A L U M N I
CARRYING THE BALL Auburn’s rugby football club recently reunited for a banquet celebrating its 1999 Southeastern Conference championship. The game is said to have originated in early 19th-century England.
enlisted surface warfare specialist and aviation warfare specialist. Jason Gerding ’94 of
Vinemont was named president of TSE Brakes Inc. He formerly served as president of Leland Brake & Wheel Parts. Peter Kanakis ’95 is enrolled in Birmingham School of Law and plans to graduate in December. He married Rhonda Jolene Sanderson in June.
Brian Beattie ’98, a Seattle public defender, wrote Off Locusts and Wild Honey (CreateSpace, 2010). Justin Gilder ’98
is director of tax for ProAssurance Corp. in Birmingham. He and wife Harmony have a son, Harrison. Mark VanHooser ’98
is an assistant professor of mathematics at Troy University.
Perry ’95 was promoted
to deputy director of athletics at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Monica Kaye Jett ’96
’99, a Fort Myers,
Fla., real estate attorney, was chosen for inclusion on the 2010 Florida Super Lawyers “Rising Star” list. Casey Dunn ’99, head
of Mulga is a socialwork administrator with Children’s Rehabilitation Service. She married Phillip Edward Grammer in July.
baseball coach at Samford University, will be inducted into the inaugural class of the City of Vestavia Hills Sports Hall of Fame in September.
Jay Waggoner ’97 of
David Jordan ’99, who
Roswell, Ga., a former minor league baseball player, will be inducted into the inaugural class of the City of Vestavia Hills Sports Hall of Fame in September.
played football for three years with the New York Giants and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will be inducted into the inaugural class of the City of Vestavia Hills Sports Hall of Fame in September.
Allen C. Winsor ’97, a
Tallahassee, Fla., attorney with the firm of Gray-Robinson, was chosen for inclusion on the 2010 Super Lawyers list.
’99 to Delbert James
Sable Jr. on April 10. They live in St. Pete Beach, Fla. BORN A son, Jake David, to Raymond Newsom ’96
and wife Dana of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on Jan. 19. He joins sister Mia, 2. A daughter, Lillian Kathryn, to Fredrick Glen Williams ’93 and Kristy Abrams Williams
7. She joins brother Hudson Loyd. A daughter, Emily Caroline, to Michele Marie Leahy ’93 of Madison on Nov. 16. She joins brothers Evan and Ryan. A son, Connor Alexander, to Chris Cochran ’95 of Columbiana on Feb. 15. A daughter, Abby Caroline, to Cary R. Cloud ’97 and wife Cathy May of Atlanta on May 9. Twins, Anne James and William Doss IV, to Susan Stephens Shelnutt ’98 and husband Wil-
liam of Alpharetta, Ga., on June 10.
MARRIED Dave Eshleman ’94 to
Terri Miller on March 20. The couple lives in Smyrna, Tenn., with their children, Zak, Shelbi and Bailey.
Erin E. Argo ’98 is an as-
sistant U.S. attorney for the eastern district of New York. She is based in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Amanda Ellen McCain
’97 of Auburn on Aug. Amanda Keener Barritt
Roderick Durand
C E N T E R
Melissa Bruno ’97 to
Thomas Waugh on April 11. They live in Hoover.
A son, Thomas Bryant, to Meredith Franks Bateman ’99 and
husband Needham of Atlanta on Feb. 20. A daughter, Ella Claire, to Kimberly Ann Hull Cummins ’99 of Lubbock, Texas, on Sept. 25.
SNAPSHOT
Grow where you’re planted Chris Smith ’91 runs his hands over some plants in the vegetable garden at Hills and Dales Estate in LaGrange, Ga., then abruptly stops: Something feels out of place. With his left hand, he instantly flips over a giant green leaf, and, with the right, seizes a black bug and flings it on the ground. Stomp. Squash. “Lubber grasshopper,” he grouses, straightening his Auburn ball cap. “They’ll take over the whole world.” Smith graduated with a degree in landscape design, but he’s got his hands in another pot now. As grounds-maintenance supervisor at Hills and Dales, Smith spends a lot of his time caring for more than 35 sprawling acres of lawn and gardens. Textile manufacturer Fuller E. Callaway built the Italianate mansion in 1916, but the gardens have been rooting since the 1830s, when early residents of the property planted hundreds of boxwoods and ornamental flowers. Now it’s Smith’s turn to tend them. Under his watchful eye, the smallest nuisances—from Japanese beetles to crabgrass—can’t flourish. Loose doorknobs? He fixes those too. At Auburn, he managed the horticulture department’s Paterson Greenhouses for four years and met wife Kerry Parker ’95. He joined Hills and Dales in 2000. After a decade of planting and watering, trimming and pruning, pulling weeds and plucking bugs, one might say Smith is an expert in the plant world. But he’d disagree. “I don’t know all my stuff,” he says, shaking his head. “I’m still learning.”—Grace Henderson
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