous success to the great work of the Wesleyan students and our wonderful volunteers.” Caroline Brown spoke for her classmates when she said, “It has been a long journey, but in the end it has all been worth it because we did it for the kids.” Thanks to Caroline Brown ’16 for contributing to this story. Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Photos by Amy Maddox
Photos by Amy Maddox
5 FACES OF 2015
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At Wesleyan College, women are supported and encouraged to think, to explore, and to dream big. It’s an environment where no student will ever be told that she can’t do something because it is too hard. Soniya Bastola, who is headed to the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the fall to earn her PhD in cancer biology, will attest: “All of my achievements have been possible due to the dedicated professors and the nurturing environment of Wesleyan College.” For 179 years, Wesleyan students have been encouraged to pursue their dreams, and our graduates indeed have accomplished incredible things. Today, we continue to educate women to do the extraordinary in their professions and in service to their communities. We are certain that the Class of 2015 will be no exception. Of the 101 graduates who earned the bachelor of arts degree on May 9, almost half graduated with honors.
Top majors for 2015 were business administration, accounting, and psychology followed closely by biology, music, and early childhood education. Three students earned triple majors and 37% earned double majors. Double major combinations included biology and theatre, music and women’s studies, and business administration and human services. According to voluntary surveys completed by most graduating seniors, 100% of those who applied to graduate school programs were accepted, with 74% being accepted to their first choice program. These students are beginning masters or doctoral programs representing a broad range of study including cognitive psychology, piano performance, cellular development biology, and taxation. They’re headed to prestigious graduate schools including Northeastern University; the University of Alabama at Birmingham; the University of Minnesota; Ulyanovsk State
University, Russia; and Rotterdam School of Management and The University of Groningen, both in the Netherlands. Among those moving directly into the workforce are Kirsten Genutis and Jessica Haynes both working with the Walt Disney Company; Shivani Aryal who will begin her career at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Zoie Osbourne who accepted a position with Teach Away, teaching English to students in Dubai, UAE; and Sharlatina Lackey who will serve the Lane Center as administrative assistant and the director of Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table. All twenty-five students in the College’s first cohort of students to earn their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree had secured jobs before graduation. Story, page 28. Meet Five Faces representing the Class of 2015…
Camille
LACEY How have the bonds of Wesleyan sisterhood affected Camille Lacey? “How have they not affected me is the better question. Sisterhood is the basis of Wesleyan. I absolutely adore my class. I’ve made some of my very best friends here.” A Lane Scholar, Camille received several additional scholarships including the Royal, the Annie Dortch Pitman Sincher, and the Hazel Hamilton Rogers Memorial scholarships. She is listed in Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, served as Head Junior Marshal in 2013-2014, and earned spots on the Provost’s and President’s Lists. A music with vocal emphasis major and educational studies minor, Camille was a member of The Wesleyannes, The Concert Choir (president, 20132014), and The Washboard Band (vice president, 2014). At the consecration service for Pierce Chapel in April, Camille honored guests by performing a solo of Surely the Presence of the Lord is in This Place. “I wanted to be very involved in college. Wesleyan’s small size convinced me that this was a place where I could thrive. I have grown as a leader and have had the chance to make a difference on campus.” A self-proclaimed “big fish in a small pond,” Camille enjoyed serving on the Student Recreation Council (SRC) where she planned intramural sports, brought zip-lining and paintball to campus, and
planned activities including white water rafting trips, snow skiing, and camping excursions, and outings to the aquarium, the zoo, and the beach. She served as class representative, secretary, and president of SRC, Orientation Leader, member of the Student Government Association, and four years as a WOW! A Day volunteer. A member of the elite Pierce Pioneer Leadership Program, Camille was also a work-study student for Student Affairs and the psychology department and participated in the 2014 Summer Leadership Institute trip to Utah. For two weeks during the summer between her junior and senior years, Camille enjoyed a study abroad trip to Europe. She attended The Cantus Salisburgensis 2014 International Choir and Orchestra Festival in Salzburg, Austria, and the Grumo Music Festival in Tesero, Italy. She performed in several venues in both cities including Chiesa di san Leonardo where she performed with an orchestra for the first time. In the fall, Camille will begin the Master of Music in Vocal Performance program at the University of South Carolina. “At Wesleyan I have developed skills that will follow me throughout my life. I have proved to myself that I can do whatever I put my mind to doing. I would love to perform in different venues around the world, give voice lessons, and conduct a choir.” Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Diamond
Photo by Steve Schroeder
NELSON
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When Diamond Nelson was choosing a college four years ago, Wesleyan’s highly regarded psychology department made the decision an easy one for the aspiring psychiatrist. A class in forensic psychology her sophomore year and an internship with the Georgia Industrial Children’s Home helped her to discover her real interest – working with youth in the juvenile prison system. For three years, Diamond worked as an intern at the Children’s Home helping teenage girls with homework, job etiquette, and social media etiquette. “I enjoy being a part of their lives, tutoring, mentoring, and building bonds. Every day isn’t a great day at the children’s home. Some days are quite difficult, but I learned how to deal with each girl as she is. I had the opportunity to see real-life cases and compare them with the case studies I read about in class.” As a Corn Scholar, Diamond was invited to speak during the Scholarship Luncheon in 2014 where she thanked donors for their generosity and the wonderful opportunities their scholarships provide year after year. This psychology and human services double major, with a minor in business administration, enjoyed taking on campus leadership roles including serving as vice president for her Golden Heart class and the Black Student Alliance. As vice president of the Student Recreational Council, Diamond organized activities like paintball, zip line, laser tag, and Wesleyan Fun Day. She was treasurer and secretary of Splinters Athletic Society, STUNT Commissions Chair, Orientation Leader, member of WAVE, and worked through the Lane Center to help organize activities and volunteers for WOW! A Day for Macon. Diamond was also a member of the Habitat Club and the Wesleyan Gospel Choir. She played soccer with the Wesleyan Wolves her first year and class soccer all four years. A member of Summer Leadership Institute 2014, Diamond was also a Lane Center servant leader and tutored students at Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table and at Howard Middle and High schools. With her new goal of earning a PhD in forensic psychology, Diamond appreciates the research opportunities that were available to her as an undergraduate. “Under Dr. Rowan’s supervision, I studied the memory and learning patterns of rats and mice and was part of a research group that explored acculturation as it relates to participation in medical care. I conducted research both independently and with groups and presented my research at conferences.” In May, Diamond began working at New Horizons, a non-profit organization in Columbus, Georgia, dedicated to helping individuals with mental and learning disabilities reach their full potential.
Colleen
DEGRAFF A favorite high school math teacher and Wesleyanne, Kay Carroll Barnes ’60, suggested to Colleen that she visit Wesleyan College. “On my first visit I was hooked. I knew that at Wesleyan I could be myself and focus on my academics. Without the distractions of a co-ed school, I was able to get the education I came for.” Colleen earned her degree in human services with a minor in psychology, making both the President’s and Provost’s Lists all four years. A three-year Wesleyan Disciple Scholar, Colleen earned several other scholarships including the 2013 Alumnae Scholarship for Leadership. Selected to Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, Colleen received many other academic honors including the Louise Frederick Hays and the Academic Excellence in Human Services awards as well as memberships in Splinter Athletic Honor Society and the Psi Chi International Society in Psychology. A member of the 2014 Summer Leadership Institute, Colleen also participated in her class’s STUNT all four years. Being a campus leader and a community volunteer, Colleen served as a WAVE and Summer Orientation leader and volunteered at the Macon Bibb County Board of Education, the Orange Duffel Bag Foundation for at-risk children, Georgia Industrial Children’s Home, Aunt
Maggie’s Kitchen Table, WOW! A Day for Macon, and Loaves and Fishes Ministries. As a Wesleyan Wolf, Colleen played soccer her sophomore year and softball all four years. She served as captain of the softball team, being named to the Great South Athletic All-Conference Softball Team in 2012-2014 and winning MVP honors in 2013. In April, Colleen was honored with the Athletic Department’s Spirit of the Wolf Award. During her second semester (spring 2012) Colleen founded the campus Habitat Club that has been steadily gaining members and volunteers ever since. Habitat Club volunteers work with Macon Area Habitat for Humanity on build days and host their own events on and off campus. “We hope to become an official chapter within the next year. Meanwhile, I plan to continue helping next year.” The Habitat Club won the Student Government Association’s Award for Service in 2013 and 2014. In May, Colleen began a full-time position at the therapeutic fostering agency Benchmark Family Services where as a student she had enjoyed an internship and a part-time job. She will focus on recruiting and training foster parents. Plans for her future include earning a master’s degree in psychology or human services and forming a non-profit child advocacy program.
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Megan
TRIETSCH If anyone understands the bonds of sisterhood, it’s Megan, whose twin sister Katy is also a member of the Golden Heart Class of 2015. “Katy and I came to a prospective student event our senior year in high school, and during that overnight stay I found myself at home with the people around me. I had this overwhelming feeling of ‘yes, this is my place.’” Knowing she wanted a career in the healthcare field, Megan entered Wesleyan as a biology major but soon learned that the College’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program would begin offering courses her junior year and that she could be in the first class. Megan decided to change her major. “These past two years under the tutelage of the nursing faculty have been life changing. That I will graduate as a member of the first class of nursing students gives me a wonderful feeling of pride.” A Margaret A. Pitts Scholar, Megan is the recipient of the Delta Award for Excellence and the 2014 STUNT scholarship. She was honored with Wesleyan’s Purple Stethoscope for Leadership and Community Service award and is a member of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. Megan enjoyed challenging herself to become
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a “better, stronger version of myself” and accepted leadership roles at Wesleyan. She was a Splinters Athletic Honor Society member 2012- 2015, president of the Wesleyan College Student Nursing Association 20132015, performed as a STUNT cast member, and in her senior year served on the STUNT writing board. A member of the Environmental Concerns Committee, Megan was a Wesleyan Disciple all four years, serving as vice president her junior year. During a precepting internship on the neurology step-down unit at Navicent Health, Megan spent night shifts paired with a registered nurse overseeing a full case load of patients. The nursing instructor guided Megan as she practiced her skills in preparation for rotating into clinical areas. In April, Megan accepted a position as an emergency room nurse at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. “I will work in the nurse residency program for fourteen weeks and then sign a contract for three years of employment in the emergency room. The hospital has a new building scheduled to open in August. Coming from a college known for her ‘firsts,’ how fitting that I will be a member of the first staff to work in the new facility and all its wonderful upgrades.”
After graduating from high school in Kathmandu, Nepal, Richa began working with the non-governmental organization (NGO) CARE International in Nepal. The work ignited her interest in the issues of gender equality and social inclusion, directly influencing her decision to pursue a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies. “In a world where women are continuously told by society that their worth depends on their submissiveness and/ or appearance, women’s education is a must.” An economics and women’s studies double major with minors in business and finance, Richa earned several scholarships including the International Student, the
Ester K. Herr, and the Suzanne Tante scholarships. She is listed among Who’s Who Among American Universities and Colleges and earned a place on both the Provost’s and President’s Lists. She was a member of the Honors Program and enjoyed membership in the honor societies Alpha Lambda Delta (serving as president her sophomore year), Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Gamma Mu, and Omicron Delta Epsilon. At Honors Day in April, Richa was recognized as 2015’s Wesleyan Woman of the Year, the College’s highest student-nominated honor. Richa was elected Student Government Association secretary in 2013, vice president in 2014, and president in 2015. A Lane Center volunteer AVID tutor,
Richa was also a peer mentor for WISe, a resident advisor from 2012-2015, and a work/ study student in the library for three years. During the summer of 2014, Richa accepted a fellowship in Washington, D.C., with the Advocacy Project. “It was the most substantial experience that I have had working with an NGO. I created a proposal to eradicate bonded child labor in Nepal. The fellowship included a ten week stay in Western Nepal interviewing government officials and past bonded child laborers. In addition, I created a profile book of the bonded child laborers for future use.” Richa said that before coming to Wesleyan she had an introverted personality.
Today she is an outspoken and confident woman who enjoys nature, writing poetry, taking photographs, and watching movies. In March, Richa spearheaded a project through the women’s studies program called “Who Needs Feminism?” Students were invited to have their photograph taken holding a written statement finishing the sentence, “I need feminism because....” “I think the boost in my self-esteem, the sisterhood, and the realization of the importance of women’s education could not have been possible in a larger co-ed school.” Richa’s future plans include earning a graduate degree in public policy.
Richa
ADHIKARI
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Carnes Lecture Series
Mary Alice Monroe “The Power of Story”
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“Take f lig
ht like the bu
by Ashley Garrett ’90 Nerd Confession: I never really minded going to convocation when I was a student at Wesleyan. People moaned about it, or ditched it and paid the fines. I did a little complaining to cover my tracks, but the truth was that I liked those Thursday morning pauses to learn something new or to think about something I wouldn’t normally think about in my twenty-year-old brain. Now that I’m president of the Alumnae Association, I still attend a couple of convocations each year. I even get to sit on the stage, right behind the speaker, and that’s a convocation nerd’s dream come true. This year’s Carnes Lecture with Mary Alice Munroe provided one of those then/now moments that made me wish I could’ve sat through the lecture with my then self from twenty-five years ago and my now self. I would have made SURE my younger self was listening to what Mary Alice shared that day. Mary Alice Munroe writes novels about human connection and the connected nature of all life. She’s an environmentalist and conservationist first and her writing arises from that work. Whether the subject is monarch butterflies (as in The Butterfly’s Daughter, the book we read for our Pioneer Book Club in October), dolphins, sea turtles, or the shrimping industry, Mary Alice does the academic research that all writers do, but then she actually rolls up her sleeves and volunteers to work with these causes.
rfl e t t
y. This i
s y o ur t i me
That message is one my younger self needed to hear—figure out what you’re passionate about and dive in. Do the work and the story will reveal itself. During the Carnes Lecture, Mary Alice shared a story that gave me chills. She related the adventure of going to the monarch butterfly sanctuary in Mexico. This wasn’t some “seen through the tour bus window” trip—those butterflies like to spend their winter HIGH in the mountains. This trip required riding in a truck to the inner forests, then balancing on a raggedy-looking horse as it tiptoed over the narrow foot trails alongside sheer drops down cliff faces. A trip that required hard work, dumb luck, and hanging on for dear life … that’s when I would poke my younger self to see if she was listening because that pretty much describes everything worth doing. Once Mary Alice and her raggedy horse arrived at the butterfly sanctuary, she looked out over the deep valley at hundreds of trees covered solid in clumps of butterflies. Gray butterflies. We all know monarchs are orange and black, but when they are at rest and clustered together for warmth on a foggy cold morning, they’re gray. And clumpy. And totally not what you expected to see at the end of a dangerous and demanding lurch up the mountainside. Mary Alice told her audience about the disappointment of not seeing what she hoped to see after all that work. This was her ONE CHANCE and the butterflies weren’t cooperating with her travel schedule. Again, if I could
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sit next to my younger self for this convocation, I would have whispered out the side of my mouth, “She ain’t lying about that, sister. Things don’t always work out like you plan. It’s just the way things go—nothing personal.” But that moment wasn’t the end of Mary Alice’s story. There’s always a “but then” in good stories, as in life. So she was up there on the mountain, staring at a gray morning filled with gray butterflies from atop her gray horse on a gray mountain … but then the sun broke through the clouds. When the golden light hit the monarchs, they all came to life at once—an explosion of color and motion as millions of wings took flight. And Mary Alice whispered to that silent and enthralled crowd of college women at convocation, “I imagine that is what heaven must be like—pure joy.” If I were sitting with my younger self, I’d take her hand and give it a little squeeze. I’d tell her, “Go out and live a bold life. Follow your heart. The rest will sort itself out. Seek out those moments of pure joy, even if you have to ride a raggedy donkey to get there. Do the work of life—even things like going to convocation when you don’t feel like it—so that you don’t miss out on the joy of life.” Our years at Wesleyan are like a chrysalis is to a butterfly—a safe place for growth, for becoming what we will be.
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
The vocational journey and the discernment
of life purpose.
Dedicated and consecrated just this spring, Pierce Chapel is the newest structure to grace Wesleyan College’s campus. Eighty-seven years in the planning, the chapel is a visual reminder of the centrality of religious life to the Wesleyan experience. Faith is a cornerstone of the mission of the College, and we are deeply grateful for our long-standing relationship with the United Methodist Church and the spiritual grounding it provides. It is from this foundation of faith that we seek avenues and embrace opportunities for interdenominational and interfaith dialog and celebrate the many religious traditions represented at Wesleyan. The Council for Religious Unity (CRU) is a student organization charged with opening the channels of communication necessary for these deeper conversations. Each week, CRU hosts activities and events that celebrate not only dates important to the Christian year, but festivals and holy days from many of the world’s great religions. Interfaith dialogue and spiritual formation are also the work of the Campus Ministry Assistants (CMA). Introduced in Fall 2014 and made possible through a grant from the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE), the CMA team currently consists of five dedicated students who represent the diversity of the Wesleyan community. CMAs host weekly gatherings in their respective residence halls, taking care to create a welcoming and safe space in which the students feel comfortable and supported. In these gatherings, students 22
are encouraged to explore their gifts and reflect on the ways those gifts can be expressed and shared. CMAs also offer techniques for managing stress and meet with students one-on-one to offer a listening ear, an open heart, and a word of encouragement. The hallmark of campus ministry is the Wesleyan Disciples program. As part of an initiative created by the late Reverend Bill Hurdle (Wesleyan Chaplain 19982015), the Wesleyan Disciples celebrate the tenth anniversary of their founding this year. The Disciples are a group of faithful Christian women who are committed to being a light unto others by expressing God’s love and promoting interfaith dialogue and acceptance. They are dedicated servant leaders within the Wesleyan community and the greater community. Using their God-given gifts, the Disciples strive to achieve spiritual, mental, and physical growth as well as encourage the same in others. The Wesleyan Disciples have a new home in the Lovick P. Corn Center for Campus Ministry on the lower floor of Pierce Chapel and are eagerly planning Sunday evening chapel services for the entire campus. Religious life at the College is further enhanced by several additional campus ministry organizations that offer Bible studies, worship experiences, trips, retreats, and social activities. These include the Wesley Foundation, the campus ministry organization sponsored by the United Methodist Church; Baptist Collegiate Ministries, sponsored by the
Georgia Baptist Convention; and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. A significant focus for the Office of Campus Ministry is the vocational journey and the discernment of life purpose. Earlier this year, Director of Campus Ministry Debra Carter Williams ’12 offered a convocation for the student body entitled Listening to the Call: Finding Meaning and Purpose in Life. Students interested in deepening their vocational awareness were invited to participate in the Spring Break Service and Discernment Trip. Staying at Epworth by the Sea, a United Methodist retreat and conference center on St. Simons, Island, a group of twenty-three students served two agencies in Brunswick,
Photo by Amy Maddox Georgia: FaithWorks, a day shelter for the homeless, and Morningstar, a residential center for high risk youth. A fall discernment retreat is also planned with the emphasis entirely on vocation and life purpose. The goal of the fall retreat is the engagement of vocation in the theological sense as a way to hear God’s call and answer God’s summons. To ground vocational awareness and provide an organizational structure for programming, Williams is currently creating and developing the Center for Vocational Discernment. The ultimate goal of the center is to integrate the dynamics of vocational exploration and awareness into the academic,
administrative, and religious life of the College. This will be accomplished through faculty and staff development, learning and discernment opportunities for students, and programming that demonstrates the vibrancy of religious life and expression on campus. Most importantly, the center will develop an interdependent relationship with the Lane Center for Service and Leadership, the Office of Career Development, and faculty, administration, and staff. The goal is to achieve the objectives concerning vocational exploration and awareness described in the College’s Strategic Plan. Indeed, faith is a cornerstone of the mission of Wesleyan College. With
the completion of Pierce Chapel as our spiritual center, we have a unique opportunity to re-imagine religious life on campus by building on Wesleyan’s Methodist foundation and its core value of respect for the dignity of all people. This makes the campus community keenly aware that the practice of radical hospitality is required to support and encourage interreligious dialogue and to create a space in which the intrinsic worth of all people is celebrated without exception. This environment of inclusion and acceptance will also allow students breathing room in which to ponder vocation and life purpose and, perhaps, listen to and answer God’s summons.
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
The Consecration Pierce Chapel opened during Holy Week to a series of events culminating in a consecration service on Thursday, April 9, before a congregation of donors who had helped to make Wesleyan’s long held dream a reality. Reverend Charlene Payne Kammerer ’70, bishop of the Western North Carolina and Virginia Conferences of the United Methodist Church (retired), delivered the sermon entitled “He Gave All” that drew a surprising parallel between Wesleyan’s first president, the young Reverend George Foster Pierce, and a young American humanitarian aid worker, Kayla Mueller, who gave her life in Syria. “They each believed in the transformational and saving power of Jesus the Christ, who gave his life in order for all of God’s children to come to know him, love him, and follow him. They felt a singular call of God upon their lives 24
Photos by Amy Maddox
to make a difference in the world, to offer what they could, and to praise God in all circumstances. They each received the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish God-sized dreams and impossibilities for their time. . . . I am confident that the ministries of Pierce Chapel will produce Kayla Muellers of the future, young women who will open their eyes and hearts to see and know God’s purpose for them.” Other clergy participating in the consecration service were Bishop James R. King, Jr., bishop of the South Georgia Conference; Reverend Dr. Laudis H. (Rick) Lanford, district superintendent of the North Central District of the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church; Reverend Tommy Mason, senior pastor of Mulberry Street United Methodist Church; and Reverend Jennifer Stiles Williams ’93, co-lead pastor of St. Luke’s United
of Pierce Chapel “With Pierce Chapel as the visible expression of our foundation of faith, let us resolve – with joy and thanksgiving – to use this sacred space to build a community of love, respect, and understanding; to serve God and our neighbor; to bring about peace and justice; and to make our actions worthy.” -- President Ruth Knox ’75, remarks at the Dedication Service Methodist Church in Orlando, Florida, and representative of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church on Wesleyan’s board of trustees. President Ruth Knox welcomed guests, and Board Chair Susan Pyeatt Kimmey ’71 presented the chapel for consecration to Bishop King, who led the consecration litany. On March 30, the Monday of Holy Week, Debra Carter Williams ’12, director of campus ministry, led a
special interfaith dedication service attended by students, faculty, and staff. In her remarks, President Ruth Knox spoke about the history of Pierce Chapel and the significance of Wesleyan’s foundation of faith, reminding everyone of Reverend Hurdle’s joyful exclamation at the ground blessing ceremony a year earlier - “Oh, Happy Day” - and of his continuing influence on the Wesleyan Campus. Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
WESLEYAN’S NEW QUALITY ENHANCEMENT PLAN Banners and signs on campus are announcing Wesleyan’s exciting new Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) set to begin this fall. From Here to Career is a four-year plan that will help students make connections between a liberal arts education and success in the workplace. Study after study shows that employers value those skills emphasized by a liberal arts curriculum. The Chronicle of Higher Education states, “It’s not that students aren’t being taught what they need to know…it’s that learning isn’t organized in a useful way. Students need help in tying together what they are learning inside and outside the classroom.” From Here to Career is designed to address those issues, producing students who have a sense of self-awareness and life purpose as well as the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive in a complex world. Two years in the making and developed as part of the College’s re-accreditation process, the plan will give our students a wealth of new opportunities to prepare for life after college, explore professional and career choices, and develop and demonstrate the knowledge and skills essential for professional success in any field. Vice President for Student Affairs and Co-Chair of the QEP Committee Patty Gibbs said, “Today’s students must develop key intellectual and practical skills and be able to integrate and apply those to new, rapidly changing settings and problems.” From Here to Career will help students in all majors learn to apply classroom learning to real-world experiences. One key component of From Here to Career is the Professional Development Experience (PDE), a required credit-bearing program in which each student will apply and demonstrate her professional interests, knowledge, and skills in a practical setting. The PDE may be an internship, a research or community service project, a creative performance…it’s up to the student to decide. The Office of Career Development will oversee the PDE program, managing documentation, providing support for students, and maintaining contact with faculty.
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Another key initiative is the implementation of a new online career development tool, College Central Network (CCN). CCN allows a student or alumna to upload her resumé, portfolio, cover letter, and other digital media to showcase her talents on a single site. In turn, registered employers and alumnae can post jobs and view potential candidates based on their needs. Although CCN will not be fully implemented until the QEP launches in the fall, faculty and staff were briefed on the new network, and students began training on the system in February and March.
Some of the exciting features of CCN allow Wesleyan students and alumnae to: • Search job postings exclusive to Wesleyan College • View and apply to jobs on the nation’s largest entry-level job board • Create and/or upload an online resumé • Build, update, and forward an online career portfolio to employers • Download free career advice documents and podcasts • Learn expert job search tips from over 100 free career videos In their sophomore year, students will begin participating in Professionalism After Wesleyan Seminars (PAWS), an initiative providing students the opportunity to practice applying their professional knowledge and skills. The PAWS series will direct sophomores to focus on career exploration through panels, TED talks (a mix of teachers and education advocates delivering short, high-impact talks on the theme of teaching and learning), and keynote speakers, all designed to expose the students to career options in their chosen fields. Juniors will focus on the mechanics of preparing for a career or applying for graduate school by delving into subjects like resumé writing, graduate school preparation and tests, employment searches, portfolio development, personal statement formation, and articulation of transferable skills. The focus on mechanics continues through their senior year but will also include networking opportunities and Life After Wesleyan workshops.
Juniors, seniors, and all alumnae will also be invited to download and begin using a new mobile phone application customized for Wesleyan and designed to help upper class students and alumnae network with one another. The Office of Career Development has partnered with the Offices of Institutional Advancement and Alumnae Affairs to provide access to Wesleyan International Networking Community (WINC), an app powered by Alumnify that will enable Wesleyan students and graduates to find one another and instantly connect. WINC will use LinkedIn profiles together with user-defined data to present potential connections between registered users based upon location, class year, major, or profession. The user decides with whom and when she wishes to connect. Not only will WINC help Wesleyannes keep in touch, it is capable of building stronger alumnae connections, expanding users’ professional audience, generating job opportunities, and creating new or growing existing alumnae clubs. Stay tuned for more information on how to get “WINCed in.” The addition of these new tools and programs, along with an exemplary internship program and continuing contributions to the WISe program for first year students, strengthens the Office of Career Development and creates an even more effective resource for the entire Wesleyan community. Office of Career Development Director Kathleen Crownover is excited about plans to expand programming and add significant new features including new offices with a more centralized location on campus and increased staffing and services. Crownover said, “Helping students prepare for career success after graduation is precisely the objective we had in mind as we looked to revamp the career resources offered to our students and alumnae. As we continue to expand the scope of this resource, it is our hope that our alumnae will seek to use it for their own personal enrichment and as representatives of their companies, creating a network for fellow alumnae and newer Wesleyannes transitioning into the work force.” Thanks to Barbara Donovan, Professor of Political Science and Co- Chair of the QEP Committee, and Kathleen Crownover, Director for Career Development for contributing to this story.
An important component of a Wesleyan education is the real world experience of an internship. Internships allow students to network with professionals and to gain work experience while learning more about their chosen career field. Though not every major requires one, all Wesleyan students are encouraged to have at least one internship experience before graduation. In the fall of 2013, political science major DOMINIQUE SMITH ’15 was selected to be a Democratic National Committee (DNC) Hope Institute Fellow. An all-expensepaid weekend in Washington, D.C. gave Dominique and other young advocates from all over the country a chance to meet and connect with our government’s top staffers. After the weekend, DNC kept the students posted on internships and job listings within government offices. When Dominique received an email announcing the opening of the White House Internship for spring semester 2015, she decided to apply. Dominique recognized that the internship was a unique opportunity to gain valuable professional experience and build leadership skills, so she turned to the Office for Career Development for assistance. “Ms. Crownover spent a lot of time helping me organize my thoughts and present my skills and experience in a professional way.” Dominique was accepted into the internship program and served in Washington from January through April, then returned to Macon to graduate with her Golden Heart class on May 9. The Office of Career Development also assisted JENNY WU ’15 with her application for an internship at the Big Four accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. “From resumé preparation until I got the internship offer, Ms. Crownover was with me every step of the way.” Jenny also attended career fairs held by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and the Georgia Society of CPAs (GSCPA) and found them very helpful for networking and practicing interview skills. Jenny said that the internship helped her develop professional skills, learn how a public accounting firm operates, and experience what a tax career could be like. This fall, Jenny will begin the masters programs in accounting at Georgia State University. When senior CHRISTINA MAYFIELD ’15 began searching for an internship, she also turned to Crownover for advice and assistance. “As a psychology and neuroscience double major, my plans are to earn my Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology. In this profession, I will be working in a clinical setting, so I wanted to experience the behind the scenes work that goes into running a clinic.” Christina secured an internship at The Mercer Family Therapy Center in Macon and spent spring semester 2014 in a clinical setting. She describes the experience as the perfect chance to observe firsthand the day-to-day business of her chosen profession. In the fall, Christina will enter Mercer University’s Doctoral Program for Clinical Medical Psychology in Atlanta. Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
A first-class First Class
Photo by Steve Schroeder
The first cohort of BSN students graduate
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On Saturday, May 9, Wesleyan graduated her first cohort of students to earn their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. The entire class of twenty-five exceptional women will begin their careers in nursing immediately after graduation with twenty-three serving Macon and Warner Robins hospitals: twenty at Navicent Health and one each at Coliseum Medical Center, Coliseum Northside Hospital, and Houston Medical Center. One graduate has accepted a position at Memorial Medical Center in Savannah, Georgia, and another at Parkland Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. The students received their nursing pins and took the Professional Nurses’ Pledge during a ceremony on May 7. “These ladies have set the bar high for our nursing program,” said Sirena Fritz, MSN, RN, program director and assistant professor of nursing. “They have embraced Wesleyan’s standards for excellence in all that they do. I could not be more proud of a group of students. I would feel confident with any of them taking care of me or one of my loved ones. Hail to Wesleyan’s first cohort of BSN students!” As part of the senior curriculum course, Holistic Nursing VII: Care of the Client in the Community, nine senior nursing students - Melissa Abraham, Kael Crews, Destiny Higdon, Erica Clark, Laurie Chelsea Widener and Martha Cecilia Flores
“These ladies have set the bar high for our nursing program. They have embraced Wesleyan’s standards for excellence in all that they do. I could not be more proud of a group of students. I would feel confident with any of them taking care of me or one of my loved ones.” – McElmurray, Lindsay Saunders, Brittani Tilley, Lauren Mitchell, and Alicen Hilton and three nursing professors - Sirena Fritz. Holly Hollis, and Teresa Kochera - boarded a plane to Montego Bay, Jamaica, on February 28, for a week-long mission trip. The group conducted a blood pressure and blood glucose-screening clinic at the Flanker Peace and Justice Centre; toured Cornwall Regional Hospital, SOS Children’s Village, Chance Rehabilitation Centre, West Haven Children’s Home, and Melody House (a home for sexually abused teenaged girls); and spent time on the beach with children from Robin’s Nest Children’s Home. According to Holly Hollis, MSN, RN, assistant professor of nursing, students received up to forty clinical hours for participating in the mission trip. “This experience was life changing for me.
Sirena Fritz
It was a privilege to be part of the sisterhood these women feel for each other. These are some of the brightest ladies I have had the pleasure of teaching and they will always hold a special place in my heart.” To be part of the first nursing class at a college known for her firsts and to conduct the first of many BSN mission trips both are sources of pride for those who attended, including Destiny Higdon. “Being a part of this ‘first’ comes with a lot of emotion. I am humbled. I am grateful. I have no doubt that for years to come I will still be saying with the utmost pride, ‘Yes, I was one of the first twentyfive Wesleyan College nursing cohort trailblazers.’”
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Andre B. Mountain, M.Ed. Wesleyan Class of 2005
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Despite growing up with parents who were educators, Andre Mountain never dreamed he would become a teacher. In fact, three days after graduating from Georgia Southern University in 1998, this Augusta, Georgia, native moved to New Jersey and began a career in finance. “The stock market boom of the late ’90s created multiple opportunities for graduates willing to relocate to the Northeast and immerse themselves in trading, trade clearing, and brokerage. After three years of fast-paced work in the financial district, I witnessed the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center from an office just across the Hudson River in Jersey City, New Jersey. At the time of the attacks, I was unfulfilled professionally and wanted to devote myself to something more meaningful. I resigned on September 12, 2001, and by the end of the month, I had returned to Georgia without a clear idea of what to do next. I began substitute teaching for elementary school students and fell in love with the work of helping children learn to read.” Andre then explored the possibility of becoming a full-time classroom teacher. In June 2002, Andre began taking classes in Wesleyan’s early childhood education alternative certification program. “Wesleyan’s Teacher Academy for Preparation and Pedagogy (TAPP) program was structured in a way that supported my development as a new teacher by connecting me with a cohort of teachers with whom I learned, shared, and grew as an urban educator. The courses emphasized the arts as well as cultural competency to develop skills to address the poverty that exists in the lives of many urban youth. Unlike other programs at the time, Wesleyan’s program led to earning a master’s degree in early childhood education. Professors such as the late Dr. Darlene Mettler, Dr. Hillary Kight, and Dr. Patrick Pritchard were instrumental in shaping me into a reflective, driven, and passionate educator devoted to continually improving my practice.” One of Andre’s proudest moments in education was co-presenting with Dr. Pritchard at the 2003 International Conference on Self-Study of Teacher Education in East Sussex, England. The two educators developed a
presentation that contrasted their respective experiences on the journey into the profession. For Andre, it was a turning point in his educational career as he began to get a clearer picture of who he would be as an educator. Grounded in the African-American tradition, Hip-Hop culture, and social justice, he began to gain confidence. Andre earned his M.Ed. from Wesleyan in 2005 and for the past decade has worked enthusiastically and collaboratively with other educators to provide environments where students can create art, question ideas, present findings, explore topics, and challenge the world. “There has not been a day in my career that I have not been presented with opportunities to inspire, mentor, and learn from young people whose lives possess such amazing potential. It is the hardest and most rewarding work that I have ever done.” During his career, Andre has taught English/language arts and social studies at the elementary level as well as undergraduate courses at the college level. He has delivered presentations at Atlanta public schools, the University of Georgia, the University of South Carolina, the National Council for Social Studies Conference, and the International Conference for the Social Sciences in Istanbul, Turkey. He was the 2011 Outstanding Graduate Student in Education Leadership at Augusta State University, completed postgraduate coursework in instructional improvement at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in conjunction with Boston Public Schools, and is currently a doctoral student in Curriculum Studies at Georgia Southern University. Andre’s talents in the field of education have not gone unnoticed. In 2008 he was selected by former Governor Sonny Perdue to become Georgia’s first alternatively prepared Professional Standards Commissioner. For Andre, “Serving on the Professional Standards Commission is a unique privilege because commissioners are tasked with weighing in on cases of educator misconduct, changes in certification regulations, and protecting the profession in general. At any given
time, the commission can consist of a mix of teachers, administrators, elected officials, and professors.” In 2012, Andre was invited to deliver the commencement address for Wesleyan’s Master of Education graduation ceremony. “My return to Wesleyan as a commencement speaker was one of the greatest honors of my professional career. Not only was I excited to share insights about the possibilities that awaited the graduates, I wanted to charge them with extending the legacy of Wesleyan as ‘pioneers’ in the field. I was not able to attend my own graduation from Wesleyan in 2005 because I moved to another city upon completion of my degree. The irony of the invitation was that my first attendance at a Wesleyan graduation was not as a graduate, but as a speaker.” Currently, Andre serves as the assistant principal at Edison Elementary School in Tacoma, Washington, where he focuses on increasing student growth, technology integration, and student engagement. Among a long list of other responsibilities in his first year in this position, Andre served as the advisor to Young Men of Color Book Club, acted as the facilitator of the New Teacher Institute, and engaged the Tacoma community in support of incentives for students. As for the move from Georgia to Tacoma, Andre said, “Tacoma is ethnically diverse, educationally progressive, and in close proximity to a large metropolitan area that provides a variety of cultural experiences. Tacoma Public School District embraces innovation and boldly confronts the challenges facing students of color. They recently partnered with the University of Washington to launch the Tacoma Whole Child Initiative that combines a focus on behavior intervention, instructional improvement, and databased decision making in a ten-year effort to transform communities. At this point in my career, as a father and an educator, the timing was right to join forces with an ambitious team whose vision for public education mirrored my own.” Thanks to Lauren Hamblin Beaty ’06 for contributing this story.
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2011 2015
Art By Design
In the exploration of craft and culture and with a desire to connect with the surrounding community, Alexis Gregg, assistant professor of studio art, melds art and industry to create installations using the ancient techniques and labor-intensive processes of brickwork and architectural ceramics. Her own fine works of art, several of which are on exhibit at Macon’s Museum of Arts and Sciences, serve as excellent examples of the constant balance of research and implementation that she is teaching in her 3-D Sculpture class. Each semester, Gregg assigns her students a collaborative project. Last fall’s assignment resulted in two ceramic wall installations with an overall Wesleyan theme. The first installation, at the left entrance of Murphey Art Building, is a 32
Renaissance-based Allegory of Truth representing the search for greater truth and knowledge. Located at Murphey’s right entrance is the second installation, an Art Nouveau design representing nature with a sisterhood theme, revealing depictions of a student, a wolf, and a tree. For their individual spring semester project, students were challenged to explore the differences between materials, specifically brick and porcelain, and how juxtaposing those materials can evoke feelings of hard and soft, refined and rough, high and low. The creations were to include a base piece and a sculpture. Andrea Pitts ’16 created a large dragon claw holding a tiny porcelain rabbit. An interactive piece, her sculpture creates
a tension between fear and protection causing the viewer to question whether the claw is going to harm or protect the rabbit. Esther Mech ’16 created a chessboard atop a ceramic box. Adorning the box are thirty-two individual, hand-thrown, highly detailed chess pieces. Functional and decorative, the chess set is well made and ready for a competitive game. Jema Bravo ’17 created an architectural brick house with tile adornments. The piece highlights her Mexican American heritage as well as her interest in architecture and architectural adornment. As a two-sided work, the front uses tiles to create the windows while the backside frames a traditional Native American sculpture.
For more than four months, nine 3-D sculpture students worked to design and create more than 500 pieces that when assembled will become the Hurdle Memorial Bench. The bench honors the memory of Rev. Bill Hurdle and, when completed, will sit near Pierce Chapel overlooking Foster Lake.
A proponent of collaborative projects, Gregg was delighted when students in her sculpture class approached her about creating a bench in honor and in memory of Rev. Bill Hurdle who died in January. For more than four months, nine 3-D sculpture students worked to design and create more than 500 pieces that when assembled, will become the Hurdle Memorial Bench. As with each student project, Gregg directed up to a certain point, then the students took ownership. Each student assigned herself a part of the project according to her own specialty and expertise. “I think the process of collaborating on something that will last lifetimes truly has an effect on how students think about the work conceptually as well as the care taken in constructing it. This is one of the most successful collaborations
I’ve had with students because of the layers of meaning and thought put into it and because of how professional and refined the piece is. I am proud, and I know the students are proud, too.” Using modular bricks donated by Cherokee Brick and Tile Company, students carved elements that showcase Rev. Hurdle’s life. For instance, there are nautical elements representing his service in the U.S. Navy and tile medallions carved into creatures representing his love for nature. A sun and moon motif serves as a reminder of the Canticle of St. Francis of Assisi, life cycles, and everything in nature. Morning glories on the exterior of the bench and moonflowers on the interior are accompanied by sun and moon designs. The sun opens the morning glories and light from the moon causes the
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moonflowers to open, which represents Rev. Hurdle’s encouragement of students to grow and develop. Even his beloved hat is represented. Each piece is marked and mapped, and the bench will be put together much like a jigsaw puzzle when it is ready to be installed. The bench is shaped like a hug, and when one is sitting on it, a carving of Rev. Hurdle’s cherished and famous quote “Love for the sheer joy of loving” is in easy view. The bench is so large that it must be fired in pieces and reassembled this fall by Gregg and her students in its final resting place near Pierce Chapel and overlooking Foster Lake. Oh happy day!
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
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Photo by Amy Maddox
Sophisticated Interiors
Designer Terry Holland Macon designer C. Terry Holland’s elegant touch is apparent in a variety of locations around Wesleyan’s campus including Taylor Hall, Tate Hall, The Confucius Institute, and several residence hall study lounges. His design talents and his numerous donations of art enhance the beauty of our campus. We are ever grateful for his friendship and membership in The Society for the Twenty-first Century.
walls. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Vivia L. Fowler consulted with Holland on this project and praised his work. “Terry’s expertise and talent created a warm, sophisticated palette and décor to accompany the wonderful restoration of the century-old building.” One year later, Wesleyan invited Holland back to campus to freshen up the business and registrar’s offices on the second floor of Tate Hall.
Having earned a degree in architecture from Auburn University, Holland moved to Macon and worked for several firms before opening his own office in 1980. Over the next thirty years he designed spaces for commercial clients, including Cox Communications, Atlanta Gas Light, Mercer University, Middle Georgia State University, and the Bibb County School System. Holland expanded the scope of his work to include residential interior design, always encouraging his clients to support local artists. In 2001, the Macon Arts Alliance recognized Holland’s enthusiastic support of local artists by presenting him with a Cultural Award.
Holland continued his relationship with Wesleyan in 2012 by curating an exhibit of original art work by seven local women artists, all of whom were represented in his personal art collection. Four of the artists, Marianne Wooten Dunn ’49, Carol King Pope ’59, Dorothy Ogden Brown ’67, and Judy James Tucker ’86, are Wesleyan alumnae, and Charlotte Baker is a former adjunct professor at the College. At the end of the show, Holland donated one painting by each of the seven artists to Wesleyan and invited each artist to donate one of her own. Those fourteen paintings are currently on display in Tate Hall and the Candler Alumnae Building.
In 2010, Wesleyan retained Dunwoody Beeland, Architects, Inc. to lead the Taylor Hall renovation project, and they asked Holland to join the design team. Not only did he provide color and pattern to complement the building, he also donated four pieces from his own art collection to adorn the
In 2013, Wesleyan called on Holland again to assist in designing a space for the new Confucius Institute, located on the first floor of Willet Memorial Library. The challenge was to combine very old art and artifacts with modern technology and teaching resources. Emily Jarvis, Confucius Institute program
coordinator, noted, “Terry seamlessly incorporated antiques already on campus with new and donated pieces. He even integrated pieces from his own collection, including a beautiful four-panel painted wood screen and a marble topped table.” At Terry’s encouragement, several of his longtime clients donated other items of Chinese décor. John and Jane Willingham donated two golden rugs that John’s grandmother, Olivia Tatum Happ, Class of 1907, bought during a trip to China. Terry said, “It’s nice that rugs once owned by a Wesleyanne have made their way to the College. You might say they’ve come full circle.” Holland also helped Vice President for Student Affairs Patty Gibbs transform residence hall study parlors into inviting places for firstyear students to study and socialize. “A comfortable and inviting study lounge - that was all I needed to say, and Terry created inviting, beautiful, and relaxing spaces,” Gibbs said. “Terry has a way of taking a space and making it warmer and more personal.” Terry Holland has made wonderful contributions to the beauty of Wesleyan’s campus through his marvelous design work and his many gifts to the College’s art collection. Combined with his membership in The Society for the Twenty-first Century, his legacy will endure at Wesleyan for generations to come.
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
M E D IA The use of social media is essential in today’s world. Just as the invention of the telegraph system revolutionized long-distance communication in the mid-nineteenth century, the Internet, social media, and mobile applications are revolutionizing the way we communicate in the twenty-first century.
The Invention of Social Media
In 1836, the year Wesleyan College was founded, scientist Dr. David Alter invented the first known American electric telegraph system. Before the telegraph, the only way people could communicate with others in distant places was to send letters or travel
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to meet them. The telegraph allowed a person to transmit a message over hundreds, and eventually, thousands of miles in the space of perhaps an hour, and eventually, in an instant. By the 1850s there were telegraph stations in most of America’s major eastern and mid-western cities. Telegraph operators sent and received messages, decoded them, and passed them to runners who hand-delivered the telegrams. Although the telegraph had fallen out of widespread use by the start of the twentieth century, it laid the groundwork for the communications revolution.
The Rise of Social Media
The next several decades welcomed such communication miracles as the telephone, radio, and television. In 1986, MCI introduced the first commercial electronic mail service and in the 1990s people were wowed by the first-blush potential of the Internet. On February 4, 2004, Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerberg launched “Thefacebook” with membership restricted to Harvard students. Within the first month, more than half the undergraduates at Harvard were registered on the service. In 2006, Facebook was opened to the public and today an estimated 1.5 billion people use the site.
Today’s Social Media
The fastest growing segment of social media is the mobile phone. Statistics show that the average American spends more than two hours a day on a mobile device. Mobile websites and mobile applications, commonly referred to as apps, serve many different functions. Consumers turn to them to stay fit, stay organized, perform financial transactions, play games, follow the news, conduct research, take pictures, provide entertainment, and most importantly communicate with others. Today, more search requests are made on mobile devices in the United States than on personal computers. Seventy-two percent of all Internet users are now active users of some form of social media. Those 18-29 years of age are the most active, with almost 90% using some type of social media. They are followed closely by those 30-49 years of age at 72% and 50-60 years of age at 60%. Clearly, social media has mass appeal and it can widely influence large audiences. For instance, recent studies show that 68% of college students use social media conversations to influence their enrollment decision. As for the popularity of different social media sites, according to a recent study by Pew Research Center, Facebook is by far the most popular, but its membership has seen little growth since 2013. The one notable exception is with older adults. More than half of Internet users ages 65 and older use Facebook. Other platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn saw significant membership increases over the past year in the proportion of online adults who now use their sites. Roughly half of Internetusing young adults ages 18-29 use Instagram, and half college-graduate Internet users use LinkedIn.
What This Means for Colleges and Universities
The Internet and social media have changed the way people live. As well as providing an almost unlimited capacity to engage the masses and to cultivate relationships, these tools allow educational institutions to market themselves and have significant benefits like brand recognition, improved brand loyalty, increased website and social media site traffic, and the reduction in marketing costs such as printing and postage. These benefits can translate to an increase in prospective student inquiries, student populations, donations, and revenue.
How Wesleyan College has responded
Wesleyan has gone mobile with the use of several social media apps. Currently Wesleyan has two active Facebook pages, an Instagram page, a Twitter account, and a LinkedIn account. These pages are set up to help keep our followers and supporters, alumnae, faculty, staff, and current and prospective students aware of news and events at the College. In an effort to increase Wesleyan’s following on Facebook, Art Director Brandi Vorhees initiated a campaign in 2013 entitled 5/52: Through the Lens of the Art Director. Five days a week for 52 weeks she posted a photo related to the College. Pictures included shots of the campus, the buildings, student activities, pieces of art, seasonal blooms, new construction, fried chicken in the dining hall, various events, and more. Over the course of the year, the number of followers on our Facebook page more than doubled.
Although Instagram and Twitter offer different experiences, one thing they have in common is the #hashtag, which allows visitors to search, connect, and engage through the use of a common #hashtag. For example, by clicking on a #hashtag, prospective students can follow a school’s campus activities, student life, sports, or even the dining hall menu. A college might use specific #hashtags to offer messages to incoming classes, create a campus-wide conversation among current students, and cross promote the #hashtags to connect the two groups. Efforts to increase Wesleyan’s following also include Instagram campaigns. During Welcome to Wesleyan Weekend (WWW), the College used the #hashtag #WCselfY to encourage the posting of pictures, or “selfies,” taken during the weekend’s events. To our delight, current students, prospective students, alumnae and guests participated in the campaign. Additionally, Devyn Foti ’13, from the College’s Office of Institutional Advancement, initiated a oneweek campaign in March called #meetastudent. Each day for five days, a current Wesleyan student was featured with a quote about herself, Wesleyan, or her life at Wesleyan. Within two months our number of Instagram followers increased by fifteen percent. Be on the lookout for WINC, a new mobile app specializing in communication between Wesleyan alumnae and students coming in late 2015. For now, follow us on social media and keep up with all the exciting things happening on Wesleyan’s campus every day. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook pages: Wesleyan College Alumnae Association Wesleyan College-First For Women Instagram @wesleyancollegega Twitter @WesleyanCollege Wesleyan Wesleyan Magazine Magazine Summer Summer 2015 2012
STUNT 2015
Purple Knights
Pirates
From hilarious costumes to moving candlelit ceremonies, tradition is alive and well at the world’s oldest and boldest college for women. 2015 marked the 119th year of STUNT, the annual class musical production that dates back to 1897. The four classes wrote, directed, performed, and produced their own skits to compete for the coveted STUNT Cup. This year, the Golden Hearts won the cup and the Spirit Cup. All proceeds from the annual event benefit academic scholarships. View additional photos from STUNT online.
Green Knights
Golden Hearts
Campus News Henry wins national honor Christy Henry, assistant dean of academic resources at Wesleyan, was named an Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate by the National Resource Center for the FirstYear Experience and Students in Transition. Henry is one of only two recipients nationally to receive the award for colleges with fewer than 2000 students. Each year, presidents of American higher education institutions are invited to nominate one educator on their campus who is doing exceptional work in the areas of student learning, development, and success, and who is involved in high-impact practices for first-year student success. All first-year Wesleyan students are required to take WISe 101 and 102, which are the foundation of a Wesleyan education. These interdisciplinary seminars introduce first-year students to academic life at Wesleyan and focus on honing writing and critical thinking skills. They model Wesleyan’s diverse and challenging academic community, stressing the value of a Wesleyan education, and help students make the transition to college. In WISe 101 and 102, students learn from faculty and also learn to teach one other—exploring divergent perspectives and deepening meaning through discussion and working together to solve problems. Now in her thirteenth year at Wesleyan, Henry has earned the highest awards given at the College: the Staff/Faculty Workhorse Award (four times), SGA Staff Member of the Year (two times), and the Presidential Staff Award.
Young alumnae speak to students during Alumnae Weekend As part of a new classroom event added to Alumnae Weekend, two alumnae spoke to students about their life after Wesleyan, including how career paths and experiences have reflected their Wesleyan education. Betty Lo ’95 spoke to Dr. Glenna Meyer’s advertising strategy class about her career, which began at Coca Cola where she spent fifteen years before taking a position at Newell Rubbermaid. Today Lo serves as vice president of community alliances and consumer engagement for the global information and measurement company Neilsen. She is an active member within the Asian-American community and serves as a senior advisor for the National Association of Asian-American Professionals. Lo told students that the most critical component of advancing one’s career is the ability to communicate. “Not just the words you use but also how you use them. You have to know when a phone call will suffice and when you need to meet with someone face-toface. You have to learn how to present yourself and advance the relationship through communication.” Lo earned her bachelor’s degree at Wesleyan in a selfdesigned major that included international business, political science, and modern languages and her EMBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. In 2010, Lo received the Wesleyan Alumnae Association’s Young Alumna Award. Jessica Seale ’10 spoke to Dr. Barbara Donovan’s women and politics class about her journey to a career in politics. A political science major, Jessica currently serves as director for digital communication for U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas). She previously worked as director for digital communications for the U.S. House Government Oversight Committee and for Upstream Communications, a digital political communications company in Austin, Texas. Jessica advised students to never stop acquiring new skills. “Wesleyan’s interdisciplinary education is great because you develop all sorts of skills outside of your major that will be of great benefit at some point in the future.” Alumnae interested in speaking to a class should contact Alumnae Director Cathy Snow at csnow@wesleyancollege.edu. 40
Trietsch honored with Sullivan Award Congratulations to Katy Trietsch ’15 for receiving the 2015 Mary Mildred Sullivan Award for excellence in character, leadership, service to the community, and commitment to spiritual values. Katy is the fourth recipient of the Sullivan Award at Wesleyan College, the only award presented to a graduating senior during Commencement. A Mary Knox McNeill scholar who majored in environmental studies with a minor in biology, Katy served as Wesleyan Disciples president, Habitat Club treasurer, and a Resident Advisor. According to Director of Campus Ministry Debra Williams ’12, “Katy is a mature and committed leader who lives her life from the foundation of her faith.” Katy’s faith and interest in creation care found expression in her choice of academic major as well as her active involvement in sustainability efforts on campus. A member of Wesleyan’s Sustainability Committee, Katy started a “green floor” in the residence halls and spent hours in the Arboretum removing invasive plants, planting longleaf pines, and cleaning trails. Following graduation, she began an internship in the Allegheny National Forest with the Student Conservation Association. Wesleyan is one of six colleges and universities in Georgia and sixty-eight in the South participating in the Sullivan Award program.
Softball team sweeps the GSAC Championship awards The Wesleyan Wolves softball team made it a near sweep of the major awards presented at the GSAC Championship Awards Banquet on Friday, April 24. Sophomore Jema Bravo collected the league’s highest honor, being named the 2015 Player of the Year, while junior Mellissa Webb was named the 2015 Pitcher of the Year. Head Coach Dickey Hightower was recognized as the 2015 GSAC Coach of the Year. Two Wesleyan Wolves earned their place on both the GSAC All Conference and All Freshman teams. Catcher Victoria Clower ranked second in the league in onbase percentage (.488), fourth in runs (22), and eleventh in batting average (.305). Third
2015 Wolves tennis team
Athletic department holds annual banquet Bravo, Hightower, and Webb
baseman Jessica Fleming ranked first in the league in runs scored (28) and on base percentage (.519), fourth in stolen bases (7), seventh in hits (32), and eighth in batting average (.344). In addition to excellence on the field, Webb was joined by senior Colleen DeGraff
on the GSAC Academic AllConference team for success in the classroom. To qualify for this honor, athletes must be a sophomore or older and maintain a minimum 3.25 grade point average. DeGraff was also selected to the GSAC All Sportsmanship Team.
Wesleyan’s fleet gets a new member - Welcome Miss Elsie! Wesleyan alumna and former trustee Elsie Lowden Maxwell Hambright ’34 demonstrated her deep love for her alma mater with a generous estate gift. After consulting with her children, the College used the gift to purchase a distinctive vehicle that bears her name. Miss Elsie is the newest member of Wesleyan’s transportation fleet and is by far the largest bus on campus. With a seating capacity of thirty-two, Miss Elsie’s primary function is to transport Wesleyan’s athletic teams to off-campus
competitions, but the bus is also available for other group transportation. According to Head Softball Coach Dickey Hightower, the bus is easy to drive and is equipped with several features that increase safety including a back-up camera and two mirrors on each side that are easily adjusted with motorized controls. “Miss Elsie provides comfortable travel for our teams. With room to store all equipment and bags, we now take just one vehicle on trips. It is also equipped with a DVD player to help pass time on longer trips.”
The bus’s colorful and lively design, courtesy of Art Director Brandi Vorhees, attracts attention on the road. Julie Adams Hawk ’57 recommends that students and young alumnae check the Wesleyan archives to know that Miss Elsie is “a far cry from the Purple Turtle!” Enhancing student experiences was always the focus of Elsie Maxwell Hambright’s support for Wesleyan. We are exceedingly grateful to her family for honoring her life and our students with this generous addition to Wesleyan’s campus.
The Wesleyan College Athletic Department held its annual awards banquet April 30th, honoring athletes for their outstanding play and dedication for the 2014-2015 academic year. Sophomore Jema Bravo ’17 was recognized as Wesleyan Athlete of the Year. Bravo is a member of the volleyball and softball teams and has asserted herself as one of the best athletes in the Great South Athletic Conference over only two seasons of play. The 2015 Multi-Sport Athlete of the Year Award was presented to sophomore Mylee Connor ’17, a member of the soccer and basketball teams. For her outstanding academic performance, Mylee was also named to the GSAC Academic All-Conference team for both sports. This year’s newly renamed Spirit of the Wolf Award (formerly Spirit of the Pioneer Award) went to senior Colleen DeGraff ’15. The Team GPA Award was presented to the 2015 Wolves tennis team, who produced an overall 3.52 GPA. The twelvewoman roster is comprised of athletes who value their efforts in the classroom as much as their dedication on the courts. The head coach of each of six teams - basketball, equestrian, soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball - recognized individual athletes on each team. In keeping with its annual tradition, the Office of Alumnae Affairs presented each senior athlete with a gift, which this year was a stuffed Wesleyan Wolf. Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Campus News Dr. Chenny Gan ‘02 named as a 40 Under 40: Professors Who Inspire Congratulations to Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Chenny Gan ‘02 for being voted a “40 Under 40: Professors Who Inspire” by NerdScholar. “The best professors do more than teach. They leave impressions on our lives that change the way we think, work, and view the world around us. These 40 professors are doing just that, demonstrating the difference between good and great. Chosen based on nominations from their students, alumni, and faculty colleagues, these women and men — not that much older than their students — are inspiring the young adults of today to be the world leaders and thinkers of tomorrow.” Teaching piano and collaborative piano at Wesleyan, Gan continually goes above and beyond for her students. As part of the Lamar Lecture Series in February, Gan hosted a performance by nationally known saxophonist John Ellis and his New Orleans-style jazz band Double-Wide followed by a jam session with the band and Wesleyan students. Gan also mentors Chinese piano students who attend Wesleyan. To help Chinese students improve their English skills, Gan encourages American students to have a conversation every day with someone whose native language is not English.
Wesleyan College offers Sweet Briar College students a new home March 17 and 18 a team of representatives from Wesleyan traveled to Virginia for a two-day college fair for the students of Sweet Briar College (SBC). The transfer fair was held after Sweet Briar administrators announced that the college would close at the end of the 2015 spring semester. Wesleyan offered a $500 Sisterhood Scholarship to every SBC transfer student and up to $14,000 in scholarships to qualified students. An expedited application and admission process and an extended application deadline of June 20, 2015 completed the admission package to SBC transfer students. The team spoke with nearly fifty SBC students, most of whom were interested in Wesleyan’s award-winning equestrian program, affordable tuition, small class sizes, and sisterhood traditions. Almost immediately, sixteen SBC students applied to Wesleyan and five were accepted. Since the college fair, Wesleyan has received more than two dozen inquiries from SBC students. In attendance at the fair were Steve Farr, Danielle Lodge, Leslie Goodman, Jessica Meagher, Paul McCord and Marissa Wolff.
Wesleyan honored with 2015 Community Engagement Classification The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching selected Wesleyan College as one of 240 U.S. colleges and universities to receive its 2015 Community Engagement Classification. Colleges and universities with an institutional focus on community engagement were invited to apply for the classification first offered in 2006 as part of an extensive restructuring of The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Wesleyan is one of ten Georgia schools and among only six women’s colleges nationwide to receive the classification since 2006. Nationwide, only 361 campuses have earned this important designation. “We are honored to have been selected to receive the 2015 Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement,” said Jill Amos ’87, director of Wesleyan’s Lane Center for Service and Leadership. “As one of the four pillars of a Wesleyan education, community service permeates our curriculum. The Lane Center is at the heart of our effort to place students in strategically purposeful volunteer positions at Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table, the Bibb County Public Schools, and many nonprofit agencies throughout our community.” 42
New Legacy Scholarship for alumnae relatives: 1/2 tuition for ALL the tradition For the first time, Wesleyan alumnae can nominate a young woman in her family to experience the values and traditions that make Wesleyan unique for half the price of regular tuition! Beginning fall semester 2015, the Legacy Scholarship is being offered to incoming first-year and transfer students who are referred to the College by a Wesleyan alumna who is a grandmother, mother, step-mother, sister, step-sister, sister-in-law, or aunt of the student. The Legacy Scholarship will always equal one-half the cost of tuition at Wesleyan. For the 2015 - 2016 academic year, its value is $10,070. As tuition increases, the scholarship will increase as well. To nominate a student or to complete an application, visit the Admissions scholarship page on the Wesleyan website: www.wesleyancollege.edu.
Students, faculty, and staff recognized on Honors Day, April 15th
Christina Mayfield (left) was honored as Wesleyan Woman of Success, an award given annually to a graduating senior who stands out in extracurricular activities, community service, and academics. Graduating senior Richa Adhikari (right) received the highest student nominated honor, Wesleyan Woman of the Year, for leadership, loyalty to the College, and friendship to others.
Faculty received awards for the academic year 2014-2015 on Honors Day. (Pictured left to right) Provost Dr. Vivia Fowler; Dr. Brock Bingaman, assistant professor of religious studies, honored with the Vulcan Materials Exemplary Teacher award; Dr. Holly BoettgerTong, professor of biology, honored with the Ann Munck Excellence in Teaching award; Dr. Joe Lease, assistant professor of English, honored with the UMC Exemplary Teacher award and the SGA Teacher of the Year award; and President Ruth Knox ’75.
Lexi Barrett ’15 starts equestrian therapy program Senior Lexi Barrett ’15 will spend her first year after graduating from Wesleyan overseeing an equestrian therapy program she started at Georgia Children’s Industrial Home (GCIH) in 2014. Once a week, Lexi and members of Wesleyan’s Equestrian Club visit GCIH and talk to students about the safety and care of horses. On “barn days,” GCIH students come to Wesleyan to work with the horses. According to Lexi, “The kids absolutely adore the horses. They are curious to learn more about the animals and are eager to accept responsibility.” The program began with eight boys ages 16-18 and has grown to include half a dozen girls ages 12-17. “I have been working hand-in-hand with Sheila Cloyd, life coach at GCIH, and together we have seen a tremendous difference in these kids. They are learning accountability, responsibility, and communication skills. I have seen such a transformation in their behavior!” Lexi will be planning a series of fundraisers this year to ensure that the program continues to grow. “I will go to graduate school eventually, but for now I believe it is my duty to help these kids. Then I can earn a degree that will help me create programs like this everywhere!” Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Dr. Ninfa Saunders, President and Chief Executive Officer of Navicent Health Wesleyan College and the Golden Heart class of 2015 welcomed Dr. Ninfa Saunders, President and Chief Executive Officer of Navicent Health, as the keynote speaker during Commencement ceremonies May 9. Navicent Health is the second-largest hospital in Georgia and the only designated Level I Trauma Center in the region. Internationally and nationally recognized for excellence in the field of healthcare, Dr. Saunders, RN, MSN, MBA, PhD, is the first female and first minority to serve as CEO of Navicent Health.
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Photo by Steve Schroeder
Having earned her education in three countries and five states, Saunders is a committed community leader, author, researcher, teacher, mentor, and public speaker with more than forty years of hospital administrative experience. After earning her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Concordia College in Manila, Philippines, she completed her doctorate in healthcare administration at the Medical University of South Carolina, earned
a master of business administration from Emory University, and a master of science in nursing from Rutgers University. She attended the Healthcare Executive Program at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the International Business Program at the London School of Business. Saunders is an executive co-founder of Stratus Healthcare, the largest healthcare alliance in the Southeastern United States.
Saunders addressed 126 graduates and an audience that filled Porter Auditorium requiring a simulcast to a near-capacity group of guests in Taylor Hall Amphitheatre. Speaking on the topic Transformation through Disruptive Innovation, Saunders explained that disruptive innovation creates a new market and value network that eventually disrupts an existing market. She cited examples including moving from traditional encyclopedias to Wikipedia; from personal computers to smart phones; from telephone calls to texting; and from renting videos at Blockbuster to accessing Netflix on demand. “As we continue to serve the communities across the globe or in our own local community, we find ourselves adapting or not, to the transformation process going on around us. Scholars, economists, and futurists tell us that we have moved from a predominantly service economy to a knowledge economy. Many of us find ourselves navigating transformation through disruptive innovation.” Saunders outlined five key factors for becoming leaders and facilitators of innovation instead of falling victim to change:
Transform your world through disruptive innovation. Do not wait to be asked, instead volunteer to take on the toughest projects, the ones nobody wants, and create a solution that is swift and innovative. Better yet, challenge the current state and build a compelling future state.
2. Find your blue ocean strategy in the midst of the red ocean strategy. In the book The Blue Ocean Strategy, Renée Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim describe the red ocean as the fiercely competitive arena where most companies compete, while blue oceans are uncontested market space. Find your personal and professional blue ocean strategy. Create a new space and replace the old space with strategies and tactics that will make your competition irrelevant.
3. Focus on the importance of balance between performance and values.
1. Be the change you want to see.
Balance your performance excellence and adopt the values of integrity, respect, caring, learning, passion, and teamwork.
Contemplate for a few seconds the following statistics published by Catalyst in 2013: • Today, women make up 47% of the US workforce. 51% of them are employed in management and professional jobs. • In healthcare, women account for 73% of medical and health service employees, but only 4% of healthcare organization CEOs and 18% of hospital CEOs are women. • In Fortune 500 companies, women account for just 17% of board members, 15% of C-Suite executives, and 5% of CEOs. • Women make about seventy-eight cents for every dollar a man is paid. • A 2010 study from Catalyst surveyed nearly 10,000 alumni of elite business schools and found that women were 30% more likely than men to begin their careers in entry-level positions. • They also noted that women in leadership positions were three times as likely as their male executive counterparts to be laid off during a recession.
4. Pay forward and gift back. I challenge you to find a gift to share with someone who could be in a better place because of it.
5. Understand the importance of work/ life blending. The work that we do as parents, professionals, leaders, homemakers, and public servants has catapulted us into a world that is intense, stressful, overdriven, and under-fueled. Women who are the CEO of their households have reached an unprecedented level of stress. The whirlwind around us is not going to slow down so let’s try our hardest to not make it go faster. Let’s work smarter. Saunders concluded with this advice, “Go into the world and use your knowledge to create, build, and perform
until such knowledge becomes wisdom that will help you transform our world into a better one for the next generation.” Dr. Saunders started her career as a staff nurse in the intensive care unit of Riley Memorial Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi. She lived in Georgia for more than twenty years, working as a nurse, as director of nursing resources for Emory University Hospital, and as chief operating officer at the Dekalb Medical Center, Decatur, Georgia. In 2003 she accepted a position with Virtua Health, the largest health care system in south New Jersey, becoming president and chief operating officer in 2010. Prior to joining Virtua, she served on the Governor’s Georgia Cancer Coalition, created by Governor Roy Barnes to develop regional centers of excellence for cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and research. At Navicent Health since 2012, Saunders has focused on consolidating local healthcare options, collaborating with competitors, and increasing central Georgia’s medical profile. She founded Navicent Health’s “CEO of the Household” program, a series of health events including lunch and learns and health fairs that ask women to take time from their busy schedules to focus on their own health. Among Becker’s Hospital Review’s 130 Women Hospital and Health System Leaders to Know in both 2014 and 2013, Saunders was chosen as the 2014 CEO of the Year by the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals. She was included on Georgia Trend’s 2015 listing of 100 Most Influential Georgians and honored by The (Macon) Telegraph as the 2014 Person of the Year in central Georgia. The Georgia Diversity Council also selected Saunders as one of Georgia’s Most Powerful & Influential Women of 2013. Saunders currently serves as an executive with the Fierce Healthcare CEO Advisory Board and as a frequent expert for Becker’s Hospital Review and Healthcare Leaders national media roundtables. The vice chair for the American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity, Saunders serves throughout central Georgia in leadership roles focused on economic development and community engagement.
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
From the Alumnae President: The Annual Meeting of our alumnae association was bittersweet for me this year. On the one hand, my PK90 sisters were in the auditorium to celebrate our 25th reunion, so there was lots of hooting and hollering that made my heart swell. But on the other hand, it was my last year as President. Last time lighting the first candle, last time reading the Benson Charge, last time looking out over the faces of hundreds of my sisters as they glowed in the candlelight. It was a Big Moment. Later that afternoon, I had several Small Moments that have given me some big things to think about since then. When the PKs went down to admire the new Pierce Chapel, I bumped into Casey Thurman ’65 and she led us in an impromptu singalong. I saw current students having their portraits taken for the Wesleyan “Five Faces” campaign. I found a chair donated in memory of Dr. Darlene Mettler. I talked to sisters from five or six classes across the decades, all during that little trip to the Chapel. As my class trudged back up the hill, I spotted a new friend of mine, Stephanie Hood Wittry ’08, and I yelled to her then gave her a hug. Yvette Ramirez Krayer ’90 commented on how neat it is that my work with the Board of Managers has given me the opportunity to meet so many people from other classes. She’s right. A few days later, Stephanie sent me a message on Facebook: “I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed seeing you during Alum Weekend! Sometimes, I still feel like the invisible girl from high school who’s not used to someone calling her name and giving a big hug! That made my day!” Oh, how her words hit my heart — I remember what it was like to be The Invisible Girl before I found my place at Wesleyan. That’s the secret of our bond as Wesleyannes: not a single one of us will ever be The Invisible Girl when we have so many sisters. I encourage you to get involved with the Alumnae Association and get to know ALL your sisters, the ones you graduated with and the ones you didn’t! Be an Alumnae Admissions Representative. Serve as a mentor. Host a meeting of the Pioneer Book Club. Get together a group of sisters in your area and volunteer somewhere. Come back to Alumnae Weekend every year to see your “bigs” and your “littles” and to make new friends. Be visible.
Ashley Garrett ’90 President, Wesleyan College Alumnae Association
Announcing Alumnae Weekend 2016
April 15, 16, and 17
Mark your calendar now and plan to join us next spring! Reunions are celebrated at five-year intervals, but all alumnae are invited to this and every Alumnae Weekend. See page 67 for more information. 46
Congratulations 2015 Alumnae Award Recipients!
To read complete profiles of these wonderful Wesleyan women, visit our website: www.wesleyancollege.edu. Distinguished Service to the Community
Ann Scott Terry ’70
Ann Scott Terry ’70 is an enthusiastic servant leader in her community of Rock Hill, which has been her home for nearly 36 years. Giving generously of her time and talents, Ann has made career choices as well as volunteer selections that have met important needs in her community, including her early professional career as a librarian. During her tenure with the City of Rock Hill, Ann served as boards and commissions coordinator, environmental education specialist, project specialist for the Public Information Office, and as a member of the steering committee for the city’s Sesquicentennial Celebration. Perhaps the area in which she has had the most impact is the Come See Me Festival, the largest all-volunteer festival in South Carolina. Serving as Festival chair in 1989, Ann was awarded the Festival’s Community Service Merit Award in 2011 for her years of exemplary leadership. Recently, she was presented with the Beyond the Call of Glen Award, which is the Festival’s highest volunteer award. For 17 years, Ann has been actively involved with Kiwanis Club, holding office as president, program vice president, membership vice president, and secretary/ treasurer. Former board president at the Palmetto School at Attention Home Charter School, Ann is currently its secretary. Since joining the American Association of University Women in 1983, she has served twice as state president and twice on AAUW’s national board. Active boosters for Winthrop University’s softball team, both Ann and her husband, Vernon, attend all their games, even traveling to away games. On the occasion of Vernon’s 50th birthday, Ann endowed the University’s softball complex naming it Terry Field. Ann has served also on the boards of Rock Hill’s Chamber of Commerce, United Way, Community Theatre, and the Piedmont Medical Center and on committees for the Arts Council, the South Carolina Women’s Leadership Conference, and more. Last year, Rock Hill’s local television station CN2 recognized Ann as a Hometown Hero. 48
Distinguished Service to the Church
Distinguished Service to Wesleyan
Described by her classmates as exemplifying the ideals that Wesleyan sets for us all, Betsy Palmer Smith ‘60 responds quickly and positively to calls for service by her church, her family and friends, and children throughout her community. Even Betsy’s minister says, “Betsy embodies the best of Wesleyan’s values and the marks of a servant leader.” As an elder, Betsy has served three terms as a member of her church’s governing body. She has chaired the Stewardship Committee and served on numerous committees, including Pastor Nominating Committee, Christian Education, and Congregational Care. Her leadership is profound at her local church and the broader Presbytery of Greater Atlanta. She is also hands-on. She sings in the choir, teaches Sunday School, and shepherds first and second graders. As a member and chair of the Congregational Care Committee, she is the first responder to the needs of members of the congregation with meals, a helping hand, or simply a sympathetic ear. Care for the most vulnerable is a hallmark of Betsy’s life, both within and beyond the bounds of the church. As a result of serving on a special task force for the Presbytery and her concerns for child safety, she and others in the church served on a committee that developed a protection policy for children and youth at Shallowford Presbyterian Church. A lifelong educator, Betsy taught school for many years, including 26 years at St. Pius X Catholic High School where she was named Teacher of the Year in 2002. Today, she serves as a grand-friend at Indian Creek Elementary School, reading in classrooms and befriending children in the area. She brings joy and comfort wherever she goes. Recently, Betsy was awarded “Honorary Life Membership in Presbyterian Women” by Shallowford Presbyterian Women for her comprehensive service to the church.
When Casey Thurman ‘65 arrived at Wesleyan College as a firstyear student, she blessed everyone she met with joy. The 1965 Veterropt describes her as “the girl who was born with a smile on her face and a laugh in her heart,” and she could often be heard shouting “This is better’n grits!” about everything from a soccer victory to an excellent grade. Casey loved everyone and everything about Wesleyan College, and today she still refers to Wesleyan as the cornerstone of her life. Casey’s exceptional musical talents combined with her passion for adventure have taken her across the world since graduation, traveling to more than 72 countries. Of course, she repeatedly finds a path back to her beloved Wesleyan. In 1968, Casey became the youngest member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Chorus. Later, she earned diplomas in lieder and opera from the Mozarteum in Salzburg and was hired by Theatre an der Wien in Vienna. Throughout her vocal career, she has credited Wesleyan and music professor Norman McLean with her enormous success. In 1974, she became assistant professor of voice at the College and oversaw master classes for recitals, directed opera workshops, and conducted the Wesleyannes at the White House, in New York, New England, New Orleans, and throughout the southeast. Fourteen years ago, Casey was instrumental in creating the Norman McLean Master Class series at Wesleyan, which continues to bring outstanding musicians to campus to coach students. In 1980, Casey became the director of Camp Glen Arden in Tuxedo, NC. As a result of her tenure as camp director, many former campers who thrived under Casey’s summer leadership enrolled at Wesleyan College. Casey still invites Wesleyan’s admissions representatives to camp to meet prospective students, campers, and staff. An outstanding musician, Casey planned music for President Ruth Knox’s Inauguration in 2004 and alumnae concerts during several Alumnae Weekends.
Betsy Palmer Smith ‘60
Casey Thurman ‘65
Now is the time to Nominate for 2016 Alumnae Awards:
Distinguished Achievement in a Profession • Distinguished Service to Community, Church, or Wesleyan • Young Alumna Award. For nomination forms contact the alumnae office (478) 757-5173 or download forms from our website. Deadline to nominate: December 1, 2015.
Distinguished Achievement in a Profession
Dr. Karen Moore Thomson ’67
A true Renaissance woman, Dr. Karen Moore Thomson ’67 is a dedicated teacher, classical pianist, spiritual healer, gifted artist, awardwinning runner, and health advocate. Karen’s career paths have connected her passion for learning to her passion for helping others. An avid student of life whose professional career epitomizes the value and versatility of a liberal arts education, she exemplifies how using that education to benefit others can effect positive change and career growth. After spending 20 years as an English professor in the University of Georgia system, Karen entered a second phase of her career in 1995 when she founded the Center for Healing & Spiritual Awareness, where she is director, teacher, reader, and healer, fulfilling a passion she has pursued for decades. Karen is a Registered Yoga Teacher 200 and teaches in her studio, The Buckhead Yoga Room. In addition to these pursuits, Karen has been on the concert stage as both a solo pianist and an accompanist. She enjoys playing for weddings, receptions, church services, and special events as well as for benefits for the Atlanta Symphony and programs at the Cathedral of St. Philip. She has taught piano lessons for ten years and her fourth CD, Highlights from Operas and Musicals, is set to be released this year. Karen has served as a member and officer of The Atlanta Woman’s Club, including an indefinite appointment to the club’s executive board and a recent election to the board of trustees for another two-year term. She was the project director and chair of the AWC History Book Committee, and was instrumental in the development and publishing of A Light on Peachtree: A History of the Atlanta Woman’s Club. She also serves on the board of trustees of Tallulah Falls School and is an advisor to the board for The Atlanta Steinway Society.
Distinguished Service to Wesleyan
Pat Hardeman ’68
Professor, registrar, associate dean, and mentor, Pat Hardeman ’68 touched the hearts and minds of countless Wesleyan students and faculty for 40 years. Pat’s service to her alma mater includes teaching and administration, but her focus has always been to enrich and empower Wesleyan students. In 1974, Pat began teaching biology at Wesleyan where her teaching always reflected her belief that biology cannot be taught in the classroom alone. She organized and taught field components for biology courses offered as mini-terms at Wesleyan in the 1970s and 1980s. She led students around the globe on scientific expeditions to what she calls “living laboratories” in Kenya, East Africa, the Galapagos Islands, and the Amazon rainforest. She arranged internships at such locations as Central State Hospital to ensure that biology students were well qualified for admission to graduate school programs. As assistant and then associate dean and registrar for the College since 1988, Pat chaired and served on dozens of committees and councils including admission, curriculum, strategic planning, accreditation, and many others. She edited and published the Wesleyan College Catalogue for 23 years! A member of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, Pat served as president of Wesleyan’s chapter and, as a member of Beta Beta Beta National Biology Honor Society, she secured Wesleyan’s charter for the Sigma Lambda chapter. In 1998, she was honored by students with the Veterropt yearbook dedication. In 1986, Pat chaired the Carnes Lecture Series bringing award-winning journalist Eugenia Zukerman to campus. Later she brought Dr. Eugenie Clark, a recognized world authority on shark behavior, to Wesleyan for a 2-day visit. Known for her love of storytelling, Pat is famous at Wesleyan for her Tales from the Vault, presentations on every facet of Wesleyan’s history. During commencement 2014, Wesleyan bestowed upon Pat Hardeman the honor of professor of biology and registrar emerita.
Young Alumna Award
Megan Quinn ’05 In just ten years, Megan Quinn ’05 has realized what for some would be a lifetime of professional achievements. A psychology major at Wesleyan, Megan went on to earn her MSc in public health research from the University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine and then her DrPH in epidemiology from East Tennessee State University’s College of Public Health where she was honored as DrPH Outstanding Student in Epidemiology. Megan is now an assistant professor in East Tennessee State’s department of biostatistics and epidemiology. At ETSU she not only teaches but also conducts research in the areas of adverse child experiences and adult health outcomes, maternal and child health, global health, health disparities, and cancer epidemiology. Megan’s work has involved her in public health initiatives around the world including South Africa, Haiti, and Nicaragua. She has served as grants chair for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Tri-Cities Tennessee Affiliate and as childhood cancer chair for the Northeast Tennessee Region of the Tennessee Comprehensive Cancer Coalition. Megan is a member of the Society for Epidemiologic Research, the International Epidemiological Association, and the Tennessee Public Health Association. She volunteers with programs sponsored by the Tennessee Institute of Public Health, the Johnson City Junior League, and the Johnson City Public Library. She even has served the local Parks and Recreation department as girls soccer coach, fulfilling a passion she developed at Wesleyan. Prior to graduate school, Megan returned to Wesleyan as head soccer coach and director of student activities. Wesleyan colleagues remember Megan for her professionalism and compassion, especially when she traveled to Russia as part of the College’s partnership with Ulyanovsk State University. Her work with the residents of the Beloe Ozero children’s home won the hearts of children and villagers in Ulyanovsk, and Megan has since returned to Russia to continue helping these children.
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
AlumnaeCONNECTIONS Celebrating More Good News: The President’s Tour. This winter President Ruth Knox visited with alumnae in north Florida where she shared an iPad presentation on life at Wesleyan that focused on new academic programs, athletic endeavors, student life and leadership on campus, and Pierce Chapel. Visit wesleyancollege.edu/Alumnae/Alumnae Events to participate in alumnae activities near you. Contact the Alumnae Office at 478.757.5172 for more information.
Florida
hostesses. Wesleyan guests included Millie Parrish Hudson ’75 and Whitney Davis (Advancement Office), and Cathy Coxey Snow ’71 and Mary Kathryn Borland (Alumnae Office). Also in April, members participated in the Club’s 2015 WOW Service Day project as volunteer docents for the Atlanta Symphony Decorators’ Show House. Sally Myhand Flannagan Neal ’70 coordinated plans for the Club’s 15th annual Show House project. Congratulations to Jaime McQuilkin ’06 who was elected president of the Atlanta Club and to Shanita Douglas Miller ’06 who was elected president-elect. Our thanks to Pamela Davis Corvelli for her service as outgoing president.
Jacksonville In January, President Ruth Knox met with alumnae at Epping Forest Yacht Club in Jacksonville. Kathy Amidon MacGregor ’73 coordinated plans for Luncheon with the President, along with alumnae hostesses Cara Carroll Baity ’94, Mimi Cordes Kelley ’39, Helen Likins ’10, and Linda Maria Willson ’64. College guests Susan Allen and Mary Kathryn Borland also greeted alumnae from the “Sunshine State.”
Macon Macon area alumnae began the 2014 holiday season with a celebration in Burden Parlor. More than 60 alumnae gathered for the group’s annual Holiday Coffee in December where alumnae enjoyed seeing the WCAA’s Sisterhood Tree. Ruth Knox and Wesleyan advancement and alumnae office staff members greeted guests and brought holiday cheer from the Oldest and Best. In February, members of the Macon Pioneer Book Club met at the home of Lynn Moses ’77. Jane Price Claxton ’68 hosted the book club’s discussion in her home in April.
Gainesville Gainesville area alumnae were treated to a special Dinner with the President in January hosted by Ron and Arline Atkins Finch ’56 and Leonard and Libby Truitt Furlow ’55. Alumnae met with President Ruth A. Knox ’75 and Wesleyan guests Susan Allen, senior development officer, and Mary Kathryn Borland ’04, alumnae director, for an evening of sharing good news from the College. Our thanks to alumnae hostesses Iris Carroll Edwards ’62, Katie Crozier-Theis ’04, and Dot Hendrix Hope ’62 who encouraged alumnae to attend.
A genuine legend on Capitol Hill Orlando The Winter Park Racquet Club served as the venue for Luncheon with the President in the Orlando area, where Ruth Knox updated alumnae on the latest College news. Wesleyan guests Susan Allen and Mary Kathryn Borland also were on hand to meet with alumnae. Our thanks to Charlotte Battle Everbach ’52, Bee Seckinger Epley ’58, Catherine Hinman ’75, and Shirley Wise Richardson ’63 who served as alumnae hostesses for this January event. Tallahassee Meeting at Goodwood Museum and Gardens is always fun for Tallahassee area alumnae. Many thanks to Virginia Barber Perkins ’63 who planned for a Luncheon with the President in January with help from alumnae hostesses Shari Richardson Arrington ’71, Ermine Owenby ’61, and Martha Herring Stubbs ’68, who all welcomed Ruth Knox and guests to Tallahassee.
Georgia Atlanta Wesleyan Atlanta Young Alumnae (WAYA) held a Holiday Brunch at Mary Mac’s Tea Room in December. Alumnae Director Mary Kathryn Borland and Advancement Associate Whitney Davis joined the group and extended holiday greetings on behalf of the College. In April, alumnae were invited to a Sisterhood Social at the home of Helma Wood Clark ’90. Sponsored by past presidents of the Atlanta Club, the social brought more than 50 alumnae together for the afternoon. Our thanks to Sally Moffett McKenna ’75 who coordinated plans for the event with other past presidents including Frances Oehmig Collins ’47, Pamela Davis Corvelli ’98, Natalie Puckett Evans ’02, Lisa Bridges Hines ’98, Becky Edenfield Lingerfelt ’71, Mary Catherine Collins O’Kelley ’72, and Debbie Stevenson Moses ’89. Ruth White Fruit ’54 and Julie Adams Hawk ’57 also served as alumnae
North Carolina
Raleigh North Carolina Triangle area alumnae welcomed in the New Year with a meeting and luncheon at the North Carolina Museum of Art, the first major museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding. Club leaders Pamela Henry Pate ’71 and Linda Brown Walker ’73 discussed upcoming plans for the Club, including opportunities for a future WOW Service Day project with the Museum.
Wesleyan College Alumnae Association (WCAA) Alumnae/Student Events Wesleyan students participated in a number of WCAA sponsored class events and traditions this past winter and spring that included Junior Java held especially for the Green Knight Class of 2016. Juniors met in Oval Hall to hear a discussion on the responsibilities of “moving up” to senior status and designed time capsules to be opened at their 5th reunion. In April, the Golden Heart Class of 2015 participated in the Candlelighting Ceremony where seniors were formally inducted into the alumnae association. Wesleyan’s senior nursing students were eligible to take part this year which added a new dimension to the ceremony. The WCAA also sponsored Senior Toast, where President Knox feted seniors with a farewell celebration at Bradley House. In May, Reunion 0, a new endeavor co-sponsored by Macon’s College Hill Alliance, provided fun events for seniors, parents, alumnae, Macon business owners, and Wesleyan staff during the week preceding graduation. The WCAA held its traditional Reception after Commencement for graduating seniors and their families on the lawn in front of Porter Auditorium.
Got Sisterhood ? Get Social . Wesleyan College Alumnae Association
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@wesleyancollege
For current updates on news of classmates, friends, and alumnae events check us out on Social Media. wesleyancollegega
wesleyancollegega
CLUB facebook 1. Dinner with the President. (L-R) Libby Truitt Furlow ’55, President Ruth Knox, and Arline Atkins Finch ’56 at the Gainesville Country Club in Florida.
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3. Sharing Good News. (L-R) Ruth Knox shares Wesleyan news with alumnae hostesses Kathy Amidon MacGregor ’73, Cara Carroll Baity ’94 and Linda Maria Willson ’64 in Jacksonville, FL.
Photos by: Jason Vorhees
2. Gainesville Girls. (L-R) Iris Carroll Edwards ’62, Dot Hendrix Hope ’62 and Carolyn Brandis Wilson ’66 enjoy dinner in Gainesville.
4. Sunshine State Smiles. Jacksonville area alumnae at Epping Forest Yacht Club. 5. Wesleyan in Winter Park. (L-R) Orlando area hostesses Charlotte Battle Everbach ’52, Bee Seckinger Epley ’58, and Shirley Wise Richardson ’63 with Ruth Knox at Winter Park Racquet Club. 6. Orlando Lunch Bunch. Toni Jennings ’71, Carmee Kipriandes Garcia ’98, Evelyn Leatherman Griffin ’97, and Charlotte Everbach in Winter Park. 7. Happy Hostesses. (L-R) Ermine Owenby ’61, Shari Richardson Arrington ’71, Ruth Knox, Martha Herring Stubbs ’68, and Virginia Barber Perkins ’63 in Tallahassee. 8. A Good Day at Goodwood. Tallahassee area alumnae meet for lunch at Goodwood Museum and Gardens.
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9. Making Merry. Wesleyan Atlanta Young Alumnae (WAYA) enjoy a Holiday Brunch at Mary Mac’s Tea Room in December. 10. Getting Social. Atlanta Club past presidents with Sisterhood Social hostess Helma Wood Clark ’90 and Club President Jaime McQuilkin ’06. 11. Toasting the Future. 2015 Golden Heart seniors attend Senior Toast at Bradley House. 12. Museum Meet Up. North Carolina Triangle Club members ring in the New Year at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh.
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Check out Alumnae Weekend 2015 photos at www.wesleyancollege.edu/alumnae. 11 Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Sympathy The Wesleyan College Alumnae Association extends sympathy to: Elizabeth Stevens Welch ’35 of Atlanta, on the death of her husband, Robert D. Welch, Sr., on September 23, 2014.
Beth Childs Brooks ’66 of Douglas, GA, on the death of her husband, Leo Brooks, on May 3, 2014.
Peggy Derby Champlin ’47 of Los Angeles, CA, on the death of her husband, Charles D. Champlin, on November 16, 2014.
Pris Gautier Bornmann ’68 of Alexandria, VA, on the death of her husband, Lt. Col. John Albert “Al” Bornmann, Jr., U.S. Army (Retired) on February 18, 2015.
Mary White Ware ’47 of Jacksonville, FL, on the death of her sister, Helen White Lindell ’41, on January 4, 2015. Faye Terrell Williams ’57 of Folsom, CA, on the death of her husband, John G. Williams, on November 9, 2014.
Janet Robinson Flanagan ’68 of Franklin, TN, on the death of her husband, Kent Flanagan, on February, 25, 2015.
Judy Cline Godwin Berlin ’53 of Atlanta, on the death of her husband, MSGT Sylvan L. Berlin, U.S. Air Force (Retired) on December 7, 2014.
Ann Brown Austin ’69 of McKinney, TX, on the death of her father, Cecil G. Brown, Jr., on November 30, 2014.
Margaret Neal Doty ’53 of Macon, on the death of her husband, Clayton N. Doty, on January 27, 2015.
Dianne Brannen ’69 of Macon, on the death of her mother, Frances Kelley Brannen, on March 16, 2015.
Marcia Mallet Ades ’54 of DeRidder, LA, on the death of her sister, Jane Anne Mallet Settle ’47, on December 13, 2014.
Mary Ella Gibson Bernard ’70 of Fort Worth, TX, on the death of her husband, Robert William “Bob” Bernard, on March 19, 2015.
Natalie Brewton Barfield ’54 and Dale Barfield Waters ’89 of Macon, on the death of Natalie’s husband and Dale’s father, James Stanford “Stan” Barfield, on January 11, 2015.
Bishop Charlene Payne Kammerer ’70 of Lake Junaluska, NC, on the death of her mother, Mary Payne, on January 9, 2015.
Carol Musgrove ’60 of Tallahassee, FL, on the death of her mother, Mildred Woodbery Musgrove, on February 21, 2015. Linda Quinn Hickman ’63 of Cary, NC, on the death of her husband, William H. Hickman, on October 20, 2014. Lynne Godwin Sikes ’64 and Angelynne Sikes Sheffield ’92 of Glennville, GA, and Allison Sikes Palit ’90 of Republic of Singapore, on the death of Lynne’s husband and Angelynne and Allison’s father, Aubrey Eugene Sikes, Jr., on March 17, 2015. Rosemary McGraw Barfield ’65 of Albany, GA, on the death of her husband, Donald T. “Don” Barfield, on April 29, 2015. Mary Jane McCarren Brantley ’65 of Sarasota, FL, on the death of her daughter, Carren Brantley Burnell, on October 27, 2014.
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Cheryl League Dennis ’68 of Atlanta, on the death of her mother, Mary Jane Proebstle League, on April 15, 2015.
Anne Ponder Young ’71 of Madison, GA, Mary Graham Ponder Foster ’73 and Douglas Ponder Suto ’75 of St. Simons Island, GA, on the death of their mother and former Wesleyan College Trustee Adelaide Wallace Ponder ’46, of St. Simons Island, GA, on May 11, 2015. Susan Sanders Mathews ’72 of Montgomery, AL, on the death of her mother, Kathryn Brown Sanders, on April 14, 2015. Deborah Gardner Green ’74 of Tallahassee, FL, on the death of her mother, Eva Baruch Gardner, on June 28, 2014. Sally Holmes Smith ’74 of Macon, and Pam Easmann Holmes ’66 of Auburn, AL, on the death of Sally’s mother and Pam’s motherin-law, Frances Bush Wood ’44, on April 6, 2015. Bett Snooks Moses ’75 of Alpharetta, GA, on the death of her mother, Jean Cone Snooks ’45, on February 5, 2015.
Abbie Youmans Wakefield ’78 of Sharpsburg, GA, Lizann Youmans Roberts ’81 of Savannah, GA, and Julie Youmans Titus ’89 of Jacksonville, FL, on the death of their mother, Johnnie Velma Howard Youmans, on March 26, 2015. Jayne Amos ’78 of Butler, GA, and Jill Amos ’87 of Macon, on the death of their mother, Glenda Giles Amos ’57, on December 26, 2014. Keena Hammond ’95 of Miami, FL, on the death of her father, Leon Hammond, on February 6, 2015. Tina Valdes ’95 of Dacula, GA, on the death of her father, Richard E. Valdes, Sr., on April 22, 2015. Kathryn Smith Vinson ’99 of Knoxville, TN, on the death of her mother, Dr. May DeLacy Jessup Smith, on December 23, 2014. Theresa Tholkes Hawkins ’03 of St. Paul, MN, on the death of her mother, Marjorie A. Tholkes, on December 3, 2014. Trustee Emeritus Cathy Cox of Young Harris, GA, on the death of her mother, Mary Barber Cox ’52, on November 24, 2014.
Faculty Deaths Dr. Doris Elizabeth King of Raleigh, NC, died on February 21, 2015, at age 89. She was Professor of History and Government at Wesleyan from 1961-1962. Evangeline Thomas Lundy of Milledgeville, GA, died on January 16, 2015. She was Instructor of Homemaking at Wesleyan from 1958-1959. Dr. Constance Ruys of San Jose, CA, died on December 14, 2014, at age 92. She was Professor of Speech and Theatre at Wesleyan from 1962-1976. (See page 64) Dr. Robert Luther Stephens, III of Fayetteville, GA, died on November 19, 2014. He was Associate Professor of Business at Wesleyan from August - November 2014.
In Memoriam
Marriages Congratulations to:
Amanda Harris ’90 of Hanover, MD, and Timothy H. “T.H.” Baughman who were married on April 4, 2014.
Births and Family Additions Congratulations to:
Kima Whipple-Jackson ’00 and Michael of Stockbridge, GA, on the birth of their son, Kyle McKinle, on May 6, 2015. Congratulations to big brothers Kasen and Kaleb as well. Taylor Johnson English ’02 and Jason of Seattle, WA, on the birth of their daughter, Gavin Arya, on November 16, 2014. Emily Dukes LeVan ’04 and Scot of Atlanta, on the birth of their son, Emmet River, on March 19, 2015.
Bethany Dale-Shiler ’04 and Corey of Boston, MA, on the birth of their daughter, Tovah Alana Dale-Schiller, on March 20, 2015. Alexandra Aldica Willis ’04 and Jake of Corona, CA, on the birth of their son, Tyler James, on July 3, 2014. Big sister Evelyn is excited to welcome her new baby brother! Heather Hughes Walter ’05 and Tim of Lyndhurst, NJ, on the birth of a daughter, Nora Kathleen Walter, on March 6, 2015.
The Reverend William H. Hurdle May 24, 1927 – January 24, 2015
For seventeen years, Rev. Hurdle served as the spiritual father, the trusted advisor, and the caring friend of Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff. He inspired us with his prayers and comforted us with his calm, loving, and good-humored ministry. Hurdle began his formal association with Wesleyan College in 1984 when he became the executive director of the Georgia United Methodist Commission on Higher Education and Campus Ministry, which brought him in direct contact with the Wesleyan community. He continued that association in many capacities for three decades,
including as a Wesleyan College trustee for more than thirty-one years. In 1998, having retired from active ministry in the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church, Hurdle accepted the call from Wesleyan to become part-time campus chaplain and thus began a career with positions and titles he never anticipated. From the beginning, he assumed the role of teacher, advocate, counselor, and friend. Founder of the Wesleyan Disciples program, he was the leader of spiritual life on campus, organizing Chapel services, the Baccalaureate Service, the Marker Ceremony, and other spiritual celebrations for all faiths. Hurdle grew up in Montezuma, Georgia, the oldest of four children. He graduated from Montezuma High School and enlisted in the Navy, spending two years in the Pacific on the USS Bottineau, a troop transport ship. He attended Emory at Oxford on the G.I. Bill, then went on to the Candler School of Theology at Emory. He was ordained in 1953, the
same year he married his wife Betty. The Hurdles reared four children together. Hurdle was pastor at churches in Waynesboro, Wrens, Ocilla, Hazlehurst, Cordele, and Moultrie before becoming minister at Mulberry Street United Methodist Church in Macon from 1976-82. He served as a Methodist district superintendent in Waycross for three years, before returning to Macon in the position of executive director of the commission on higher education. He was responsible for fundraising, recruiting, and the campus ministries for all eight Methodist colleges in Georgia. Hurdle was a member and senior pastor emeritus at Mulberry Street United Methodist Church. On April 18, 2015, the Wesleyan College Alumnae Association bestowed upon William Hubert Hurdle the Valeria McCullough Murphey Award in recognition of his outstanding, enduring, and unstinting contributions to the alumnae of Wesleyan College.
1933 1936 1937 1938 1939 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1957 1960 1963 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1972 1973 1975 1976 2010
Mary Spencer Jack Craddock Margaret Stubbs Gordon Esther Davis Boykin Helen Ouzts Dupree Katherine Hurst Anderson Ora Hollis Cheney Dorothy Steiger Fischer Barbara Wright Keliehor Helen White Lindell Mamie Conger Copeland Gertrude Mooney Drew Jane Esther Foley Virginia Harvey Johnston Alice Burrowes Ritter Virginia Broome Waterer Janet Hurley Johnson Anne Fuss Weddle Sara Alice Bradley Darby Gladys Brizendine Lang Lucy Lindsey Smith Dorothy Moore Walters Frances Bush Wood Bettye Milton Paden Jeanne Hendershot Shepard Jean Cone Snooks Mary Jane Nitzsche Stoddart Nan Edwards Allen Betty Hearn Hemenway Adelaide Wallace Ponder Mary Pittman Ferguson Barker Carolyn Hall King Mae Hightower-Vandamm Carolyn Disbro Orahood Jane Anne Mallet Settle Mary Spencer Uhl Mary E. Astumian Mary Nims Hogan Mary Carpenter Phillips Martha Barrett Woodard Frances Mahone Gavin Peggy Wells MacLeod Mary Ruth Lewis Mary Barber Cox Jacquelyn Taylor Edwards Earline White Busbee 1953 Lynda Lee McKee Sylvia Crum Evans Glenda Giles Amos Mary Faye Thomas Dudley Powell Mary Jean Campbell Patricia Elizabeth Coulter Jones Linda Carter Austen Margaret Ansley Noguez Jean Gilbert Witcher Karen F. Smith Sharon Stubbs Adams Shirley Hall Maddox Bettye Jordan Young Lynda Lutes Johnson Andrea L. Tissier Kathryn Bell Turner Valerie Voyles Phillips Frances Smith Kite Christine Cummings Wainio Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Class of 1945 (70th reunion)
Class of 1950 (65th reunion)
(L-R) Ann Poitevint Withers,Virginia Harris Howard, and (far right) Kathy Gibbs Steinbruegge
Charlotte Gaines
1940s
Mildred Fincher Efland ’42 of Atlanta celebrated her 73rd reunion with husband Mack at the Golden Belles Luncheon during Alumnae Weekend. She represented the earliest class to attend reunion weekend.
1945 (70th Reunion)
Three members of the Class of 1945 attended Alumnae Weekend. Kathy Gibbs Steinbruegge ’45 and Ann Poitevint Withers ’45 shared honors at the Annual Meeting as members of the oldest class to attend the meeting. Virginia Harris Howard ’45 joined in festivities at the Golden Belles Luncheon. Congratulations to Kathy Gibbs Steinbruegge ’45 of Atlanta who has a new great-grandchild. Reed Waggoner, son of Sarah Kathryn Bragg Waggoner ’07, was born September 2014. Kathy had a wonderful time at reunion this year! “Our oldest grandson, a Captain in Field Artillery, USA, came home from Afghanistan in time for Thanksgiving. Our youngest grandson came home in early 54
January 2015 after studying in Taiwan. Larry and I have four great-grandchildren,” reports Emily Bradford Batts ’46 from her home in Charlotte, NC. The Florida House on Capitol Hill, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that serves as the state’s embassy in the nation’s capital, has bestowed its first annual Champion of Education Award upon Sarah Dukes McKay ’46 of Lakeland, FL. Sarah is a founding member of Florida House and an emeritus member of its board who has promoted the teaching of civics lessons in schools for many years. Her McKay Civics Initiative has presented lessons to more than 3,200 Polk County seventh-graders. Named a Great Floridian in 2010, Sarah and her late husband were active at Florida Southern College where the archives center is named for them. Last fall Geraldine “Gerry” Farrar-Thomas ’47 of Jacksonville, FL, had right hip replacement surgery and spent time in both in-patient and outpatient rehab learning to walk again. Fran Callaway McCommon ’47 has left her home of 45 years to join the retirement community at Carlyle Place, Macon. Grandson Boone Smith IV and his wife, Amanda, have taken over the property and happily are expecting Fran’s second great-
grandchild, the first being Claire Younce of Nashville, TN. Congratulations to Norm and Jane Catherine “Pat” Stapp Nadon ’47 who celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary in April 2015. “We now have 13 great-grandchildren added to our family. All of us enjoy gathering together at our cabin in Colorado during the summer months.” “I enjoy life at Century Pines in Albany, GA,” writes Jean Cowart Fleming ’48. “I look forward to reading my Wesleyan alumnae magazine.” “I now live at Carlyle Place in Macon - a wonderful retirement home just a mile or so beyond Wesleyan. Sister Georgann Dessau Blum ’47 and lots of other Wesleyan alumnae live here. We have wonderful musical programs and even our own choir. Thank you for all the information about our classmates,” writes Corky Dessau Holliday ’48. Reporting from New Cumberland, PA, Liz Hean Stone ’48 says she’s still traveling. “Cruise to Caribbean, Rhine River, Tanglewood Music Festival, Shaw and Shakespeare Festivals in Canada plus art and music around here. Two grandchildren graduated college, another one this year, and two next.”
Betty Buntyn Googe ’49 and Joe reside in Knoxville, TN. They have three sons, eight grandchildren, and four greatgrandsons. All eight will have graduated from college in May. Ruby Layson ’49 of Frankfort, KY, still enjoys retirement, travel, dulcimer playing, and social activities. Son Randy and family live in nearby Versailles. Ruby spent part of the winter with daughter Pamela in Florida. Frances Smith Ramsey ’49 continues to enjoy living at Spring Harbor – a continuing retirement community in Columbus, GA. Anne Strozier Threadgill ’49 of Greenville, GA, continues to miss her son, Allen, who died in February 2014.
1950s 1950 (65th Reunion)
Charlotte Gaines ’50 of Decatur, GA, and Betty Smith Moore ’50 of Macon represented 65 years of loyalty to Wesleyan on behalf of the PK Class of 1950. Louise Cochran Mayfield ’50 of Clarkesville, TN, sends “best wishes to my classmates and all of you who keep Wesleyan going on the right track!” Louise has a new granddaughter, Olivia Eugenia Mayfield, born in Macon on February 6 to parents Nash and Jenny Mayfield.
Class of 1955 (60th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Liz Wilson Lowry, Sarah McGee Creech, Gerda Paul Erickson, Joyce Reddick Schafer Row 2: Libby Truitt Furlow, Betty Upchurch Hasty, Frances Moulthrop Gordon, Barbara Brown Dean Row 3: Thyrza White McClure, Phyllis Clough Davis
Recently Louise had a heart attack with accompanying five stents and was in rehab for a while. She looks forward to a visit from her new granddaughter.
Mac McCurdy Senna ’52 and Joe are still enjoying island life on St. Simons Island, GA. “We have three greatgranddaughters now. Maybe they will be Wesleyannes, too!”
“My son, Chan White, and I attended two beautiful weddings this year. Cousins on the White side. One was in New Orleans and the other in Houston, TX. Had a good time. Still enjoying going to Amelia Island where Cleon and I resided before coming to Carlyle Place in December 2007. Blessed to be at Carlyle Place,” writes Betty Smith Moore ’50 of Macon.
Has it really been 22 years since Joan Jennings Norton ’53 of Green Cove Springs, FL, retired from teaching high school English? Joan says, “I’m enjoying ‘the lazy life’ more each passing year. Daughter Jeanne Norton Rollberg ’79 will retire soon from teaching journalism at University of Arkansas. Enjoyed her Christmas visit!”
In March, Betty Davidson Rice ’50 of Atlanta and her sons, Bill and Frank, visited Wesleyan where she introduced them to her alma mater. Betty enjoyed a tour of the Candler Building with Alumnae Director Cathy Coxey Snow ’71 and recalled many happy times as she reminisced about her student days at the College. “Never thought I would be a ‘great-grandmother’ but am proud to have three! Am also proud that my two youngest grandchildren are both at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, - one a freshman and one getting her master’s degree,” says Pat Murphy Persinger ’52 of Lookout Mountain, TN.
“So good to read the class roster listing 88 of our ’53 Pirates - 80 plus years old and still going strong!” exclaims Helen Blackmarr Outler ’53 of Murrayville, GA. From Augusta, GA, Ann Harrell Saunders ’53 sends “love to all the Tri-K Pirates out there.” Ann has two greatgrands, Ella (4) and Jasper (5). “What a joy!” According to Autumn Cook Ireland ’54 of Ormond Beach, FL, 2014 was not a good year. “First half was spent with Maxey in and out of the hospital. Now I’m recovering from broken ankle and a crushed vertebrate. It makes three years my oldest son David has left us, so we’re hoping for a better 2015.”
1955 (60th Reunion)
Celebrating 60 years of sisterhood, members of the Golden Heart Class of 1955 gathered for a funfilled and meaningful reunion thanks to the plans of Reunion Chair Libby Truitt Furlow and committee members Pauline Mann Brennan, Joyce Reddick Schafer, and Barbara Brown Dean. GHs partied at La Quinta Inn on Friday and had dinner at The Gables on Saturday where hostesses Joyce and Barbara welcomed the group to a barbecue dinner. “It was a great experience to attend reunion. Classmates Phyllis Clough Davis ’55 from Lakeland, FL, and Frances Moulthrop Gordon ’55 from Deland, FL, were my house guests and much laughter and “catching up” took place at The Gables in Macon where I moved (from Eastman, GA) in 2013,” writes class party co-hostess Barbara Brown Dean ’55. My vocal career ended several years ago but I still play piano for church and do some coaching. MISS LOTTIE DAH also went into retirement. Last November Gertrude came to stay with me and be my live-in help. Gertrude is my pacemaker and we are wired together for fun. I took a Chinese culture course at Wesleyan - a good program the College offers to senior adults. At the end of the first class I was taken to hospital and received Gertrude. I hope to get back involved soon.”
Home is still Connecticut, but Trustee Gayle Attaway Findlay ’55 returns to Georgia frequently and to campus annually. She writes, “Following the death of my husband, Cuyler, my daughter and her two young sons came to live with me. Their presence keeps me both active and entertained. In total, I have 10 grandchildren ages 7-17. My four children reside in VA, MA, and CT. When possible, I travel. In 2012, I bicycled from Amsterdam to Frankfurt with my son and grandson (my efforts supplemented by battery power which helped during the rough parts). In 2014, I bicycled across Denmark with my son and granddaughter. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Turkey and Italy via lengthy stays with family. Visiting Macon is always a highlight. Watching Wesleyan grow has been exciting and I take great pleasure in being a part.” “Our 60th reunion was Golden! Thank you, Wesleyan, for those who worked to make it possible and for those who attended. We missed our classmates who could not come. Hearing life stories of my classmates caused me to realize what amazing women we have in the Class of 1955. Each one has given so much of her life to serving others at home, in her community, in her church, and many abroad. God bless you all as we live each day to the fullest,” writes Class President Frances Moulthrop Gordon ’55 from Deland, FL.
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Class of 1960 (55th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Eleanor Laslie Griffin, Betsy Palmer Smith, Jackie Davis Richardson, Tena Roberts, Emily Childres Mims Row 2: Barbara Betts Tuck, Kate Stickley Watson, Mary Amerson Burt, Nancy Leeger Cloutier, Ginger Summerford York, Kay Carroll Barnes, Polly Pollard Houghland Row 3: Patty Shriver Mancuso, Victoria Wilson Logue, Mary Margaret Woodward McNeill, Dee Bray Joiner, Julie Singletary Coleman, Dale Odum Barrow
“My! How times have changed! In the good old days I would list my profession as wife/ mother and just throw in that I also ran a successful fine arts museum, raised lots of money for good causes, wrote feature pieces for several minor newspapers, sold some millions of dollars in real estate, served on boards like library, etc.” writes Mary Gaissert Jackson ’55 of Opelousas, LA. Mary retired as executive director of Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association and “still studies art and film history, music, and nutrition – independently.” Jeanette Lewis McLain ’55 of Atlanta misses her sister, Nancy Lewis Montet ’52, who died in August 2014. Nancy grew up in Atlanta, graduated from North Fulton High School, and received her AB degree from Wesleyan. A member of the Cottage Garden Club, Nancy was an avid bridge player, a member of the American Contract Bridge League, and achieved the rank of Silver Life Master. Nancy was married 61 years to N. Forrest Montet and had two children, Vicki and Bobby, and two grandchildren. (See Sympathy and In Memoriam, Fall 2014) Joyce Ann Loudermilk Richards ’55 of Loganville, GA, has been living with her daughter and son-in-law, Kimberly Richards Denmark ’78 and husband Michael since December. “A stroke that month 56
brought many changes to my life, but gratefully, I am recovering nicely and receiving much loved attention. So sorry to miss the 60th - Give all my love - sweet memories!” Isabel Graf Saterbak ’56 still lives in Tulsa, OK, with husband Wayne. They have four greatgrandchildren. Julie Adams Hawk ’57 of Flowery Branch, GA, has fun being her class e-Rep. “How delightful to get the many replies when I send class email messages. I’m sorry I don’t send many ‘snail mail’ notes to the rest of you. I’ll work on this in 2015. It’s been fun talking on the phone to several of you; so will do more of that, too. Had a grand time seeing Jean Middlebrooks Morris ’57 of Phenix City, AL, in Arsenic and Old Lace.” Adding two great-granddaughters to her family since last year, Ezra Kay Chandlee (3/29/14) and Alyza Ann Bracy (2/13/15), Medra Lott Keyser ’58 now has a grand total of three children, seven grands, and six greats. “I am blessed!” writes Medra from Fernandina Beach, FL. From Columbus, OH, Dr. Anne McGee Morganstern ’58 notes that she is still working, now on her husband’s long project on the architecture of the medieval abbey church at Jumiegos (Normandy), France.
Jane Howard Reinmuth ’58 from Sacramento, CA, believes in planning ahead. “God willing and the creek don’t rise, planning to see you all at the 60th reunion of our class in 2018!” “Had knee replacement in September 2014. I love physical therapy. I pretend I am at a spa,” reports Harriett Johnson Bell ’59 from Greenville, SC. Helen Poole Fontsere ’59 of Decatur, GA, appreciates her former Wesleyan professors. “I owe a great debt to Drs. Thomas and Louise Gossett for introducing me to Flannery O’Connor and taking me and other students out to her mother’s farm, Andalusia, to visit her. Also, for the years of correspondence I had with Dr. Thomas Gossett before his tragic passing, and now with Dr. Louise Gossett, whose letters are always a joy to receive.” Carol King Pope ’59 was glad to be living in Macon where she could watch the progress of Pierce Chapel being built. “My history of my home town, Calhoun, GA, was published in March 2015. Ed and I have a great-granddaughter, Emily Grace Parsons,” reports Jane Powers Weldon ’59.
1960s 1960 (55th Reunion)
The Green Knight reunion committee set the stage for a weekend of sharing sisterhood by inviting classmates back to campus via phone calls, letters, emails, and facebook. Many thanks to Reunion Chair Tena Roberts and her committee: Co-Chair Betsy Palmer Smith, Martha Bell Lewis, Sylvia Wyllys Boone, Eleanor “Ecky” Laslie Griffin, Mary Ann “Polly” Pollard Houghland, Emily “Toots” Childres Mims, and Ginger Sumerford York. Twenty-four GKs braved rainy weather to return to Wesleyan and celebrate. Friday night class party hostesses Sylvia and Polly treated classmates to a fun gathering at Comfort Suites. Saturday night hostesses Ginger, Ecky, and Toots welcomed GKs to a party in Jones Dorm – which was “home” to the Class of ’60, the first class to live there. At the Annual Meeting, GKs cheered for 2015 Alumnae Award recipient Betsy Smith and were proud of their first place recognition in dollars raised for class gifts. According to Kay Carroll Barnes ’60 in Woodbury, GA, “It’s always great to be at Wesleyan with our friends. I am proud of Ashley Garrett ’90, one of my former students, who has just completed her tenure as alumnae association president. I continue to teach math in
Class of 1965 (50th reunion) (L-R) Front Center: Silvia Gonzalez Kenneweg Row 1: Carole West Turner, Helen Kendall Elder, Ruth Ellen Compton, Glennda Kingry Elliott, Sally Eisen Miller Row 2: Katherine Champion Smelley, Mary Jane Brantley, Sharon Smith Pizzo, Leila Watson James, Gloria Dollar Knight, Judy Joseph Chalhub, Mildred Neville Row 3: Casey Thurman, Carolyn Martin McCrea, Hilda Wright, Jan Mewbourne Genest, Beverly Cross Hall Row 4: Jean Webb Tippins, Julie Sparks Stepp, Joanna Looney Reynolds, Ginny Mason, Nedra Martin Malone, Janice Parks Mahoney, Sally Bone Fay Row 5: Gail Whittle, Lynda Jones, Brenda Freeman Manucy, Linda Segler Reynolds, Dianne Dempsey Holman, Rosa Young McNairy, DeDee McDowell Bowers
a private school where I was named STAR teacher for the 25th time. I enjoy teaching my five grandchildren, especially helping with their math in College. Two of the grandsons are in fields that require much math and a granddaughter tutors math in college.” Juliet “Julie” Singletary Coleman ’60 says she is blessed with four daughters and now 11 grandchildren – eight boys and three girls. “They are my special treasures.” Julie is a retired nurse but now enjoys a part time job as a manager at McLeod’s Guest House in Florence, SC. “My sister, Susan Woodward Walker ’70, and I are hosting the annual Clan Munro gathering in Asheville, NC, in August 2015. “We look forward to welcoming nearly 200 Munroe descendants from all over the country. Susan and I have been working on the gathering for two years,” reports Mary Margaret Woodward McNeill ’60 of Southern Pines, NC. Martha Bell Lewis ’60 of Atlanta is proud of daughter Claire Lewis Evans who recently earned an M.F.A. degree in sculpture from the University of Alabama. “I will think of you all as you return to the ‘oldest and best’ and remember the happy times we shared,” says Kate Foster Lindsey ’60 from Montgomery,
AL. “The years have passed quickly and have held much happiness for my family. I’m sorry to miss our 55th this year but my husband, Dan, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2009 and his mobility is limited. My prayer for each of you is ‘The Lord bless and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’ Doris Manning ’60 of Asheville, TN, was unable to attend reunion this year due to a prior commitment in Dallas, TX, but emailed, “I’m sending in my reunion check!” Beverly Jo Flynt Strean ’60 of Oakton, VA, has a new granddaughter. Laila Elizabeth Strean was born September 8, 2014, in Charlotte, NC. She writes, “I’m sorry I could not attend reunion. Love to all the Green Knights.” “After 28 years in the USAF and 28 years in Champaign, IL, we were excited to move to Greenville, NC, in May. It is a joy to be near our daughter and her family and closer to our son and his family,” writes Barbara Betts Tuck ’60. West Palm Beach, FL, resident Kate Stickley Watson ’60 recently produced “Reflections of the Spirit,” a CD for meditation and quite moments. Funds from CD sales have benefited non-
profit groups totaling more than $3,000. The CD was also offered at Alumnae Marketplace during reunion with profits benefiting the Wesleyan Disciples. A presentation about the CD and how it was conceived is available for church groups. Orders taken through katebird@earthlink.net Retired economics and history college professor Dr. Virginia “Ginger” Sumerford York ’60 of Panama City, FL, was invited to Havana, Cuba, in January 2014 for a conference of Nunez Foundation and Kettering Foundation where she presented joint research on the environment of the Gulf of Mexico. In February 2015 Ginger enjoyed a presentation in Panama City by author Mary Alice Monroe, Wesleyan’s 2015 Katharine Payne Carnes Lecture Series speaker and a presentation by Dr. Carolyn Curry on Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas, Class of 1851, who was a 2014 inductee into Georgia Women of Achievement. In May 2015, Ginger spoke on a panel at the National Press Club in Washington DC. The topic was on perceptions of the national economy. Jean Cain Gaddis ’61 of Norcross, GA, is a proud grandmother. Jean and Joe and Virginia Poole Lee ’61, Jean Edwards Dukes ’61, and Nancy Bowden Wiley ’61 attended the recent Johns Creek High School performance of Footloose
the musical, where Jean’s granddaughter, Claire Gaddis, sang the lead role of Ariel, the Reverend’s daughter. “We had a super time being together talking about Wesleyan memories and our current activities. Everyone agreed that Claire and the cast gave a marvelous performance. This is her senior year. She has earned the Presidential Scholarship and will attend the University of Tampa,” writes Jean. Andrea Morris Gruhl ’61 in Columbia, MD, is still active in League of Women Voters (LWV). She is vice president, LWV of the National Capital area and director of LWV of Maryland. Andrea also coordinates Prime Time Society programs for her Lutheran church and neighboring Episcopal church which is for seniors 55 + age. She writes, “Thank you for the splendid education I received at Wesleyan. I also appreciate the many years of sharing with my Wesleyan sisters the benefits of alumnae activities.” Flo Bloodworth Mellard ’61 of Macon and Peggy McKinney Youngblood ’61 of Stone Mountain, GA, share a greatgrandson. Morris “Beckham” Parker Henderson was born on November 5, 2014. “Our first Owenby grandchild and my great niece, Helen Mettauer ‘Hettie’ Errahali, arrived on January 2, 2015. Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Class of 1970 (45th reunion)
(L-R) Row 1: Diane Dennington Robertson, Pat Holcomb Moore, Brenda Witham McGinn, June Hall Cooper, Glenda Thomas Ellington, Jan Thomas Brewer Row 2: Karen Murphy Freeney, Susan Woodward Walker, Anne Herndon Oswald, Ann Scott Terry, Lynn Lamberton Long, Pat Hammock Wall, Lana Tygart Griner, Jane Thompson, Vonnie Dykes Hartig Row 3: Holly Cunningham Parker, Debbie Giugni McMillan, Carolyn Wills Garrard, Susan Reynolds Gregory, Patti Voyles, Paula Mansfield Murphy, Maggie Lane Evans, Ellen Fling Danner Row 4: Carol Crow Lineberger, Jan Bull Burgess, Linda Golden Moore, Shirley L. McFadden, Charlene Payne Kammerer, B. J. Molpus Posey, Suzanne Harris McAliley, Holly Cunnigham Parker, Leslie Rumble FrazerVillers Row 5: Allison Ramsauer Crisp, Arlyn Matthews Hawley, Wanda Saltmarsh Hopkins, Jane Ward Gault, Cassie Poulos, Pam Buchanan Kent, Kate Goldman Gholston, Barbara Roland Colwell, Catherine Gibbons Jost, Kathy Arnold Hale, Pat Grogan Borders, Emily Chase Cook, Chris von Lehe Burns
Her mother, Helen Ermine Owenby Errahali, is the niece of Ermine Owenby ’61 and the late Margaret Lawson Curry Johnson ’62. A side note of interest: There are now three generations named Helen. Therefore, the baby’s mother decided on “Hettie” as the baby’s nickname. My mother’s grandmother was named Hester Seegar Ward, and her nickname was ‘Hettie Sugar.’ Thus the baby is named also for her great, great, great grandmother,” reports Ermine. This summer Ermine will travel to Europe and enjoy four days in Italy, a river cruise with excursions from Arles to Burgundy, and a three day stay in Paris. In December, Marybelle Proctor Menzel ’62 of Littleton, CO, and her three Wesleyan classmates and suitemates spent a wonderful week in New York City. She writes, “Dottie Rhoden Hicks (Cobbtown, GA), Rhoda Morrison Joyner (Decatur, GA), Charlotte Jolly Hale (Marietta, GA), and I celebrated 20+ years of reuniting annually. We had great fun!” Congratulations to former Wesleyan Trustee Gail Thompson Webster-Patterson ’64 of Naples, FL. Gail retired in October 2014 after a successful financial career, most recently as executive vice president for the Huntington Private Financial Group in Naples.
58
1965 (50th Reunion)
Red is still the standout color for the Class of 1965 who made a bold fashion statement on campus with red parasols and red silk fans thanks to Pirate “fashion designers” Joanna Looney Reynolds and Ruth Ellen Philpot Compton. Kudos to 50th Reunion Chair Jan Mewbourne Genest and her committee members Jane Johnson Butler, Glennda Kingry Elliott, Gloria Dollar Knight, Nedra Martin Malone, Sally Eisen Miller, Ruth Ellen Philpot Compton, Trudie Parker Sessions, Katherine Champion Smelley, Casey Thurman, and Betsy Fuller Zea who planned for a fabulous 50th that didn’t disappoint. Even Decorations Chair Nedra Malone made sure flower arrangements reflected the class color. The newest Golden Belle class restored the Linda Lane Piano and dedicated it at the Golden Belles Luncheon. Pirates led the Parade of Classes with Jan Genest and Class President Gloria Knight as Grand Marshals. Katherine Smelley carried the class flag and Sharon Smith Pizzo carried a pirate mascot flag. At the Annual Meeting Pirate pride took over when Casey Thurman, who co-chaired the Celebration Concert, received a 2015 Alumnae Award and when Class of ’65 gifts were announced – one to restore the Lane Piano and one for a future Pirate Class Scholarship. Glennda Elliott
welcomed classmates to her home for a Friday party and Pirates anchored at Homewood Suites on Saturday night. Sally Miller chaired the Morning Watch service with committee members Gloria Knight and Casey Thurman. The closing service had a special memorial to departed classmates that included honorary member Dean Mary Darlington Lawter and also included the presentation of a Chapel Chair in her memory as well as a stole to be used for Chapel services. It was held in Pierce Chapel for the very first time as a beautiful reminder of fifty years of friendship. The Class of 1965 sends condolences to Rosemary McGraw Barfield ’65 of Albany, GA, who lost her beloved Don on April 29, 2015, on their 26th wedding anniversary. Don fought a valiant battle with cancer. His courage was an inspiration to not only her family but to those of us in the Class of ’65 who have prayed for Don and Rosemary. Rosemary, her children, and her grandchildren remain in our prayers. (See Sympathy) “What I loved most about reunion was the fact that even though I had not been back in 50 years, I was greeted as though I had been there each reunion and felt the same bonds of friendship I felt at Wesleyan when we were students. I received the heartfelt
kindness and compassion from friends who had lost children as I had. I even received a call from Sharon Pizzo to make sure I had gotten home safely. It is that sisterhood that you just can’t explain to others who have not experienced Wesleyan,” writes Mary Jane McCarren Brantley ’65 of Sarasota, FL. The Class of 1965 sends condolences to Mary Jane who lost her beloved daughter, Carren, to breast cancer in October 2014. Carren fought her cancer since she was 26 years old. She was a beautiful, strong woman who has taught us what it means to be courageous and strong in the face of adversity. Mary Jane will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers. (See Sympathy) Beverly Cross Hall ’65 enjoyed seeing classmates at reunion. Beverly is a retired educator who lives in Macon. Dianne Dempsey Holman ’65 and husband Ken have lived in Columbia, SC, for 21 years. She writes, “We will be married 49 years in November 2015. Son Tripp has lived in South Korea for eight years where he teaches English. Daughter Mary Beth lives in Columbia, works at Hobby Lobby and is a jewelry designer. We have two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels - Jasmine and Satchmo; (Satch) will be 8 in May. Ken is retired and I am active in Church and in P.E.O. (a woman’s philanthropic educational
Class of 1975 (40th reunion)
(L-R) Row 1: Margaret Strickland Lovein, Millie Parrish Hudson, Cindy Wright, Sherrie Love Drake, Brownie Davis Kocher, Sally Moffett McKenna, Kathi Latta Rivers, Rita Parker McGarity Row 2: Virginia Ann Daniel Holman, Mary Coble Kirkley, Betsy Wakeford Thompson, Beth Sullins Hughes, Janet Eidson Woods Row 3: Judy Whitaker, Maggie Harris Lee, Sally Veatch, Carolyn Bowman Biggs, Barbara Schwartz Cheathum Row 4: Sister Mary Joseph (Ruth Powers), Nan Maddux, Carol Goodloe, Gloria McIntosh McDonald, Linda Taunton Hopkins, Elizabeth Cariker Guenther Row 5: Eileen Baldau Kimes, Kay Hickman Beasley, Marina Showalter Chancery Row 6: Douglas Ponder Suto, Bonnie Hunter Hunt, Mary Linger, Ruth Knox, Catherine Hinman, Deborah Bell Roberds
organization). I volunteer with The Lydia Project, enjoy baking for family and friends and have ‘a little business.’ I also garden and volunteer with the Master Gardner Program and zumba several times a week. I’m blessed to be in good health.” “I’m sure the reunion was wonderful,” writes Sally Cope Huhn ’65 from Matthews, NC. “I stay busy with my three grandchildren who live in Raleigh (three little boys who can be hilarious!), playing the piano at Blessed Assurance (an adult day care near here), seeing friends, and being busy with our church. Peggy Hull Clemens ’65 is here and I enjoy seeing her often. Love and best wishes to all the ’65 Tri-K Pirates.” Silvia Gonzalez Kenneweg ’65 and husband Bill live in Willoughby, OH, and enjoyed the drive to Macon for reunion. Silvia is a retired Spanish language and literature professor and was modern language department head at Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, OH. She earned a master’s degree in romance languages from The Ohio State University. Pirate Class President Gloria Dollar Knight ’65 of Dunwoody, GA, keeps her traveling shoes on. In 2014, she cruised to the Artic from Norway and was thrilled to see polar bears in the wild. In June, she and Loy will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in Paris, France,
where they lived for five years on assignment with IBM. Three grandchildren also keep them busy. “Alumnae Weekend was my first return to Wesleyan in 50+ years. Though I graduated from Auburn University (’65) I will always remember my Wesleyan years. Three other classmates also left at the end of our sophomore year: Cathy Lade Crumley, Barbara Chapman Kortemeier, and Danna McCullers Bedell. We have continued this Wesleyan friendship all these years. Though we don’t see each other that often, the friendship is strong and we haven’t missed many family events we’ve shared and talked about each time. For me that is the gift of my two years at Wesleyan. It was lovely to see former classmates – we look quite good after 50+ years!” says Janice Parks Mahoney ’65 of Georgetown, TX. From her home in Columbus, GA, Susan Cobb Middlebrooks ’65 says, “I enjoyed so much seeing classmates at our reunion luncheon. There is no way it has REALLY been 50 years! Guess that is just one of the many things I am in denial about!” Sharon Smith Pizzo ’65 and husband Paul will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in 2016. Paul is a Tampa attorney who spent lots of time on the Wesleyan campus when he was
at Emory. Sharon’s son and daughter both live in Tampa and each have two sons - ages 10, 8, 7, and 4. “No future Wesleyannes but boys are lots of fun!” Nancy Fizzell Pugh ’65 of St. Louis, MO, was happy to find Silvia Gonzalez Kenneweg ’65 on Facebook. “I love the photo Silvia gave me when we were at Wesleyan of her in a ballerina costume when she danced as primo ballerina. Such a beautiful person, inside and out!” Linda Segler Reynolds ’65 lives in Daphne, AL, and stays busy keeping up with two sons and three grandchildren in addition to serving as director of volunteer services at Springhill Medical Center. Her husband, Lewis, passed away in 2011. “After High School Weekend in 1960, Wesleyan was my first and only choice for college,” writes Katherine Champion Smelley ’65 from Savannah, GA. “It just felt right and so it was. The academics were challenging, campus life was enriching, and the friendships made were for a lifetime. I met my husband, Paul, our freshman year. We have been blessed with two sons (Scott and Matt), five grandchildren, and one greatgranddaughter. I hope to have a granddaughter be a Wesleyanne.” Katherine writes children’s stories and poetry and looks forward to being published one day. She has a WESLEYAN FIRST as the first “alumna link.”
Retired from IBM, Julie Stancil Stepp ’65 divides her time between Atlanta and Tybee Island, GA, where she just finished restoring an old beach house that she and her four rescue dogs call home. Julie wants to get to know other Wesleyannes in the Savannah area. Lynn Ramsey Stowers ’65 of Thomasville, GA, was so sorry to miss reunion. She faced knee surgery for the fourth time and needed to heal completely before starting back to school. “I am happy to report that when school begins in August, I will be starting my 50th year in the classroom. I retired several years ago, but continue to teach part time and always have wanted to spend a half century doing the thing I love most. Love the pictures you guys sent from reunion! Thanks to Jan for all the updates.” Carole West Turner ’65 of Germantown, TN, is a busy grandmother. Her four sons have given her 12 grandchildren and two are age 20. Carole also has a WESLEYAN FIRST. She was the first in her class to have a baby - Charles Wesley Brownlee on 9-3-65! Beth Childs Brooks ’66 of Douglas, GA, is proud of her daughter, grandson, and two granddaughters. Beth and her husband, Leo, were married for 50 years. Sadly, Leo died on May 3, 2014. (See Sympathy). Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Class of 1980 (35th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Sandra Davis Cook, Gwen Perry Brooks, Helen Anne Richards, Laura Osoinach, Lindi Lemasters Lewis, Jan Lawrence, Jeanne Luke Longerbeam Row 2: Ann Haslam Resch, Linda Carey Nardotti, Lisa Bruner Evans, Marcia Bronson, Anne Armstrong, Mary Stephens Malone, Shannon Lindsey Hudson Row 3: Mindy Fraiser, Jody Childs Faulkner, Janet Leininger, Kelly Russell, Sally Morris, Wende Sanderson Meyer von Bremen Row 4: Deena Harrell Cherry, Lynn Daley, Lucy Anne Fisackerly Adams, Jill Myers Knight, Wanda Maynard Schroeder, Kathleen Barth Renee, Lisa Martin Darden Row 5: Susan Robertson Jaeger, Jeanne Myers Haslam, Hannah Allen, Susan Shuler Dombroski, Crystal Bell Davidian Row 6: Elaine Wilkes Huffman, Mary Johnson, Diana Jones Williams, Allison McFarland Wilcox
In April, Dot Ogden Brown ’67 had a painting “Edge of Knowing” installed at Mercer Medical School. Dot is a Macon artist with deep connections to Wesleyan. Her aunt, Helena Eastman Ogden Campbell, Class of 1897, was an artist and Wesleyan alumna who was responsible for building the majority of Wesleyan’s wonderful art collection. Cindy Wilson Hauth ’67 of Lakeland, FL, is saddened by the loss of her roommate Karen Felice Smith ’67, who died on December 3, 2014. (See In Memoriam) Members of the Class of 1967 Kathleen Neal, Sara Hall Sawyer, Karen Moore Thomson, and Jean Widney Wynn enjoyed hearing President Ruth Knox address the Atlanta Alumnae Club at the Swan Coach House in November. Dr. Elizabeth “Betty” Smith Hipps ’68 writes from Columbus, GA, “I am enjoying full retirement after 30 years in public schools and seven years as lecturer in early childhood education at Columbus State. Now we travel frequently and enjoy our five wonderful grandchildren.” Laura Byington Ludman ’68 in Yulee, FL, says the years are passing so quickly. “I am scheduled for my eighth annual exam following my heart transplant. I stay in touch with Barbara Bryant ’67. 60
1970s 1970 (45th Reunion)
They were the class with the largest attendance at reunion (46) and were the “sassiest sisters” to parade into the Annual Meeting - sporting elbow length purple rubber gloves, kazoos, and purple pompoms leaving no doubt that the PK70 class was still Purple to the Bone! Knights from all over the country returned to celebrate together under the leadership of Reunion Chair Jan Bull Burgess and committee members Suzanne Harris McAliley, Maggie Lane Evans, Charlene Payne Kammerer, Brenda Witham McGinn, BJ Molpus Posey, Ann Scott Terry, and Pat Hammock Wall with Emily Chase Cook serving as Class e-Rep. Joy-filled hugs and iconic class memories mixed with news of children, grandchildren, and “life happenings” at two backto-back class parties hosted by Pat Wall. PK spirits soared even more at the Annual Meeting when Ann Terry received a 2015 Alumnae Award and at the Celebration Concert when Diane Dennington Robertson performed. All agreed that the weekend was truly a PK#1 moment in time. What’s next – the BIG 50! “My beloved husband, Bob Bernard, died March 19, 2015, after a 3 1/2 year battle with lung cancer. After the initial surgery he taught every day, through
various chemos and radiation - God enabled him to finish in faith, peace, and even joy, relying on God’s purpose and love. Bob was a professor of ancient and modern languages, patristics, philosophy and church history at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, TX. He received a bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. in classics from Princeton University and a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He was a true teacher who went the extra mile at every turn for his students and was a humble, loving man of deep devotion to Christ. What a legacy he left us with faith and cheerfulness in adversity,” writes Mary Ella Gibson Bernard ’70 from Fort Worth, TX. (See Sympathy) In Franklin, VA, Maggie Lane Evans ’70 is “retired and loving it!” “Hugh and I moved to Daniel Island (near Charleston) in April 2014, and love it. We are close to the beach and go often. Together, we have four grandchildren; two 8-year-olds and two 4-yearolds. My daughter is a speech therapist in Greenville, SC, and her husband is with GE. My son teaches 8th grade English in Columbia, SC, and coaches several sports teams,” writes Jan Bull Burgess ’70. “I still live in Athens, GA, where I am fortunate to have three children and seven grandchildren - ages 6 months to 7 years. My second son lives in Atlanta and has a
3-year-old son. Husband Henry continues to travel nationally and internationally. He is currently the lead counsel for the largest class action litigation in the U.S. I travel with him as much as possible,” writes Carolyn Wills Garrard ’70. Atlanta resident Wanda Saltmarsh Hopkins ’70 enjoys her photography and has exhibited in recent shows with other artists. She serves on the board of the High Museum and reports, “I am involved with photography at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta Celebrates Photography, and with the Charles Loudermilk Conference Center Permanent Collection.” Her work can be found in the International Concourse at Maynard Jackson Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta and in many private collections. Wanda also has a WESLEYAN FIRST as one of the first women to sit on the board of the Atlanta High Museum on Art. Charlene Payne Kammerer ’70 lives in Lake Junaluska, NC. She enjoyed being with her Wesleyan sisters at reunion. A retired bishop in the United Methodist Church, Charlene has several WESLEYAN FIRSTS including being the first woman elder of the UMC Florida Conference, the first woman district superintendent of the Florida Conference, and the first woman bishop elected in the SEJ Conference. She served eight years each in the Charlotte, NC, area and in the Richmond, VA, area.
Class of 1985 (30th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Libbie Powell Key, Bern Wallace, Ann Raines Williamson, Nancy Howle Tenney, Laura Hefner Wanamaker, Lisa Ahl Duncan Row 2: Ellen Hogle McLemore, Julie Bowman Kimbrell, Michelle Martin Gowan, Lori Alcorn Campbell, Charlotte Nesmith Watson
“Alumnae Weekend brought a reunion with wonderful friends as we reconnected on our gorgeous Wesleyan campus. Even rain didn’t dampen our spirits as the years melted away. If you didn’t join us, please plan to celebrate ‘50’ with us! Kudos to the planning committee for a perfect weekend,” writes Pamela Buchanan Kent ’70 from Auburn, AL. Pamela retired in June 2014 as a media specialist in Auburn City Schools. “My daughter, Elizabeth, has blessed me with four grandchildren three funny little boys and a little princess. How did I ever find time to work?” Anne Herndon Oswald ’70 lives in Walterboro, SC, and is a retired real estate broker and owner. She also has two WESLEYAN FIRSTS as the first woman to serve on the board of South State Bank (then First National of Orangeburg, SC) and the first woman board member of Colleton Preparatory Academy. Dr. Jane Thompson ’70 of Darien has a WESLEYAN FIRST as the first woman to chair the committee on student affairs in the University System of Georgia. She was also the second woman to serve as vice president for student services in the University System. In 2003, Jane retired from Clayton State University where she served as vice president. She is currently in part-time private practice as a
licensed professional counselor. Jane’s granddaughter, Olivia Jane Thompson, joined her for Alumnae Weekend 2015 and wore her “Class of 2031” name tag proudly. According to Patti Voyles ’70 of Valencia, CA, retirement is busy! Patti retired from Lockheed Martin in 2008. She writes, “I am an ‘agility’ mom, taking my dog Tasha, almost every week. Tasha is the #3 Keeshond in the country. My dog Ruby doesn’t care to run and jump so we have started Pet Therapy. We qualified with top marks for any team; doing as well as the pros! Ruby is really into getting on beds and being petted. I still find time for quilting.” The Woodward Family Farm in Gadsden County, Florida, was named the 2014 Tree Farm of the Year by the Florida Forestry Association. Susan Woodward Walker ’70 of Franklin, TN, and her sisters Mary Margaret Woodward McNeill ’60 of Southern Pines, NC, and Judy Woodward Gregory ’63 of Quincy, FL, are partners in this family farm. Becky Jones Brock ’72 of Ringgold, GA, has enjoyed this past year visiting with classmates and other Wesleyan sisters. “I spent time with my roommate Eileen Vickery Thurmond ’72 and Eileen’s beautiful two grandbabies – Greer and Collier.”
Jane Farmer Fastje ’72 of Matthews, NC, misses roommate Lynda Lutes Johnson ’72 who died on December 5, 2014. (See In Memoriam) “I have been fortunate to see Susan Woodward Walker ’70 at Tennessee DAR events during the year and to have a visit with ’72 GK classmates M.C. Collins O’Kelley, Eileen Vickery Thurmond, Becky Jones Brock, Debbie Dye Gigliotti, Marianne Graeme Fortuna, Dianne Walden Claussen, and Mimmi Mathis ’73 last fall. My husband (and still my boyfriend) Zach is recovering from a massive stroke in 2011 so our lives are quite different now from that of a full time small town attorney. But we get to see our children and grandchildren in San Diego and Charleston and to see friends often while still doing rehab for speech and physical therapy. Life is great!” writes Elizabeth Rogers Kelly ’72 who lives in Jasper, TN.
1975 (40th Reunion)
Three cheers for “Ree-Ree!” a.k.a. Rita Parker McGarity, who not only served as GH75 reunion chair but also served as Alumnae Weekend chair for the third year! Rita, along with reunion committee members Millie Parrish Hudson, Beth Sullins Hughes, Margaret Strickland Lovein, and Ruthie Knox a.k.a. The President, coordinated
plans for a special can-itreally-be-our-40th reunion weekend. And, it was special. Golden Hearts gathered for two class parties hosted by Ruth Knox at Bradley House where “always and forever” memories continued to be treasured. At the Annual Meeting, GH spirits rose to the occasion when two of their own, Ruthie and Rita took center stage and Brownie Davis Kocher was recognized as one of three alumnae who traveled the farthest distance to reunion. Afterwards, the GH75 Washboard Band and friends performed in Anderson Dining Hall where they played nostalgic and classic WB songs that rocked the room. Yes, the Class of ’75 still has it and yes, they are still “winners from the start.” Sherrie Love-Drake ’75 of Stone Mountain, GA, has fond memories of music professor Dr. Villard. She writes, “Dr. Villard was an abiding force of acceptance, compassion, understanding, inspiration, and genuine kindness while I was a music student during the early stages of opening up Wesleyan’s campus to black students. His continued support, love, and care extended beyond the Wesleyan years into his retirement. He and his family will always be dear to my heart.” Debbie Newby Halicks ’75 is a broadcast editor on the south regional desk of The Associated Press in Atlanta. She and Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Class of 1990 (25th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Tonya Brown Wilson, Virginia Bowman Wilcox, June Jordan O’Neal, Natalie Azerraf Gates, Alis Jones, Karene Harron Nebel, Amanda Harris Row 2: Heidi Shannon Cook, Constance Bennett Grant, Melissa Adkins Brown, Tammy Sapp Bailey, Angela Kerr Wittmann, Tara Joyner Haussler, Hayley Burch Goldhagen Row 3: Holly Nichols Jarrell, Sarah Moseley Gardner, Terri D. Jones, Ashley Garrett, Debbie Hackett Brown Row 4: Kathryn Reumann Mullen, Stephanie Glaser Fowler, Marla Leonard Stracner, Yvette Ramirez Krayer, Kym Preuss-Lukosky, Terri Castruccio Hurst Row 5: Michelle Vitoria Cato, Alice Armitage Fendley, Jennifer Collier, Leigh Gamel Keller, Wendy Newingham Stanley, Lisa Foster-Morrow, Maria Bejacmar Didier
husband Richard Halicks have been married for 29 years and met at The Atlanta JournalConstitution, where he is an editor. Son Will Halicks and his wife live in Washington, DC, where Will is a producer for National Geographic Television. Daughter Sarah Newby Halicks is an actor who lives in Atlanta.
through World Relief, and also teach piano. Being married to a pastor means lots of church projects but we ride our motorcycle when we can! I try to stay out of trouble, travel, visit grandkids, and eat lots of ice cream and onion rings. This means, of course, that I do deep water aerobics at the YMCA with other ‘fluffy’ folks!”
Millie Parrish Hudson ’75 of Decatur, GA, had a Golden Heart year. Millie’s GH daughter, M.A. Hudson ’15, graduated in May and Millie was selected as the 2015 Marker Ceremony speaker for the GH senior class. The Marker Ceremony takes place on the site of Wesleyan’s original campus each year before Baccalaureate. This is the second time Millie addressed Wesleyan seniors the first being when her other GH daughter, Sarah Hudson, graduated in 2011. Keeping it all in the family, M.A. was a proud sister when Sarah served as her Candlelighter. Even their GH aunt and Millie’s sister, Peggy Parrish Hasty ’71, was on hand for the ceremony. Millie works as director of development at Wesleyan.
“I have spent my time since Wesleyan days teaching music (K-College, at one time or another), singing professionally, and cruising aboard my 38 foot sailboat. I also taught for a women’s sailing school after earning my USCG (United States Coast Guard) Master Captain’s license. I am currently retired and live on a large piece of land in rural KY in a house I literally helped build. The land was once under an inland sea - so I find fossilized coral mixed with the geodes and arrowheads. I enjoy long walks with my dogs, reading, and creating things,” writes Mary Linger ’75. “I enjoyed seeing so many dear friends and new friends at reunion! I have discovered that ‘oldest and best’ refers not only to Wesleyan herself, but also to the quality of the friendships we made there. I had not been on campus since our 25th, but it still feels like home! All three of my senior year suitemates were there: Sally Moffett McKenna, Deborah Bell Robards, and roomie Marina Showalter Chancery.”
Brownie Davis Kocher ’75 writes, “I have been retired for three years from teaching special education in Illinois, MO, and most recently Auburn, WA. I now have time to volunteer at our local food bank, teach English to refugees 62
“I had a blast at our 40th. Seeing so many of my classmates was refreshing. I am entering my 15th year teaching at St. Martin’s Episcopal School. I enjoy my four grandchildren, quilting, traveling, and being an active member of the Atlanta Wesleyan Alumnae Club,” writes Sally Moffett McKenna ’75. Sally has a WESLEYAN FIRST – her two sons both married Wesleyan graduates! In Wellesley, MA, Patti Henry ’76 is recovering from hip replacement and hand surgery. “I enjoy work and life in general in Abu Dhabi, especially the diversity in people, cultures, places, and activities. Since the beginning of 2015, I have enjoyed New Year’s Day brunch and live theater at the Emerates Palace, attended the Abu Dhabi International Golf Championship and Yacht Ocean Race, rode a camel, visited several traditional and several very modern souks, visited Dubai and Palm Island, and many other firsts for me. You may think I am on vacation, but actually I work all the time. With that said - I miss Cartersville and my friends, cat, kids, and grandkids. However, I know that I am where I should be for now,” reports Dr. Katherine Breland Bradley ’79.
1980s 1980 (35th Reunion)
We Have It Made in the Jade was the motto of members from the Class of 1980 who donned green lighted cowgirl hats to parade into the Annual Meeting with Great Green Knight flair. GKs applauded performances of Jeanne Luke Longerbeam, Lucy Anne Fisackerly Adams, and Helen Anne Richards at the Celebration Concert. During the Annual Meeting class roll call, hats “lit up” amidst class songs and cheers. On Friday night classmates met for special “knight time” events at the home of Wende Sanderson Meyer Von Bremen and Saturday night found them at the Tic Toc Room. Morning Watch and brunch at J. Christopher’s on Sunday morning rounded out weekend parties. Thanks to planning by Reunion Chair Jan Lawrence and committee members Lindi Lewis, Helen Anne Richards (who cochaired the Celebration Concert), Wende Sanderson Meyer von Bremen, Lynn Daley, Wanda Maynard Schroeder, Shannon Hudson, Mindy Fraiser, and Allison Wilcox, GKs lassoed in memories from 35 years and gave a “Hoddy Toddy” shout out to all who could hear.
Class of 1995 (20th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Stacy Shires, Catherine Atchley, Keena L. Hammond, Meg Morrison, Stacey Johnson Stone Row 2: Erinne Guice Hatchet, Blythe Buchanan, Valerie Lines Sands, Stephanie Russ-Barber, Jennifer Shermer Pack Row 3: Marcia Fears, Dawn Gochnour Hoffman, Jennifer Aiello, Betty Lo Freeman, Diana Snow Sabo Row 4: Sarah Bradshaw Young, Nancy Lamb, Elizabeth Banowsky Swain Row 5: Sally Hensley, Susan Horton Secord, Dale Howard, Mindy Lewis Laborde, Rebecca Calhoon Haskey, Tina Valdes, Susan Wheelis
Lucy Anne Fisackerly Adams ’80 looks forward to her July 2015 wedding to Carroll Wontrop of Blacksburg, VA. Currently a church musician at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Statesboro, GA, and music instructor (1-12) at Trinity Christian School as well as a private piano instructor, Lucy Anne will retire and relocate after the wedding. She will be gaining three adult sons and a 13-year-old bonus daughter. She says she is “very blessed with God’s provision.” Classmates enjoyed Lucy Anne’s performance in the reunion Celebration Concert. In Warner Robins, GA, Deena Harrell Cherry ’80 says she enjoys being a first time grandma! “James Austin Wallace IV (Jay) was born July 16, 2014, to son Hank and his wife, Emily.” Congratulations to Kelly Russell ’80 who is celebrating her 30th year with the U. S. Forest Service. She recently moved from New Mexico to Tallahassee, FL, where she accepted a new position as forest supervisor over the three national forests in Florida. Wesleyan Associate Professor of Music Ellen Futral Hanson ’83 is proud of son Brooks who signed to play collegiate tennis at Reinhardt University. Brooks broke the Top-100 in USTA 18U rankings and is a student at First Presbyterian Day School in Macon. His coach is Derek Lashley, husband of Aimee
Morris Lashley ’96! Alumnae enjoyed Ellen’s performance at the Celebration Concert.
1985 (30th Reunion)
Red was the “it” color for members of the Class of ’85 who returned to the College for a special homecoming. Co-Chairs Linda Chick Shriver and Carol Durham Taylor encouraged Pirates to come back to campus and reminisce over treasured memories. Fairfield Inn was home away from campus where Pirates gathered to discuss 30 + years of life after Wesleyan.
Bern Wallace ’85 resides in Decatur, GA, where she is operations manager for contract industry office furniture, servicing commercial and government agencies and companies. Laura Hefner Wanamaker ’85 earned a J.D. from Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law and is an attorney in Macon. Charlotte NeSmith Watson ’85 lives in Macon and enjoyed spending time with classmates at reunion.
Lisa Ahl Duncan ’85 retired in May from Augusta College (now Georgia Regents University). She looks forward to her first mission trip – a trip to China in November 2015. Lisa wrote the bicentennial hymn for St. John UMC in Augusta (Spirit of the Centuries) and a children’s musical about the life of John Wesley (Hey, John Wesley) which was performed numerous times.
For her 50th birthday, Ann Raines Williamson ’85 of Lilburn GA, and her family traveled to Yosemite National Park and hiked to the top of Half Dome, elevation 8,839 feet! Ann is human resources director for the Georgia Department of Revenue.
Libbie Powell Key ’85 resides in Hamilton, GA, where she stays busy with family, substitute teaching, and volunteer work.
PKs turned out 32 strong to enjoy a weekend of “always and forever” friendship. Kudos to Reunion Chair Karene Harron Nebel for her great work in gathering Knights together. With the PKs#1 leader WCAA President Ashley Garrett presiding at the Annual Meeting, Candlelighting chair Virginia Bowman Wilcox coordinating one of the largest group of seniors in recent years, class party hostesses Saralyn Collins and June
Julie Bowman Kimbrell ’85 of Suwanee, GA, is certified in the Wilson Reading (Tutor) Program. She enjoyed seeing classmates at reunion. Ellen Hogle McLemore ’85 lives and works in Lafayette, LA, as instructor of keyboard studies at Lafayette High School.
1990s 1990 (25th Reunion)
Jordan O’Neal hosting the most purple parties in town, Marla Leonard Stracner performing at the Celebration Concert, and Kym Preuss Lukosky being recognized for traveling the longest distance for reunion, the PK90 Class had a very special 25th anniversary year. Congratulations to Amanda Harris ’90 of Hanover, MD, who married T.H. Baughman in April. Ashley Garrett ’90 and Wendy Newingham Stanley ’90 attended the wedding. Amanda is a social worker with Johns Hopkins Health Systems. (See Marriages) Annie Mae LeonardMitcham ’90 received the 2014 Humanitarian Achievement Award at the East Macon Awards & Recreation Committee Banquet II where 13 community leaders were recognized. The award categories ranged from business, education, music, sports, and religion. The EMARC is a volunteer organization dedicated to helping East Macon through awareness projects and neighborhood cleanups. “My son, Dax Rowan Ceranowski, was born on December 8, 2013. Big brother Blaise was quite excited,” writes Elizabeth Bockmiller Ceranowski ’94 of Cary, NC.
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Class of 2000 (15th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Melissa Graham Meeks, Lareine Danforth Archer, Carley Carden, Amanda Driggers Grau, Sarah Mannle, Michele Pittman Gellis Row 2: Shauna Stotler-Hardy, Cally Whiddon, Erin Young, Kelly Baete, Julissa Noyola, Rhonda Pierce Row 3: Lindsay Abernethy, Laura Lee Wiliams McCranie, Sheila Williams, Melissa Lockert Lain, Amber Velasquez, Lisa Newman, Belinda Buck Wells Row 4: Marge (Mo) Guiberteau, Katie Sadler-Stephenson, Mandi Foster Davis, Shannon McWaters Lyvers, Julie Bailey-Wegner, Chantell Grant
1995 (20th Reunion)
Dr. Constance Ruys Professor of Speech and Theatre Wesleyan College (1962-1975)
Dr. Constance Ruys, of San Jose, CA, died on December 14, 2014, at age 92. Born in The Netherlands in 1922, Constance Ruys came to the U.S. in 1927. She earned her B.A. degree in drama from the University of California at Berkley, her M.S. degree from University of California at Los Angeles, and her Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1956. Dr. Ruys spent 25 years as a professor of drama at Cedar Crest College, Wesleyan College (1962- 1975), and New Mexico Highlands University. She directed plays from the Greek classics to Shakespeare, modern musicals, and a full-scale opera. After retirement, she dedicated her life to caring for dogs, cats, and other animals. Wesleyan students will remember Dr. Ruys for her forthright teaching style, her special approach to learning, and her wise counsel in times of need. Her famous “heads will roll” admonition to all involved in the drama production process belied her softer side as an advisor to many students who listened to her expound on valuable life lessons. She inspired students to communicate to others through the arts (drama) and to immerse themselves in the language and characters of a play in order to better articulate universal truths to an audience. According to Dona Vaughn ’66, artistic director of opera programs at the Manhattan School of Music and artistic director at PORT Opera, “Dr. Ruys was a true mentor to me. She encouraged me to believe in myself and follow my dream. I am forever grateful to her.” 64
GH95 classmates were just too t-shirt chic when they returned to campus wearing flashing cowgirl hats, reunion mums, and t-shirts minted just for the 20th reunion. Reunion Chair Susan Wheelis and committee members Stephanie Russ Barber, Nancy Lamb, Susan Horton Secord, and Rebecca Calhoon Haskey encouraged GHs to attend and attend they did! With 26 members strong, Hearts paraded into the Annual Meeting where they cheered long and hard with great GH spirit that literally “lit up” the meeting during the class roll call. They also sold special Golden Heart patches at Alumnae Marketplace with sales benefiting the GH95 class gift for the restoration of the painting Country Scene. Class get-togethers held at Holiday Inn North where conversations turned to kids, careers, and other GH things (including slideshows and photo booth ops) brought memories into the moment for yet another chance to reminisce about “golden” days. “Loved getting to see all of my favorite Golden Hearts. We are fabulous at 40 (ish)!” writes Erinne Guice Hatchett ’95. Erinne lives in Bremen, GA, where she has fun owning and managing a Veterinary Hospital. Keena Hammond ’95 is a sales executive for ConEdison Solutions in Valhalla, NY. Our condolences to Keena on the passing of her dear father, Leon Hammond. (See Sympathy) Susan Horton Secord ’95 reports, “I have been happily married to the very witty Rick Secord for eight years – one of the best decisions I ever made! We live in Villa Rica, GA, with a spoiled cat and our grandmother.” Susan earned an Ed.S. and M.Ed. from University of West Georgia and works as a ESOL/gifted coordinator.
Class of 2005 (10th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Ashling Thurmond Osborne, Peta-Gaye Halsall-Wright Row 2: Katie Riggs Freeman, Megan Quinn, Ashley Wheelus McKenna, Erika Danner, Diana Lee Row 3: Heather Poindexter Kennedy, Jyoti Danes Coffelt, Kristina Mendoza, Shayla Howard Barron, Carolyn Gregory Colyar, Marnai Boose, Kourtney Williams
2000s 2000 (15th Reunion)
The “Always and Forever” GK2K Class enjoyed a “fantastic” 15th during Alumnae Weekend due to great planning by reunion committee members Marge Guiberteau, Katie SadlerStephenson, Liz McQuilton Rodgers, Carley Carden, Jessica Salter, Julissa Noyola, and Erin Young. Twenty-four classmates announced their presence on campus with Green Knight gusto at the Annual Meeting. Parties at “El Som” and at the home of Natalie Burdette Benson provided even more opportunities for late “knight” sharing sessions where reminders of what sisterhood really means came to life through stories - both old and new. Marge “Mo” Guiberteau ’00 lives in Atlanta and enjoyed being with GKs at reunion. Lisa Wentz Newman ’00 lives in Charlotte, NC, where she is the school counseling specialist for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and supervises counseling work for 105 elementary schools. Lisa earned her M.A. and her Ed.S. in school psychology from The University of Florida. She earned her M.A. in school counseling from Lenoir Rhyne University. Rhonda Kay Pierce ’00 lives in Macon and is involved in area alumnae activities. She is working on a M.S. degree in mental
health counseling and earned a postbaccalaureate certificate in theories of mental health counseling. Rhonda is a member of the National Mental Health Counseling Honor Society. Cally Whiddon ’00 is enjoying her new adventure in Virginia Beach, VA, where she works for GEICO as a liability supervisor. She says, “Come visit now before I head back to AK – and be ready to visit in AK, too!” Abbie Smoak Lacienski ’01 has been named by the Statesboro Herald as a 2015 “20 Under 40” Young Professional. According to the Herald, “Abbie has worked hard to modernize CTAE and STEM education in Bulloch County Schools. She was instrumental in helping secure a $1 million grant to help equip CTAE labs in the new high schools.” Abbie is the career, technical and agricultural director, counselor, music/art/ physical education coordinator for the Bulloch County Board of Education. Wesleyan alumnae know her as the vice president for public relations on the Wesleyan Alumnae Association board of managers and class notes editor of the Wesleyan Magazine. Wesleyan Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Chenny Gan ’02 was voted a “40 Under 40: Professors Who Inspire” by NerdScholar. Reunion classes enjoyed Dr. Gan’s performance at the Celebration Concert during Alumnae Weekend.
Monica Harper ’04 reports, “I was appointed chorus master of the Savannah Philharmonic in fall 2014 and will keep my position as director of music and organist at Wesley Monumental. I always credit the wonderfully personalized education I got at Wesleyan for the successes I have had. Thank you to the wonderful professors there who have devoted their lives to teaching others.” Laura Knox ’04 of Decatur, GA, is now a fully licensed therapist in the state of Georgia.
2005 (10th Reunion)
Celebrating 10 years of sisterhood, the Pirate Class of 2005 lost no time “catching up” during Alumnae Weekend. Reunion CoChairs Stephanie Samuels Glenn and Ashling Thurmond Osborne kept plans in ship-shape order, making campus the main port of call. Off-campus, Pirates relived memories and shared life after Wesleyan stories at parties hosted at Fairfield Inn and at Ingleside Village Pizza. The Powerful Pirates dressed in their favorite color and cheered at the Annual Meeting for Megan Quinn who received the 2015 Young Alumna Award. Facebook posts about “all things red” spurred plans for a future fantastic 15th. Kristina Mendoza ’05 earned a D.M.D. from the University of Kentucky and is a dentist for the U.S. Navy. She has a personal FIRST – she shot a grenade launcher with the Marines.
“Hi all! Baby Nora Kathleen Walter was born on March 6, 2015, at 12:40 p.m. Mom, dad and baby are tired but thrilled to finally be getting to know one another,” reports Heather Hughes Walter ’05 from Lyndhurst, NJ. (See Births) Lauren Hamblin Beaty ’06, director of alumni relations at Mount de Sales Academy in Macon, was selected for the first class of Middle Georgia Regional Leadership Champions (MGRLC). The MGRLC is a program by the Middle Georgia Regional Commission in partnership with the University of Georgia J. W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The program is comprised of a diverse group of community stakeholders and leaders throughout the region who will work to promote regionalism and create a vision of growth for Middle Georgia. “Reverend Hurdle is one of the reasons I will always hold Wesleyan so close to my heart,” says Jaime Foxx McQuilkin ’06 of Atlanta. “We love beach town living in northwest Florida. I received my master’s degree in education in 2014 and am finishing up my first year teaching first grade,” writes Angel Feightner Poe ’08.
Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2015
Class of 2010 (5th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Rachel Fullerton, Brittney Snell, Crystal Church Tanner, Selina Snider Row 2: Forrest Wolff, Lauren Elser, Melissa Haley, Adrianne Warlick, Sarah “Jim” Kaplan Row 3: April Rohrbaugh, Natalia Fuller, Cheyanne Siebenaler, Jessica Seale, Cecelia Batt
: 5 6 9 1 f o s s a l s r a The C e y 0 5 g n i t a r b e l Ce elley ’65 m S n o i amp rine Ch e h t a K of ourtesy C s o t o Ph
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Class of 2014 (1st reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Crystal Osburn, Rachel Regan, Megan Franken, Jennifer Eadie Row 2: Elly Tilk, Delaney Hayes Sheppard, Cara Gainey, B. ReChele Lee Row 3: Esiri Tasker, Ashlee Day, Kinjal Patel Row 4: Tiffany Hicks, Paula Lockhart
2010s 2010 (5th Reunion)
Reunion Co-Chairs Sarah Ownbey and Lauren Elser welcomed classmates back to Wesleyan for a fabulous 5th. Knights made the most of collective “catching up” times and celebrated in style with a class party in Macon’s historic district on Friday night. Shades of purple and lavender followed the class flag into the Annual Meeting where shouts of “PKs #1” announced a special homecoming. Conyers, GA, resident Sarah “Sarah Jim” Kaplan ’10 is the author of Soul Thoughts, a book of poetry. Her pen name is Celestial K. She invites you to check out her website for more information: celestialk@ weebly.com In Marietta, GA, Forrest Curtis Wolff ’10 stays busy keeping up with son Micah who was born on November 12, 2013. Congratulations to Alaina Avera Harrison ’12 and husband Greg who will receive their first appointments in the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church at the Annual Conference in June. Greg will be appointed the executive director of the Wesley Foundation of Macon (UMC college ministry to Mercer, Wesleyan, Macon State). Alaina will be appointed as director of spiritual formation for the Wesley Foundation of Macon. (Alaina’s position will be quartertime and flexible as she balances this position with their first child, Owen - due July 12.) They have
spent the past three years as full-time interns at the Wesley Foundation of Macon while attending seminary at Emory’s Candler School of Theology from which they graduated in May 2015. Kendal Binion ’13 lives in Macon and will enter the Ph.D. program in clinical psychology at Wyoming University this fall. Congratulations to Mary Brown ’13 of Warner Robins, GA, who earned her master’s degree in human services counseling: marriage/family in December 2014 from Liberty University.
2014 (1st Reunion)
PK memories took center stage when the Class of 2014 returned to campus for their first Wesleyan reunion. With reunion committee members Esiri Tasker, ReChele Lee, and Jennifer Eadie leading the way, Knights facebooked, emailed, and tweeted the year away with invitations and promises to meet. At the Annual Meeting, PKs were proud of Ashlee Day ’14 of Tacoma, WA, who was recognized as one of three alumnae who traveled the farthest distance to reunion. A class party at Hummingbird Stage and Tap Room in downtown Macon gave Knights a special “catching up” place to paint the town purple. Cara Gainey ’14 looks forward to her wedding on July 11, 2015. She is manager of Republic Finance in Macon.
Alumnae Weekend It’s not just for reunion classes! Announcing Alumnae Weekend 2016 April 15, 16, and 17 Mark your calendar now and plan to join us next spring! Reunions are celebrated at fiveyear intervals, but all alumnae are invited to this and every Alumnae Weekend.
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In Memory of Elizabeth Reed Thanks to Tom Premtaj for sharing this story. www.theuofmusic.com Elizabeth Reed was a young Southern woman in 1860 when she came to Macon, Georgia, to study instrumental music, drawing, and painting at Wesleyan College. In 1865, she married Confederate Army Captain Briggs Napier and began a long life as a farmer’s wife and the mother of twelve children. Briggs Napier served for a period as the editor for the Monroe County Newspaper, and in the early 1900s the couple operated a local pub in Macon. Elizabeth Reed Napier passed away in 1935 and her body was laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon. More than three decades later, a group of young men, aspiring local musicians, would regularly frequent the same cemetery where Elizabeth Reed is buried. They would congregate under the ghostly, blue light of the Georgia moon to find inspiration for their creative powers while the eerie ambience of the buried dead hung thickly around them. The young men, six of them - Duane, Gregg, Dickey, Berry, Jaimoe, and Butch - all burned with youthful passion for creating music and basked in the foreboding atmosphere the cemetery offered. While there is speculation as to exactly how it may have 68
occurred, one thing is certain. Dickey noticed the tombstone of Elizabeth Reed Napier and gave free rein to his imagination. Little did he know that he was creating one of the greatest instrumental songs in the history of rock music.
essential elements of what it means to be human, while at the same time removing the sense that there is a window, then “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” may, at the very least, be seen as musically achieving that major artistic intention.
The young musicians became the Allman Brothers Band and the guitarist, Dickey Betts, wrote the music for his opus “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” with the looming impression of that woman’s grave serving as his inspiration. The song became an instrumental concert warhorse with its hauntingly melodic, jazzy opening guitar line that slowly crescendoed into a full out musical assault, unparalleled in the annals of rock music.
Two of the musicians, Duane and Berry, once burned with wide-eyed enthusiasm under that pale moonlight, unaware that they were standing on the precipice of musical greatness. Just like Elizabeth probably felt when she left for Wesleyan College, they were brimming with excitement over the possibilities that life offered. And, just like Elizabeth, they now rest in peace at Rose Hill Cemetery, only 144 steps to the south of her grave. They serve as a reminder, a memory, like the tombstone of Elizabeth Reed, of the slow march of time and the fleeting moment we call life.
The version of “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” from the historic Live At Fillmore East recordings is universally recognized as the definitive manifestation of the allencompassing experience of the song. From its weepy, mournful opening to its wildly imaginative jam, the song is alive and musically conveys all of the emotions, hardships, joys, births, and deaths that make up a lifetime. If a key purpose of art is to create a window that offers a view to
Located in downtown Macon, Rose Hill Cemetery is filled with Civil War heroes, state senators, and other dignitaries of the town. Its vast landscape has rolling hills and is bordered by a train track used by slaves for the Underground Railroad.
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Special Events at Wesleyan Whether you’re hosting an outside wedding reception or a large group for dinner, Wesleyan College offers an elegant backdrop for your special event. Historic, Georgian-style buildings updated with modern facilities are perfect venues for weddings, receptions, meetings, conferences, baby showers, and reunions. Accommodations range from 25 to 1,200 people, and our affordable catering options are unparalleled. Newly renovated guest suites offer overnight lodging and Wesleyan’s meeting spaces vary from elegantly appointed parlors and ballrooms to high tech conference rooms. Make your reservation today!
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#GiveItUp to #WrapUp the Annual Fund! Wesleyan College Alumnae Association @wesleyancollegega Devyn Foti ’13