coordinator for MCC East Coast. Larry holds a post-bachelor’s diploma in corporate communications from Elizabethtown College.
Ted Swartz '89, MDiv '92, (right) provokes laughter and thought.
It’s Official – We Love Ted & Co.
“I’d Like to Buy an Enemy,” a 60-minute play by Ted & Co., has been officially endorsed by the seminary and Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at EMU. As one of the first signs of this collaboration, participants at CJP’s 2011 Summer Peacebuilding Institute were invited to be CJP's guests at a performance on June 3, 2011. They discovered a play that caused the viewers (especially the Americans) to laugh, while raising questions about the place of the United States in the world, why fear is such a large part of its culture, and how individuals can work for peace and justice in this country and in the world. In a quote posted at TedandCompany.com, Brian D. McLaren, a leading Christian author, observed: “People will laugh – but as they do, they will learn, and perhaps even gain the courage to confront some truths that most of us manage to avoid. I wish everyone could experience ‘I’d Like to Buy an Enemy!’” The play features original music by Trent Wagler ’02, who has recorded four full-length albums and toured across the country with his band, The Steel Wheels. Ted & Co. – headed by Ted Swartz ’89, MDiv ’92, with other alumni as collaborators (often Wagler and Ingrid De Sanctis ’88) – tours widely. To book one of their wide array of thought-provoking comic shows, visit www.TedandCompany.com. — BPL
Alumni Are Tops in Schools Six alumni were among the “2011 Teachers of the Year” in Rockingham County (Va.) Public Schools. From the undergrad teacher education program: Jennifer Fulk ’08, Linville-Edom Elementary School; Jill Wenger ’03, John C. Myers Elementary School. From the MA in education program: Jennie Marie Carr, MA ’09, Elkton Elementary School; Rebecca (Becky) Pierce, MA ’04, Elkton Middle School; Annette Guengerich Ritter ’77, MA ’06, Pleasant Valley Elementary School. From the counseling program: Amy Ruebke, MA ’96, Fulks Run Elementary School. In addition, Doug Alderfer ’92 was named the new assistant superintendent for Rockingham County Schools. — BPL fall 20072011 22 | crossroads | summer
Patricia Grace King ’89, Chicago, Ill., is an English professor at North Central College in Naperville, Ill. One of her short stories, “The Death of Carrie Bradshaw,” won the 2011 Kore Press Award for Short Fiction and will be published as a chapbook in the fall of 2011 by Kore. This short story also received an honorable mention for the 2010 Dana Award, which recognizes excellent fiction and poetry. Her “Dogs in Guatemala” was a finalist in the Ohio State University’s 2009 short story contest and won Honorable Mention for the 2009 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. It was published in Nimrod International Literary Journal. Patricia earned a PhD in English at Emory University in Georgia and is now pursuing an MFA in creative writing at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. She majored in English and Spanish at EMU. Kurtis (Kurt) Sauder ’89, Lyndhurst, Va., a pediatrician with Blue Ridge Pediatrics in Staunton, Va., has been volunteering his medical services to a community originally known as Grippis Farm outside of Lusaka, Zambia. On two separate two-week trips, he has done health screenings for elementary school children and HIV screenings. Kurt volunteers under the auspices of a new nonprofit, Grassroots Heroes International (www.GrassrootsHeroes.org), formed in February 2008 by a small group of Christians from Staunton, Va., and vicinity. The group supports the development of Grippis Farm, a former squatter’s settlement, on all fronts: health, education, and training for income-generation. Kurt received his MD from the University of Virginia medical school in 1993, where he also completed his pediatrics training. He served as chief pediatrics resident at UVa in 1996-97.
1990-99
Michelle Witmer ’91 Dula, Lancaster, Pa., began her role as associate pastor of congregational life at Akron Mennonite Church in Akron, Pa., on Feb. 20, 2011. Previously, she was associate pastor of Christian formation at Blossom Hill Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pa. Douglas (Doug) King ’92, MA ’01 (church leadership), Wauseon, Ohio, was installed as the lead pastor on September 26, 2010, at Tedrow Mennonite Church, just north of Wauseon, Ohio. Philip (Phil) ’94 and Therese (Terry) Phipps ’94 Witmer, formerly of Dayton, Va., are serving under Virginia Mennonite Missions (VMM) in La Mesa, Colombia. Phil works with agriculture and Terry works at Colegio Americano Menno. They serve in partnership with Mennonite Mission Network.
Allen Umble ’95 of Atglen, Pa., has been a missionary under VMM in Tirana, Albania, since 2008. Working in Lushnje, Albania, Allen teaches discipleship formation and English. Allen also provides oversight to the YES team serving in the agricultural villages near Lushnje. His home congregation is Maple Grove Mennonite Church in Atglen. Christine Glick Fairfield ’97, Staunton, Va., was a featured soprano during the 19th annual Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, June 12 to June 19, 2011. After earning a BA in music with a concentration in voice from EMU, Christine earned her MM in vocal performance and pedagogy from Ohio University’s School of Music , where she studied under the late Dr. Ira Zook. She has performed extensively as a chorus member and soloist with a variety of groups including the Operafestival di Roma, the Rockefeller Chapel Choir of Chicago University, Canticum Novum of New York City, the Louisville Bach Society, Schola Cantorum of Waynesboro, Va., the Bloomington Chamber Singers and the Shenandoah Valley Choral Society. She appears regularly as a soloist with the Rockbridge Choral Society in Lexington, Va. She teaches voice at Bridgewater College south of Harrisonburg. David A. Whitten ’97 (certificate of biblical studies), MDiv ’00, Waterloo, Iowa, has been the pastor of South Waterloo Church of the Brethren since May 2009. He served six years as pastor of Moscow Church of the Brethren in Mt. Solon, Va. He also spent two periods of service in Nigeria. From 2006 to 2009, he was the mission coordinator for the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria. While in Nigeria, David met his future wife, Judith. Melissa Spory ’98 Beidler, Denver, Pa., has been the director of development for Hinkletown Mennonite School since November 2010. Her husband, Lyle, class of ’98, is the senior mechanical engineer at MGS, Inc., a specialty trailer manufacturer in their hometown. Joanna Yoder ’98 Heatwole, Pittsford, N.Y, is the co-director/producer of “A Song for My Sister,” a documentary about a Congolese family that survived genocide and is trying to find its way in the United States. In seeking to raise tuition money for war orphans, the siblings in the family begin to heal through rediscovering traditional practices of music and dance. Joanna is a 2004 graduate of the Visual Studies Workshop under the State College of New York at Brockport. From 2006 through 2010, she was an assistant professor of time-based media at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY. She is now fully occupied with twins born on June 3, 2011. Anje Ackerman ’99 and Philip (Phil) Cassel ’02, Raphine, Va., with their children, Everett and John, have been appointed by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to serve three-year assignments in Mache, Zambia. Anje, who earned her bachelor’s