INTERDISCIPLINARY
INNOVATION: New departments
reflect Agnes Scott’s commitment to learning across disciplines.
THE ART OF THINKING WELL: Council of Independent Colleges
President Marjorie Hass reflects on the value and pleasures of the liberal arts.
Agnes Scott’s Career Exploration Center supports students’ professional success.
Agnes Scott’s liberal arts education empowers students to claim their place as leaders in the workplace.
volume 98, number 2
Editor Debbie Ritenour
Editorial Advisers
Cheryl Webster
Vice President, College Advancement
Malaika Dowdell
Associate Vice President, Communications and Marketing
Jennifer L. Colter
Senior Director, Marketing and Communications
Josh Cornwall Director, Digital Strategy
Tasida Webster ’21
Assistant Director, Alumnae Relations
Contributing Writers
Meilee D. Bridges
Sue Durio
Donna Williams Lewis
Joanna Nesbit
Jillian Price
Debbie Ritenour
Kia Smith
Designer Garon Hart Graphic Design
Photography
Josh Cornwall
Adam Hagy Photography
Deb Mosley
Agnes Scott College Archives
Alex Slitz
@agnesscottcollege
@agnesscottcollege
Agnes Scott College
Mission: Agnes Scott College educates women to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times.
©2024 Agnes Scott College. Published for alumnae and friends twice a year by the Office of Communications and Marketing, Agnes Scott College, 141 E. College Ave., Decatur, GA 30030-3770.
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to the future.
Agnes Scott’s liberal arts education empowers students to claim their place as leaders in the workplace.
Two new departments reflect Agnes Scott’s commitment to learning across disciplines. 26 Leadership Development
Agnes Scott encourages students to learn about the world—and themselves.
Agnes Scott prepares today’s learners to be tomorrow’s leaders.
Career Journeys
Agnes Scott’s Career Exploration Center supports students’ professional success.
The Art of Thinking Well Council of Independent Colleges President Marjorie Hass reflects on the value and pleasures of the liberal arts.
In today’s fast-paced and increasingly polarized world, some people are questioning the value of a liberal arts education. In this issue of Agnes Scott The Magazine, we explore the many ways a liberal arts education prepares students for personal and professional success.
A series of articles highlights how Agnes Scott’s focus on interdisciplinary innovation, leadership development, personal development and career exploration enables our students to grow into wellrounded, engaged citizens of the world. Armed with the skills and knowledge a liberal arts education provides, our students emerge ready to claim their place as leaders in today’s global society.
Our alumnae are our best advocates. Should you find yourself in a conversation with someone who does not understand the transformative power of the liberal arts, I encourage you to share the many benefits of your own experience. You can think of this issue as a toolkit that can help you state the case for a liberal arts education.
This issue also includes an article on the recently completed renovation of our beloved Main Hall. I am so grateful to the hundreds of alumnae and other donors who helped us revitalize the college’s most iconic building. If you attended the rededication in October, thank you; if you were not able to make it, I invite you to take a tour of Main the next time you are on campus.
There is also a profile of Jennifer Sciubba ’01, who leads the Population Research Bureau, a nonpartisan research organization focused on improving the health and well-being of people around the world. Jennifer was one of the many accomplished speakers at this year’s Women’s Global Leadership Conference, where she discussed how taking a liberal arts approach has strengthened her work. We set another attendance record, with more than 600 scholars, professionals, thought leaders and members of the campus community coming together to share strategies for ending disparities in healthcare access and health outcomes. You will find a recap of the conference in this issue.
As you read through the magazine, I encourage you to note the ways your liberal arts education shaped you into the person you are today. I am the product of a women’s college and a liberal arts education, and I credit this experience with giving me not just the skills, but also the confidence to explore different paths throughout my career. It has been quite the journey—and I would not have it any other way.
Thank you for traveling down this road with me. I am excited about the direction we are taking, and I look forward to carrying on the liberal arts tradition together.
Warmly,
Leocadia I. Zak President
Agnes Scott College—long known for its time-honored traditions—extended another tradition in 2024, once again earning recognition from U.S. News & World Report in its annual ranking of the nation’s best colleges and universities.
In addition to being named the No. 1 Most Innovative college in the nation for the seventh consecutive year, Agnes Scott was ranked No. 3 for First-Year Experiences. The college was also named No. 3 for Best Undergraduate Teaching, No. 4 for Social Mobility, No. 6 for Study Abroad, No. 6 for Learning Communities, No. 14 for Internships and No. 28 for Best Value Schools.
The First-Year Experiences ranking reflects the impact of the SUMMIT curriculum, which provides incoming students with high-impact practices such as Global Journeys, a course that builds intercultural competencies and develops essential leadership skills through an eightday faculty-led trip.
“The first-year experience is an essential building block for a student’s academic, personal and professional success,” says Leocadia I. Zak, president of Agnes Scott. “Our innovative curriculum combined with real-world experiences prepares our students to claim their place as leaders in our communities, workplaces and world.”
The college’s ranking for Social Mobility, meanwhile, is the result of its success in graduating socioeconomically disadvantaged students.
“Agnes Scott College takes a holistic approach to the student experience,” Zak says. “We combine an outstanding academic experience, appreciation for culture and diversity, internship and study abroad opportunities, and an outstanding alumnae network to support student success. Innovation, academic excellence and the student experience are always at the forefront of what we do.”
In October, Agnes Scott College held its fifth annual Women’s Global Leadership Conference, and like the others before it, deep dialogue about a pressing issue impacting the world was front and center. This year’s theme was inclusive health equity, and some of the most influential thought leaders in the healthcare industry contributed to the conversation in a live, interactive forum on the historic campus.
More than 600 attendees packed into a stunningly decorated (mostly in Agnes Scott purple) Gaines Chapel, inside Presser Hall, to claim their place at Agnes Scott’s marquee event. A distinguished lineup of speakers that included both local and global leaders participated in panels that
engaged an inquisitive audience of students, staff, faculty members and community members with a passion for advocacy.
Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and awardwinning journalist and radio show host Rose Scott kicked off the day-long event with a discussion on best practices in global health equity, with a particular emphasis on women and maternal health.
“[Fixing imperfect systems] does take time and consistent effort and leadership,” Cohen said. “We are never done with that, but we are never going to be done with making things better, more equitable. That should be an ongoing journey.”
Valerie Montgomery Rice, president of Morehouse School of Medicine, stressed the importance of a holistic medical approach in a discussion on culturally responsive and person-centered care.
“[Person-centered care] forces you to look beyond the chief complaint … [to] think about the other factors that may be going on in a person’s life at a time when they are asking you for assistance or for care or a question,” Rice said.
Tracey Veal ’84, senior health innovation consultant with Kaiser Permanente, agreed with Rice’s sentiment during a panel on strategic approaches to health equity. Veal and other speakers spoke of the importance of education in improving health equity. “You have to start at the
beginning [teaching] and work together with these healthcare entities to start looking at people as people. For health plans and healthcare to be successful, they really have to look at the person holistically and take it into consideration,” Veal said.
Donna Hubbard McCree, owner of NXLS4 HEALTH LLC and retired CDC associate director, made a key point when she spoke in a session on envisioning a healthier world at home and abroad. “No matter how much knowledge we have, we as scientists are not to take our knowledge and tell people how to live,” she said. “We are to integrate our knowledge into their lives and help them live their best life.”
The conference concluded with a conversation between Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Simbo Ige and Agnes Scott President Leocadia I. Zak. The two discussed Ige’s leadership in addressing health disparities in underserved communities, her innovative approaches to community health and her vision for a more equitable healthcare system.
“People have to see that you care about them,” Ige said. “People have to know that it is true. It’s not just a script that you’re reading … When we talk about trust, it’s not just trust through a third party; it’s trust in you as a person that you truly care about the people you’re serving. I think that that is vital to the work that we do as healers or as public health champions.”
For the first time, Agnes Scott offered a conference app to make it easy for attendees to access the schedule, speakers’ bios and more. The event also featured a Q&A session that brought to light issues that were weighing on attendees’ minds.
Generous sponsor support played a huge role in the success of the day. Presenting sponsor Amazon, Wellstar, PNC Bank, Northside Hospital, Truist Bank, Kaiser Permanente, Georgia Health Initiative and Children’s Hospital of Atlanta all made this year’s conference possible.
The event concluded with roaring applause and a warm invitation to next year’s conference, scheduled for Oct. 8, 2025.
The Agnes Scott College Board of Trustees welcomed four new members in July. James M. (Jay) Bailey and Julia A. Houston were newly elected to four-year terms. Meanwhile, Whitney M. Ott ’03, who has represented the Agnes Scott Alumnae Association on the board for the past four years, is also beginning her first elected term, and Tiffany M. Nuriddin ’07 is joining as the newly elected president of the Agnes Scott Alumnae Association.
“We are delighted to welcome the newest members of our Board of Trustees,” says Leocadia I. Zak, president of Agnes Scott. “Our trustees are instrumental to our ability to fulfill our mission.”
Jay Bailey is president and CEO of the H.J. Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE), where he leads the world’s largest entrepreneurial hub dedicated to developing, growing and scaling Black businesses. Under Bailey’s leadership, RICE has grown to support more than 500 entrepreneurs in just four years, sustaining 2,153 jobs in the community and sparking $478 million of new economic impact in the metro Atlanta area.
Julia Houston, JD, serves as chief strategy and marketing officer at Equifax while also overseeing communications, compliance, privacy and enterprise risk. She joined Equifax in 2013 and previously
served as chief transformation officer and senior vice president, U.S. legal. Before joining Equifax, Houston was general counsel and corporate secretary at Convergys Corporation, as well as general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary at Mirant Corporation.
Whitney Ott ’03 is a partner at Jackson Spalding, one of the largest independent, integrated public relations and marketing firms in the Southeast. As a strategic partner and member of the executive team, she helps run the agency and oversees projects for high-profile clients, including The Coca-Cola Company. She also leads client messaging, coaching and facilitation sessions.
Tiffany Nuriddin ’07, JD, is a partner at Harrison LLP, where she serves on the executive committee. A fellow with the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, she consults on estate planning and administration, family wealth transfer tax planning, succession planning and fiduciary litigation.
Adrian J. Cronje, Quinton R. Martin, Deborah H. Painter ’75 and Elizabeth A. Shiroishi ’97 ended their board service June 30. In addition, former trustees Elizabeth R. Jones ’73, Phil Noble and E. Jenner Wood III were named trustees emerita/us of the college.
Thank you to the sponsors of the Women’s Global Leadership Conference
On April 19-20, Agnes Scott College hosted its annual Alumnae Weekend. Alumnae representing class years ending in four and nine celebrated milestone reunions, while Scotties from other classes were on hand for the many special events. Mark your calendars: Alumnae Weekend 2025 is coming up April 25-26.
Congratulations to the newest faculty members at Agnes Scott College.
Julia Gutierrez
Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
June Hyun
Associate Professor of Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Brielle James Assistant Professor of Psychology
Janelle Jones
Assistant Professor of Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Daun Kwag
Assistant Professor of Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Sarah Mitchell
Associate Professor of Biology and of Chemistry
Malatrice Montgomery
Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies
Ana Maria Pozo
Assistant Professor of Spanish
Megan Timpone
Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies
Raulniña Uzzle
Medical Director of Physician Assistant Studies
Atticus Wolfe
Assistant Professor of Public Health
Not pictured Natalia Arellano
Assistant Professor of Physics
Agnes Scott College held its 135th commencement ceremony on May 11, 2024. The college conferred 203 bachelor’s degrees and 42 master’s degrees during the ceremony.
This year’s commencement speaker was mountaineer and activist Wasfia Nazreen ’06, the first Bengali and only Bangladeshi to have successfully climbed the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. Student Government Association President EV McGovern ’24 was selected as the class speaker.
“Each of you has become a complete person much more than when you arrived, and yet you have set the stage for continued growth, development and fulfillment after you leave this campus,” Agnes Scott President Leocadia I. Zak told the graduating class. “Make no mistake, you will face challenges. We all do. But our capacity for achievement is always informed by our experience, and your experience at Agnes Scott has been designed from the very beginning to prepare you for what comes next.”
Cheryl Webster, Agnes Scott’s new vice president for college advancement, brings a wealth of success and experience from her most recent post at Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts. As vice president of advancement and executive director of the Salem State University Alumni Association and Foundation, Inc., Webster raised the most funding for any Massachusetts state university and brought in the three largest gifts in state university history. She also doubled the school’s endowment.
The strength of those accomplishments bodes well for Agnes Scott, where Webster is now responsible for external relations, fundraising, partnership development, alumnae relations, communications and marketing.
“Cheryl has not only the skills and experience, but also the strong sense of mission necessary to succeed in her new role,” says Leocadia I. Zak,
president of Agnes Scott. “Her ability to connect with students, faculty, alumnae and donors reflects her innate passion for this work. She has proven herself as a committed community partner and a trusted advisor, and we are thrilled to have her on the team.”
Webster holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Oswego State University. Prior to joining Salem State, she directed leadership giving, annual giving, pre-campaign assessment planning and advancement services for Emerson College in Boston. She has served on the boards of the Lynn Museum and Arts Center and St. Jean’s Credit Union, both based in Lynn, Massachusetts.
“Joining the Agnes Scott community has been an absolute pleasure,” Webster says. “Everyone I have met so far is all-in on helping to advance Agnes Scott’s mission, and I am honored to be a part of this incredible community.”
Agnes Scott’s liberal arts education empowers students to claim their place as leaders in the workplace.
BY DEBBIE RITENOUR
For centuries, a liberal arts education was considered essential to the development of a well-rounded individual. The idea traces its roots to ancient Greece and Rome, when Plato and other philosophers believed an education grounded in multiple disciplines produced effective, informed citizens. In medieval Europe, the concept was redefined to focus on seven specific areas of study: grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. Later, the term came to refer to a broad education encompassing a variety of subjects.
In recent years, many colleges and universities began focusing their efforts on building strong programs in high-demand fields such as computer science and engineering to prepare students for specific careers. Some went so far as to eliminate majors in less technical fields such as sociology, foreign languages and religious studies. With the rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence, however, the pendulum is swinging back as employers are increasingly recognizing the value of the liberal arts.
“A liberal arts education plays a more important role today than ever before,” says Agnes Scott College President Leocadia I. Zak. “Innovation is constant, and to be able to keep up with change, you need an interdisciplinary way of looking at things and the skills to critically evaluate what is happening. A liberal arts education allows you to explore, extrapolate and see toward the future. That critical component—being able to apply the human to the technical and do so with ethical and social awareness—is going to be extremely important.”
Liberal arts colleges such as Agnes Scott provide not only the knowledge needed to succeed in tomorrow’s careers, but also the skills. By teaching students to think critically, communicate effectively and make connections across disciplines, liberal arts colleges prepare students for a variety of careers—including those that don’t yet exist.
“Businesses are not going to need as many data scientists going forward. There won’t be as many coders or programmers,” says Joanne Smith, executive vice president and chief people officer for Delta Air Lines and member of the Agnes Scott Board of Trustees. “Those skills that we thought were going to be in such short supply six or seven years ago are not going to be needed with new technologies. What we will need are leaders who know how to use data insights effectively and who have strong people, judgment and communication skills. That’s where liberal arts students will have a leg up.”
Understanding the value of the liberal arts begins with understanding the definition of the liberal arts.
“Some people use ‘liberal arts’ as a synonym for ‘humanities,’ but it’s so much more than that,” says Rachel Bowser, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college. “In addition to the arts and humanities, liberal arts students study the natural sciences and the social sciences. It’s more about the distribution of your studies. You learn things outside what you plan to pursue professionally.”
Studying disciplines beyond their major allows students to make connections and think about things in a new light. A history class may help an economics major better understand supply and demand, for example, while a creative arts major may see a painting from a different perspective after taking a geometry course. Ultimately, by learning across a variety of subjects, liberal arts students gain valuable skills that help them approach problems and collaboration through a richer and deeper way of thinking.
“There was a time in higher education where a liberal arts education was thought of as something that was only available to a privileged and elite subset of students who weren’t burdened by the pressure of having to immediately move into a profession,” Bowser says. “At schools like Agnes Scott, we believe that the liberal arts approach to education should be available to all students, regardless of their background, because the ways of thinking and the diversity of thought that are represented in a liberal arts curriculum have a broad benefit to both society as a whole and individual members.”
The benefit for students, she notes, includes being able to succeed in a variety of careers.
“In some ways, the liberal arts are AI proof because they are grounded in a deep belief that interpersonal, intercommunity and interdisciplinary connections create new ways of thinking,” Bowser says.
“Companies need people with problemsolving abilities, decision-making abilities and the ability to work across different situations. A liberal arts education provides all of that.”
Tapaswee Chandele, senior vice president of global talent, development and HR system partnerships at The Coca-Cola Company
Tapaswee Chandele, senior vice president of global talent, development and HR system partnerships at The Coca-Cola Company and Agnes Scott trustee, notes that companies are talking less in the language of jobs and more in the language of skills.
“At the end of the day, AI is going to become so pervasive that we won’t even be thinking about it the same way we don’t think about the electricity in our house,” Chandele says. “A lot of what we do today can be automated or will be automated over time. I highly doubt that some of the things that liberal arts students do really well, such as critical thinking and problem solving, will ever be done by technology. Companies need people with problem-solving abilities, decisionmaking abilities and the ability to work across different situations. A liberal arts education provides all of that.”
A liberal arts education doesn’t just deepen students’ knowledge and skills. It also helps students develop personally and interpersonally.
At Agnes Scott, residential life is a key component of the educational experience. The vast majority of students live on campus all four years, where they make lifelong friends and gain independence in a safe, accessible living environment.
“When you live with other people, you understand what it’s like to truly be part of a community,” says Chicora Martin, vice president for student affairs and dean of students. “Our students develop a sense of belonging while learning how to navigate relationships and engage with people who may be very different from them.”
Agnes Scott offers learning opportunities outside the classroom as well. Students can build their leadership skills in a variety of ways, from getting involved with a student organization to volunteering in the local community through Scotties Serve. They also can pursue their personal and intellectual interests by attending campus events, including the annual Women’s Global Leadership Conference.
“I have yet to meet a student who doesn’t do something beyond go to class,” Martin says. “Our students connect those dots and take advantage of those opportunities. The personal and interpersonal development that happens on a liberal arts campus helps you develop as a full person, and being a full person helps you be successful in your career.”
At Agnes Scott, that means far more than landing a job after graduation or getting that first paycheck.
“The advantage of going to a liberal arts college is that not only can you get a good job, but you can keep that good job, and you can be promoted,” Martin says. “It’s those interpersonal skills that you develop that allow you to be a productive and successful employee and maybe a productive and successful supervisor or manager.”
Civic engagement is more expansive now than in the days of Plato—and arguably more important. A liberal
arts education encourages students to take an active role in the world around them.
“At Agnes Scott, 98% of students registered to vote,” Martin says. “Think about what it would be like in a world where everyone registered to vote and everyone understood it was their job to engage in this process.”
The college’s rigorous Honor System is integral to the Agnes Scott experience. Each fall, incoming students sign the Honor Code, pledging to “develop and uphold
high standards of honesty and behavior; to strive for full intellectual and moral stature; [and] to realize [their] social and academic responsibility in the community.”
After graduating, students take these values with them as they claim their place in today’s global society.
“All of these pieces come together to create good employees, but we’re not producing robots or machines,” Martin says. “We also want to create good people, and that’s what happens at a liberal arts college.”
2 out of 5 70%
The average liberal arts graduate earns
more than the average high school graduate $20,000
$90,000 liberal arts graduates go on to earn graduate degrees of liberal arts graduates change careers from their first to their second job
Liberal arts graduates in the top 25 percent earn or more per year
Source: The Strada Institute for the Future of Work and Emsi
BY DONNA WILLIAMS LEWIS
Making connections across disciplines is central to the liberal arts experience. At Agnes Scott College, two new departments are transcending traditional academic boundaries to offer students exceptional preparation in the fields of neuroscience and the creative arts.
The Department of Creative Arts, launched in 2023, takes a holistic approach to studying the arts with five concentrations within the major: dance, digital media, music, theatre and visual practices. Also in 2023, Agnes Scott’s neuroscience program and Department of Philosophy merged, creating an enhanced neuroscience major that pairs cutting-edge science with a course of study rooted in ancient times.
The professors who helped conceive the new majors see them as incubators of students whose more broadly based knowledge will give them an advantage as they progress in their fields.
Annie Louise Harrison Waterman Professor of Theatre
Toby Emert, co-chair of the Department of Creative Arts, says the new department offers students a more integrated perspective on what it means to be a creative in contemporary culture.
“More and more artists are working across disciplines and working more collaboratively,” Emert says.
Students majoring in creative arts take four required courses: Observation and Reflection in the Creative Arts, an introductory class that covers all five discipline
areas; Research in the Creative Arts, which prepares students for a successful capstone experience; Creative Arts Forum, in which students develop ideas for a final project and learn from working arts professionals; and Creative Processes and Practices, in which students plan and produce their capstone project. Their other coursework may come from the spectrum of all five disciplines, but they are required to take 26 hours of advancing levels of classes within their chosen area of concentration.
“The idea is to give them some grounding in several areas within the discipline,” says Emert.
Claiming Her Place: Nga Than ’13 Machine Learning Engineer, TikTok
“At Agnes Scott, guided by the school’s ethos of global leadership, I learned to embrace uncertainty and make bold decisions. These values inspired me to pursue unique, oftentimes non-linear career paths. After a decade in social science research, I pivoted to machine learning engineering. Though not an engineering major in college, my STEM foundation at Agnes Scott gave me the confidence to keep up with AI’s rapid developments and tackle real-world challenges in my current role.”
Creative arts majors with a concentration in theatre, for example, are required to take classes in performance, acting, stagecraft, writing and playwriting. They must also participate in at least two productions.
Emert notes that the new department was partially born of pragmatism. The college’s former separate arts departments faced uncertainty several years ago over whether retiring staff would be replaced.
“We are a small place with limited resources,” he says. “If we were going to be a smaller faculty, how could we be a mighty faculty? We saw the possibilities in helping students think more generatively about what a career in the arts might be.”
A “mammoth undertaking” was put in motion to convert all of the arts departments and their majors into concentrations offered within a single major and minor. The new major challenges students to “think beyond what they may have conceptualized as the possibilities of their interest areas,” Emert says.
“It asks them to imagine how that interest can grow, expand, develop, be more exciting and also be more challenging,” he says. “I think, in a lot of ways, that is what the liberal arts are designed to do. They push us to have a grander, broader, more nuanced, more thoughtful perspective on the possibility of humanness.”
Bonnie Perdue, associate professor of cognitive neuroscience, helped facilitate the merger of neuroscience and philosophy into a consolidated department now co-directed by Jennifer L. Larimore,
associate professor of biology, and Harald Thorsrud, professor of philosophy.
Perdue believes the new department “epitomizes what you want from a liberal arts education, where you are bringing together very different perspectives to try to understand fundamental questions of human existence.”
“What we have articulated to our students is that you are going to be a more competitive candidate for a graduate program or a job because you will come out more well-rounded in how you think about questions and how you might answer them,” Perdue says.
Traditionally, neuroscience majors take biology, chemistry, data analysis and psychology classes in their quest to understand the biological basis of behavior. Now, philosophy classes such as Introduction to Logic are built into the neuroscience core curriculum and students are choosing electives such as Metaphysics, Existentialism, Ethics and Life’s Meaning.
Ethics in particular is critical for anyone going into a medical field, doctoral program or scientific career.
Agnes Scott neuroscience majors have gone on to a wide variety of post-graduate programs, including medical, optometry, veterinary and law schools.
“There’s usually an implicit expectation that you pick up exposure to ethics along the way or experience it embedded into other courses,” Perdue says.
By taking an ethics course rooted in philosophy, Agnes Scott neuroscience majors will have intentional and explicit training that sets them apart and should help them in their careers.
“The way we’ve conceptualized this merger is that philosophy is one of the oldest ways of trying to answer questions about the human experience and neuroscience is one of the newest ways of trying to answer these questions, but they center on these same core ideas,” Perdue says. “By bringing them together intentionally and having students think about these questions of the mind, the self, consciousness, perception, ethics and more from both a philosophical perspective and a neuroscientific perspective, we are aiming to cultivate holistic thinkers and well-rounded students.”
BY KIA SMITH
One of the hallmarks of a liberal arts education is the opportunity to study multiple, and perhaps seemingly unrelated, disciplines. As an economics major and German studies minor, Jaya Vivian ’25 wasn’t expecting to be able to incorporate both of her interests into her Sophomore Class Atlanta Leadership Experience (SCALE) at Agnes Scott College. Then she found out she’d be spending her externship with the German American Chamber of Commerce.
“I was really excited,” Vivian says. “I didn’t realize I could find work in Atlanta that combined economics, German language and German cultural competency.”
SCALE is a key component of Agnes Scott’s signature SUMMIT curriculum, which includes co-curricular experiences that encourage students to explore and engage with the world around them. In doing so, students gain valuable personal and professional skills and knowledge they need to thrive in college and beyond.
Agnes Scott students begin their exploration early with Global Journeys, a first-year, second-semester course. Throughout the course, students examine globalization; identity and culture; colonialism and imperialism; and the ethics of travel. Each section studies a different part of the world, and as part of the Global Journeys experience, students travel together
to their destination for an eight-day, faculty-led trip. Recent trips include Morocco, Ghana, Northern Ireland, the Navajo Nation and Peru.
“These immersive excursions are often outside the United States, but in some cases, they are actually within the U.S.,” says Laura Ochs, director of global learning. “This program is embedded into every student’s experience. It’s fully funded by the college, not the student, so it is 100% inclusive, accessible and an opportunity that we purposefully want to provide for all students.”
Vivian traveled to Marseille, France, a port city on the Mediterranean coast, for her Global Journeys experience.
“I was interested in French politics, particularly the French ideas surrounding religious freedom, and Marseille is a very religiously diverse part of France,” she says. “The experience definitely made me feel more secure in my ability to intersect economics with my interest in international relations.”
Students also take steps to develop cultural humility during the Global Journeys course.
“We realize that putting 250 people on a plane has
Claiming Her Place: Lily Exford ’20
Financial Services Professional,Volvo Financial Services
“As a freshman, my Global Journey to Morocco marked the start of an extraordinary academic journey that spanned four continents and six countries. Following graduation, I continued my international travel, this time as a professional, to seven countries on four continents. My goal is to continue to soak up the diverse experiences that life has to offer on all six continents.”
an environmental impact, so we talk very explicitly about how we’re not just going as tourists,” says Ochs. “We’re going to have a purpose, to meet communities, to understand people’s lives, to learn about a culture that’s different from our own, and to learn what that means for our culture and our value system.”
While most colleges target advanced students for international excursions, Agnes Scott has been intentional about placing the Global Journeys program early in students’ academic experience.
“We’ve taken this global, immersive experience and put it right in the middle of the first year to give students that exposure quickly and to help them build the foundation of knowledge and cultural experience that is going to underline the rest of their Agnes Scott career,” Ochs says. “We believe it’s so powerful that it needs to go up front, that everybody needs to have it, and that it’s going to inform everything else students do moving forward.”
During their sophomore year, students build on their Global Journeys learnings with SCALE, a program that allows students to study, observe and shadow Atlanta leaders for a week.
“We scaffold their learning by connecting students with Atlanta organizations and partners, many of whom have a global span and reach,” says Heather Scott ’99, former assistant dean of inclusive leadership curriculum and co-curriculum for SUMMIT. “Our students have already had a taste of leadership through a global lens, and now they’re bringing it
back to Atlanta, where they begin to recognize that these organizations are impacted and affected by a global world. This is all occurring in sophomore year when students declare their academic majors, so it’s also setting them up to explore post-Agnes Scott experiences through that academic discipline lens.”
Vivian’s experience is quite common for SCALE participants. Students often identify new opportunities or discover hidden strengths through the program.
“They get into the organization, they meet with these leaders, and their way of thinking is expanded,” Scott says. “After the SCALE experience, we hear a lot of students saying, ‘Wow, I never saw myself going into this particular area, but maybe I could end up working at a Mercedes-Benz or Porsche Cars of North America.’ Their horizons are really broadened.”
Both Global Journeys and SCALE empower students to confront the intellectual and social challenges of their times.
“You can’t effect change if you don’t have a broad perspective of different ways of knowing, being and doing. Opportunities like SCALE and Global Journeys provide students with access, and access is very important in terms of getting a full scope for a student’s learning progression,” Scott says. “The more students engage with different ways of learning and different ways of seeing the world, the more likely they are to be able to couple that academic learning and what they’re getting in their academic disciplines with how they can effect change after graduation. We’re setting them up for professional success and to be lifelong learners by heightening their critical-thinking skills and capacities for leadership.”
BY JOANNA NESBIT
Many first-year college students arrive on campus without knowing what they want to study, much less what they want to do with their lives. Agnes Scott College sees this uncertainty not as a challenge but as an opportunity.
At Agnes Scott, students are paired with a professional advisor and a peer advisor before they even step foot on campus. The college takes a comprehensive approach to preparing students for professional success through its unique SUMMIT curriculum blended with leadership and career exploration and preparation. Throughout their college journey, students hone their networking skills, explore the college’s career communities, and develop relevant technology skills for professional success, all with support from the Career Exploration Center (CEC).
“We believe the SUMMIT curriculum and the co-curricular experiences that students have at Agnes prepare them to be changemakers and have better opportunities for professional success,” says Machamma Quinichett, assistant dean for student success.
Career resources include the Handshake job board, career coaching, career fairs, career coffee chats with alumnae and SUMMIT Career Connect, the college’s network of professionals who have agreed to help students hone their professional skills and develop a professional network. The CEC also hosts information sessions on-site, where students can meet with employers, graduate schools, the Peace Corps and other organizations.
“We want to expose students to lots of different types of learning experiences, professions, professional people, alums and majors,” Quinichett says. “The firstyear Career Explorations Lab is set up to introduce them to the idea of short-term and long-term goals around their professional aspirations and personal strengths so that when their academic and professional interests start to align, they can be more intentional about their experience at Agnes.”
The CEC meets students wherever they are, Quinichett notes. “Our goal is to help you figure out who you are,” she says.
Formerly known as the Office of Internship and Career Development, the CEC recently moved into two floors of the newly renovated Main Hall. This
“My career growth wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Agnes Scott community. My professors guided me in defining my path, exploring the vast possibilities within my field, and ultimately falling in love with my chosen major, economics. The Office of Internship and Career Development taught me to transform qualities every first-generation student knows well—grit, perseverance and agility—into stories of impact and purpose. Their guidance helped me speak with confidence and conviction about the value I bring to every space I occupy, professionally and personally.”
“We have an amazing team of career coaches who work one-on-one with students over the course of four years.”
— Lucy Moran, director of the Career Exploration Center
location in the heart of Agnes Scott “underscores the importance of students’ professional success to the college,” says Lucy Moran, director of the CEC.
“Until now, we didn’t have a dedicated area for workshops, employer information sessions or Career Peers meetings, so this is very exciting,” Moran says. “Before, we had to reserve a classroom here or there for events. Now anything career-related is going to be held in the new career center space.”
Scotties can make an appointment to talk about professional goals with career coaches, get help with resumes and cover letters, and check out the SOS Professional Success Closet of professional attire, relaunched two years ago by staff and Mia Jones ’24, a former career ambassador. Students don’t need to have defined career goals to stop in.
“We have an amazing team of career coaches who work one-on-one with students over the course of four years,” says Moran, who notes that alumnae who graduated within the last two years have access to the same resources. “They walk with you step by step.”
The goal is exploration. Jones remembers feeling unsure about the future when she was a student.
“One of the things that prohibits students from going in is the anxiety behind planning for the future,” she says. “I get it. But it doesn’t have to be talking about your whole life. It can be dropping in to say hi. It’s a partnership—the career coaches are there to help.”
During her years at Agnes Scott, Jones appreciated the wraparound support the career center offered.
“It doesn’t just give students resources and tell them to go fly,” she says. “It helps students create a game plan.”
In 2024,
came in at No. 14 for Co-ops/Internships in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of the nation’s best colleges and universities.
BY JILLIAN PRICE
Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress, once said, “I am and always will be a catalyst for change.” It’s an inspiring quote—and one that Agnes Scott College takes to heart as it helps students develop the skills they need to claim their place as leaders in today’s global society.
“The whole college is about leadership,” says LeAnna Rensi, director of the Gué Pardue Hudson Center for Leadership, Engagement and Service (CLES) at Agnes Scott. “Leadership is critical. It’s woven into all our divisions, from enrollment to development.”
The CLES offers several programs and opportunities to help students lead in a variety of ways, from planning campus events and fostering student engagement to encouraging civic engagement and promoting global citizenship. Although the CLES is not directly related to academic teaching, Rensi notes, it’s still a critical component of an Agnes Scott education.
“We educate differently,” Rensi says. “We educate for professional success and emotional intelligence.”
The CLES houses two main programs designed to help students grow and develop their leadership skills.
Named after Chisholm’s famous quote, the Catalyst Leaders Fellows program is a recently revamped fouryear, cohort-based program. In the first year of the
program, students explore their own values and passions. As students move into the second and third years of the program, they dig a little deeper into the concept of leadership and explore opportunities to manage a service project of their choosing. Finally, in the fourth year, students present their project to the campus and become educators and mentors to others.
As students move through the program, they participate in retreats and peer discussions on various topics, including working within diverse populations and having difficult conversations. Throughout the process, students reflect, analyze and act on their own leadership skills.
LeAnna Rensi, director of the Gué Pardue Hudson Center for Leadership, Engagement and Service
“The idea is that the same five students will progress together through their first year to their senior year,” says Rensi, who notes that students must apply for the program, which offers a $250 stipend each semester.
The second leadership program the CLES offers is Legacy: New Student Orientation. In this weeklong program, students are welcomed to campus and immediately begin their leadership journey with the help of their advisors. In doing so, they discover their
Claiming Her Place: Lindsey Garland Padget ’15 Director of Network Philanthropic Engagement, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
“Unparalleled mentorship and leadership opportunities at Agnes Scott helped me build the skills I use every day as a leader on the State Fiscal Policy team at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. I work to compel folks to invest their hard-earned resources into state and federal tax and budget advocacy. This work is more important than ever as our nation faces some of its most important and existential challenges that divide those who have historically benefited from structural inequity and racism and those who continue to be left behind and locked out of opportunities because of it.”
abilities and a deeper sense of self. At the same time, they build relationships with their peers and strengthen their connection to the Agnes Scott community.
Student-athlete Leilah Lewinson ’25 credits the leadership skills she has gained at Agnes Scott with helping her in her role as president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), which works to enhance the student-athlete experience on campus. After representing the tennis team on the SAAC for three years, Lewinson decided to run for president because she wanted to help get more student-athletes involved in the organization and increase its exposure on campus.
“One of my main goals is to always leave something better than I found it, and I think that by being SAAC president, I will be able to leave SAAC better than I found it,” Lewinson says.
As president, Lewinson has been working to address the misunderstandings and stigmas that exist around
collegiate student athletes and highlight the importance of mental health. She notes that the experience has helped her understand that effective leaders listen as much as they speak.
“You can make comments, but you also need to have an ear to listen to other people,” she says.
Like Lewinson, Insherah Qazi ’26 took on a leadership role shortly after arriving on the Agnes Scott campus. She served as class president for two years before getting out of her comfort zone and running for president of the Student Government Association.
“It was something I was interested in in high school, but I just decided I really wanted to do it in college,” Qazi says. “It seemed like I could really make an impact. I’ve learned to take space for myself and make space for others.”
These opportunities are critical to helping students develop their skills and abilities, and Agnes Scott is committed to ensuring students are ready to lead on campus and in life.
“Leading everywhere is part of who Agnes Scott College is,” Rensi says.
BY MEILEE D. BRIDGES
As president of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), Marjorie Hass leads the organization’s efforts to support independent colleges and universities and promote their contributions to society. As the former president of Rhodes College and Austin College, she has a deep understanding of the benefits of a broad-based education grounded in interdisciplinary inquiry. And as a lifelong learner and scholar, she is a champion of the liberal arts.
In today’s politically polarized climate, the word liberal in the term liberal arts is often misconstrued. It’s more precise to trace the word back to its Latin root, liber, which means free. That freedom—or liberation—is central to the liberal arts.
“The liberal arts are about liberation from your internal impulses, habits of mind, tendencies toward error and prejudices,” Hass says. “The art of liberal arts is really the art of thinking. It’s about pressing yourself to open up even your deepest convictions to potential criticisms or reevaluations.”
Students at liberal arts colleges cultivate the art of thinking through an interdisciplinary approach to education that incorporates experiential learning and
real-world experience. Hass notes that the ultimate reward of a liberal arts education is the development of “skills of reasoning and interpretation to arrive at truths and meaning”—skills that serve students well beyond commencement.
While these skills are critical in today’s workplace, they also play a key role as society grapples with technological advances. Digital literacy has become especially important in an age of social media, deep fakes and artificial intelligence. Hass notes that distinguishing reality from fiction requires discernment and analysis and that liberal arts students gain these skills by studying everything from history and literature to science and psychology.
“We’re living through massive, radical change,” Hass says, noting that technology has changed us “in ways we can’t always predict and sometimes even now struggle to understand.”
While equipping students with resilience in the face of such change, institutions like Agnes Scott College teach enduring liberal arts skills: critical-thinking, problemsolving, communication and the scientific method. These skills, not coincidentally, are also crucial for leaders.
“Leadership is inspiring others to take action in the service of a more positive vision,” says Hass, who
“The art of liberal arts is really the art of thinking. It’s about pressing yourself to open up even your deepest convictions to potential criticisms or reevaluations.”
— Marjorie Hass, president of the Council of Independent Colleges
attributes her own ability to lead to her training as a philosopher. Great leaders inspire others by articulating a positive vision of organizations, institutions and communities—and the liberal arts are key.
“They certainly hone your ability to critique the way things are, but also to identify and imagine a world that is different, but better, from the one we inhabit,” Hass says.
Liberal arts institutions face tremendous pressures today: diminished public trust in higher education, a shrinking college-age population, competition, and even questions about return on investment. This is why, Hass says, Scotties must “proudly bear the banner of their liberal arts education to ensure that the people they interact with understand how their strengths were nurtured at Agnes Scott.”
Beyond trumpeting and giving back to their alma
mater, graduates can cultivate liberal arts values in their own lives even after they walk across that stage.
“College is such a rare occasion where your primary responsibility is learning,” Hass says. “After graduation, you have to intentionally pursue learning—not just learning how to use the new system at your office, but the open-ended learning that you did in college that includes reading, thinking and discussion.”
Indeed, liberal arts colleges are known for producing lifelong learners. Hass encourages Agnes Scott alumnae to continue to commit themselves to contemplation and question what they read and believe in order to open themselves up to opportunities for surprise, joy and delight.
“The pleasure that comes with the flash of insight is bound up in the liberal arts, so we don’t want to lose that side of it,” Hass says. “It’s not just all about practical applications; it’s also about making our lives richer and more meaningful.”
The largest building renovation in campus history preserves the past while looking to the future.
BY MEILEE D. BRIDGES
When Agnes Scott “Main” Hall was constructed in 1891, it sported the most modern features of the time. The first building in DeKalb County lit with electricity, Main Hall was heated by steam, had running water of more than one temperature and even boasted sanitary plumbing. During its 133-year history, the building has served as a residence hall for students, a home for administrative offices and a Hollywood filming location. The High Victorian Gothic edifice is also an indelible landmark in alumnae memories: Scotties reminisce about sneaking out after curfew, rollerblading indoors and celebrating first jobs and grad school acceptances by ringing the bell in the iconic bell tower.
“If you were to ask any student to draw the building that most represented the college, I have a feeling they’d pick Main,” says Kimberly Reeves ’12, executive director of the Center for Sustainability. “It’s just part of our mind map of campus.”
Even with such a distinguished legacy, it recently became clear that Main Hall was overdue for a significant renovation. Closed to students in 2018 and with construction delayed by COVID-19, the building reopened in August 2024 to great fanfare, including a rededication in October. The ceremony’s guests included many of the 650+ generous individual and foundation donors who made possible the largest building renovation in Agnes Scott College’s history.
One stage of the construction entailed much-needed upgrades. For example, students residing on the top three floors can enjoy—for the first time in the building’s history—air conditioning (the HVAC system is cleverly hidden from street view on the new roof). The $35 million project also included adding a new elevator,
As a national leader in climate action, Agnes Scott prioritized carbon neutrality commitments in renovating Main Hall.
repairing and waterproofing the foundation, replacing all the windows and restoring the exterior walls.
Student Government Association President Insherah Qazi ’26, who lives in Main Hall, thanked the donors for these upgrades during the rededication ceremony:
“Thanks to you, our residence hall is beautiful, efficient and has a working elevator. With inviting study rooms and warm common areas, we finally have a space that feels like home, where we can support each other through late-night study sessions, share meals and build friendships that will last long after graduation.”
The bell tower features a skylight and picture windows, and in addition to the traditional bell rope, a button makes the long-treasured tradition of bellringing accessible to all students. Main Hall also now houses the Career Exploration Center. The center’s
prominent location—on the first floor opposite the president’s office—signifies the college’s dedication to advancing student and alumnae success.
As a national leader in climate action, Agnes Scott prioritized carbon neutrality commitments in renovating Main Hall. Reeves points to the college’s recent embodied carbon report, which describes the measurable climate benefits that can be achieved through responsible reuse of existing buildings.
“This reinvestment in existing facilities over time, compared with replacing buildings when they need substantial renewal, has resulted in avoiding carbon emissions,” Reeves says.
“Whether you live there one year or multiple years, Main has that sense of place that fosters the community that is Agnes Scott.”
— Kimberly Reeves ’12, executive director of the Center for Sustainability
A new solar array atop the college’s parking facility, for instance, is offsetting 58 percent of Main Hall’s projected electricity usage, which includes the HVAC system. In addition, Jenkins•Peer Architects installed daylighting, low-flow water features and LED light bulbs. Designers then used paint and furniture with low volatile organic compounds to improve indoor air quality.
“All of these factor into what we’re projecting as a strong LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] Gold certification,” Reeves says—making Main Hall the fourth building on campus with LEED certification.
Nearly doubling the college’s solar production and introducing sustainability features throughout Main Hall are propelling Agnes Scott toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2037.
“We have reduced our scopes 1 and 2 [i.e., produced, purchased and used greenhouse gas] emissions by 51.8 percent, so we’re over halfway to our carbon neutrality goal,” Reeves says. “Projects like this are definitely the way that we’ll continue toward meeting that goal.”
Historic preservation also was key to Main Hall’s renovation. The configurations of specific spaces, such as the laundry room, may have shifted, but the building’s interior footprint remains substantially unchanged. Maintaining the building’s terra cotta and marble features was crucial, and its architectural style is still consistent with the rest of campus. The wood floors— refinished and stained—retain their familiar squeakiness.
“During my second year, my roomies and I lived in one of the famed tower rooms,” says Clair McLeod Muller ’67. “Not only did the room have wonderful views out the many windows, but it also was the scene of many impromptu birthday celebrations for friends on the hall.”
Kim Siegelson ’84 comes from a family of Scotties. She reflected on the beauty of the Agnes Scott campus at the October rededication of Main Hall: “As I look around the campus where my sister and I spent our college years, it’s easy to imagine my young aunt here because so many of the original buildings have been beautifully preserved, including this one. Our footsteps fall in some of the same places, our desks face some of the same windows, and we rest in the shade of the same old trees, grown taller. It’s one of the things that makes Agnes Scott very special.”
Alumnae can also rest assured that the signatures once furtively inscribed on the bell tower walls, which began appearing as early as the 1910s, have
been carefully preserved. While the worn wooden tower staircase has been removed, the signed beams are now on display in the bell tower foyer and the student residential lobby. The workers also protected the fascinating relics they discovered when taking the interior down to the studs.
“One of my favorite things they found was the signature of the college’s plumber from the early 1900s,” says Reeves, noting that the crew placed it behind plexiglass in the southwest stairwell. “It used to be hidden, but now it’s an Easter egg.”
Today, the much-loved Main Hall has been restored to its original grandeur—though it’s more inviting and less imposing. Alumnae and visitors are paying attention to aesthetic elements they never noticed before, including decorative brickwork and the pink pillars fronting the vestibule.
“There are intentional gathering spaces and places where you can host workshops and events. There’s an ability to know your roommates and hallmates even better and create lasting memories,” Reeves says. “Whether you live there one year or multiple years, Main has that sense of place that fosters the community that is Agnes Scott.”
Room plaques connect past to present and future, with current students living and studying in spaces named for and by alumnae who contributed to the Campaign for Main. This connection within and across generations of Scotties is palpable.
“The women who lived in Main Hall continue to be my ‘collected family,’” says Susie Ham Deiters ’80. “We understand the enduring bond of our time at Agnes Scott—sharing classes, eating together, brushing teeth together, living in the same place. We know that our Scottie friends exist in a separate category from any others.”
While Main Hall is both a campus icon and a model of sustainable practices, so is Agnes Scott’s Level II accredited arboretum. This verdant tree canopy once included several towering magnolias, more than 60 feet tall, that shaded the northeast corner of campus, just in front of Rebekah Scott Hall. These trees were originally transplanted as seedlings by Professor Christian Dieckmann, who joined the college as a piano teacher in 1905 and retired as chair of the music department 45 years later.
The renovation of Rebekah Hall, completed in 2018, resulted in the removal of Dieckmann’s magnolias—with the blessing of the professor’s daughter, Adele Dieckmann McKee ’48, who still resides near campus. However, the college wanted to honor the significance of the trees and help their story live on. Agnes Scott worked with local artisans the Jack Ellis Company to repurpose the wood salvaged from the beloved magnolias.
book The Giving Tree: At the end of it all, the tree had another purpose, fortunately at the same home where that seed was first sprung.”
The tables represent just another aspect of Agnes Scott’s commitment to historic preservation and sustainability. Though transformed, these functional but beautiful pieces pay tribute to a respected music professor and the majestic magnolias that once bore his name.
“Right after milling the magnolia slabs, we knew we had something special,” says Whitney Wolf, founder and principal of the Jack Ellis Company. “I had never milled Magnolia wood before. It is absolutely beautiful inside. It perfectly correlates to how the tree grows—slowly, with lots of low-hanging branches that extend far and horizontal. This growth makes for all kinds of knots, which translates into character, and the color and grain are very different from any other domestic species.”
The process was not without its challenges. The air-drying phase alone took four years, requiring the removal of three times the moisture usually found in other woods. Because magnolias are slow-growing trees, their wood is harder and heavier than the pine or oak most often used to build furniture. The result of the woodworkers’ craftmanship can be seen in Main Hall’s Dieckmann Conference Room and in the President’s Conference Room, where students, alumnae, faculty and staff can now admire stately conference tables notable for their distinctive grain.
“Every bit of the wood was reused and recycled after its original intended purpose was met. The carbon footprint was incredibly minimal from tree to table,” Wolf says. “It’s like the Shel Silverstein
Political demographer applies her liberal arts training to assess and communicate the implications of population trends.
BY JOANNA NESBIT
Jennifer Sciubba ’01 has long had a passion for asking complex questions about why things happen the way they do. The political demographer recalls a specific moment during her senior year at Agnes Scott College when she was exploring graduate programs with her academic advisor.
“I remember wanting to know if there were people who were looking deeply at the long-term underlying causes of war,” she says.
It wasn’t a random question for Sciubba. An international relations major, she was fascinated by political science and would later work as a demography consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense. Her first book, The Future Faces of War: Population and National Security, was published in 2010 after she earned her doctorate in government and politics from the University of Maryland.
She couldn’t know it then, but her habit of asking deep questions set the stage for her future work. Today, Sciubba is a leading expert on demographic trends and their implications for politics, economics and social relationships. In her latest book, 8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape Our World, she contends that a deeper understanding of fertility, mortality and migration is a prerequisite to creating global solutions for improved lives.
Sciubba recently transitioned to the role of president and CEO of the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) after 15 years of teaching international studies at Rhodes College as a tenured professor. PRB is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C., that analyzes demographic data to advance solutions for urgent challenges. It’s exactly where Sciubba wants to be.
“I wanted to be able to impact more of the conversation around population,” she says. “My work at PRB gives me that opportunity.”
Looking back, Sciubba credits Agnes Scott’s liberal arts emphasis and several inflection points with shaping her professional arc. Japanese language classes and a three-week Global Connections trip to Japan played a starring role. The trip and her project exploring Japan’s low birthrate sparked an interest in gender and fertility.
“I was already starting to figure out there was something different about Japan because I had been studying it so much,” Sciubba says. Her interest held, and a forthcoming book, Population Politics: Navigating Uncharted Territory, includes a discussion of gender relations in Japan.
Sciubba also remembers attending an Asian history
class the day the world crossed the 6 billion people mark in October 1999. The late Professor Emerita of History Penelope Campbell told her students she had chosen never to have children due to overpopulation.
“I was fascinated by the fact that someone would be so completely committed to the relationship between population and resources that they would change their own life,” Sciubba says.
Professor Emerita of English Linda Hubert ’62 helped her decide to focus on international relations.
“You can’t talk about policy if you don’t also understand some of the science behind it.”
— Jennifer Sciubba ’01, president and CEO of the Population Reference Bureau
Sciubba has always considered herself a writer and wanted to double major in English, but Hubert questioned her habit of weaving political context into her literary analysis papers.
“She made a big impression on me,” Sciubba says. “I realized then I’m always going to bring everything back to politics.” She dropped the idea of double majoring but continued to write, penning articles for the school newspaper and later working for the writing center at the University of Maryland during graduate school.
A high school passion for theater parlayed into working in film and TV at Agnes Scott, facilitated by the frequent film crews on campus. At the time it was simply fun, but the public speaking skills Sciubba developed have directly benefited her career. She notes that the broad training of a liberal arts education helps students develop not only communication skills, but also the critical ability to make connections.
“By themselves, these things don’t look like they’re related,” she says, “but they all contribute to a larger story. You can’t talk about policy if you don’t also understand some of the science behind it.”
Sciubba has stayed connected to her alma mater over the years. In October, she returned to the Agnes Scott campus to participate in the Fifth Annual Women’s Global Leadership Conference, where she spoke on a panel addressing culturally responsive and patient-centered care. She also has mentored students and recent graduates and served on the Agnes Scott Alumnae Association Board of Directors.
As students face hard decisions about what to study, Sciubba encourages them to ask themselves not what they want to do, but what problems they see and what contribution they can make.
More than two decades later, “I still care about the big questions,” she says.
Georgia Author of the Year finds the right balance as both a professor and a poet.
BY SUE DURIO
Every day I have a sky wider and wilder than any idea of sky,
my very own broken stone of love, and keys of memory made out of cloud.
—Excerpt from the poem “Everything I Need” from Julia Caroline Knowlton’s award-winning Life of the Mind
It’s the fortunate person who can carve a career from two lifelong passions.
Adeline A. Loridans Professor of French Julia Caroline Knowlton seems to have achieved just that, creating a sky wider than any she might have dreamed of as a poet and a Francophile.
The educator and author recently earned her second designation as a Georgia Author of the Year, this one for her 2024 poetry chapbook Life of the Mind. The chapbook marks her third foray into what has become her favorite genre, defined as a collection of poems under 24 pages.
“I like this format because the reader can encounter the poems in one or two sittings,” Knowlton says. “It reminds me of a bouquet of flowers or a nice meal that one can experience in an hour or so.”
Knowlton used COVID’s unexpected gift of forced solitude to delve into the theme of aging, something she is grateful to write about as a middle-aged person.
“The book explores coming to terms with what happens to many of us in middle age—some things haven’t worked out like we planned, and yet we can find balance between loss and reinventing loss in ways that allow for new exploration and learning about life,” she says.
One of those areas of new exploration she discovered was solo travel, another theme of the poetry collection. “It is one of the most enriching experiences I have ever done,” she says.
Knowlton won a Georgia Author of the Year award in 2018 for her first chapbook, The Café of Unintelligible Desire, and was a 2023 finalist for the award for her second chapbook, Poem at the Edge of the World. This year, she also published her first book of poems for young children, A to Z Poems for the Very Young
How the longtime Agnes Scott French professor, French and German department chair, and French program director finds time for writing and travel in her busy life is impressive. Early mornings are her creative time, before heading to campus to teach and handle administrative tasks. As a teacher, she looks for ways to encourage students to explore their own writing.
“I work very hard to enhance the traditional study of language with culture from the entire French-speaking world,” she says. “I teach about writers, philosophers and artists outside of France itself, with an emphasis on global learning.”
Knowlton began learning French in the fourth grade and began writing poetry in her early teens. As a teenager, her work was published in Seventeen magazine among other national publications and earned her an Academy of American Poets College Prize. Poetry and French continued to pique her interest throughout her undergraduate years at Duke University.
“I had two main interests,” she says. “One was to enter the publishing world as an editor, but I also was interested in teaching French at the college level.”
An early career stint with Oxford University Press was interesting and exciting, but she missed the French world—speaking it, hearing it, studying it. That’s when she decided to go back to graduate school and dedicate herself to teaching. She earned her master’s degree and doctorate in French from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Years later she fulfilled her desire to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing/poetry through a low-residency program while teaching full time.
Knowlton is now in her 29th year at Agnes Scott, where she teaches French language, literature and culture courses as well as creative writing courses in the English department. She is grateful for the support she has received from the Agnes Scott administration, including Professor Emerita of English and Dean of the College Emerita Christine Cozzens and current Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College Rachel Bowser.
“At a lot of colleges, there is not as much support to reinvent yourself academically,” Knowlton says. “You have to stick to the same thing. I am very grateful for the validation I’ve received as a professor and a poet at Agnes Scott.”
“The book explores coming to terms with what happens to many of us in middle age—some things haven’t worked out like we planned, and yet we can find balance between loss and reinventing loss in ways that allow for new exploration and learning about life.”
— Julia Caroline Knowlton, Adeline A. Loridans professor of French
Thank you to the sponsors of the Women’s Global Leadership Conference
The 1889 Society, established in 2012, honors the college’s most generous benefactors. It recognizes donors with cumulative lifetime giving of $500,000 or more and includes donors dating back to the founding days of the college. Agnes Scott College is pleased to announce the newest members of the 1889 Society from July 1, 2023 to October 31, 2024.
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No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
Now 100½ years old, Wendy Whittle Hoge is living in a healthcare facility as she can no longer walk. One of her daughters, Leslie, lives nearby and works as a computer engineer, while her other daughter, Hilary, lives in Boston and works as a psychiatrist. The two girls worked together to move Wendy from her apartment to her healthcare facility.
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No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
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No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
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Adele Dieckmann McKee adelemckee46@msn.com
Anne Jones “Beth” Crabill reports she is living happily in Alpharetta, watching the birds outside and enjoying the 2024 book The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan (Adele McKee likes it, too).
Minnie Hamilton Mallinson (now known as Sandy) lives on Lake Oconee with good access to grands and family. She and her husband recorded their visits to missionaries in India, Spain, Japan, Taiwan and Hawaii in their book Happy Wanderers, now in the Agnes Scott James Ross McCain Library. Their quest was to see how God is working in this world through his people.
Nancy Deal Weaver reports enjoying two rosebushes near her door in the courtyard in Black Mountain, having heard a beautiful Ukrainian choir at a fundraiser for their country, and much pleasure in having daughter Nancy Weaver Willson ’72 moving back east down the road from her.
Adele Dieckmann McKee has been honored with an organ scholarship fund in her name by the Atlanta Chapter of the American Guild of Organists in celebration of its 110th anniversary. Her father, professor of music at Agnes Scott and a major professor with whom she studied her first four years of organ, was a founder of the Atlanta Chapter in 1914.
’49
No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
At age 96, Julianne Cook Ashmead is doing well. She now uses a three-wheel walker to move around but still takes part in many activities, like bridge. Her daughter, Nancy, lives nearby, and they get to visit frequently. Julianne has two other children: her youngest, Ralph, who lives in California with his wife, and her oldest, Ed, who lives with his wife in Santa Fe, all of whom make a point to visit twice a year!
’50
No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
Lillian Lasseter Pearson reports that she and her husband, Charlie, are living in the house they built in 1996 in Wilson, North Carolina.
She thinks often and fondly of her time at Agnes Scott and all the dear friends she met there.
’51
No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
Katherine Nelson Major is living by herself, remaining active in church events and daily life. Impaired vision has kept Katherine from owning a smartphone or using the computer much. Missing printed news and life at Agnes Scott, Katherine fondly remembers her years on our campus and the friends she made there.
Following Hurricane Michael in 2018, Winifred “Winnie” Horton Martin’s house in Lynn Haven, Florida, had to be demolished. After the demolition, in a stroke of luck, Winnie was able to find a house next door to her son and his family. The support of her son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren has meant everything to Winnie as she settles in her new home.
’52
No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
Catherine Anne Sims is happy living in her assisted living home, Webb Gin House, in Lawrenceville, Georgia. She has three children: a son, Howard, who has a successful towing business; a son, Gary, who is successful in the heating and air business; and a daughter, Donna, who is a church secretary. Anne also has several grandchildren, the youngest being just two months!
’53
No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
This summer, Keller Henderson Barron enjoyed a stay at the Chautauqua Institute in New York. Keller was looking forward to attending the rededication of Agnes Scott “Main” Hall this fall with Jane Conyers
’54
No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
Barbara Northey Severinghaus has spent the past year enjoying life at the Wildwood Senior Living facility in Joplin, Missouri, close to her daughter. Barbara enjoys the family reunions, weddings and visits with friends she’s had in the past year; she also welcomes any alums in the area to stop by and see her!
Frances Sistar Minick is currently living in an assisted living home and enjoys all the people there!
’55
No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
To celebrate Betty Ann Jacks Miller’s 90th birthday, her family treated her to a trip to the beach. While there, they enjoyed many lovely celebrations, including a beautiful sunset dinner right on the bay. What a lovely time!
In June, Ann Hanson Merklein welcomed her third greatgrandchild, a little girl named Addie. Born in London, Ann is grateful to have already visited with her once!
Since her book in 2015, Georgia Syribeys has had eight poems published! She is currently editing and working on 10 more.
Agnes “Mickey” Willoch’s beloved husband, Ray Willoch, died at the age of 90 on Feb. 2 of heart failure. Mickey and Ray were married for over 68 years. In April of this year Mickey moved to Alpharetta, Georgia, to live with her daughter Lisa.
Almost 30 years ago, with three academic degrees and five grandchildren under her belt, Julia C. Beeman retired from an erratic working life to north Georgia. Now 90, Julia fondly remembers her time at Agnes Scott and all her wonderful classmates!
Carolyn Crawford Thorsen has spent much of the past two years recovering from a condition in her legs. Last spring, her children moved her into the Monarch at Canterbury Court where she has been enjoying her time!
’56
Helen Haynes Patton helenpatton@comcast.net
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
’57
No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
Martha Jane Morgan Petersen wrote a novel 54 years ago while living in Ghana, and in December 2023, Ashes Fly Back was published. The novel, which gets its name from a Nigerian proverb, discusses racism, tribalism and their global repercussions. The book can be found in most small bookstores and online at Amazon. As for Martha Jane herself, she excitedly awaits her 89th birthday and continues to enjoy involvement in her retirement and church communities in Black Mountain, North Carolina!
Mary “Betsy” Crapps Burch suffered great loss following the death of her husband, Donald Burch, in 2022 and, more recently,
her son. Mary is finding comfort in her two daughters, Charlotte Jones ’84 and Anna DeWitt, as well as her four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Joanne Smith spent nine years as a medical missionary in Korea and Vietnam spanning from 1960 to 1970. Following that, she practiced internal medicine back in her hometown of Opelika, Alabama. Twelve years ago, Joanne retired and is grateful to the Lord for his many blessings.
Carole Myers Thompson is heartbroken to report that her husband of 65 years, Harley Thompson, died from heart failure on June 9, 2023. While Carole misses him very dearly, she has found solace in her daughters and sons-in-law and is doing well otherwise. She sends blessings to all.
Marti B. Slife remains grateful for each day! Soon to be 89, she currently lives with her daughter in Jonesboro, Georgia. Marti continues to be active in her church and passes the time by working in the yard, doing the shopping and, most importantly, enjoying time with her grandchildren and 16-month-old great-granddaughter! Marti writes that she is proud of her college and sends everyone her best.
This year, Lucy Roberston Greene was named the U.S. Air Force Humanitarian Award Winner for her 40 years of continuous support for the Air Force, serving as a consultant to the Moody Air Force Base support team.
Elizabeth Ansley Allan writes that she’s still living in her apartment at Canterbury Court in Atlanta and enjoys seeing the several other Agnes Scott alums who live there, too. She has just recently stepped down as the chair for the community book club, a job Elizabeth says was easy since all the residents love to read and
discuss! Two of Elizabeth’s sons and their families live nearby, with her third son and grandchildren living in Pennsylvania and her daughter in south Georgia. Elizabeth is proud of her alma mater and sends her best.
At 89 years old, Cynthia Bailey Pyle lives with her cat just mere minutes away from one of her daughters, who is working her way through a Ph.D. program and raising three lovely sons. Cynthia’s other daughter is a professor at Yale and is raising three delightful children. Cynthia feels blessed beyond measure and sends her best to her Scottie Siblings!
Susanne Benson Darnell, her three children, and two granddaughters are all doing well. Susanne eagerly awaits the next reunion in 2027 and sends peace to all!
Virginia McClurkin Jones continues to age in place and remains active in American Association of University Women Public Policy and Rotary. It is a joy for Virginia to watch her greatgrandson grow; he is now 4 and playing soccer!
Currently living with her daughter Sarah in Charlottesville, Virginia, Leila Ryland Swain has recently published another book, Bruised Magnolias: New South, Old Politics, which is currently available on Amazon. Lelia also teaches psychology at the Belvedere Senior Center and enjoys acoustic music jams.
’58
Elizabeth Hanson Duerr ebelld@aol.com
Becca Fewell ’58, Kit Sydnor PiephoffHaynes ’58 and Mary “Randy” Norton Kratt ’58 catch up over dinner.
Nancy Grayson had lunch with Randy Kratt in March when she visited Charlotte to see her sisters, a weeklong trip down memory lane.
Jean Clark Sparks reports that the Sparks family, which has the privilege of being honorary members of Nancy Alexander Johnson’s family, joined the Alexanders at their biannual reunion in Winston-Salem in June. Four generations of Alexanders and three of Sparks got well caught up at Nancy and Pierce’s house and in their retirement complex’s gathering places.
Shirley McDonald Larkey plays lots of duplicate bridge with Rebecca Evans ’60 and enjoys family visits at their boathouse on Lake Rabun.
Martha Davis Rosselot has made a move within her Stone Mountain community where she sees many Agnes Scott alumnae and even a former professor. She keeps in shape by walking and attending exercise classes.
Cat Hodgin Olive reports that she lost her husband last October. She is grateful that they moved to Piedmont Crossing in Thomasville, North Carolina, six years ago, where she is active and able to take part in all the activities. She also enjoys four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Susan Riffe O’Neal feels thankful that she and her husband moved to Westminster Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay in Virginia 18 years ago, especially since her husband’s health has declined recently.
Nancy Niblack Dantzler has been married for 67 years and says she and her husband are pretty much homebodies now. Her large family includes nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Elizabeth “Lib” Geiger Wilkes lives in a retirement community in Maple Plain, Minnesota. We are saddened to learn that she lost her husband, Clyde H. Wilkes, in the spring.
Pat Gover Bitzer is doing fine and is still living in her home with help from her family and a wonderful caregiver.
Elizabeth “Libby” Hanson Duerr stays busy with various musical activities and with organizing and hosting the annual Duerr Lecture Series at her church in Houston. She spends the summers in Greensboro, North Carolina, with her daughter Lisa Ann Duerr ’87 and visits sister Ann Hanson Merklein ’55 in Chapel Hill.
The class of ’58 continues to stay active with family and friends, travel, and other activities. In a gathering of classmates, Mary “Randy” Norton Kratt drove from Charlotte to Davidson to have dinner with Katherine “Kit” Sydnor Piephoff-Haynes and Rebecca “Becca” Fewell at The Pines.
June Fulmer Fortson says that she and Clyde are just hanging on, but at the same time, they are enjoying grandchildren’s graduations from colleges, grandchildren in graduate studies and one grandson who is a plebe at West Point.
Carlanna Lindamood Hendrick presented a one-person performance at the library on a historical figure, and she plays bridge.
Caro McDonald Smith plays cards with a group on Wednesdays and goes to Bible study on Thursdays. She loves having family nearby that she and her husband, Paul, can see often.
Pinky McCall Bass had a grand art exhibit opening at the Alabama Contemporary in Mobile: “Threads of (dis)Integration,” 10 walls of her work mixed with that of folks she has collaborated with over the years. A week later she was honored to receive the 2024 Alabama Impact Award at Shakespeare Theater, presented by the state arts council. And last but not least, over 30 family members gathered in Fairhope for “Christmas in May.” Pinky speaks for all of us when she says life is good!
’59
Blanche Helm Nichols nchobo331@gmail.com
Thirteen of us (plus several children and husbands!) had a lovely time at our 65th reunion in April: Jane Kraemer Scott, Wardie Abernethy Martin, Jean Salter Reeves, Jane King Allen, Pat Forrest Davis, Anne Tilly Lee, Wynn Hughes Tabor,
Mary Clayton DuBard ’59, Wardie Abernethy Martin ’59 and Jane Kraemer Scott ’59 get together in Montreat, North Carolina.
Helen Culpepper Stacey, Pauline Winslow Gregory, Mary Dunn DeBorde, Lynn Frederick Williamson, Hope Weathers Bothwell and Mary Clayton DuBard. All others were remembered lovingly and missed!
Wardie Abernethy Martin has had several visits to her happy place (Montreat) with her large family (including two greatgrandchildren). She anticipates three grandchildren’s weddings in the next few months.
Archer Boswell Parsons is happily at Brookdale Senior Living in Bristol, Virginia.
India Clark Benton and her partner have an active life at The Village at Brookwood in Burlington, North Carolina.
Anne Dodd Campbell is awaiting her sixth greatgrandchild! Her family stretches from both coasts to Mexico, with Anne in Aiken, South Carolina, but they manage to stay close. She shares this quote: “[I] stagger toward rejoicing” (Rilke).
Mary Dunn DeBorde had a houseful of family at Lake Rabun all summer, increased by girlfriends and boyfriends.
Betty Edmunds Grinnan and 10 others in her family had a fabulous trip to India for a grandson’s wedding. The highlight (for 50 years) is the family reunion in August at Kanuga Lake in North Carolina.
Jan Lyn Fleming Nye is planning a move to Fredericksburg, Virginia, to be near a daughter, three grandchildren and two great-grands. She and Michael had several years in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, after years in Florida, but Michael’s sudden heartbreaking mental break and death made living there difficult. Jan has kept in touch with Claire Seaman Rogers and Bugs Mathews Fontaine across the years.
Martha Holmes Keith’s daughter is bedridden with long COVID in Montana, which dismays Martha in Massachusetts. She regrets being unable to attend the Agnes Scott “Main” Hall rededication ceremony. Martha is instrumental in the class of ’59 being honored with the naming of two rooms in the hall!
Wynn Hughes Tabor’s son David has been promoted to lieutenant general in the Air Force. She and Dwight have built a small house behind their daughter’s house in South Carolina where they enjoy long visits with eight grandchildren, two greats and their families. Her granddaughter started at Davidson this fall.
Jane King Allen spent Thanksgiving at Nags Head with extended family. Her grandson Chaz recently visited after a year in Morocco immersed in Arabic, part of his Ph.D. work in Middle Eastern studies. She had a visit with Lila McGeachy Ray recently.
Jane Kraemer Scott, our outgoing fund chair, reports that our class goal of $63,000 to the Fund for Agnes Scott was exceeded by $4,449! She enjoyed the wedding of her grandson, Kraemer, in June.
Mildred “Milly” Ling Wu lives in Suwanee, Georgia, near her daughter.
Leah “Bugs” Mathews
Fontaine had an 87th birthday lunch with Betty Garrard Saba hosted by Hazel Ellis ’58. Betty is in a retirement community, and Bugs lives in Tehachapi, California, caring for her husband, Joe, and raising money for American Association of University Women scholarships.
Lila McGeachy Ray lost her husband of 64 years in April, and she appreciates so much the messages from many of you.
Mary DeBorde, Jane King, Jane Scott, Pat Forest Davis and Wardie were able to be with her at the memorial service the Sunday after our reunion. She will be the grandmother-of-the-bride twice this fall!
Suzanne McMillan Fowler moved to an assisted living facility near her daughter and family in St. Louis shortly before Fred died in March. They had lived in Knoxville for 60 years and see God’s faithfulness in all the changes.
Nancy Turner Gibson lives in a retirement community in WinstonSalem, North Carolina, and enjoys her family of seven grandchildren, three greats and three on the way. Her late husband Julian’s family is up to 23!
Kay Wilson Shurden and Buddy live in Maryville, Tennessee, near their oldest daughter. She loves the mountains close by!
’60
Ellen McFarland Johnson ecmcjo@gmail.com
Rebecca Wilson Guberman feels very fortunate to live in Atlanta and to be able to enjoy many Agnes Scott activities such as Winter Seminar, book club and alumnae events. She and Jane
Law Allen are almost next-door neighbors at St. Anne’s Terrace. She and Lucy Cole Gratton, Kay Richards Summers and Anita Moses Shippen are meeting to plan the 65th reunion. Along with bridge, she loves attending opera, symphony and ballet performances. She recently traveled to Portugal, France and Spain. Her husband, Sidney, is in extended care nearby. She avidly follows the activities of her three great-grandchildren, who live in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Carolyn Hoskins Coffman and Turner have moved to Riverside Assisted Living in Smithfield, Virginia, not far from their former home in Suffolk. Two daughters are in Richmond, and their son is in Panama City, Florida. Two of daughter Cammy’s three daughters have followed her into interior design careers after graduating from James Madison University, Cammy’s alma mater. The youngest daughter is a student at William and Mary. Carolyn and Turner now enjoy more opportunities for reading. Friends from church and Turner’s sister visit often. Therapy dogs are welcomed, including one in training by its owner, an Agnes Scott alumna.
After taking care of her dying sister, Lucy Cole Gratton decided that her house was just too large for her. She has spent the past year moving into a home in a new 55+ community not far from Atlanta. She is not sure she is ready for community living after enjoying the solitude of her former mountain home. Also, she misses the trees.
Betty Gzeckowicz LeMoyne reports that life is good in California. She is completing ageappropriate kitchen and bathroom renovations in her Coronado Island home. Her grandchildren are in school or graduated. One is a lawyer, and the other is in law school.
June Hall McCash, Ellen McFarland Johnson and Ellen’s husband, Charles, were excited to have the opportunity for a gettogether on Jekyll Island for several days in late spring. They hope they will meet again soon.
Becky Evans Callahan and Mary Jane Pickens Skinner joyfully greeted each other at a Western North Carolina alumnae luncheon this past summer near Highlands, North Carolina. It was a lovely and delicious luncheon, and they learned much about current happenings on campus.
Anne Morrison Carter attended a memorial service for Charlotte King Sanner in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and spent some time with some of Charlotte’s friends and her three sons and their families. Anne also spoke with a stepdaughter of Kathleen Kirk-Leason, who died in December 2023. She misses the contact that she has had with Charlotte and Kathleen over the years. On a happier note, she enjoys keeping up with a granddaughter who entered college this year and a grandson who is a senior in high school. She celebrated her 85th birthday in Barcelona after a tour of Spain and Portugal. She and a friend had fun visiting Saint Kitts and Nevis in March. She feels fortunate to be healthy and to enjoy bridge clubs
and a neighborhood book club, as well as local theater, art galleries and parks.
Margaret Havron reports that it was wonderful to see Corky Feagin and later Marcia Tobey Swanson and her husband, Brian, when they were in Nashville earlier this year. Her retirement community provides a great environment. She volunteers at a hospital, sorts donated books at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore, and stays active in her church.
’61
No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
Lucy Scales Tiller and her husband, Tom, have moved from their Pelham Road house to the Woodlands Furman Retirement Center next to Furman University. The couple was inspired to move by the opportunity to take classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Furman, and in their time they have met many folks, some old friends and some new!
After 30 years as the executive director of her local Habitat for Humanity, Virginia Braswell has retired.
It’s been a difficult year for Mary Wayne Bywater. She first lost her husband in December, followed by the death of her brother in August. On a more positive note, two of Mary’s grandchildren were married this summer, with one wedding in Illinois and the other in Texas. Mary has resided in the same house for 42 years.
Ana Maria Aviles McCaa recently designed and built a new home, moving from Atlanta to Charleston, South Carolina. The move was largely inspired by her two sons living in Charleston as well. Ana has been enjoying all the food, history, beaches, museums and more that her new city has to offer!
For the last two weeks in June, Kacky Chambers Elliott and husband Phil embarked on the 5 Great Lakes cruise. The trip has been delayed a few times due to COVID-19, but it was well worth it, as the couple enjoyed all the amenities of the cruise, including freshly cooked meals, warm cookies and snacks, drinks (nonand alcoholic), educational trips to the shore, and much, much more! Overall the experience made for a lovely two weeks for the couple.
Julia Panni Doar Grubb recently celebrated her 85th birthday and 60th wedding anniversary over a fabulous crab cake dinner put together by her daughter. It was a joyous occasion for all 11 family members!
Penny Williams Mayronne is enjoying the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina, as well as a renewed friendship with an old friend after their paths crossed recently.
Since January 2023, Alice Cochrane Swartout has been living at Mangrove Bay, a senior independent living facility in Jupiter, Florida. There are many activities Alice enjoys, but especially drama club and exercise training.
As of February, Ann Womeldorf Noland has left North Carolina permanently and moved to Nashville, Tennessee! Her daughter, who teaches nearby at Vanderbilt, and her family are now nearby, bringing Ann lots of joy as she settles into her new home.
At nearly 85, Caroline Hastreiter is still going strong, with some of her favorite pastimes including reading and painting.
Emily Bailey is currently living in her hometown of Clifton, South Carolina, and enjoying it very much.
Page Smith Morahan’s art business, Page’s Pages Gallery (pagespagesgallery.com), is close to four years in operation. Page has recently been accepted for the James Renwick Alliance Holiday Show for a second year at the exhibition! The event took place on Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Woman’s Club of Chevy Chase. The James Renwick Gallery is the crafter gallery affiliated with the Smithsonian Museum.
At 85, Anne Christensen Pollitzer is glad to be alive and enjoying the company of her husband of 54 years. They frequently enjoy visits from their four sons, seven grandchildren and six step-grandchildren!
After years of consideration, Betty Sandra Davis Moulton and her husband, Bob, have decided to stay in their home rather than move to a retirement community. As Sandy and Bob are both still healthy and active, they are cherishing their time together while also beginning to downsize in anticipation of their future.
’62
Milling Kinard emkinard@verizon.net
Betsy Jefferson Boyt had a delightful trip to Sedona, Arizona, in May. She spent the rest of the summer trying to survive the brutal heat in Texas.
Ann Lee Sullivan Gravatt moved into Croasdaile Village, a retirement community in Durham, North Carolina, about a year ago. She finds it a very warm, welcoming community with many activities available. Highlights of the past year revolved around the activities of her grandchildren. In June, grandson Steven graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern with a dual degree in economics and music. He works full-time for Huron Consulting and plays violin parttime with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Iowa Symphony.
Granddaughter Harper graduated from high school in Portland, Oregon, and is now a happy Badger enrolled in the University of Wisconsin at Madison. On September 1, grandson David married Signe Stroming in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in Salt Lake City, Utah. Ann Lee had a wonderful time with family and friends, and the newlyweds truly enjoy all the outdoor activities that the city offers.
Beverly Mason Askren, along with her daughter Laura and sonin-law George, enjoyed a fourweek cruise beginning in Oslo, Norway, and ending in London. She says it was a fantastic trip!
In July, Ann Lee Harris and her husband, Bill, had a wonderful, relaxing cruise on the Snake and Columbia rivers focused on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They enjoyed excellent lectures about the Corps of Discovery (the name given to the expedition company) as well as excursions that opened their eyes to this part of American history. The itinerary included a helicopter ride over Hell’s Canyon, a day visiting Mt. St. Helen’s and learning about the recovery of that landscape, and passing through eight locks. The breathtaking scenery changed constantly, and they were fascinated and touched by the beauty of this vast country. Visiting the sites central to Lewis and Clark’s expedition was an experience they’ll never forget. They departed the ship on the day of the worldwide computer glitch, and their trip came to a halt in Portland, Oregon. Four days later, they finally made it home to Americus after an exhausting finale to their riverboat cruise.
at the renowned Musikverein concert hall. Milling says she would sing with Erin anywhere, anytime.
Emily Evans Robison shared the sad news of the death of her husband, Bill, on May 10. He was 85 and died just short of their 62nd anniversary.
’63
Mary Beth Thomas thomasmb1980@gmail.com
The class of ’63 continues its series of Zoom reunions, now simply “Zunions.” Agnes Scott’s own Christine Cozzins, recently retired and holding many titles, was generous enough to lead off the academic year with a lively discussion on Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet. Mary Beth Thomas presented a two-part lecture/ discussion on “Plastic Pollution.” Dudley Milward Zopp led a discussion of “What Is a TransDisciplinary Artist?” Dudley’s blog, “Hidden Pond,” continues to teach, inspire and entertain us.
Dudley Milward Zopp’s artist book The Peony was part of a group show celebrating book art at the Haas Gallery at Maine Media in Rockport, Maine. Betsy Schenck Kylstra published Healing Every Heart in Adoption, written with input from a birthmother, an adoptive mother, and Betsy, an adoptee. Ipek Aksugur Duben’s book, The Skin, The Body, and I, which explores gender, male violence, displacement, migration and excessive consumption, is now available on Amazon.
day over cobblestone streets in Stockholm when she and six family members spent nine days exploring the historic city. Lelia Jones Graham, our adventurer extraordinaire, traveled to Sweden and Finland, where she experienced getting into an icy sea in a survival suit and learned how to mush a dog team! Meanwhile, Dot Laird Foster and Quinton tiptoed through the tulips on a cruise through Holland and Belgium.
In August, Milling Kinard spent a marvelous week singing with the Berkshire Choral Festival in Vienna, Austria. It was a very special time because the conductor was Erin Freeman, the daughter of Sallie Boineau Freeman. At the end of the week, the chorus presented a well-received concert
Anneke Shepman Corbett is quilting up a storm and had a one-woman show, “Fun with Quilts,” at the Oxbow Gallery in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Mary Mead Andrews Mead plays the flute in the Praise Band at her church.
Two classmates traveled to Sweden. Ellen Hodgson Oakes walked 9,000 steps a
Other classmates have moved. Mary Louise Hunt Schneider moved to a retirement community on Mercer Island near her hometown of Bellevue, Washington. On the other side of the continent, Becky Bruce Jones downsized to Carolina Bay, a retirement community in Wilmington, North Carolina. She, Virginia Allen Callaway and Louise Zimmerman Austell meet for meals and exercise classes. Jo Ann Eckardt DeHeer downsized and now lives one block from her son. Pat Conrad Schwarz has relocated to Fort Myers after Hurricane Ian badly damaged Sanibel Island, where she lived. She says, “I’m on the sixth floor, so I’m hoping to keep my feet dry.” Betty Ann Gatewood Wylie and Wylie got flooded out of their apartment at Canterbury Court right here in Atlanta after a pipe broke, but they are now settled back in.
In special news, Sandi Creech Birdsong’s husband John says that despite Sandi’s extensive physical and mental impairment from a stroke eight years ago, “she is a total joy to be with” and “still remembers her years at Agnes Scott with joy.” And that’s the way we think of her.
Children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren figure prominently in the lives of members of the class of ’63. Teresa Carrigan Simmons says her oldest son, Robert, a performing musician and music technician, and his wife, a high school teacher, helped her enormously following her husband Richard’s death.
Nancy Rose Vosler reports that her daughter is a nurse midwife and her son-in-law works for a company that provides grants and loans to startups that “want to make a difference in our world.” One of her grandsons works for the National Park Service, and the other is applying for graduate school in machine learning (AI). Nancy Duvall Hargrove’s youngest grandchild is at San Diego State University, majoring in finance. Her oldest grandson got engaged in Sorrento, Italy. Ellen Hodgson Oakes delivered her two grandsons to their respective colleges—Seth to Stockton University and Chase to the University of Maryland. Celia Turnage Garner says she was born to be a grandmother. She lived in Atlanta when her older grandchildren, Cecilia and Simon, were small. She then moved to Westport, Massachusetts, and watched her younger ones, Charlotte, Vivienne and Liam, grow “from little peeps to big kids.” “All five remain delightful,” she says.
The class extends its condolences to the families of our classmates
Cornelia Anne Bryant and Nancy McCoy Waller, to Mary Ann Gregory Dean for the loss of her son Greg, and to classmates who have lost their husbands— Lynn Denton (Charlie), Doris
Poliakoff Feinsilber (Mike), Teresa Carrigan Simmons (Richard) and Kay Robertson Skidmore (Bruce).
’64
Brenda Brooks Jackson beba@jacksonPNW.com
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
’65
Carol Sutton Lumpkin lumpkin@optilink.us
Molly Dominy Herrington ’65 and Marge Joyce Cromer ’65 travel in Malta with Dennis.
On April 25-26, 2025, the campus will come alive with the return of Dennis the Menace, class mascot, and the class of 1965! Exciting plans for our 60th reunion are already in the works. We want every classmate to come if possible! It will be so wonderful to see each and every classmate again after all these years.
Monteith, the granddaughter of
Sarah Timmons Gladden’s granddaughter, Ellen Monteith, plays on a roller derby team in Greenville, South Carolina. In the spring of 2024, her team participated in a roller derby tournament at Agnes Scott! Wow, have times changed. Sarah was unable to go but was so proud of her granddaughter and of Agnes Scott.
’66
Peggy Marion Ryals mryals001@sc.rr.com
Peggy Marion Ryals asks you to email her if you are not receiving emails from her and would like to be on the class mailing list.
Barb Mayer visited Alaska often this year. One special trip she took was to Kodiak Island with her “outlaws,” her son-in-law’s parents from farmland Wisconsin.
Martha Thompson ’66, Mary Ball, Candy Gerwe Cox ’67, B.J. Brown Freeman ’66, Linda Kay Hudson McGowan ’65 and Marilyn Little Tubb ’65 enjoy B.J.’s annual bridge camp.
B.J. Brown Freeman hosts bridge camp at Camp Gem (her Sapphire, North Carolina, summer home), and seven players that gather round the tables are Scotties—but they aren’t all from the class of ’66! Martha Thompson, Nancy Bruce Truluck, Betty Rankin Rogers and B.J. are the ’66ers. Linda Kay Hudson McGowan and Marilyn Little Tubbs are ’65ers, and Candy Gerwe Cox is a ’67er. Were you to be the proverbial fly
on the white walls of old, except for the absence of halos of smoke encircling the players’ heads, you would blink and insist that they were back at the Hub in the ’60s! They laugh while they deal, they talk while they’re playing, and they can’t refrain from asking unfair questions about the bidding when they’re really uncertain as to whether or not they have a slam. Oops, got to go—the bell just rang for my next class!
Betsy O’Daniel met Peggy Marion Ryals and Allen for dinner in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, and enjoyed an evening of walking down memory lane, reliving their time as roommates at Agnes Scott.
Mobley
Betsy Anderson Little died on June 18. On July 23, Chris Little, her husband, celebrated her life in Staunton, Virginia. Among those attending were Betsy’s sisters Jo and Sally, Chris’ children and grandchildren, five of Betsy’s Agnes Scott classmates (Susan Thomas, Mary Brown Bullock, Martha Thompson, Alice Davidson and Jan Gaskell Ross), other family, and many friends.
Jan Gaskell Ross and Art spent a week at Montreat, North Carolina, where they had a wonderful visit with Libby McGeachy Mills and Bill on the porch of Goode Times. Jan and Art also attended the services for Virginia Quattlebaum Lacy’s husband, Nelson Lacy, in Columbia, South Carolina.
Carol Mobley Binns, Felicia Guest, Leigh Collier Record and Martha Thompson celebrated their birthdays together in Atlanta as they have every decade for the past 50 years.
Martha Thompson and Peggy Marion Ryals visited Bernie Burnham Hood at her lovely and historic home in Charleston, South Carolina. They enjoyed
having a great catch-up and then lunch when they were chauffeured downtown by Bernie’s charming granddaughter.
Susan Thomas ’66, Mary Brown Bullock ’66, Martha Thompson ’66, Alice Davidson ’66 and Jan Gaskell Ross ’66 attend Betsy Anderson Little’s ’66 celebration of life.
Mary Brown Bullock ’66, Alice Davidson ’66, Gué Hudson ’68, Linda Lael ’66, Taffy Mitchell McLaughlin ’66, Katherine Mitchell ’68, Jan Gaskell Ross ’66, Malinda Snow ’66, Susan Thomas ’66 and Anne Morse Topple ’66 attend the 25th Annual Richard Nixon Resignation Celebration.
Susan Thomas hosted her 25th Annual Richard Nixon Resignation Celebration BLT lunch with 10 Scotties in attendance: Alice Davidson, Anne Morse Topple, Gué Hudson ’68, Jan Gaskell Ross, Katherine Mitchell ’68, Linda Lael, Malinda Snow, Mary Brown Bullock and Taffy Mitchell McLaughlin. They enjoyed their usual menu: bacon fried in iron skillets, lettuce, tomatoes, Wonder Bread with Duke’s Mayo, and lemonade cake with blueberries.
Marilyn Breen Kelley and Walt welcomed a grandson, Clinton, born on November 3, 2023.
Peter’s parents are their daughter Joyce and son-in-law, Andy, whose family lives in Montgomery, Alabama. Marilyn and Walt visit them frequently.
Virginia Quattlebaum Lacy and Debbie Rosen have new apartments in the Columbia, South Carolina area: Virginia is at Still Hopes, and Debbie is at Merrill Gardens. A letter addressed to Debbie arrived at the Still Hopes address. Keller Barron ’53 and Virginia were close by when the letter came. They recognized Debbie’s name, and Virginia took the letter right away to Debbie. Debbie was delighted to hear from her friend in Germany. Then Debbie and Virginia had a great visit!
’67
Avary Hack Doubleday avaryd@juno.com
In September, Justice Waldrop Allen and Tom enjoyed presentations by Agnes Scott’s budding scientists when the college’s STEM scholars presented their summer research. Their research was under the mentorship of faculty at Agnes Scott, Emory University, Mercer University, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Georgia. The research allows students to focus on mentored research uninterrupted by classes. Agnes Scott students conducted research across a wide spectrum of disciplines, from chemistry, neuroscience and biology to astrophysics. It was thrilling to see and hear about their specific research projects and to experience their passion for science.
Last summer, Justice and Tom held their fourth annual Grandparents’ Art and Science Camp for their five grandchildren, aged 9 through 11, who mean the world to them. They included cooking, nature walks, ecology lessons, other science lessons, fishing and boating, as well as
painting, drawing and crafts. The Allens continue to enjoy “camping” in a small RV, mostly in North Carolina and Colorado. Justice continues to paint, mostly oils, and study art, her passion. She loved a spring get-together with fellow Peter Pans Linda Richter Barnes, Day Morcock Kennon, Jane Royall and Betty Anne Boyd Domm
Diane Dixon Burrell reported sad news: Sandra Mitchell of our class died on June 30 from natural causes. They had been friends ever since their first week in Rebekah Scott Hall in 1963. After Diane’s husband, Deloye, died in April 2020, she and Sandra spoke on the phone every weekend until the last. Agnes Scott fosters such meaningful friendships. Diane moved from her home in Vestavia Hills into independent living at Galleria Woods in Hoover, Alabama.
Lucy Ellen Jones Cooley and husband, Pem, have spent the past year having three knee replacements. That’s not very exciting, but they’re thankful to have knees that work. They plan to celebrate with a trip to the Netherlands in October.
Caroline Owens Crain attended the rededication of Agnes Scott “Main” Hall in the fall. She enjoyed seeing classmates and visiting the campus. For the past year, Caroline has had a part-time job at Holland Hall School, where she and her children attended and she worked for several years. She and a colleague have worked on the school archives, preparing them for digitalization by sorting through 100 years of photographs and other materials. Going forward they will further identify and label them and organize everything to be available online. Caroline is busy with church (serving on the Altar Guild, Vestry and Social Justice Committee), crafting (cardmaking, now getting into handmade books), book clubs, playing mahjong, attending
ballet and more. “My father always said to keep moving. I’m doing my best!” she says.
When the news request reached Ann Roberts Divine, she was on a Norway-to-Italy cruise with several stops in Scotland. It’s an itinerary she’d tried to take three times before, but it was canceled twice because of COVID-19 and once because of the war in Ukraine. She really enjoyed it. On her return, she attended the rededication of Agnes Scott “Main” Hall.
Betty Anne Boyd Domm and Terry have done “a bit of traveling this year,” making up for lost years during COVID-19. They went to Australia, New Zealand, France and Iceland, and by the time this is published, they will have traveled to the Maritime Provinces in Canada. One very happy moment for Betty Anne was when she reconnected with Anne Davis McGehee. They have had lunch a couple of times and plan to make this a regular occasion since they live only 20 miles apart but went for years without seeing each other.
Avary Hack Doubleday and Gerry took a wonderful safari trip (eighth and sixth, respectively) to Southern Africa. They loved their time in the wine country of South Africa, nine days of wildlife in the Okavango Delta of Botswana, and three days on Rovos Rail, “the most luxurious train in the world.”
In late April, Mary Jervis Hayes and eight other Hardeman Cottage “girls”—Maria Artemis, Helen Heard Lowrey, Marilyn Abendroth Tarpy, Betty Hutchison Cowden, Dudley Lester Tye, Pam Logan Harris, Mary Stevenson Ryan and Jo Jeffers—gathered at Isle of Palms for three days. They had a fabulous time eating seafood, walking on the beach, working jigsaw puzzles and generally catching up with dear old friends. They missed several who weren’t able to come.
Susan Stevens Hitchcock and Garland are celebrating one year in their new home. Last year was all about selling, building, packing, moving, unpacking and settling into their new neighborhood, only one mile from their previous home. With much less maintenance and an easy ability to “lock and go,” the new home was the right decision. They’ve had two relaxing cruises in 2024 but now are focused on health (Garland needs a new knee). 2025 looks promising, though, with a potential wedding or two (the grands). Susan is also still enjoying serving on the Agnes Scott Athletic Advisory Board and supporting Atlanta-based women’s leadership and advancement organizations.
Day Morcock Kennon reports a quieter year because Larry, who is now 87 years old, is not into traveling much these days. The highlight of her year was having her 14-year-old granddaughter and her friend visit for 16 days. They travel from Asheville to a much smaller Covington community because they love the acting classes given there by their excellent arts association. Larry and Day continue their Y classes and doubles tennis play each week, and Day swims several days a week in the summer in their neighbor’s pool. They will stay with two of their grandchildren while their parents hike the Camino—the portion in Portugal—then take care of their Agnes Scott sister Lucy as she recovers from knee surgery in Winston-Salem. Day saw her triplet granddaughters at Thanksgiving when they returned from their far-flung colleges for the fall break. Day is so happy to be in her childhood home and childhood church, both of which feed her in so many ways. “Linda and Justice and I have had lively daily texts about the late summer/ nearly fall events in our lives. That’s also fed me,” she says.
Doris Morgan Maye shared sad news: our dear friend and classmate, Sandra Mitchell, died on June 30. She had been in poor physical health for a long time, but she maintained an active, intelligent mind and buoyant spirit for an amazing duration. She will be sorely missed. She would have turned 79 in October.
Susan Sleight Mowry has now lived in north Georgia for about 25 years and loves it. She is also traveling more and learning so much. Last year, she went on a Lindblad/National Geographic cruise on the Columbia River and made wonderful new friends. Many told her about Road Scholar, so this August she drove to the Montreat Conference Center near Asheville for their five-day program “The Life and Works of C.S. Lewis.” Susan is going back there in late October for another program, “Agatha Christie, Classic Film Mysteries and Sherlock Holmes’ Legacy.” Susan also enjoys hearing about her three granddaughters’ activities. The eldest graduated from Samford University with a degree in journalism. The next is a senior at Boston University majoring in biomedical engineering, and her sister is a junior at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
Clair McCleod Muller and Thos have just returned from a two-week trip to Spain, their first time overseas in five years. “Boy, do I feel my age! But I do love that country!” she says.
Mark, and his wife, Emily, live in Steamboat Springs with the only granddaughter, Ruth (6), and her little brother Thomas (3 1/2). “To say they are blessings and the light of our lives is putting it mildly! I am stunned by the years flying by. I want you all to know how much I value my four years at Agnes Scott and the class of ’67,” she says.
Jane McCurdy Vardaman and Lee celebrated their 50th anniversary on a cruise of the Historic South and Golden Isles. Jekyll, St. Simon’s and Hilton Head islands were favorite stops, as were Beaufort and Savannah. Beautiful part of our country, for sure! Their five kids celebrated them with a family party later in the month. In July, they visited sister Jean McCurdy Meade and husband, Rick Thomson, in Santa Fe and went to see “Don Giovanni.” Lee continues his volunteer work in a food pantry, and Jane is busy substituting at Good Shepherd Episcopal School, playing handbells and singing in the choir. They are looking forward to a cruise on the Hudson to see the fall leaves and stops at the 911 Memorial, West Point, Hyde Park, Sleepy Hollow and Albany.
Becca Herbert Schenk and her husband have made Glenwood Springs, Colorado, their home for a long time, in spite of the fact that wolves are transported to the state rather than migrating naturally. They are fully retired and enjoying themselves, retreating occasionally to a home in Wyoming between Pinedale and Jackson Hole. Their son, Matt; his wife, Angela; Johnny (10 1/2); and Levon (almost 6) live in Glenwood, and their other son,
Josie Caldwell Young and Walter just happily celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary. Josie has retired from teaching but is still active in volunteering at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, of which she was a founder and a designer of the project. It is in the top three children’s museums in the country. Josie’s 8-year-old granddaughter referred to it as “grandmommy’s museum” when she was younger because she had spent so much time there. Josie travels with her sister every year. Their most recent trip was to the Lake District and Northern England. “After 30 years together, my horse died, and I miss the desert from the viewpoint of her back. I am happy and healthy in Phoenix,” she says.
’68
Betty Derrick bderrick@agnesscott.edu
Allyn Smoak Bruce has a little boy to go along with her granddaughters (aged 12 and 2). Henry Walker Bruce Jr., born July 24, was two weeks early and weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces.
Sylvia Harby Hutton and Dave attended grandson Ridge’s graduation from the University of Colorado at Boulder in May. A new grandson, Henry Thomas Hutton, arrived in February. Sylvia and Dave attended Sylvia’s 60th reunion in Seattle in the fall.
Susan Stringer Connell and Doug moved to Denver, Colorado, in a matter of days after selling their Atlanta home. They bought a condo across from the University of Denver with a beautiful view of the campus and the front range of the Rockies, as well as a short walk to their daughter’s home. They would love to see any classmates headed west.
Cutler; son Warren; son-in-law, Henry Akona; and art economist Amy Whitaker on a two-week trip to South Africa, including an awesome safari and time on the Cape coast. Christie’s retirement avocation is writing essays.
Sherry Grogan Taylor finished a two-year term as presidentelect and a subsequent two-year term as president of the Coweta Association of Retired Educators (CARE). She is starting a two-year term on the Governing Board as Area Director 10 for the Georgia Retired Educators Association (GREA). This has kept her extremely busy and active.
In May, old friends and relatives of Olivia Hicks joined her wife, Carol Buell, and their daughter Helen in a joyous gathering in Decatur. They shared favorite tales and sweet memories of life with Olivia. It was a wonderful gathering.
Helen Davis Leach ’68, Ann Glendinning ’68, Mary K. Owen Jarboe ’68 and Susan Aikman Miles ’68 enjoy lunch and a visit.
Four members of the class of ’68—Ann Glendinning, Mary K. Owen Jarboe, Helen Davis Leach and Susan Aikman Miles—had a delightful lunch Sept. 26, 2023, in Roswell.
Janet Hunter Ouzts has moved to Boone, North Carolina, to be closer to her younger daughter. Life with five grandkids, who are into the Boone musical and sports areas, has increased her activities tenfold. The daughter in Flagstaff, Arizona, is busy with U.S. Forestry work and sends college gifts to the kids from afar.
’69 Lalla Griffis Mangin lallamangin1@gmail.com
Evelyn Angeletti e_mangel@bellsouth.net
Lucy Hamilton Lewis and Eric had a fabulous trip to Egypt in March 2023. Memories of that sustained them through several floods, extreme heat and hospitalization.
In July, Christie Theriot Woodfin, having wrestled her latest cancer (mesothelioma) into submission, led her daughter,
Kathryn Beane, daughter of Nancy Thompson Beane and John, was married Sept. 14 to Aaron Chamberlain at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Athens, Georgia. The reception was at Clover Leaf Farm near Athens. The newlyweds live in Great Lake Estates in Decatur.
The class of 1969 celebrated their 55th reunion in April with much hugging, reminiscing and storytelling—so much so that those classmates who were not physically present seemed to be walking among us and enriching us with their presence. Memories are precious things to be shared and held close to our hearts.
The class of 1969 once again won the Fideles trophy for having the highest percentage of Fideles Society members of any reunion class. Thanks to the many faithful members of the class!
If you missed the reunion, please check our class website (ascclassof1969.com) for pictures (see the tab at the top of the page).
Lalla Griffis Mangin and Al traveled to San Antonio on a Georgia Tech-sponsored trip with Mary Anne Murphy Hornbuckle and Jon, enjoying the River Walk, the Alamo and the LBJ presidential library, among other sights.
Sandra Earley and her husband, Phelps Hawkins, are excited and pleased to move from Savannah, Georgia, into a three-bedroom apartment in what is now known as a “life plan community” in Gaithersburg, Maryland, near family and friends.
Katherine Vansant Bates and Bill moved into the Bishop Gadsden retirement community in Charleston, South Carolina.
Minne Bob Mothes Campbell visited with Robison Lamberth and Enslen Lamberth Crowe, Martha Nell McGhee Lamberth’s widower and daughter. Martha Nell’s granddaughter Lane Crowe, who is a junior at Homewood High School in Birmingham, attended a basketball camp at Agnes Scott this summer. She really enjoyed her time on campus, according to her mother, and is being recruited to play basketball for Agnes Scott should she choose to attend the school.
’70
Janet Pfohl Brooks JBrooks48@aol.com
Diane Wynne Hoey reports, with excitement, that her son was married on Oct. 18.
’71
Cindy Ashworth Kesler cindyk315@gmail.com
Evelyn Brown Christensen reports that in April, she, along with four siblings and three spouses, spent a fun day retracing family roots in eastern Kentucky where their parents, Bill Brown (nephew of Anna Young of the Agnes Scott Alumnae House) and Isabel Brown (daughter of Agnes Scott’s second president) had done mission work.
Margaret Funderburk O’Neal went on a tour of England and Scotland’s arts and crafts buildings in June. A previous trip last year focused on Frank Lloyd Wright in Japan. Both trips were organized by the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust in Chicago.
Harriet Gatewood Parker enjoyed separate visits this summer when Alexa McIntosh Mims and Bunny Folk Zygmont and their families visited Jekyll Island. Later in the summer, her family enjoyed a magical safari to South Africa at Kruger National Park.
Christine Cope Pence continues her travels, photographing life. In March, she traveled to south Texas to study the endangered Attwater’s prairie chicken, and in September, an article about her findings was published. July and August found her in Singapore, Java and Bali.
Carolyn Nodell Glasgow continues to enjoy adventurous activities such as white water rafting, navigating suspension bridges without handrails, water skiing, and hiking to the Hike Inn at Amicalola Falls in Georgia. She’ll be taking a break due to a torn meniscus.
Jan Roush says, “Happy 75!” to most of us! She divides her time between her log cabin in Highlands, North Carolina, and her wonderful cottage in a senior community in Greenville, South Carolina. She spends a month or two at her house in Tuscany that otherwise stays rented and six weeks at her Kiawah Island condo. Her five grandsons, now aged 18 to 23, visit each place.
Kirkman Dockery, Paula Hendricks Culbreth and Barbara Paul continued the Jiminy Jaunt tradition in May when they visited Huntsville, Alabama, and nearby sites. With Barbara’s home as “home base,” they visited the Helen Keller birthplace and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and had three wonderful days packed with educational, cultural and culinary experiences.
Carol Durrance Dunbar and Ellis are excited to welcome their new grandson, Felix Jahn, into the family. He was born Oct. 25, 2023, to Caroline and Max Jahn in New York City.
Our class expresses heartfelt sympathy to the family of Vicki Yandle Taylor, who died on Jan. 14, and to our classmate Carlene Kirkman Dockery, whose husband, Tony, died on Aug. 20.
’72
Anne Kemble Collins annekcollins@gmail.com
Saphura Safavi Long (make no mistake, this is our “Lulu”) writes that in April of this year, she and her husband Nelson’s youngest son, Allan, married lovely Anna Mittlestadt. The newlyweds live in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Saphura and Nelson love the fact that the couple is close by, where Allan is able to work with both parents at their automobile dealerships. Their oldest son, Nelson, just completed building his new house (a log home) and would love to meet a young lady to complete the happy picture! In 2023, daughter Darria and husband Bryce Gillespie became proud parents of a third child and second son, Gabriel Allen. Now 13 months old, Gabe is cute beyond words. Daria and Bryce live in Atlanta, where Saphura and Nelson visit regularly. Saphura continues to run both Gratis Solutions, the couple’s software
company, and her Chevrolet Buick dealership with the help of Allan. Lulu would love to hear from her classmates.
Mary Beaty Watkins sends news that she and her husband, Jim, continue to divide their time between Pawleys Island, South Carolina, and the Oakhurst neighborhood in Decatur, Georgia, where their two children’s families live. As Jim says, one thing not overrated in life is having grandchildren. Mary’s best memory from the past year is the couple’s taking their eldest granddaughter on a second trip to northern New Mexico to Ghost Ranch, the magical retreat center north of Santa Fe. Ghost Ranch is nestled in the desert, surrounded by stunning mesas. Mary grew up riding horses, and her heart melted seeing her granddaughter flying across the hills of the desert, hills that Georgia O’Keefe loved and painted. As Mary recalls, “Hmmm. Sweet memories.”
Susan Carr wrote, remembering Mary Jane King as “so lovely… pretty, sweet, smart, and funny.” Even after many years, Susan remembers her fondly.
Louise Röska-Hardy sent news of seeing Jane Causey this past summer when Louise was visiting her daughter in Huntsville, Alabama. Louise and Jane drove over to Atlanta to meet Tyler McFadden ’71. The three friends stayed at the Agnes Scott Alumnae House and took in a marvelous exhibit at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta titled “Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina.” Louise also occupies her time helping her daughter with childcare when possible, and she continues to teach at least one graduate philosophy course per semester at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. In addition, Louise works with an asylum seeker support group and, at present, is a mentor for an Afghan family and a young Ukrainian refugee.
Anne Mason Winsauer writes that she and her husband, John, welcomed their first grandchild, Aidan Michael Winsauer, on Jan. 31. Aidan’s parents are Jonathan Mason Winsauer and Lauren Moore Winsauer.
In late 2023, Sandra Smith Harmon and her husband, Paul, decided to put their South Florida condo up for sale in order to settle into their home in Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia, full time. During COVID-19 isolation, Sandra began learning birding with online courses produced by the Cornell Department of Ornithology and others. Sandra also downloaded the Merlin and eBird apps. The culmination of Sandra’s studies was a trip to the cloud forests of Colombia with her naturalist friend Emilie for a week with “Birding by Bus,” which included salsa lessons and local organic food. In May, Sandra, with the plan of improving her wine palate, joined Smithsonian Journeys’ Portrait of Portugal
tour, accompanied by her friend Marlene. Starting in Lisbon, the tour moved north to Porto, where tour members embarked on a cruise up the Rio Douro through wine country. Traversing historic stone streets and climbing numerous museum, palace and church steps resulted in injured meniscuses in Sandra’s right knee. Currently, she is rehabbing after knee surgery while focusing on a fall trip with Paul to China and Tibet, sponsored by Viking Journeys. The trip will be Paul and Sandra’s first without children since meeting 35 years ago and without Sandra having to do the planning. Sandra recalls (fondly?) that her teenage son accompanied his newlywed mom and her new husband on their weekend honeymoon (and no, we’re not allowed to ask), but she is committed to racking up the miles to match the passing years!
Mary Ann Powell Howard thoroughly enjoys family adventures, whether at the Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary, grandsons’ soccer games, Atlanta United Games, the lake or the beach. She and college roommate Anne Kemble Collins volunteer on Wednesdays at the Mission Haven Clothes Closet, providing donated clothing for missionaries on furlough and students at Columbia Theological Seminary. Mary Ann continues running, finishing 16/396 in her age/ gender group in her 18th Peachtree Road Race on a very hot July 4.
living arrangement now frees Nancy from the responsibility for house and yard maintenance. An additional benefit is that Nancy is now much closer to family. Her mom, Nancy D. Weaver ’48, and sisters Ann Weaver Evans ’84 and Carolyn D. Weaver ’89 live in the area. Nancy looks forward to seeing area alumnae. She is enjoying time for herself and the freedom to travel more.
For Genie Rankin Sherard and her husband, Reid, 2024 has been an amazing travel year. The couple went to Ireland for two weeks in the spring, driving all around the country with old friends. They also visited friends in Maine and most recently traveled to Tanzania on a National Geographic safari, which was truly the trip of a lifetime! Genie and Reid plan on visiting southern Spain in the fall.
Kathryn Metts Murray sent photos of her “Best of Greece, Aegean Island Hopping” trip taken this past May. She was finally lured back to Greece by memories of a 1974 honeymoon. Charming lodgings in Athens, Santorini and Crete, to name a few, were respites after days spent hiking ancient ruins, museums and old towns. Kath enjoyed Greek cooking classes, professionally taught Greek dancing, seaside lunches and the return cruise to Athens. Kath also photographed a September Bordeaux wine cruise with AmaWaterways. Her French excursion included vineyard tours, wine tastings, the Dordogne region’s “pretty villages,” and a tour of a castle owned by two entertaining Brits. Dancing with vintage-attired locals at a folk festival helped burn calories from Michelin-star cuisine, featuring two desserts and wine pairings with each meal. Returning home to North Carolina and healthier eating, Kath embarked on a new project, creating a pond for three Japanese koi. Fall on her tree-covered lot working with a rake and wheelbarrow brought to mind Keats’ “To Autumn.” Kath recently spent time with family from Decatur, Georgia, granddaughters Amelia and baby sister Eden, as well as two grandsons from Maine.
Nancy Weaver Willson reports that she has finally been able to get her computer online and can respond. Nancy and her husband have just moved (as of September) from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Asheville, North Carolina. The couple has settled at Givens Estates, a continuing care retirement community, also known as a life plan community. Nancy encourages the rest of the class to note that it’s wise to become aware of these retirement living options as we age. Since Nancy’s husband is not in good health, their new
Gigi Wilson Muirheid sends news of travel, grandchildren and surgeries. She has been able to travel and explore again thanks to having one hip and a knee replaced since the summer of 2023. Gigi and her husband, Terry, traveled to Glasgow, Scotland, in March to watch grandson Bennett compete in the World Irish Dancing competition as he has done for a number of years. Although Bennett hoped for a higher ranking, his grandparents were very proud of his seventh-place win. While in the U.K., Gigi and Terry traveled on to London and spent a week seeing the sights, which Gigi highly recommends. Gigi and Terry are about to embark on a trip to Milan
and will be in northern Italy for about 10 days for a wine and food tour. Gigi looks forward to more class Zoom sessions, possibly to begin planning pre-55th reunion activities.
Pam Westmoreland Sholar writes that she and Helen Webb Godwin continue to be contributing members of the U.S. workforce (in simpler words, they still go to work every day!). On a more somber note, Pam also sends news of Donna “DD” Franke’s death on Feb. 29.
Belita Stafford Walker begins her message with a quote from the Steve Miller Band: “Time keeps slipping into the future,” likely in reference to the ease with which we seem to lose track of things we need to do. This summer, Belita hosted three grandchildren for a week of vacation Bible school. All eight of her grands now live in Georgia. She attended an Atlanta Braves game at their new stadium. Belita also traveled to Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, and Boston for a dear friend on the occasion of WILD 1090 AM’s Reunion. WILD 1090 is Boston’s first and only Black radio station, and Belita’s friend was a cofounder. Belita spent time with author Sara Divello (Where in the OM Am I, Broadway Butterfly) and visited a dog park.
Elaine “Lane” Ervin Lotspeich wanted to let her Scottie classmates know that she and her husband, Rick, recently moved from upstate South Carolina to Fairhope, Alabama, in order to be closer to at least some of their grandchildren. Lane and Rick do miss the mountains, but with the exception of dodging hurricanes, they find Fairhope to be a lovely little town for enjoying golf, the arts and the Gulf Coast. Lane would love to know if there are any Scotties nearby.
Jane Martin Benson reports that she and her husband traveled to Slovakia in July on a trip designed
to showcase lesser-known towns and to facilitate the introduction of at least five families to their Slovakian relatives. The couple participated in numerous activities and sightseeing opportunities, including rafting on the Dunajec River bordering Poland and Slovakia amid the Tatras Mountains; touring the walled cities of Levoca and Bardejov; visiting Kosice with its magical singing fountain; and going to the Detva Folk Art Festival, reminiscent of “The Sound of Music.” Castles, cathedrals and stork nests were everywhere! The couple ended with a tour of magical Prague in the Czech Republic, which included a dinner cruise on the Charles River on their final night as they watched the golden lights of the city begin to glow. The trip was a special one as well as a goal for Jane. As many of our class have discovered, entering our seventies often brings unexpected and unpredictable health issues. In March, Jane spent eight days in the ICU, determined to recover, which resulted in her ability to make the trip to Slovakia. Even better, she was able to hike five miles on the day she and her husband climbed to Spis Castle. Jane feels blessed to have tremendous support from her husband and the enduring Scottie spirit in order to meet challenges with all available energy!
’73
Peggy Callaway Pcallaway51@gmail.com
Paula Holmes paulabholmes@sbcglobal.net
Polly Barnes Holmes has been traveling the world. During 2024, she and her husband, Gene, journeyed to Africa. They began in Kenya, continued to Nairobi, Tanzania, and then headed back to Kenya. Among their adventures were sightings of elephants, monkeys, giraffes, gazelles and antelopes. Kilimanjaro, the Maasai Village, Lake Manyara (which Hemingway called “the loveliest
lake in Africa”) and the Serengeti were among the notable places they visited. A hot air balloon ride and a safari were other highlights. More recently, they traveled to the national parks and lodges of the Old West. Yellowstone, the Tetons and Mount Rushmore were some of their stops. See photographs on Polly’s Facebook page.
Peggy Williams Callaway has spent quite a bit of time in New York City during 2024. She has a niece who lives in the city and who served as a personal travel agent. They visited almost every notable site until Peggy had to tell her niece to give her a break! Besides eating chocolate cake, Peggy’s favorite activity was reading on a park bench in Central Park.
’74
Jamie Osgood Shepard gojamieshepard@gmail.com
Ann Elizabeth Clites annclites52@gmail.com
Our 50th class reunion in April was wonderful, thanks to our reunion organizing team: Teresa Lee, Betsy Bean Burrell, Ann Bibb and May Gay Bankston Kudos, too, to Mary Starling and Lynn Ezell So many hugs, laughs and tears of joy and loss, especially for Gayle Rankin Meyer, who died in May, and for our other classmates now gone.
For Vivienne Drakes McKinney, our 50th brought back cherished memories and created happy new ones, “especially processing into Convocation to Mickey Mouse, walking up the stairs to our class meeting in Buttrick, luncheon in the dining hall, and our class dinner in Rebekah. In my mind, I reconnected with Dr. Alston and the faculty who were so much a part of my formative years.” She also loved meeting the new generation of Scotties “who love [Agnes Scott College] … and the traditions of being a Scottie.”
Many of us also celebrated our 50th wedding anniversaries in 2024. At our reunion luncheon, Lynn Williams Sox and her husband, Jason, caught up with Scotties who had attended their wedding and introduced them to their daughter, Leda Sox ’10.
Marty Rutledge Munt and her husband, Bob, celebrated their 50th with their children and grandchildren! “We thought only old folks celebrated 50th anniversaries!” she says. Marty, Calie Jones and Betty Binkley Ashby and their husbands also had a mini-reunion with lunch, lots of laughs and good memories.
Jamie Osgood Shepard and her husband, Randall, saw the Rolling Stones in Vancouver, then embarked on a memorable Alaskan cruise for their 50th. They capped it off with a trip to Las Vegas to see the Eagles in the Sphere and a trip to the Grand Canyon.
Ann Early Bibb and Karen Dick Bruhns shared an exhilarating trip to Alaska. They saw whales, puffins, bald eagles and seals; went sea kayaking and hiking; and had great visibility of Denali!
Not one to stay still, Karen Dick Bruhns also completed a 170-mile bike trip along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal from Cumberland, Maryland, to Washington, D.C., “thanks to my new e-bike and a mostly flat trail!”
Marty Munt and Louise Huff Armitage advanced the cause of democracy last summer, working in North Carolina and Virginia, respectively, to get out the vote.
Mary Jane Kerr Cornell and her husband, Glenn, joined their son Gary and his family in Olympia National Park in Washington state. They also saw son Alex and his growing family at the beach.
Unabashed Francophile Lynn Ezell walked the 12th/early 13thcentury labyrinth in Chartres
Cathedral last summer. “The Chartres labyrinth is only one of three to have survived the French Revolution. By all accounts, it was a memorable experience,” she says.
Cindy Goldthwaite wrote, “At 72, I didn’t think I’d be taking a class on making Facebook reels from a 40-something coach and former professional baseball player, but it was fun, although a huge learning curve.” Check out her work on Facebook: facebook. com/cindygoldthwaite.12
Patsy Cook Bates and her husband, Mark, entertained Chris Weaver Ternenyi and her husband, George, in Hendersonville, North Carolina. They reminisced about the reunion and saw the Chihuly Exhibit at Biltmore Estate.
After our reunion, Betsy Bean Burrell and her granddaughters had a magical trip to Disney World and saw our class mascot Mickey Mouse in person. She traveled extensively in Norway and Denmark (Copenhagen was her favorite city) and saw her daughter in Boston afterward. Then, Betsy, Karen Dick Bruhns, Teresa Lee and Taffy Stills escaped the heat for a mini-reunion in cool Seven Devils, North Carolina. Betsy and her sister-in-law still coordinate a homeless meal ministry at their church in Spartanburg, South Carolina, that has provided over 3,000 meals to people in need.
’75 Marie Newton mhnewton@sbcglobal.net
Susan McLarin Caffery retired at the end of June 2023 after 35 years in education. She has adjusted to retired life and is keeping busy with many activities, including serving on the Vestry of her church and as senior warden; book clubs; Bible studies; reading; and exercising. Her firstborn son, Christopher, lives in Scotland with his wife and children, and her younger son, Jonathan, lives in
Texas with his children. She enjoys keeping up with the class of 1975.
Mary Louise Brown Forsythe and Bob celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year. They enjoyed a two-week train tour in late May to Japan. They had a wonderful time together, trying different foods and seeing beautiful gardens, scenery, temples and shrines. Later in the summer, they had a reunion week at Holden Beach, North Carolina, with her siblings and their families. Her grandchildren, Theo, Layla and Natalie, enjoyed their cousins. Mary Louise is very involved at Trinity Presbyterian Church USA, where she serves on the Guatemala Microloan Task Force of their presbytery. Her sister, Betty Brown Sloop ’65, and daughter Kathryn Forsythe ’01 worship there also.
Lyn Satterthwaite executed a fabulous mini-reunion to Savannah a year ago, and we all know that our 50th reunion, with Lyn at the helm, will be outstanding. Please make your plans to attend April 25-26, 2025. Remember that we have been friends since 1971, and the reunion will give us time to visit, renew old friendships, and make new ones.
Marie Newton and Lyn Satterthwaite enjoyed a fabulous two-week trip to Italy in September. They started on the Amalfi Coast and worked their way north to Venice. The tour group was impeccable, and they both marveled at the old architecture and the major art that was everywhere. The two write, “It is amazing that things still exist from before Christ to the current day and that the Italians are not fast to destroy things because they are old.”
Margaret Samford Day and John celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on June 15 with a beautiful party and many friends and family members at the lovely Kilgore-Lewis House in Greenville, South Carolina. In April, Margaret and Bob had 10 days together at Litchfield Beach, South Carolina, and in July had a lake week with all the family and grandchildren. They have 11 grandchildren ranging in age from preschool to college graduates. Margaret is very thankful that John’s lung cancer is stable, small and seemingly not spreading and that her endometrial cancer seems fully gone. Her mother, age 97, has dementia, but Margaret remains an excellent caregiver.
Beth Wickenberg Ely fought double bacterial pneumonia and other cardiac issues in the ICU at Roper Saint Francis Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, in
September. She was in good spirits and moved to a regular hospital room in mid-September. We all pray that Beth will experience a full recovery and a quick return to her home and her family.
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Brandon Fortune fortuneb@si.edu
Jennifer Rich Kaduck and her husband, Bill, welcomed their fourth grandchild in September. They reside in Stone Mountain and are busy with work, grandparenting, friends and family, enjoying the Tennessee farm, and traveling. For several years, Jennifer helped Agnes Scott plan and construct solar and ground source energy supplies on the campus. She planned to attend the rededication ceremony of Agnes Scott “Main” Hall in October. The renovated building now gets half its energy from solar power.
leave her students, but it was time. Just before her retirement date, her father-in-law died. In happier news, her son, Alfred, and his wife retired from the Air Force. He got a pilot job with an airline, moved just outside Pittsburgh, and had a cutie of a baby, Wagoner. While attending a baby shower in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Al and Genevieve visited with Polly Crook Robinson and her husband, Banks, and met two of her grandsons. Genevieve has also enjoyed getting together with different classmates during our monthly Zoom meetings (which she hosts!): Georgie Elortegui, Nancy Purcell, Susan Grier, Alice Lightle, Ginny McGuire Poole, Pam Bradshaw, Lee Ann Hudson, Carol Asbell, Gay Maloney, Eva Dupree, Polly Robinson and Eva-Angelia Adan.
Beth Boney Jenkins celebrated her birthday in New York City with her sister Suzanne. She reports, “We did all the embarrassingly touristy things we could. Obviously that included a rickshaw ride after seeing the Michael Jackson show on Broadway. We laughed at ourselves but had a great time! Hope others have had as much fun arriving at … our age.”
Genevieve New Chaffee retired in August 2023 from teaching special education in Maryland. She reports that it was hard to
Pam Braswell, recovering from surgery earlier this summer, vacationed in Sevierville, Tennessee, Dolly Parton’s hometown, with her cousin and his partner. They celebrated their milestone birthdays—70, 60 and 50! Her youngest brother, Jim Braswell, produced a new documentary, Why Dinosaurs, which premiered in Huntsville, Alabama.
Ginny Maguire Poole’s family enjoyed two great beach trips to her home in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. She and her sisters Judy Maguire Tindel ’74 and Tricia Maguire ’86 are planning visits and a Mediterranean cruise from Rome to Athens later this fall.
Jane Maas Edwards and Bruce welcomed a new grandbaby, Otto, born July 3 to their son Chris and his wife, Hannah. Jane and Bruce moved back to the Kansas City area last year to be closer to them. Chris recently graduated from the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law and has passed the Missouri bar.
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Ruth McMullen Bursi ruthbursi@bellsouth.net
Evelyn Babcock (eeb7330@aol. com) reports that she’s retired and now spends her time volunteering as website and video/podcast editor with Beyond Ordinary Women Ministries (BOW), a Christian ministry to help prepare and empower Christian women for leadership and life. BOW believes that every woman is a woman of influence, whether she serves in a recognized leadership role or in ordinary, everyday ways. BOW’s resources exist to encourage and equip her.
Kandace Fitzhugh Boyd went on a trip to Accra, the capital city of Ghana, with her son, his wife, their two kids (aged 3 and 6) and her son’s mother-in-law (who was raised in Accra but now lives in London). She had a wonderful time taking in all the images of the Motherland, some with smiles and some with sorrow. It was good, she says, seeing her grandchildren connect with their new-met aunts, uncles and cousins. It was truly a great family adventure.
Catherine DuPree Shields writes to say that there is now a functioning well in a small village in India built by NeverThirst in memory of her husband, Jamie Shields, whose death we reported last year. The family organized a large gathering to celebrate his life. He and Catherine have 12 grandchildren, who sang “Jesus Loves Me” at the gathering.
Lynn Wilson McGee and her husband, David, are retired and live near Beaufort, South Carolina, on Callawassie Island. Lynn’s section hiking of the Appalachian Trail (AT) progresses intermittently. So far, she’s completed the parts of the trail that go through Georgia, West Virginia and Maryland. She’s hiked to the highest peak on the AT (Katahdin in Maine) and 101 miles of the AT in the Shenandoah National Park (Virginia). She suggests we call her if we’re interested in hiking a few sections in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, or New York and Massachusetts. Lynn and David’s four sons are married and have scattered from Los Alamos, New Mexico, to Northern Virginia to the Island of Crete in the Mediterranean. They enjoyed their son Will living in Columbia, South Carolina, this past summer. He is clerking for a South Carolina federal judge after graduating from Yale Law this past spring. Their family celebrated Lynn’s father’s 96th birthday in June.
Sue Jinks-Robertson (sue. robertson@duke.edu) retired from Duke University last summer and says she hasn’t looked back! She went to Costa Rica and Scotland with Pat McWaters and to the Galapagos with a high school friend she reconnected with at her 50th reunion last fall.
Ruth McMullen Valdez and her husband, Dave, spend a lot of time and energy on Good News Club, an after-school program (similar to vacation Bible school) for second- to fifth-graders. Ruth gets out to Hawaii when she can to visit her son, Col. Chuck Bursi (U.S. Air Force), and his family. Between Ruth and Dave, there are 15 grandkids’ school events, sports activities and birthdays to keep up with. Life’s good!
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Paula Lipford pslipford@gmail.com
For the class of 1978, 2024 was a year filled with milestones, including 50th high school reunions. Because she grew up overseas, Cindy Peter’s reunion took place in Spokane, Washington, where one of her former classmates lives. They had a wonderful time together. Cindy continues to work at Duke University, though she is looking toward retirement in the next few years. She welcomes anyone passing through Durham, North Carolina, to get in touch.
Judy Miller Bohan had expected the birth of her first grandchild on Dec. 12, 2023; however, Norah Mae Bohan was born on Nov. 27. Judy and Michael just happened to be in Atlanta when she chose to surprise everyone and were thrilled to be there. Other than that excitement, life remains the same, as they continue to enjoy traveling and visiting with family
and friends.
In 2024, Kathleen O’Brien Burchill and Bill’s travels focused on national parks. In May, they visited seven parks in Utah, Arizona and Colorado, including Bryce Canyon, Zion, Arches and Canyonlands. In late August, they toured the Canadian Rockies, staying in Banff and Lake Louise, and crossing over the border to visit Glacier National Park. They enjoyed the beautiful scenery and highly recommend going to these places if you get the chance.
Janet Kelley Jobe and her husband, Ron, traveled the ring road of Iceland for two weeks in July, loving the ever-changing landscape while driving 2,000 miles. They continue to direct a nonprofit that supports pastors in Eastern Europe, even as access is now limited.
Marguerite Booth Gray also met her husband, Steve, at the Agnes Scott Street Dance in 1974. They dated all the way through college (he was at Tech) and married after graduating. Steve worked for Lockheed Martin, and Marguerite taught and was an assistant principal. Fast-forward to the present: They live in Gordon, Texas, and Marguerite has retired.
They have a son and a daughter, and between them, they have eight grandchildren, four girls and four boys ranging in age from a 1-yearold to a first-year college student.
Marty Knight is a happy, busy grandmother of nine! The oldest is 10 years old, youngest is 1 year old, and the other seven are in between. She lives in Cartersville, Georgia.
Paula Starr Lipford and George met at the Agnes Scott Street Dance 50 years ago on Friday, Sept. 13, and they enjoyed celebrating that milestone in 2024. They now have four grandchildren, aged 4, 3, 2 and 1, and spend a lot of time traveling between Marietta and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to visit them. They were able to get away in May for a trip to England and Scotland. There they retraced many of Paula’s steps from her 1975 summer study abroad with Agnes Scott Professor Michael Brown. She and George also attended their respective high school reunions.
Mary Brown Diehl and Mark celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary in 2024. They met 47 years ago, not at the street dance but at a square dance their senior year. Having settled into retirement in Stokesdale, North Carolina, they were delighted to welcome their daughter, Bekah; her husband, Matt; and
granddaughter, Meier, to the area last summer. Matt took a position at First Presbyterian Church Greensboro where Mary is a member. Their youngest son, David, is nearby in Raleigh. They also make regular jaunts to Dallas, Texas, to see their son Will and daughter-in-law, Hendrika, who have Harrison, 2 1/2 years old, and Mary-Evelyn, brandnew this summer! They all got to spend a glorious week together at Hendrika’s family ranch in Cherokee, Texas, in August.
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Sandra Eichelberger
sandraei@yahoo.com
Laurel Kramer reports she will be retiring Dec. 26 after 40 years of working as a psychologist.
Laurel and her husband, Dennis, bought a camper to spend a week or two camping every few months as well as visiting her family. She also plans to see a few patients for Reiki treatments as she got her master certification in Reiki over COVID-19. Laurel looks forward to seeing classmates when she next comes to town!
Debby Daniel-Bryant and her husband, Bill, treated their entire family to a Fourth of July week swimming in Lake Sinclair, near Eatonton, Georgia. The 12-person family group included two daughters who are Agnes Scott grads, Rachel Bryant Pack ’09 and Leah R. Bryant ’13. Debby hopes their two granddaughters will consider becoming Scotties someday.
Ginny Lee McMurray retired in May. She and her husband, Shawn, took a road trip to North Carolina that included visits with Lynden Harris and Virginia Rockwell. They also visited Atlanta in June and stayed with Susi Gomez Boutier. Ginny is enjoying spending more time with her mother and her grandson, Wendell, born in June 2023. She is also involved at her church, First United Methodist Church-Little
Rock, participating in choir and handbells and serving as chair of the Board of Stewards.
Robin Nelson and her husband, Monte, recently celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary by taking a cruise to the inside passage of Alaska. They visited Ketchikan, Juno and Sitka and saw the Mendenhall Glacier, whales, an eagle rescue and some of the most beautiful scenery in the United States. Robin says it was an unforgettable experience!
Sallie Rowe Roberts’s husband, Ray, retired in January after 40 years of ordained ministry. They enjoyed a weekend trip to the Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia, and another weekend in New York City, where they heard some terrific jazz and saw Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden. In May, they traveled with their adult children to Singapore, Malacca and Kuala Lumpur for their niece’s wedding. The trip was everything they had hoped for: great food, sightseeing and some wonderful family time. In June, Sallie went to her old summer camp in West Virginia, where she helped organize some archives and returned to August as part of their family camp staff. Her
children and grandchildren (now 9 and almost 7) went, too. Sallie and Ray had a lovely weeklong trip to Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut seeing dear friends and catching her brother in a play that was written and directed by Dame Julie Andrews. Unfortunately, she was not in attendance when they were, but it was spectacular nonetheless.
Leslie Doyle had a much-toocaloric but absolutely delicious and very chatty brunch with Angela Fleming Rogers and her husband, Jerry, when they traveled through Brevard, North Carolina. She says her yarn stash is way too big, and she is knitting furiously whenever the evening news is on. Socks, hats and sweaters abound. Leslie is still hiking her beloved North Carolina mountains but has begun golf lessons (a little cerebral activity mixed with the physical). She is enjoying the Asheville area’s alumnae book club, stating that these ladies do the most wellrounded reading she knows.
Katherine Owen reports that she is now retired after teaching for 30 years, mostly sixth-grade English, as a gifted intervention specialist. She says that retirement feels like college without having
to study! She and her husband, Jim, play pickleball, trail walk and enjoy their three grandchildren. Between those things and art club, environmental club, learning to play the guitar, leading a book club and traveling, she’s never really had time to miss teaching!
Sandra E. Eichelberger is winding up her 40-year career in information technology, retiring in January 2025. She’s planning to get back into a number of hobbies, including singing, guitar and pottery, in addition to doing volunteer work and traveling. She welcomes any classmates to visit her when they are in Decatur, as she is just blocks away from the Agnes Scott campus.
Elizabeth Well Lang and her husband, Don, have moved to Decatur—a big move after 33 years in Johns Creek. They look forward to enjoying the walkability of the city; it’s only a 10-minute walk to the square and even less than that to classmate Sandra Eichelberger
Laurie McBrayer Coleman, husband, Ron, and son, Will, celebrated the marriage of their daughter Claire to Mac Keers on Oct. 7, 2023. The wedding ceremony was held at Trinity Presbyterian Church and the reception at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Classmates Marion Mayer Crabb, Cameron Bennett Fahsel and Laura Head MacElroy attended the festivities. Also in 2023, Laurie moved her mother to assisted living in St. Louis and Ron changed law firms.
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Sarah Fairburn Pannill thepannills@gmail.com
Jenny Spencer Parker is enjoying retirement in Atlanta with her husband, Terry. Regular activities include hiking with family, music, gardening and volunteer work. She regularly travels to Virginia to visit and
take care of her twin 5-year-old granddaughters. Jenny’s son, BJ, is an immigration attorney in Virginia, and son, Lee, is an actor/ playwright/director in Atlanta.
After 38 years of living in Roswell, Georgia, Keller Murphy Torrey and her husband, Sam, moved to St. Simons Island. They also have a home in Highlands, North Carolina, where Keller enjoys spending time. Keller keeps busy with her church, community board work, hiking and garden projects, as well as with visiting her grandchildren in Nashville and Atlanta. In September, Keller joined a mini-reunion at Allison Taylor Turk’s St. Simons condo with Sharon Maitland Moon, Cindy Dantzler Hammond, Lynne Perry Sales, Elisa Norton Cooper, Mary Ann Mappus Taylor and Peggy Somers Shepard. The uninvited guest was Hurricane Helene! Despite the lack of electricity, the group had a great time being together.
partly based on her experiences in the film business and is set primarily in the part of Somerset, England, where she frequently spends time. Margaret grows over 200 rosebushes in her New Hampshire garden and has a vintage cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, when she needs a break from extreme gardening.
Sally Harris has fully embraced retirement, with frequent 3+ mile walks around the Boston area, gardening, time enjoying great-nieces and -nephews, and traveling! She and Flo traveled to St. Augustine, Florida, and were able to catch up with Pam Graves Day. June took them to Ireland for a two-week visit, including Dublin and a tour around the entire coast.
In April, Debbie Boelter Bonner took advantage of a long layover in Charlotte, North Carolina, after attending the Charleston Open, to get together with her roommate, Katherine “Kathy” Zarkowsky Broderick, for brunch and a quick catch-up.
With retirement on the horizon, Emily Moore is celebrating 41 years of serving the state of Florida, providing legal services in administrative law, labor and employment law, and education law, as well as being a state retirement specialist and agency bureau chief. The past 23 of those 41 years have been in service to the Florida Education Association, the state’s premier public education advocacy union and member of the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO.
Margaret Evans Porter’s 16th novel, A Change of Location, was published in April. The book is
Wendy Brooks Crew is a practicing attorney and the newly elected president of the U.S. Chapter of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL)! The IAFL is a worldwide association of practicing lawyers who are recognized by their peers as the most experienced and skilled family law specialists in their respective countries.
With three grandchildren under the age of 5, Kathy Hollywood finds herself doing a lot of babysitting these days. She has enjoyed rediscovering bubbles, crayons, Dr. Seuss and blocks! Travel has been a big theme this year. She and her husband, Bruce, took a lengthy trip to Scotland and Ireland. The original plan of a Royal Scotsman train adventure was canceled at the eleventh hour—and in four days, Kathy pieced together a fun-filled alternative itinerary! Highlights were meeting up with Katherine “Kathy” Stearns Thomas ’82 in Dublin for dinner and a trip to
Wicklow County to the town of Hollywood. The locals were quite excited to have a real Hollywood in town! Other travels included a number of visits with family to New York City, Seattle, Ohio and Florida, as well as a trip to West Virginia to the Greenbrier for her husband’s dream resort vacay.
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Liz Steele Forman forman21@comcast.net
The class of 1981 continues to be busy, busy, busy—and we’re covering the globe in our travels.
Sarah Campbell Arnett is enjoying being an entrepreneur. She is continuing to do executive coaching, leadership development and change management. During one of her work trips to San Diego, she was able to see her Agnes Scott roommate, Bess McDonald, who was there becoming a grandmother to cute Noah! This past August, Sarah’s daughter, Catherine, was married to James Michaelov. The newlyweds live in Boston, where he is doing postdoctoral work and she is completing her Ph.D.
driving through and camping in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana! She submitted her news just as they were finishing four days in East Glacier and heading to West Glacier, with Yellowstone as their final stop. All in all, they had 29 days of seeing America and the raw beauty of God’s creation.
Maryanne Gannon Deaton and Eric recently returned from a week in Iceland. It was a great trip, and they confined themselves to the south and southwest, taking in all the sights. The waterfalls, glaciers and beaches were breathtaking! Eric has been retired for several years, while Maryanne is still substitute teaching at their local parish school several days each month. She teaches middle school math and reports that she still loves algebra and sometimes even gets to teach physical education. The Deatons live in a Chicago suburb and spend summers at their home in western Michigan. Maryanne loves the cold and is still thankful that she married a Northern boy!
Claudia Stucke and Carl recently visited England’s Lake District and Yorkshire Dales. In writing about their trip, Claudia shared something that is sure to resonate with many Scotties: “Always reminds me of Mr. Nelson’s Romantic Poetry class!”
Lucia Rawls Schoelwer and her husband recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and his 70th birthday with a monthlong RV trip to Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. They had their two dogs with them, and Lucia shared that the dogs were “smelling their way” across America. The Schoelwers spent nine days
Leigh Clifford Drake and Marty had a very busy year, and after 49 years in the military, Marty retired. They were honored to have had over 100 friends and colleagues attend his ceremony and reception. Multiple security clearances and detailed coordination were necessary to allow everyone entry into U.S. Central Command, where Marty served as the chief science and technology advisor for the commander, but they report it was worth all the steps to have so many dear family members with them on such a special occasion. Only days after retirement, Marty was back on “active duty”: beginning the long-awaited start of their kitchen/mudroom/laundry renovation! The Drakes didn’t stay home the whole time, though, and worked in some wonderful trips, including visiting five Utah national parks. One of their latest trips was a nice break from the hot Florida summer and allowed them to enjoy some time on the beautiful coast of Maine.
Our condolences to Ila Burdette and Susan Nicol Dobbins, both of whom lost their mothers in 2024.
Our Facebook Group is very active, so please join our class there at facebook.com/groups/ agnesscott1981. We also love to invite other Scotties to join us as we visit with classes from the 1950s to the 1980s at facebook. com/groups/midcenturyscotties.
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Kathy Fuller-Seeley khfuller@aol.com
Lee Kite
lee.kite@alum.agnesscott.edu
Will Davis, son of Lee Kite, was married to Taylor Santa Elena in August. Will is a Leaper, which amused the bride’s family to no end. There were lots of comments about a groom who has only celebrated seven birthdays.
Sonia Gordon Dettweiler and her husband, Steve, are happy to continue working in Nigeria and passing on their experience and skills to the next generation. Nigeria is the third-wealthiest country in the world in terms of languages, with over 500 languages. As linguists and Bible translators, they have plenty of satisfying work (and great job security!).
Michael D. Hoskins, son of Christine Veal Hoskins and Scott Hoskins, was married to Jessica Plante on April 15, 2023.
Becky Lowrey and her husband, Rip, moved to south Asheville two years ago. She also decided she’d had quite enough of teaching for the state of North Carolina and retired in June 2022. Their move to Asheville put them much closer to her parents and to their older son and daughter-in-law, who had their first child in June 2023. Now Becky is a grandmother and is loving her new role. Besides cuddling up to her precious granddaughter, Becky works parttime as the lead teacher of the visually impaired for a company that serves children who are blind or visually impaired and deaf/ hard of hearing. Kathy Oglesby, with whom Becky spent time last summer, said that Becky is failing at retirement.
Cristy Clark was disappointed by not being picked in the NBA draft this year, again. She is enjoying her grandkids and recently went to Japan to meet the newest one.
In 2020 Laura Gutierrez Spencer retired from her job at New Mexico State University. She later moved in with her thenboyfriend to his home in Petaluma in northern California. After a few months he proposed, and she accepted! Long story short, in 10 months, they moved three times and got married. David sold his house in Petaluma, Laura sold her house in Las Cruces, and they moved into a house in Placitas, New Mexico. Placitas is in the hills just to the north of Albuquerque. David Hathaway is a wonderful man with lots of interests. He used to be a chef, so he is the main cook in the house! Laura got married for the first time at 62, and she is very happy. She is currently studying to be a screenwriter. Laura sends many regards to her fellow Scotties.
Sharon Johnson Burt reported, “Mom went to the ER at St. Joe’s on Feb. 24, followed by a stint in rehab (E. coli). She’s back to her old self, and she celebrated her 88th birthday with a party at Huntcliff with my sister and me, as well as six of her lady friends. Our dog Angus was diagnosed with lymphoma in early March, and he succumbed on May 24. In a blatant attempt to take my mind off that, I started looking into
international travel options, and in very late July I booked us on a two-week trip to Scotland for midAugust. It was the first time we’d been abroad since 2005. It was the first time either of us had been on a guided tour (Trafalgar). And that worked out great because neither of us wanted to drive in the U.K. We took so many pictures that it will probably take us another two months to go through and organize them (and remember what we’re looking at).”
Bonnie Etheridge Smith just returned from a trip to Scotland! A 60th birthday gift from her husband for herself and a friend to do a “Clans and Castles” Outlander tour, the trip was delayed a few years due to COVID-19 but finally took place. She and a colleague, Lisa Schaffer, who had read the first three Outlander books in the mid-’90s when working together in Nashville, had a blast. Bonnie exclaimed, “The country was almost indescribably lovely, the sense of history palpable, the tour guide a fount of knowledge and wry Scots humor, the group of six women inexplicably bonded, the food way better than expected, the weather gorgeous … I could go on and on. While focused on the places (both historically accurate and fictional, both those in the books and in the subsequent film series), the tour was so much more than that. We were there for 10 days and could easily have spent 10 more. Slàinte!”
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Margaret Kelly Parry maggieparry@comcast.net
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
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Linda Newland Soltis linda.soltis@international.gc.ca
Fran Ivey Lemmen franlemmen@gmail.com
Linda Soltis enjoyed the class of 1984 40th reunion and is grateful to co-chairs Nancy Griffith Lewis and Tiz Faison Benson, who put together a wonderful program that included a Friday night reception at Kim Fortenberry Siegelson’s home and culminated with a dance party on campus where current students—after hearing beloved 1980s music—joined the dancing.
At the reunion, it was announced that co-chairs Meri Crawford Falciglia and Miriam Garrett will plan our 45th reunion in 2029. Meri reports that she has two milestones in 2024: celebrating 40 years as an employee of Delta Airlines and 30 years of marriage.
During Alumnae Weekend, Tracey Veal received the Agnes Scott Alumnae Association’s Service to the Community Award. The award recognized the significant role Tracey plays in public health, including her COVID-19 vaccination efforts in Los Angeles County. In the summer, Tracey and her husband visited Japan, where Tracey participated in a kimono tea ceremony. She traveled to Washington, D.C., where she visited the Einstein Memorial and the Women in Medicine and Science Exhibit at the National Academy of Science.
Betsy Shaw Brown loves teaching elementary school in Greenville, South Carolina. She visits her daughter Ashley, who
pastors a Presbyterian church in New Orleans following a May ordination. She also makes frequent trips to Montreat, North Carolina, to support her father.
On June 1, 2023, Mary Meade Dean retired from a 30-year teaching career. She is on a librarian’s quest to read—for pleasure—every book she can and does not miss the early mornings and 10-hour days. Her time is also occupied as a family caregiver.
Catherine Fleming Bruce worked with communities throughout South Carolina as they competed for the U.S. National Park Service American WWII Heritage City designation. Now that Sumter has been selected, Catherine’s working on a statewide promotion plan. She also worked across communities to encourage people to serve as election poll workers, emphasizing that it is an excellent example of fulfilling civic duty. Catherine has a YouTube channel on public policy: Catherine Fleming Bruce for the United States. She also assists with caring for her 94-year-old mother.
Kappy Wilkes is excited to welcome her first grandchild, who arrived Sept. 18.
Lizanne Abreu Stephenson traveled to Scotland with her church choir to sing in some wonderful churches and abbeys and managed to visit a few distilleries. She spent a month with her partner at his family cottage in Chatham, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. She frequently sees classmate Meg Jenkins Locke.
Fran Ivey Lemmen and her retired husband, Tim, reside in Kentucky but travel to Georgia often to renovate their lake house, which will be able to receive visitors in 2025. They also visit Grand Rapids, Michigan, to visit their daughter, a pediatric resident.
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Ellen Grant Walker arizonascarlett@yahoo.com
Jennifer Gazzola Parker continues to embrace and enjoy her retirement! Staying active, she has been busy with yoga, Pilates, swimming, gardening and recovering from a knee replacement. Earlier this year, she took a trip to New York City, where she had a delightful visit with Elder Maxwell before embarking on a fantastic girls’ trip to the beautiful Hamptons with her cousins. Jennifer is looking forward to reconnecting with all of us soon!
Meg Jenkins Locke became a grandmother April 13 with the birth of a grandson. Meg has been traveling throughout the country in support of her short film, Sister, which has been shown at many festivals and been very well received.
Ann Fitzgerald Aichinger has had a summer filled with travel, both for work and pleasure. She participated in two Montreat youth conferences, serving as a small group leader at the middle school conference, which she found incredibly rewarding. Ann also spent five days in New York City with a friend, enjoying the Blue Circle boat tour, visiting the 9/11 Memorial and catching three Broadway plays. In August, she embarked on a two-week adventure through England and
Scotland. Always eager to learn, Ann is continuing to hone her drawing skills with colored pencils and improving her teaching methods. She has been sharing her journey with daily videos on her Facebook page!
Ellen Grant Walker had a brief but fulfilling summer, spending around five weeks traveling to the beautiful Bahamas and Rocky Point, Mexico. In response to the ongoing teacher shortage in Arizona after the COVID-19 epidemic, Ellen came out of retirement four years ago and has been teaching honors 10 English. Additionally, she has taken on the role of student council adviser for the past two years. A highlight of Ellen’s summer was a wonderful weekend spent with our reunion committee—Bradie Barr, Anne Coulling and Carol Buterbaugh Hays (Jennifer Gazzola Parker, we missed you!) at Agnes Scott for Reunion Boot Camp. She encourages all of you to consider joining our reunion weekend April 25–26, 2025!
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Holly Rogers Markwalter hmarkwalter@yahoo.com
Trudy Marinier joined the 60 Club in Niagara Falls during the total eclipse in April with her children and husband, Phil. Her daughter Renée is in grad
school and lives in Charlotte. Her daughter Charlotte will graduate in May from North Carolina State. Phil works for Ally. They love living in Charlotte. Trudy just started her 35th year of teaching (22 years at the same middle school).
Julie Kilgore Willis retired after 22 years of teaching science. She keeps busy traveling to catch up with friends and family. She has devoted more time to her pottery habit. Julie’s husband, Mark, also semi-retired in December. They celebrated their retirements with a trip to New York City to see the U.S. Open.
Andrea Morris Kasuya celebrated her son’s wedding in Athens, Greece, in September. He met his beautiful wife during his travels to Santorini in 2018. They both were working in Barcelona and reconnected in 2020. They live in Miami but wanted to get married in the country where they met.
Maria Gonzalez-Bigner’s daughter graduated from high school and is in Louisiana for college on the pre-vet track. Maria invites us to come visit her empty nest in Winter Park, Florida. Maria enjoyed seeing both Andrea Morris Kasuya and Amy Hutchinson in the past year.
Elizabeth Noe enjoys life after she retired from the practice of law. She completed three years as chair of the Agnes Scott Board of Trustees and was elected for another three-year term. George and Elizabeth fill their life with music festivals and concerts.
Amy Jackson Hoskins teaches a garden class at a neighborhood after-school/summer school program and hosts “Gestalt Poetry Open Mic.” Her short film project based on her 2011 novel Rebekah’s Closet has a wonderful creative producer, and Amy will help write grants for funding. Amy had a solo show for a selection of her acrylic paintings and is having success with publishing her poetry.
Ginger Berry Verch and Richard are moving three miles north of their previous Naples, Florida, condo. They are still snowbirds, traveling from Three Lakes, Wisconsin, to Naples, Florida. Their empty nest encourages them to travel to Austin, Texas, and Chicago to visit their sons. Ginger swings through Atlanta at least twice a year. Can’t take the Georgia out of this girl!
Pam Tipton-Thierry has been on a rolling series of celebrations marking her 60th birthday with a beach trip to Sarasota, a visit to Sky Valley (with Laura Smith ’86 and family), and an AlaskanBritish Columbia cruise with husband David and other family. Pam serves on the Greater Decatur Alumnae steering committee and the Athletics Advisory Board for Agnes Scott. She stays in touch with Beth Baxter Smith and Tricia Maguire.
Joany McRae Kleinlein ’86 and Ruth Feicht ’86 reconnect in England.
Ruth Feicht saw Joany McRae Kleinlein again in England this summer because her medieval conference in Leeds coincided with Ruth’s time on their narrowboat. Ruth also attended Laura McRae Hitchcock’s art retreat in September in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.
Pat Roy celebrated her 80th birthday last year. She has been married 62 years, with five
children and five grandchildren. She retired from the DeKalb Superior Court and helps with grandchildren, enjoys musicals at the Fox, attends the local Sheriff’s Citizens Academy and travels. She resumed writing poetry. Her family went to Normandy, France, to visit her father’s grave in the American Cemetery.
Holly Rogers Markwalter and her husband, Brian, enjoyed hosting all four kids and their spouses/significant others and grandkids for an incredible 10 days in Glacier National Park in June. Other travel adventures were an eclipse trip to the Finger Lakes in April with the oldest son’s family and a week in Sweden in June.
’87
Melissa Martin Calandro melissajcalandro@gmail.com
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
’88
Susan Hutchinson suzaruuu@gmail.com
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
’89
Dolly Purvis dali.llama@yahoo.com
Louisa Parker Mattozzi and Tina Carr dropped their sons off at the University of Mary Washington in August. Tina says, “I’m adjusting to an empty nest, stalking my boy on Life 360 and texting all the time. But I’m slowly weaning myself off that. I’m trying to catch up on years of missed TV, binge-watching “Madam Secretary.” I saw Bruce Springsteen in concert and am exercising more. My husband had a total knee replacement in July, and he’s recovered really well. He’s starting to do some short runs with me.”
So many Cheshire Cats made it back to Decatur for our reunion in April! Once again, we celebrated at events on campus and in Allison’s (Adams) Wonderland Saturday night. We enjoyed catching up, reliving old stories and checking out Allison’s backyard menagerie. While she does have a pair of goats, Allison remains the GOAT for hosting our reunion parties! Thanks to everyone who helped plan the reunion.
The Marjo Dobbs Arseneau Librarianship Prize celebrates 25 years! Jada Beasley ’24 is the 25th recipient of the Marjo Award, which continues to assist students pursuing their Master of Library Science or who have contributed significantly to McCain Library. The reunion’s silent auction put us over our goal for the fund. Special thanks to Director of Library Services Elizabeth Bagley for her assistance each year. Additionally, the pear tree the class planted in Marjo’s at the McCain Library is back and thriving.
Cindy Franks reports she received pins marking her 50 years of service with the Girl Scouts of the USA.
Susanne Grube Hollister writes that she and her family are doing well and “I am reasonably well and trying to age gracefully.” She’ll be 81 this year.
Condolences to Cindy Franks on the death of her father, Jerry Donald Franks, in April, and to Thao Tu on the death of her father, Tu Van Tai, in August.
’90
Teresa Ramirez Dore tdore891@gmail.com
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
’91
No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
Kerri Williams and Cara Cassell enjoyed a quick glimpse of Iceland, Denmark, Scotland and Cornwall in August. The scouting mission was successful, and they are planning another trip to each of these beautiful places.
In mid-July Annmarie Anderson, Tamera “Tammy” Shirley, Kim Kizirian and Kim’s daughter, Alexis, spent a long weekend at Kim’s mountain home in Blue Ridge, Georgia. There were games, delicious meals and lots of reminiscing. They had a wonderful time!
’92
Aida Najarian aidanajarian@gmail.com
Lisa Rogers Wilson co-leads the Project Management Institute’s Washington, D.C., chapter monthly book club. If you want to read and discuss the latest leadership and business books with other project management professionals, look for her on LinkedIn. Lisa is proud of her recently minted Agnes Scott class of 2024 alumna Rebecca Wilson
Eulalie Lee Drury has been recently diagnosed with MCI (mild cognitive impairment), the result of poor oxygen flow to the brain. She lives independently, with regular visits from her daughters.
Paige Priester Browning, Jennifer Trumbull Needham, Susan McTier Crain, Noelle Fleming Bandy and Aida Najarian convened on St. Simons Island, Georgia, in late July for a mini-reunion. While there, they descended on Paige’s house and spent time with her husband, Kurt, and parents, Buddy and Linda Priester. They also had a laughterfilled Zoom call with Deana
Young McCallister and Beth Bass Covalt and picked up right where they left off 32 years ago.
Barbara Stitt-Allen celebrated 30 years with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division in January, where she works as a geographic information system and grants specialist with the Watershed Protection Branch’s Nonpoint Source Program. In December 2023, she participated in an Agnes Scott alumnae career panel for students considering the environmental and sustainability studies minor. Also in December 2023, her daughter and Agnes Scott alumna, Sophia Grace Allen ’23, graduated with a major in studio art (concentration in digital design) and a minor in artificial intelligence and is now pursuing an M.S. in data analysis and communication at Agnes Scott.
Lauren Fowler is now a professor of translational neuroscience at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. She moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where she is founding faculty for the new Charlotte campus. She gets to continue what she loves, which is talking about the brain to anyone who will listen.
’93
Tonya Grieco bluesilver71@gmail.com
In August, Staci Catron received the Citizens Award from the Georgia Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects for contributing to the education of landscape architects and documenting landscape architectural history in Georgia.
Allison Petty Cochran moved to Columbia, South Carolina, in August for her husband’s new position at the South Carolina State Capitol. Allison plans to focus on building new community in South Carolina before pursuing employment. She looks forward to connecting with other South Carolina-area Scotties.
Jennifer Garlen’s latest book, Space, the Feminist Frontier: Essays on Sex and Gender in Star Trek, was published in September. The book is now available in paperback and e-book from McFarland. She is currently querying her latest novel manuscript.
Julie Stowe Garner is enjoying life at home with her husband, a calculus teacher who is looking forward to retirement at the end of the school year. They are celebrating the accomplishments of their two sons, an astrophysicist at Texas A&M and a civilian tech with the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office.
Tonya Smith Grieco celebrated her one-year work anniversary as a community/crisis care coordinator at 211 Brevard in September. She answers 211 and 988 calls. She is passionate about bringing awareness to the 988 suicide/ crisis lifeline and the message that support is available 24/7.
campaign.
Elena Adan Esquen has realized a lifelong dream by graduating from Seminole State College of Florida in April with an associate degree in nursing and accepting a labor and delivery position in July at Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies. She will receive her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in 2025 from Lake-Sumter State College.
Anna Pinckney Crotts Straight is pastor at First Presbyterian Church in New Bern, North Carolina, and is serving as moderator of the Presbytery of New Hope. She’s had many joyful reunions, including with Mary Clayton Bryan DuBard ’59 when Mary’s church hosted a meeting of the Presbytery of New Hope and with Agnes Scott Professor Tina Pippin when she was the guest lecturer for the Rothermel Foundation in New Bern in May.
In the summer, Rosary Perez visited Atlanta in celebration of her oldest daughter’s quinceañera. They attended a concert, visited Agnes Scott, and visited with classmate Melissa Johnson. Her youngest daughter was selected for the fall Girl Guide cookie box
In March, Julie Inabinet Putnam was honored as South Carolina Association of School Librarians Administrator of the Year, which honors a school administrator who has made sustained, unique contributions toward furthering the role of the library. Julie serves as web and media services director for Kershaw County School District. She is passionate about encouraging others in her field and supporting her district’s librarians as they strive to develop lifelong readers. Julie is a catalyst for success, embodying the values of dedication, integrity and a relentless pursuit of excellence.
Mary Curtis Pizzano finds working with seniors and families as a senior care adviser very rewarding. In 2024, her youngest son graduated from Auburn University and moved to Arlington, Virginia, for work; her middle son was married; and her oldest son welcomed a new baby to the family—Mary’s second granddaughter. Mary also celebrated her third local orchestra season playing violin with former Agnes Scott orchestra mate Anne Bearden Gunn ’92.
Tracy Peavy Roussey moved to Wintergreen Resort in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains.
celebrating 20 years of work at The Container Store while working to build her professional organizing business, Treasure Editor. As the renovation of her new mountain home continues, she looks forward to welcoming alumnae friends as soon as the guest room is ready for visitors.
’94
Nikki Webb Alger nicolealger@me.com
Nancy Zehl Perry’s oldest daughter, Emily, lives in Scottsdale and is a second-year med student, and her youngest, Elizabeth, is a high school senior. Her parents are in good health, and she’s enjoyed having Nikki Webb Alger living in Savannah. Elizabeth went to Ghana for a summer program last year and had a great roommate from the D.C. area. They keep in touch through Facetime, and one day, Elizabeth saw her roommate’s mom in the background wearing an Agnes Scott T-shirt. Elizabeth’s Ghana roommate was Laylie Miller-Bashir’s daughter!
Christine Wade and Teresa Hoenes visited Norway together in August.
Peggy Branch-Lyle and her husband visited Scotland in September. They enjoyed seeing incredible ancient architecture, visiting her husband’s ancestral castle, and meeting some of his relatives there. It was all very exciting. Peggy is also an active member of an Agnes Scott book club. Fourteen graduates live in Asheville and get together every other month to have interesting
Education Certified Innovators Program. She traveled to Amsterdam for her academy in November.
Nikki Webb Alger spent her birthday in August with classmates Maria Balais and Clare Laye Abel. They celebrated by exploring a winery in Dahlonega, sharing great food and wine, and talking and laughing nonstop.
’95
Emily Stone emilyrdstone@outlook.com
Margaret Bickers has not been doing much. She attended a sci-fi and fantasy meeting and spent 10 days in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Otherwise, nothing has changed.
Susan Aho Lang is excited to announce her daughter Amanda’s graduation from Georgia Tech with honors in aerospace engineering last December. Amanda is now working as a nuclear engineer. Amanda is also engaged to a wonderful young man, Michael. She is thrilled!
In May, Claire Laye Able and Malikah Berry provided career day presentations for Charlotte Stapleton Flores’ school, International Community School, where she is the director of community and culture. It was great to start spreading the vision for future Scotties!
discussions about books.
Jessica Daughtery and Melissa Mullinax spent two weeks in England last summer. They took classes at Oxford and walked all over London, Bath and the Cornish coast.
Anika Hagenson was promoted to director of the U.S. State Corporate Affairs and Public Policy team for Intuit. She leads the team that drives state and local policy and political engagement across all 50 states.
After being elected the first female district attorney in the state of Louisiana in 2009, the Honorable Julie Colley Jones was inducted into the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame in June.
Jessica Roosevelt Adams was accepted to the Google for
Aho Lang and Daniela Edelkind had a mini-reunion in Vegas. They were joined by fellow Scottie Lucí Lockhart
Lisa Sebotnick Durette, M.D., DFAPA, DFAACAP, has been named chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In addition, she serves as the principal investigator of her department’s Health Resources and Services Administration grant-funded child psychiatry access program, the NV Pediatric Access Line, bringing much-needed access to children’s mental health resources statewide. Her daughter is now a junior in high school, and Lisa is surviving the transition to having a teen who drives and will be moving on to college soon.
narratives of the area in an effort to address issues of erasure and systemic inequities. Each praise house is a small wooden structure with a fully immersive interactive digital projection installation of a Ring Shout, a traditional African American communal movement prayer, created from archives and/or footage collected from the community in which it resides, with a sound installation emanating from within, inviting gatherings in safe spaces, like praise houses once before.
Emily Stone bought a house in Clarkston, Georgia. Also, her youngest, Peter, graduated high school in May and is now off to Georgia State University. That’s a wrap!
The Praise House Project is a community-based initiative by visual artist Charmaine Minniefield that currently rests in Beacon Hill in downtown Decatur through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Emory University and Agnes Scott, with additional sponsorship from DeKalb County and the Office of CEO Mike Thurmond, the City of Decatur, and the City Schools of Decatur. The project places multimedia, site-specific public art installations within communities in order to uphold the African American histories and
As the Praise House Project rests at Beacon Hill, it remembers this historic community, referred to as The Bottom, established during Reconstruction as a freedmen’s town. Though Beacon Hill became a burgeoning Black residential and business district populated by newly freed individuals who worked and raised their families in the area, the community was largely destroyed by the FDR Housing Act of 1937, leveling the shotgun houses and displacing generations of families to make room for public housing and city offices. The installation acknowledges the legacy of Black resilience and achievement; the recent establishment of the African American collection at the DeKalb History Center, which includes a historic Freedmen’s Bureau registry; the recent removal of a nearby Confederate monument; and the history of labor in the area, including that of Agnes Scott nearby.
Cheryl Reid and Alana Noble Booker checked an item off their bucket lists this September. They saw Brandi Carlisle perform at Red Rocks Amphitheater in conjunction with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra with a group of friends from Decatur. It was a magical concert and a beautiful few days’ hiking after boys Grant (Cheryl) and William (Alana) began their first year at Georgia Tech. Go, Scotties! Go, Jackets!
Stone, Emily Pender and Wendy Riviere Earon vowed to start seeing each other more often this year and have stuck to it as much as their busy calendars allow.
’96
Mary Carol Patterson Sheffield msheff@uga.edu
Jackie Reynolds ’96, Jessica Biggs Sparling ’96, Kelly Jennings Pouncey ’96, Carrie Mastromarino Haunstetter ’96, Adrienne McNees ’96, Tara Spuhler McCabe ’96 and Jessica Chatham Lathren ’96 celebrate their 50th birthdays in Europe.
After years of planning, and with their 50th birthdays upon them, a group of friends from the class of ’96 traveled to Europe together. Jessica Chatham Lathren, Tara Spuhler McCabe, Kelly Jennings Pouncey (and husband Michael) and Jackie Reynolds traveled first to the lovely home of Carrie Mastromarino Haunstetter outside Salzburg, Austria. The group enjoyed the hospitality of Carrie and her husband, Armin. Jessica Biggs Sparling joined them there, as did Isabel Key and her two daughters. Anna McPherson Aigner-Muehler ’98, a certified guide for the city of Salzburg, toured the group around the city (a must-do for all Scotties!). They traveled into the Verona region of Italy to the historic Villa Sogaro and were surprised there by Adrienne McNees, who they thought had to miss the trip. Over the next four days, they toured wineries, ancient towns and churches, and
Lake Garda. The trip ended at Vincenza, with a couple of days at the home of Jessica Biggs Sparling, her husband, Jeff, and their three daughters. By the end of the trip the group realized they had not spent that much time living together since their Agnes Scott days and how much they missed and needed it.
’97
Deanna Turner georgiagirl121@gmail.com
Jennie Albritton Rimes lost her husband of 21 years, Chris Rimes, on May 3, 2023, unexpectedly. She and the children are slowly adjusting to a new normal. They took a 3,000-mile road trip that included a visit to Atlanta, camping in Michigan and West Virginia, and a brief stay in Savannah before returning to Fort Myers, Florida. In July 2023, she began working at the new high school in her town, Gateway High School, as orchestra and choir director to set up their choral department and expand the orchestra while also helping promote the theater department.
’98
Jennifer Odom jennifermodom@hotmail.com
After years of dreaming about living in Spain, it seems it takes a DDP (death, divorce and pandemic!) to actually make it happen. Giselle Fernandez Martin resigned from everything in her old world to figure out what she really wanted her life to look like. Turns out it made sense to live with much less in a medieval village on the coast of Spain. In July she returned to the world of education, working for a global firm called the Banyan Educational Consultancy, which focuses on being educators first. Ironically, when she attempted to launch her own LLC, EduFocus, 12 years ago to help her get to Spain, she used an image of the Banyan tree as her logo. Seems the signs were all there. Now almost four years in, she swims year-round
with a wonderful group of women in the Mediterranean, still has coffee with her Scotties virtually, and reports that life just seems simpler, healthier and enough.
Sarah Clarke ’98 and Agnes Hofle ’01 at the Southbank Centre in London.
Sarah O’Hanlon Clarke had a mini-Agnes Scott reunion in London during the summer with Agnes Hofle. They spent lots of time reminiscing about their year as international students at Agnes Scott!
Dinah Conti Huff and AJ are empty nesters, having moved their only child to Kansas State University (KSU) in August. The school color is royal purple, so all of Dinah’s Agnes Scott stuff matches her KSU gear! She has a new hobby: crocheting. It started with one Woobles kit and has grown into an addiction. In eight months of crocheting, she has made a zoo of little stuffed animals, a few succulents, and tons of little hearts and flowers.
Jennie Hatfield de la Cruz was appointed interim program director of the Mercer University Physician Assistant Studies Program.
Valerie Case Bayham and her family had a lovely time catching up with Sarah Thieling and her family this summer at the beach in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Liza Fewell scottiegossip@gmail.com
The class of 1999 turned out for our 25th anniversary in April of this year. We explored the campus, attended events, and danced like it was 1999! Our party was so lit that our lovely event staff and a few current students joined in the fun.
started online courses at Augusta University for her Master of Arts in teaching. Her eldest child, Xander (18), graduated from Central Gwinnett High School in May and is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity at Augusta University. Indy (16) continues their studies in fine arts at Gwinnett’s School of the Arts.
’00
Yalonda Rice yalondarenee@gmail.com
Soo Huey and Kira Barden
Asiyah Sarwari, Ayoka Shakir, Heather Scott, Jamila Lisbon and Patrice Benton attended the Witkaze Rekindling Ceremony in September. Heather, an assistant dean at Agnes Scott, was invited by the current students to be the evening’s keynote speaker. The Scotties thoroughly enjoyed their time together and meeting the next generation of Scotties.
Liza Fewell accepted a new position as a fourth-grade language arts teacher in Loganville, Georgia. She also
at their engagement.
Kira Barden and Soo Huey Yap got engaged June 21, 2023, at the Malihom Private Estates in Penang, Malaysia. Kira and Soo were visiting Soo’s family in Penang, so Malaysian friends and family were able to celebrate the couple’s engagement with a four-course dinner after the sunset proposal. Kira and Soo are planning a May 2025 wedding in Roswell, Georgia. Kira also started a new chapter in her career journey; she joined Intuitive Surgical as director of people analytics and research in September.
Maria Nielson is finally back doing what she loves best after a career break. She started as a travel adviser in September 2023 at a local woman-owned agency, Tailor My Travels. It’s been an adjustment, but she is loving every minute. Maria loves the trips she has planned for fellow Scotties.
If you ever need a trip planned, please reach out to Maria at maria@tailormytravels.com!
Hannah Palmer published her book, The Pool Is Closed: Segregation, Summertime, and the Search for a Place to Swim (LSU Press), on Oct. 16.
’01
Cristy Sellers Smith csellerssmith@pacificu.edu
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
’02
Deborah Vincent Scianna deborahscianna@yahoo.com
Mandy Lane lives in Atlanta, where she teaches piano. Her daughter and stepson just started middle school, and her stepdaughter just started high school!
Erika Robinson was recently identified as a “Future Legend” by the San Antonio Black Lawyers Association.
In July, the parent company of McLemore Resort and Cloudland Hotel at McLemore announced Annea Claire Robinson as Scenic Land Company’s director of investor relations. Annea is an active member of the Junior League of Chattanooga and serves on the Heart Ball Committee of the American Heart Association.
After serving in the role on an interim basis, Katie McGee has been selected as the next associate vice president and dean of students at the University of Texas. She will lead 11 offices under the dean of students’ office, supporting students on campus and managing student conduct and academic integrity cases. Previously, Katie served as the executive director of student conduct and academic integrity.
During her five-week road trip across the Midwest, Deborah Vincent Scianna had a ball catching up with Sara Neese Silletto and Amy Jernigan Blanchard over brunch in Louisville, Kentucky.
’03
Angela Gisclair Etheridge butterflyanla6318@gmail.com
Natalie Marshall Natalie.e.marshall@gmail.com
Jaqueline
Koa Castle-Woolley ’03, Jacqueline Urda Reusche ’03 and Tiff Troutman ’03 enjoy dinner.
Koa Castle-Woolley visited Jacqueline Urda Reusche and her family in Roswell, Georgia, for two weeks in July. It was the most time these besties had spent together since college, and they had a blast. They also went shopping with Kim McNamara ’02, had brunch with Jenny Young Davis ’02, and dined with Tiff Troutman. Koa also met up with her cousin Jessica Bolton Holt
’08. Agnes Scott friends are the best! Additionally, she was selected to join the Hawaii Health Systems Corporate Board of Directors, which is a governor-appointed position.
Whitney Peoples has been promoted to assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
baby boy March 16. He weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces at birth. April said that Brigid Scarbrough is one of his favorite people.
Melanie Davis graduated in May with a master’s degree in education. She started her doctorate program in August. She also published a book this year, Maybe: A Collection of Thoughts, Musings, and Nonsense.
Kelly Williams was incredibly touched to come back to campus for Alumnae Weekend to accept an Outstanding Alumnae Award for Service to the College. Classmates Amy Hawkins Morelli, Laura Creamer Salazar, Whitney Miller Ott and Nathalie Smalls Dames were in attendance. Her two best friends, whom she met during her time on campus, Sharayne Mark Coffin ’04 and Raquel Davidson ’04, also came out in support.
April Carter-Chau and her husband welcomed a healthy
Anla Etheridge ’03 was named Club Woman of the Year by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs Service Guild of Covington.
Anla Etheridge was named Club Woman of the Year by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs Service Guild of Covington.
’04
Martha Gaston magaston@aol.com
Kristin Kallaher Inman earned a Master of Science in clinical counseling psychology from Brenau University in May. Her thesis group placed first in the graduate student poster contest at the Georgia Psychological Association’s annual conference. Their thesis was on the resilience levels of graduate counseling students who have had personal therapy. Kristin is now working as the school counselor at Horizon Academy, a new high school in the Gainesville City School System that serves newcomers to the country who need to learn English and students who need flexible scheduling to get on track
for graduation. The school is located on the downtown square in a building that used to be the original GHS gym, so it’s a unique space.
April M. Hathcock celebrated her one-year wedding anniversary with Armando Velez. The couple married in fall 2023 and were so lucky to be able to share their special day in Tampa with loved ones, including Kristin Youngquist and her daughter Jacky Gundberg Youngquist, who was the best bridal attendant ever.
She lives a few doors down from where Alexis’ room was in Walters and is having a wonderful first year experience thus far. Alexis hopes Charlee learns and flourishes as much as she did during her time there!
Lindsay Deriso King shared the difficult news that she lost both of her parents this year. Her mother, Toni Deriso, died on May 4, 2024. Her father, William Deriso, died on Sept. 19, 2024.
’05
Ruth Owen Sambuco ruth.sambuco@gmail.com
Laura Gargala Goldstein graduated with a Master of Social Work in May from the University of Georgia. She is now a licensed master social worker (LMSW) and began a position at C&A Counseling in Roswell, Georgia, as a mental health clinician.
Charlisa Daniels began the position of director of recruitment and retention at the Center for Integrative Natural Science and Mathematics in January.
Jennifer Bartell Boykin celebrated the publication of her second book of poetry, Only Believe, in June. This is her second book publication in less than a year; Traveling Mercy (Finishing Line Press) was published in November 2023. Only Believe (The Word Works) is the winner of the Hilary Tham Capital Collection. Jennifer is looking forward to returning to Agnes Scott in April as a featured writer at the 54th Annual Writers’ Festival, the oldest continuous literary event in Georgia.
Alex Hughes Capell has launched her own ghostwriting business and has more work than she can handle!
Alexis Fillos’ daughter, Charlotte “Charlee” Fillos-Ibbs, graduated high school in 2024 and decided to go to Agnes Scott in the fall as a member of the Blue class of 2028.
Ashley French Schnider and her husband, Mike, welcomed their son, Tate Michael Schnider, on Aug. 12, 2023.
Lauren Lee-Crane, CEO and cofounder of Semaine Health, a science-backed supplement brand focused on women’s health, launched into Walmart stores nationwide in June. Along with
twin sister Catherine Lee and her husband, Matt Crane, they’re celebrating five years in a business that is working to solve common pain points women face at every stage of life. Semaine is here for your first period through your last hot flash and every hormonal shift in between.
’06
Courtney Ware Lett courtneydware@gmail.com
Elizabeth Hartman has successfully passed a sixweek course on horse carcass composting from the University of Minnesota Extension. Although she doubts she’ll ever use the information to compost a horse, the certificate looks great on her wall and lets men know what she’s capable of doing.
Lizzy Schwartz got engaged to her partner Jess Warneski on April 5 after five and a half years together. They plan to marry in New Jersey in the fall of 2025.
Wasfia Nazreen was featured on the Rich Roll podcast (youtube. com/watch?v=IX8dj6qfUU8). The audio version is available on Apple and Spotify and wherever podcasts are available. Wasfia also delivered Agnes Scott’s 135th commencement speech (youtube. com/watch?v=NegdJlCUroY).
Kirby Hager Johnson, along with her husband, Colin, son Blevin, and daughter Salem, welcomed Sullivan “Rhett” Johnson on Nov. 5, 2023.
In August, Amanda Harris joined the Florida Bar as a senior attorney in the Lawyer Regulation Division in Miami, Florida. It is officially her job to be a “know-itall” for other lawyers, at least in the ethics arena.
Kate Newburg Nock started a new job at Emory Healthcare.
Arsed Joseph and her startup StageWing were accepted into Techstars! Techstars is the leading global pre-seed investor that provides early-stage entrepreneurs with access to capital, mentorship and other support. StageWing is the world’s first event sound and lighting gear-sharing powered by the DJ and audio/visual community. Courtney Ware Lett is also a member of the StageWing team.
Reem Faruqi had two new picture books released in 2024: The House Without Lights: A Glowing Celebration of Joy, Warmth, and Home (https://a. co/d/9Cc5wpK) and Do You Even Know Me? (https://a.co/d/ cP2kMzS).
Emily Rose and her wife adopted their second child in September. Skylar (3 years old) was with them as a foster placement for two years and now joins sister Courtney (8 years old) as a permanent member of the family. She is funny, talkative, smart and bold, and they feel enormously privileged to have her in their lives forever.
’07
Kristin Hall krelhall@gmail.com
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
’08
Lily Takata ltakata01@gmail.com
Evan Joslin evanjoslin12@gmail.com
Melissa Foiles left the corporate world and opened her own consulting business, ILYM Consulting, which is dedicated to providing compliance guidance to background screening companies worldwide. She was also named to the Professional Background Screening Association Board of Directors.
Lauren Stikeleather was promoted to associate director of Education Abroad and Away at Davidson College. In January, she was accepted to the 2024 cohort of the Next Gen Global Leaders Network, a yearlong program led by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition with a focus on federal budgeting, development policy, media and communications skills, and advocacy training.
Barbara Greene Ward was recognized as one of the Dayton Business Journal’s 2024 40 Under 40 honorees. She was selected to be part of the historic 50th Anniversary Leadership Dayton 2025 class, which began in August. As first lady of Omega Baptist Church, community advocate and fundraiser, Barbara credits Agnes Scott for instilling in her a passion for lifelong learning and leading with an equitable lens.
Nancy Thebaut relocated to the U.K. in September to begin a new job as associate professor of the history of art at the University of Oxford (St. Catherine’s College). She hopes to connect with other U.K.-based Scotties!
Emily Lake Hansen received her Ph.D. in creative writing from Georgia State University in May, and in August, she began a threeyear appointment as a Marion L. Brittain postdoctoral fellow in the Writing and Communication Program at Georgia Tech.
The Rev. Julia Sierra Wilkinson Reyes is the new canon to the ordinary and chief of staff for the Episcopal Diocese of California, headquartered in San Francisco, California. She and her family will be based in Alameda, California, and neighbors of classmates Judith Pierce Davison and Katherine Frazier-Archila.
Emilie Jones and her wife, Natalie, welcomed their baby girl, Idgie, on Oct. 10, 2023. They have had a whirlwind of a year since, including Emilie winning the Flag Award for Teaching Excellence in New York City.
Rachel L’Heureux Nicastro and her husband, Ralph, purchased their first home in Rutherford, New Jersey, in August 2023. They are currently remodeling the century-old Victorian home themselves.
On May 20, 2023, Natasha Ellis graduated with a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Natasha’s research interests seek to understand the racialized nature of beauty, its connection to colorism, economic
and social capital, identity negotiation, and life chance. She has studied and facilitated research in India and West Africa exploring social stratification, the transnational circuits of colorism, skin bleaching and how digitization of imagery poses a sociological, psychological and emotional detriment to one’s understanding of self and racial identity.
Adria Toliver ’08, Timinika Rucker ’08, Sydney Rucker ’08, Carmella Manns ’08, Melissa Tolley-Nink ’08, Julia Sierra Wilkinson Reyes ’08, Briana Cox ’08 and Kimberly Crews ’08 have been traveling together since 2015. This year they enjoyed a Caribbean cruise.
’09
Tiffany Claiborne mermaidkween@gmail.com
The class of 2009 has continued our gradual takeover of the world (one could call it a total eclipse) through continued academic and personal achievements, making our marks in the arts and sciences and growing our hearts and families.
Shannon Reisner Rodgers completed her medical residency in pathology as well as her specialty boards and is currently mid-fellowship.
and the resources to find free and low-cost alternatives to expensive commercial textbooks (many wallets salute your efforts).
Louisa Hill has also had an eventful year, with her directorial debut, Los Angelez, at the Austin Film Festival in October, where it was nominated for a Jury Award in the Best Original Series category. (I ask, along with my classmates: Streaming party when?)
Rachel Wacks is one step closer to her Ph.D. in epidemiology and biostatistics at UMass Amherst, having completed her comprehensive exams and coursework. Soon she’ll be going from ABD to Ph.D. (IYKYK!)
Erica Stafford is thrilled to announce that her divorce has been finalized and she’s back to being herself again. (I have already forgotten her married name in honor of this achievement.)
Adria Toliver hosted Shannon McKnight in Portland, Oregon, in September, where they hiked, kayaked and participated in Nike’s Field Day at their corporate headquarters where Adria works as human resources director, global sports marketing.
Shannon McKnight was promoted to director, partner marketing and growth at SiriusXM Pandora. She works directly with external integrated partners like Apple, Google, Amazon, Hilton and Bose to ensure content and capabilities are optimized for each partner and listener.
Kimberly Watt-McCune received a Master of Library and Information Sciences from Texas Woman’s University in December, further supporting her work with the Knox County (Tennessee) Public Library. She very much looks forward to getting a sliver of her time back.
Caroline Borden Hallam recently got tenure status at Glendale Community College, where she serves as the open educational resources and electronic resources librarian, teaching information competency through the library’s Contextualized Research Instruction and Workshop programs and providing faculty with professional development
Finally, there are more new potential Scotties on Earth! Donna Wroble Pennington has welcomed Claire, born in January—big sister Lydia, born November 2020, welcomed her along with Mom and Dad, who are both very happy to be able to fully explore the world with their children now (when they aren’t catching up on sleep), unlike most of 2020.
Imani Irving Perez has also welcomed her first baby girl, Nalah. Nalah’s four big brothers and Mom and Dad greeted her in March. For anyone counting, these early 2024 family additions will be potential members of the class of 2045.
’10 Renu Sagreiya rsagreiya@gmail.com
Olivia Greene-Knight ogreene87@gmail.com
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretaries.
Sarah Bowen Hersh sbowen314@gmail.com
Anna Young (she/her) and her husband, Andrew Leonard, were married at Emory Presbyterian Church on May 9. Fellow Scottie Katie Kilgore was in attendance as maid of honor. Anna graduated from Agnes Scott in May with her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling and is working at a private practice in Atlanta, providing counseling to adults and couples. Anna also started a Ph.D. program in forensic psychology in July at Walden University.
Lauren Welch welcomed her second baby boy on Leap Day in the wee hours of the morning. She continues to reside in Tucker, Georgia, with her older son, husband and 11-year-old pup. She regularly gets together with Sarah Batchelor, and they have a grand time!
Rachel Burger announces that Ori Grace Carlson was born on April 9. Rachel also joined OneStream as their content marketing manager in December 2023.
Caroline Martin started her massage therapy business, CM Therapies, in Columbus, Ohio. She continues her role as a mental health therapist specializing in LGBTQ+ health care.
Meghan Ryan is moving to Portland, Oregon. She bought a house there and is making the move to be in the cooler weather and a new space. She would love to connect with any Scotties in the area!
Chanelle Desamours’ debut novel, Needy Little Things, will be published by Wednesday Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press/ Macmillan, on Feb. 4, 2025, in the U.S. and by Bloomsbury on Feb. 13, 2025, in the U.K. It is a young adult speculative mystery that explores the disparities in media coverage between white and Black missing persons.
Ruth Reveal and her husband, George, welcomed their second son, August Drake-Reveal, on March 7!
Jillian Morn completed her Ph.D. in higher education in fall 2023 from the University of Georgia. Her dissertation is titled The Most Important Thing in the World: A Mixed Methods Case Study on Doctoral Student Persistence Decisions and Caregiving Responsibilities. She is happily divorced and living her best life in her very own 110-year-old Craftsman home in Puyallup, Washington.
Chani Zwibel Butler accepted the instruction/reference librarian position at Life University Drs. Sid E. & Nell K. Williams Library in July. She and her husband, Evan, will celebrate 12 years of marriage in October. She continues to write and publish poetry.
Onyinye Edeh and her husband welcomed their first child, a healthy baby boy, Kallen Tobechukwu Vincent, on Aug. 10. The entire family is doing great.
On Sept. 12, Joy Siebers O’Donnell gave birth to a baby boy, Robert Timothy. His big sister, Abigail, is thrilled he’s here!
’12
Devin Alford dlalford@comcast.net
Rae Pietkiewicz successfully passed the bar exam and was sworn in as an assistant state’s attorney for Carroll County.
Bhumi Patel is ABD (all but dissertation) in her doctoral program at the Ohio State University.
Kelly Domino Beaty recently passed her accreditation exam to become a licensed registered dietitian and is working as a parttime clinical dietitian at a hospital in Denver and seeing clients parttime within a private practice.
Bhumika Patel has been deputy director of the Human Service Chamber of Franklin since December 2022. Earlier this year, she was honored as part of Columbus Business First’s 2024 Class of 40 under 40.
’13
Caitlin White cwhite@agnesscott.edu
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
’14
Aminah Hussain aminah4488@gmail.com
Lex Pfearsen received their Ph.D. in counseling psychology in August.
Lindsey Shepard welcomed Freya Marie Shepard into the world on Oct. 18!
Rebecca Pham was accepted into Mercer, Pennsylvania, school class of 2027 and will begin January 2025!
’15
Shekinah Phillips sphill@uab.edu
R.E. Johnson spent most of the past year working as a faculty-staff hybrid in the communications department for a local liberal arts college (Wittenberg) in Ohio and traveling back and forth to the U.K. for work on their research subject, 20th-century stage and screen British-American actor, Claude Rains. They officially
moved to the U.K. around London in August for graduate studies in theatre directing at East 15 Acting School, which they’ll do for the next two years, and they plan on doing a Ph.D. in theatre and performance studies (involving Claude and studies of transitional, “gentle/genteel” masculinity) after that. They’re very excited to settle into the life they’ve chased for so long.
Neeraja Panchapakesan earned a Ph.D. in education with a focus on college student affairs administration from the University of Georgia. Her dissertation was on South Asian American students’ belonging at Agnes Scott. She’s now working at Agnes Scott in the Gay Johnson McDougall Center for Global Diversity and Inclusion.
Network (YNPN) of Atlanta. Celeste will be leading an amazing volunteer board of young nonprofit leaders and philanthropic-minded professionals who run strategy, programming and marketing for YNPN Atlanta, an organization that fosters community and connections among young nonprofit professionals poised to be the next generation of leaders.
Shekinah Phillips received a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences with a concentration in neuroscience from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Focusing on the effect of O-GlcNAcylation on GABAergic transmission, she was able to discover the interplay that exists between drugs of abuse and O-GlcNAcylation in the healthy and diseased brain. Currently, she is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Georgia, studying the functional genomics of O-GlcNac in neurodevelopmental disorders.
’16
Claire Kircharr clairemk14@gmail.com
Rachel Brazeale has been published in the Society of American Archivists’ July/August 2024 issue of Archival Outlook with her article “Archives in the Age of AI.”
After four years of serving in various board committee roles, Celeste Whitman has been selected to serve as board chair of the Young Nonprofit Professionals
Jasmine Heath got married to Samuel Morse on Aug. 31. She will be changing her name to Morse.
Shalima Wellington ’16, Avery KieslingGough ’16, Stephanie Berry-Jones ’16, Claire Kirchharr ’16, and Victoria ReedTate ’16 reunited in May.
Claire Kirchharr, Stephanie Berry Jones, Victoria Reed Tate, Avery Kielsing-Gough and Shalima Wellington reunited in Kansas City to introduce babies and partners to each other! It was a great weekend catching up and a reminder that Scottie sisterhood is the best.
’17
Jessica Luegering jessica.marie.luegering@gmail. com
Sarah Meaghan Eiler participated in an internship with 3M during the summer. She worked in the industrial abrasives labs and took multiple tours of the different business sectors. This internship was specifically to give teachers an idea of what it’s like to work in industry so they can better prepare students for the workforce. She says she never would have guessed how interesting sandpaper is!
Vorder
Elizabeth “Stokes” O’Shields Lorenz ’17 poses with her bridal party: Madelyn Kent ’18, Cheryl Ferguson, Rachel VanHorn, Shelby Thurman, Jessica Luegering ’17, Denisse Saucedo Petree ’17, and Jessica Cheek.
at
Martha Vorder Bruegge began working at Premier Gastroenterology medical practice in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in September 2023 as a billing and credentialing specialist. She has now been there for a year and has been loving her work. The job inspired her, and she’s now studying to be certified as a professional coder. Go, Martha!
On Oct. 21, 2023, Elizabeth “Stokes” O’Shields married Max Lorenz in a beautiful ceremony and officially became Elizabeth “Stokes” Lorenz. Included in her bridesmaid party were fellow Scotties Denisse Saucedo Petree, Jessica Luegering and Madelyn Kent ’18. Less than a year later, on September 8, Stokes and Max
Elizabeth “Stokes” O’Shields Lorenz ’17 and her husband, Max, with their daughter, Eleanor Marie.
welcomed their baby girl, Eleanor Marie Lorenz, into their little family. Congratulations on a whirlwind year, Stokes!
Anne “Lacey” Wilson completed her master’s degree in art history from American University. Her thesis focused on Black American fashion designer and artist Ruby Bailey. Awesome work, Lacey!
In September 2023, Jessica Luegering started a new job as a staff attorney with the Brunswick office of Georgia Legal Services Program, a nonprofit that provides free civil legal services to persons with low incomes. In addition to bothering her classmates for class news, she drives around 17 counties in South Georgia, representing people in a wide variety of civil legal matters.
Madeline “Miller” Lansing ’17 poses with her bridal party: Molly Wilson ’17, Jamie Traner, Sydney Savage ’17, Hannah Beveridge, Ebet Lansing, Kayla Sloan ’17 and Rachael Floyd ’17.
Nancy Childers Lansing ’83, Sydney Savage ’17, Stormee Bailey ’17, Sophia Kumin ’17, Laura Luquire ’86, Rachael Floyd ’17, Suzanne Feese ’84, Emily Robinson ’83, Hannah Waggerman ’17, Leila Chreiteh ’17, Molly Wilson ’17, Madeline “Miller” Lansing ’17 and Kayla Sloan ’17 show off their Scottie rings at Miller’s wedding.
Madeline “Miller” Lansing became Madeline “Miller” McWhorter when she married Baxter McWhorter May 18 in a wedding packed with Scotties from 1983 to 2017! Her bridal party featured four Scotties from the class of 2017: Molly Wilson, Sydney Savage, Kayla Sloan and Rachael Floyd. Congratulations on a beautiful day!
’18
Abigail Camden camden.abigail@gmail.com
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
’19
Catherine Curtin catherine.e.curtin@gmail.com
Maura Kiefer has become the development manager at Midtown Assistance Center after two years as the grants specialist at Atlanta Habitat for Humanity!
Elizabeth Kell was recently promoted to director of digital marketing, content and brand at Atlanta Vibe Pro Volleyball. Atlanta Vibe is the first women’s professional volleyball team in Atlanta and is part of the Professional Volleyball Federation. In the inaugural season, Elizabeth garnered over 20 million impressions and 10 million video views, bringing national attention to the team. The Atlanta Vibe were the regular-season champions, and Elizabeth looks forward to continuing to amplify these incredible athletes’ voices and presence in season 2. One of her favorite memories was providing about 50 tickets to current Scotties for a match last season. If any fellow Scotties would like to attend a match this upcoming season, please reach out!
MeaResea Homer was promoted to team lead after working with Yardi Systems Inc. for the past five years.
Zoey Perchaluk has accepted a job as assistant operations manager for REI Distribution in Tennessee.
’20
Madeline Brasgalla mbrasgalla11@gmail.com
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
’21
Teresa Enriquez Texis tenriqueztexis@gmail.com
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
’22
Ziyana Greene amil.greene1@gmail.com
No news was submitted. Please send your news to your class secretary.
’23
No identified class secretary. Please send any news to share to alumnae@agnesscott.edu.
’09
Claire Pennington, born to Donna Wroble Pennington, January 2024
Nalah Perez, born to Imani Irving Perez, March 2024
’11
Robert Timothy, born to Joy Siebers O’Donnell, Sept. 12, 2024
August Drake-Reveal, born to Ruth Reveal, March 7, 2024
Ori Grace Carlson, born to Rachel Burger, April 9, 2024
Kallen Tobechukwu Vincent, born to Onyinye Edeh, Aug. 10, 2024
’17
Eleanor Marie Lorenz, born to Elizabeth “Stokes” O’Shields Lorenz and Max Lorenz, Sept. 8, 2024
’44
Claire Johnson Yancey, May 6, 2024
’45
Elizabeth “Liz” Carpenter Bardin, April 17, 2024
’46
Mary “Mary Ann” Courenay Davidson, March 22, 2024
’47
Rosemary Jones Cox, sister of Beth Crabill ’48, sister of Lucy Ellen Cooley ’67, and aunt of Elizabeth Shirk ’74, May 7, 2024
Marguerite Mattison Rice, sister of Mary Louise Mattison McLaurin ’51, July 12, 2024
’
48
Kathleen “Tina” Hewson Cole, Dec. 2, 2023
Susan Pope Hays, sister of Helen Pope Scott ’47, May 15, 2024
’49
Sara Belle Rosenberg Rosenswieg, Dec. 31, 2023
Jean Tollison Moses, June 21, 2024
’50
Mary McDonald Humes, March 15, 2024
Nancy Jean Osborn Sawyer, cousin of Ellen Gordon Thompson ’73, July 11, 2024
’51
Esther Adler Schachter, Dec. 1, 2023
Martha Ann Stegar, sister of Evelyn Hendrix ’55, April 1, 2024
Sally Lou Dickert Conlin, sister of Martha Dickert Nelson ’56 and cousin of Marguerite Dickert Ligon ’61, May 2, 2024
Barbara Futral Turner, May 30, 2024
’52
Lila “Amelia” Cronin Pierce, Nov. 18, 2023
Nevaida Anne McLeod Poulnot, March 21, 2024
Betty “Betty Jane” Sharpe Cabaniss, April 1, 2024
Phyllis Galphin Buchanan, May 6, 2024
Clairelis Eaton Baxter, July 1, 2024
Barbara “June” Smith Elkins, Sept. 10, 2024
’53
Adaline Miller Royce, Sept. 26, 2024
’54
Alma Scoggins Murray, Jan. 13, 2024
Carol Tye Dozier, Feb. 13, 2024
’55
Ouida Carolyn Wells, Dec. 18, 2023
Anne Hoover Gulley, Jan. 1, 2024
Leah Fine Danberg, Jan. 29, 2024
Frances Marion Callaham Sharp, Jan. 31, 2024
Raymond Willoch, husband of Agnes “Mickey” Scott Willoch, father of Susan Willoch Shaver ’78, and uncle of Dr. Betty Scott Noble ’71, Feb. 2, 2024
Margaret “Peggy” McMillan White, cousin of Anne Foster Curtis ’64, March 4, 2024
Barbara Ward Hale, aunt of Karen Hale ’75, May 24, 2024
Pauline “Polly” Morgan King, May 25, 2024
Marilyn Vance McGaughey, June 3, 2024
Betty Reiney Henley, July 12, 2024
Roy Beaty Jr., husband of Carolyn Alford Beaty, Aug. 14, 2024
’56
Eleanor Swain All, mother of Ellen All Mcneel ’81 and grandmother of Ryland All ’17, Dec. 19, 2023
Mary Carolyn Bibb, Feb. 3, 2024
Barbara Fleshman Mitchell, April 20, 2024
’57
Sally Fortson McLemore, mother of Valli McLemore Maddux ’84 and sister of Martha Fortson Scheffler ’52, Jan. 14, 2024
Carolyn Alexander Howard, Jan. 21, 2024
Marianne Sargent Duncan, May 22, 2024
Russell B. McDonough Jr., husband of Nancy Nixon McDonough, July 28, 2024
George Revis Butler Jr., husband of Mary Kathryn “Kathy” Cole Butler, Aug. 1, 2024
Anne Ayres Terry Sherren, Aug. 10, 2024
’58
Caolyn Magruder Ruppenthal, Jan. 8, 2024
LaVonne Nalley Phillips, March 14, 2024
Langhorn “Lang” Sydnor Mauck, April 5, 2024
’59
Margaret Fortney Sibley, Jan. 6, 2024
Frances Calder Arnold, Jan. 21, 2024
Cordelia “Dee” Harvley Fugitt, Jan. 24, 2024
Michael T. Nye, husband of Jan Lyn Fleming Nye, March 19, 2024
Fred C. Fowler III, husband of Suzanne McMillan Fowler, March 22, 2024
Allan Mann, husband of Suzanne Bailey Mann, March 27, 2024
Peggy Ruth Fanson Hurt, April 10, 2024
Richard A. Ray, husband of Lila McGeachy Ray, April 10, 2024
Everett Carlton Durham Sockler, April 15, 2024
Rudolph Mardre Bell, husband of Caroline Dudley Bell, April 16, 2024
Anita Sheldon Barton, July 6, 2024
’60
Kathleen Kirk-Leason, Dec. 6, 2023
Peyton Winfree Baber, Dec. 31, 2023
Renee Shenk Transou, Jan. 5, 2024
Mildred Braswell Smith, Jan. 9, 2024
Ann Norton DeLoach, Jan. 24, 2024
Charlotte King Sanner, Feb. 22, 2024
Florence Richardson Scott, Sept. 9, 2024
’61
Robert W. McCreary, husband of Susan Abernathy McCreary, March 23, 2023
Frederick “Ted” Bywater, husband of Mary Wayne Crymes Bywater, Dec. 15, 2023
Willie “Weebie” Childress Clarke, Feb. 17, 2024
’62
Nancy Jane Nelms Garret, Dec. 26, 2023
Burnam “Bebe” Walker Reichert, Jan. 2, 2024
Margaret Holley Milam, Jan. 19, 2024
Ray Taggart Chilton, April 22, 2024
William Alan Robison Sr., husband of Emily Evans Robison, May 10, 2024
Cynthia Alline Hind, Sept. 15, 2024
’63
Richard Essex Simmons, husband of Teresa Carrigan Simmons, Dec. 25, 2023
William Rowe Phillips, husband of Nancy Miller Phillips, Dec. 30, 2023
Nancy McCoy Waller, Jan. 29, 2024
Gregory Lee Dean, son of Mary Ann Gregory Dean, Feb. 11, 2024
William “Bill” Fincher Peterson, son of Mary Jane “Janie” Fincher Peterson, March 24, 2024
Bruce Ervin Skidmore, husband of Kay Robertson Skidmore, March 27, 2024
Myron “Mike” Feinsilber, husband of Doris Poliakoff Feinsilber, April 1, 2024
Charles “Charlie” Kaprelian, husband of Lynn Denton, May 9, 2024
Irene Lavinder Wade, May 22, 2024
Mary Hampton Lowry Goodman, May 23, 2024
Cornelia Anne Bryant, Aug. 13, 2024
’64
Lynda Langely Burton, mother of Camille Burton Mentzer ’88, Dec. 28, 2023
’65
Elaine Nelson Bonner, July 6, 2024
’66
William G. “Bill” Boyd, cousin of Martha A. Thompson, July 19, 2023
Samuel Joiner Steger, husband of Yvonne “Bonnie” Stack Steger and father of Laura Steger Tebbitt ’96, Jan. 6, 2024
Nelson Cabell Lacy, husband of Virginia Quattlebaum Lacy, May 23, 2024
Elizabeth “Betsy” Anderson Little, June 18, 2024
’67
Susan Elaine Davis Willingham, sister-in-law of Ellen Thompson Willingham ’71, Jan. 12, 2024
Sandra Mitchell, June 30, 2024
’68
Frances Foreman Fuller, Nov. 27, 2023
Shelton Miles, husband of Susan Aikman Miles, Dec. 31, 2023
Frederick Lee Fuller Jr., husband of Frances Foreman Fuller, Jan. 26, 2024
Bill Bright, husband of Mary Bush Huff, March 11, 2024
Anne Cates Buckler, March 20, 2024
Judith Jackson Almond, April 15, 2024
John Hudson, son of Gué Pardue Hudson and Bill, Sept. 5, 2024
’69
Walter Collins, husband of Elizabeth Guider, July 15, 2022
R. Maurice Hernandez, husband of Carolyn Owen Hernandez, Nov. 27, 2023
Susie Wilson Epler, Jan. 22, 2023
Alyce Fulton Perkins, sister of Christine Baldwin ’71, sister of Anne Barnett ’74, and sister of Kathleen Banta ’82, July 2, 2023
Ruth Holmes Everett Whitehead, Aug. 29, 2023
Beverly Colclough George, Feb. 23, 2024
’71
Brenda Dance Unti, Dec. 26, 2023
Vicki Yandle Taylor, sister of Lisa Britton ’84 and sister of Sherrie Catledge ’69, Jan. 14, 2024
’72
Mary Jane King, sister of Rebecca “Becky” King Stephens ’74, Dec. 29, 2023
’74
Lincoln Stone, husband of Mary Jane Warren Stone, March 24, 2023
Esther Shirley Sloan Lewyn, Nov. 29, 2023
Mynelle Grove Harris, Dec. 20, 2023
Ted W. Waters, husband of Anne C. Kerner, Jan. 21, 2024
Louise Pate Lee, mother of Teresa Louise Lee, April 6, 2024
Gayle Rankin Meyer, May 16, 2024
’80
Richard Thomas “Rick” Cooper, husband of Elisa Norton Cooper, Jan. 23, 2024
Beverly “Bev” Roberts, July 26, 2024
’81
Kathryn Friday Nicol, mother of Susan Nicol Dobbins, Feb. 24, 2024
Mildred Shirley Burdette, mother of Ila Burdette, May 18, 2024
’82
Joseph Franklin Johnson Sr., father of Sharon Johnson Burt, Dec. 24, 2023
’84
Miriam Smith Lyons, mother of Rev. Leslie Lyons Watkins, Sept. 2, 2024
’89
Jerry Donald Franks, father of Cindy Franks, April 19, 2024
Tu Van Tai, father of Thao Tu, Aug. 28, 2024
’94
Kristopher Fluent Conrad, husband of Perrin Cothran Conrad, April 14, 2024
’96
Cherica L. Stanley, Sept. 13, 2024
Allen S. Ware, father-in-law of Tawana K. Ware, Oct. 4, 2024
’05
Phyllis Hines, March 10, 2024
’04
Toni Deriso, mother of Lindsay Deriso King, May 4, 2024
William Deriso, father of Lindsay Deriso King, Sept. 19, 2024
’08
Helen Angel “Ange” Kahn, mother of Aimee Kahn-Foss, April 8, 2024
’18
Dorman “Cork” Camden Jr., father of Abigail Camden, Jan. 11, 2024
