Inside Erskine 2005

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Sophomore Meghan Taylor, above, is part of the Erskine Equestrian team.

Inside This Issue

Features

GoldQuest Special Report - Erskine College athletic teams proved their prowess during most of the 20th century and officials are hopeful that the ongoing Gold Campaign will help Flying Fleet squads revisit that earlier glory.

Campus News - Erskine reaches enrollment goal two years early, Philomelean Literary Society focuses on domestic violence, campus computer network upgraded, plus more news.

Drummond 2005 - Erskine College marks Homecoming 2004 with a weekend of activities, including the crowning of Abbeville senior Polly Brown as homecoming queen.

Alumni Day 2005 - Three new coaches lead four fall sports teams — men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s cross country — to varying degrees of success in their first season.

Seminary News

- Erskine Theological Seminary begins offering classes at New York satellite site, military chaplains study in Due West, plus more news.

Alumni News - Alumna featured in magazine, alumnus and former faculty member not ready for retirement, graduate elected to S.C. House, plus more news.

Class Notes - A year-by-year rundown of the latest career moves, achievements and other notable activities of Erskine graduates.

Deaths, Births and

Marriages

- The annual record of Erskine family members who have passed on, new arrivals and marriages involving members of the Erskine family.

Honor Roll of Contributors - The yearly report of alumni gifts to Erskine College and Seminary.

Inside Erskine

Volume 48, Number 1

Editors: Joyce Guyette, Rick Hendricks

Photographers: Rick Hendricks, Julie Miner, Jennifer Pellin, Steve Sniteman, Davey Morgan

Designers: Julie Miner, Steve Sniteman

Contributors: Ann Hawthorne

Inside Erskine, the alumni publication of Erskine College, is published twice a year by the Erskine Public Relations Department. To contact Erskine Public Relations, call 1-864-3798858, e-mail: miner@erskine.edu, or mail to P.O. Box 608, Due West, SC 29639

honors commitment , generosit y

Visitors entering the Belk Hall lobby on the Erskine College campus might notice the large painting of the late Mr. and Mrs. J. Hearst Coleman displayed on the wall opposite the business office. But few of them know much about the husband and wife memorialized in the portrait, painted by Robert W. Wilson of Woodruff.

The story of these Erskine benefactors, who are among several donors inducted posthumously into the Gold Society, is one of generosity that has affected the lives of hundreds of Erskine students through the largest endowed scholarship program of Erskine College, the J. Hearst and Esther H. Coleman Scholarship.

More than 55 Erskine College students received Coleman Scholarships in 2003-04. “The Coleman Scholarships help many students,” said Financial Aid Director Becky Pressley. “Our students are fortunate that the Colemans made it possible for so many of them to benefit each year.”

Like a number of other Erskine supporters recognized as Gold Society members, the Colemans did not simply hand Erskine officials a check for $1 million. “Gold Society membership represents cumulative giving over a lifetime,” said Vice President for Development Lee Logan.

The Gold Society honors individuals, couples, families and organizations who have given $1 million or more to Erskine.

“You become eligible for membership in the Gold Society if you either make cumluative donations in the amount of $1 million or more, or if you establish a qualified planned gift that has a face value of $1 million or more—or a combination of the two,” he explained.

Logan said the Colemans, who were members of the Greenwood Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, made provision for Erskine in their estate plans. “This comprised a large tract of farmland and their personal residence, in addition to some investments,” he said.

The Colemans had no initial connection with Erskine College, but were friends with Erskine alumnus Dr. Joseph H. Patrick, a member of the Class of 1934, and his family, who were also members of the Greenwood ARP Church.

Attorney James E. McDonald of Greenwood, an honorary alumnus, helped the Colemans work out the details of how they wished to provide for Erskine

served as executor of the estate.

Provision in one’s will or estate plan, the establishment of trust funds, or the donation of a home with a retained life interest are just a few of the many planned gift opportunities available, Logan said.

He added that Erskine strives to honor donors’ wishes. The Colemans’ gift of land, for example, was accompanied by a request in the will of Esther Coleman that Erskine maintain a pine tree farm on the land for 20 years. “The money gained when the timber is harvested goes to the Coleman Scholarships,” Logan said. “We have a committee that takes care of this and we have honored the Colemans’ wishes.”

The inaugural induction of members into the Gold Society, part of the Gold Campaign kickoff celebration Oct. 23, 2003, honored 19 members and three new members were honored Nov. 4, 2004.

Living inductees are listed by name or may choose to be listed as anonymous.

“It is a privilege for Erskine to honor these people,” Logan said. “Many of them are not looking for personal recognition but are willing to let their stories be told because it might inspire someone else to give.”

The generosity and commitment represented by Gold Society members has made a great impact on Erskine College and Seminary in the past and can speed progress toward the goals Erskine has set for the future in the Gold Campaign.

For information about the Gold Society, please contact Lee Logan at 864-379-8802.

J. Hearst Coleman, a former city engineer for Greenwood and chief engineer for Abney Mills, served on the Erskine Board of Counselors from 1967 until his death in 1970. Esther H. Coleman was active in state and local garden clubs and served as a church, hospital and nursing home volunteer. She died in 1986.

and

Gold Society Members

2003

The Late Dr. Wofford E. Baldwin

The Late Dr. and Mrs. Charles M. Bell Mr. and Mrs. Joseph T. Black

The Late Mr. Wiley Blanton and Mrs. Nola P. Blanton

The Late Dr. W. Parker Bowie and Dr. Marie T. Bowie

The Late Mrs. Harriet Pressly Smith Caldwell and Mr. Charles C. Caldwell

The Late Mr. and Mrs. J. Hearst Coleman

The Late Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Daniel Mr. James B. Hunter

The Late Dr. Jacob O. Kamm and Mrs. Judith S. Kamm Anonymous

Dr. and Mrs. James E. McDonald Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Moultrie

The William H. Stuart Family Mr. and Mrs. Donald R. Vernon Col. and Mrs. Terry P. Wallace Mr. C. Jan Westmoreland

The Late Dr. and Mrs. Ambrose M. Wylie The Late Drs. Charles R. and Willie Camp Younts

2004

The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Denomination Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Moss Mrs. Mabel Dorn Reeder

Top row, left to right, Mr. W. H. “Bill” Stuart (The William H.Stuart Family), Mr. C. Jan Westmoreland, Mr. Robert Galloway (The Late Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Daniel), Mr. Joseph T. Black, Dr. Robert L. Moultrie, Col. Terry P. Wallace, Dr. James E. McDonald, Mr. James B. Hunter, Mr. W. Brown Wylie (The Late Dr. and Mrs. Ambrose M. Wylie)

Bottom row, left to right, Mrs. Elizabeth Patrick Coleman (The Late Mr. and Mrs. J. Hearst Coleman), Mrs. Elsie Bentz (The Late Dr. Wofford E. Baldwin), Mrs. Nola P. Blanton, Mrs. Katherine B. Black, Mrs. Cheryl S. Moultrie, Dr. Marie T. Bowie, Mrs. Immogene S. Wallace, Mrs. L. Crosland Stuart (The William H.Stuart Family), Mrs. Jane B. McDonald

Memorial Hall

Alumni serve alma mater to accelerate Memorial Hall project

As Erskine students gear up for a traditional homecoming weekend today, a number of alumni are preparing for a return to their alma mater. For many Erskine alumni, love of Erskine translates into action. Some travel to Due West for athletic events, many give to the Annual Fund, and others serve on boards and committees.

The Gold Campaign, Erskine’s current capital campaign aimed at “making a difference,” draws on the talents of many such volunteers.

Two dedicated alumni, Mary Lou Whitesides Pearson ‘50 of Gastonia, N.C., and William J. Ranson ‘61, of Huntersville, N.C., serve as co-chairmen of the Memorial Hall Building Committee. The Memorial Hall project, which also incorporates the addition of a math facility, is one of eight areas of emphasis in the Gold Campaign.

Pearson is a member of the Erskine Board of Trustees, and has also served as co-chairman of the Living Endowment (now the Annual Fund). She was an elementary education major at Erskine, where she received the H.M. Young Ring, the highest award given to an Erskine senior.

Ranson, a businessman and former fighter pilot, is also on the Erskine Board of Trustees and has served as a member of the Board of Counselors, president of the Alumni Board, Living Endowment co-chairman and chapter chairman. He played basketball and tennis for the Flying Fleet and received the 2004 Alumni Distinguished Service Award.

The Erskine experience is what drives these faithful alumni.

“I grew up in the ARP Church and had family connections at Erskine, so I never considered going to college anywhere else,” Pearson said. “Here I found friends who had similar values and they are still among my best friends today.”

“Erskine has meant a lot to me and I can honestly say that it was a life-changing event when I decided to attend Erskine,” Ranson said. “Erskine gave me the opportunity to develop and evolve at my own pace in a very uplifting environment. It had the same impact on my son David, who graduated in 1992.”

Pearson cites favorite professors whose names might be recognized by current Erskine students. “There were professors who challenged me, like Dr. E.L. Reid,” she said. “Professor James Bonner and Dr. (J.M.) Lesesne were not only strong in the classroom but opened their homes to students as well. These relationships I will never forget.”

Ranson said he derived great benefit from a tennis coach, Dr. Grant Johnson, who was also an ARP minister. “He coached me in tennis, but he also coached me in life and was an inspiration and mentor,” he said. “There have been so many other mentors at Erskine that it would be hard to single them out.”

Pearson’s love of music makes the Memorial project especially important to her. “One of the things I enjoyed most at Erskine was singing in the mixed chorus under the direction of Miss Ivah Dickson,” she said. “Memorial Hall has had no major improvements since I was there over 50 years ago.”

Ranson wants Erskine to reach “as many young people as possible” and the Memorial project will help. “Serving on committees is my way of trying to repay my debt and helping others enjoy what I experienced,” he said.

Vice President for Development Lee Logan, who directs the Gold Campaign, relies on the service of such devoted alumni.

“In Bill Ranson and Mary Lou Pearson, you have fund-raising experience, unquestionable loyalty to Erskine, and commitment to seeing Memorial Hall done soon,” he said. “They have worked tirelessly, and the results are outstanding. They are seeing that all of us keep up the good work.”

Pearson is enthusiastic about the Gold Campaign and the future of Memorial Hall. “Music has always been important at Erskine, and this campaign will provide opportunities for our fine music staff to serve the students, the college and the denomination,” she said.

Ranson’s excitement about serving Erskine in the Gold Campaign reflects the mind-set of an athlete. In addition to all his other reasons for volunteering, he said, “I’m selfish — I get a lot of pleasure and enjoyment from being on the team.”

he statesmanship theme resonated throughout the program Tuesday night at the third annual Drummond Center for Statesmanship award banquet in Columbia.

Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. became the third recipient of the award presented by the Drummond Center at Erskine College and named for state Sen. John Drummond. The award recognizes the epitome of statesmanship — an individual who embodies right principles, good purposes and sterling character in the realm of government, business or government.

Drummond Center Founders Board Chairwoman Paula Harper Bethea of Hilton Head cited an article about Riley in House Beautiful magazine titled “A Civic Passion.” Longtime Riley staff member Barbara Vaughn was quoted as saying the reason she has remained on his staff for so long is that “he’s a statesman, not a politician.”

Founders Board members Dr. Emmitt I. Davis of Greenwood and Samuel J. Tenenbaum of Lexington County pre-sented the award to Ri-ley, who joins businessman Roger Milliken and U.S. District Court Judge Mat-thew J. Perry as recipients of the award.

Riley told the gathering that he ac-cepted the award with “great pride and humility” and said many of those pres-ent for the award dinner were more deserving than he. “It is such an honor to be associated with Senator John Drummond in this way,” he said.

The eight-term Charleston mayor had a chance to serve with Drummond in the General Assembly when he was elected to the S.C. House of Representatives in 1968. Riley served for six years in that chamber.

A defining issue of that time concerned race relations and the goal of achieving equal rights for all citizens. In smaller towns, the challenge to achieve the goal was greater. “It was the John Drummonds saying, ‘This way is wrong and this way is right,’” that resulted in progress in that area, Riley said.

True leadership has nothing to do with following trends found in polls, Riley noted. “Real leadership is seeking to work hard, to see the hearts of your people and their dreams, and to work tirelessly with them to make those dreams come true,” he said. “Civil discourse can achieve progress and always will.”

Newsweek Managing Editor Jon Meacham delivered the keynote address, entitled, “The Content of Our Character: Race, Politics and Culture After the Civil Rights Movement.”

Award was presented Drummond Award was presentedAward was presented Award was presented

“It’s such an honor to be associated with Senator John Drummond in this way.”

Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr.

Meacham said he spent “four years in the company of two dead leaders,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, while writing his best-selling book, “Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship.”

“It was a wonderful, magical time,” Meacham said.

The magazine editor shared a number of stories relating to the courage and vision of Roosevelt and Churchill.

“(Roosevelt) understood very clearly that the world was becoming a neighborhood,” Meacham said. “He clearly saw we were becoming a much smaller world.”

The journalist said he was “delighted” to be speaking at a gathering “to celebrate cooperation and civility” in public discourse.

Meacham acknowledged that good news is not what drives content in the journalism business. “Good manners seldom make the papers,” he said. “Conflict drives modern journalism — we should do more about good manners making the papers.”

While it is important to contemplate how far this nation has come in race relations, Meacham said, it is also important to remember how long it took us to get to that point and the sacrifices that had to be made because of the civil rights struggle.

He said there are three things people can observe about race relations in the public arena during the last 50 years.

First, “Americans have a terrible tendency to be unjustifiably angry,” Meacham said, citing the example of former Alabama governor George C. Wallace, whose power in the 1960s was drawn from oppression of people of color.

Second, Meacham said, great moments in politics come when a person is willing to be courageous for the sake of the greater good. “People surprise us in politics,” he said, noting the irony of a Texan, President Lyndon Johnson, presenting a civil rights bill to Congress after watching the violence in Selma, Ala., between nonviolent civil rights workers and white law enforcement personnel and residents.

“All politics are personal, all statesmanship is personal,” Meacham added.

Third, the virtue of endurance came to the fore because of the civil rights struggle. “Leadership is an art,” Meacham said, “but so is followership.”

“Just as we ask leaders to change and to grow, we have to be willing to do the same,” he said.

Erskine sophomore T.J. Ellis sang the national anthem during the event, and Founders Board member Commissioner McKinley Washington offered the invocation.

Erskine alumnus and former Wofford College President Dr. Joab M. Lesesne Jr., also a member of the Founders Board, and state Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum recognized the winner of the first Drummond Center Essay Contest, Michaela Landay, and her teacher, Christine Lites, of Thomas Cario Middle School in Mount Pleasant.

Clockwise, from top left Dr. John Carson, Sarah Ellen Carson and Jon Meacham; Sen. John Drummond and Jon Meacham; Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr.; From left, Sam Tenenbaum, Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. and Dr. Emmitt I. Davis

Fourth annual Relay for Life beats last year’s record

The fourth annual Relay for Life night at Erskine College April 29 netted more than $8,600, according to senior Christina Ryder of Cowpens, who served as this year’s Relay co-chairman with sophomore Jeramy Oropeza of Newberry. Proceeds, which will go to the American Cancer Society, exceeded the amount raised in 2004 by some $650, Ryder said.

Formerly called the Erskine College Relay for Life and now called Erskine College-Due West Relay for Life, the event was the result of hard work by 24 teams with some 220 members. Erskine students as well as members of the Due West community joined the effort.

Ryder said activities in Galloway Physical Activities Center April 29 included a bungee run, a dunking booth, hovercraft rides and a trivia challenge. Performances by the Abbeville Clogging Connection, Dixie High School unicyclists, and Erskine musicians Jed Cox, a senior from Greensboro, N.C., and Jared Wix, a sophomore from Simpsonville, provided additional entertainment.

Several teams sold food, and this year’s menu offerings included grilled hot dogs, chicken and shrimp kebabs, and “build your own nachos.” Slushies, homemade ice cream and assorted cookies, cakes and candy were also available.“

“As usual, the Lady Fleet tennis team, this year with Julie Mages as their captain, raised the most money, with $858.14 as their total,” Ryder said. She said several other teams, including an Erskine staff team, two Erskine student teams, and two teams from Dixie High School, raised more than $500 each.

“We also had OAU (Onward and Upward) sponsor the ropes activity and SCA (Student Christian Association) sponsor the dunking booth,” Ryder said. “These both raised $150, even though they didn’t have a team.”

Ryder is excited about the fund-raiser’s success. “Overall, I think Relay went very well and I’m very proud of Erskine and Due West for their contributions,” she said.

Relay for Life leaders at Erskine, in addition to Ryder and Oropeza, included senior Jennifer Boggs of Hodges; junior Megan Graham of Loris; freshman Davis Reardon of Lexington; and junior Marshall Stein of Clover. Many other students

helped to plan, organize and conduct this year’s Relay.

Evening festivities in Galloway brought in most of the money, but relay teams also sponsored fund-raising events during the days leading up to Relay night.

The opening ceremony Friday evening, which included a survivor walk, was highlighted by a rendition of the national anthem by freshman Nykki Smalls of Varnville, a member of the Erskine Choraleers, and a solo by junior Ashley Pressley of Beech Island, who sang “His Eye is on the Sparrow.

The opening ceremony Friday eve-

Cole, daughter of Richard Cole and Darlene Day, is a senior at Richmond Senior High School in Rockingham and a member of First Freewill Baptist Church in Hamlet.

Ferguson, daughter of Erskine College alumnus William Love Ferguson and Kimberly Whitesides Ferguson, is a senior at Forestview High School in Gastonia and a member of Crowders Creek ARP Church in Gastonia.

These two E.B. Kennedy Scholarship winners have been chosen from among 24 finalists who were selected from more than 135 semifinalists interviewed in

Erskine announces E.B.K. winners

Erskine College has announced that Rockel Allen Cole of Rockingham, N.C., and Megan Elizabeth Ferguson of Gastonia, N.C., have been selected as winners of the 2005 E.B. Kennedy Scholarships, two full scholarships covering Erskine College tuition, room, board, and fees. The value of each scholarship exceeds $95,000.

December.

Inspired by Dr. E.B. Kennedy, beloved Erskine alumnus, teacher and minister, the scholarship is awarded to high school seniors demonstrating leadership and service. Awards are based solely on merit, with emphasis on candidates’ Christian commitment, leadership potential, scholastic achievement, and vigorous outlook.

The Edward C. Stuart Foundation, Inc., in Bartow, Fla., and an E.B. Kennedy Scholarship Fund finance the E.B. Kennedy Scholarships.

volunteer activities include work with

The not-so-secret musical life of an Erskine philosophy professor

A piano recital April 18 at Erskine College featured students of Caldwell Professor of Music Dr. Matthew Manwarren, including an eighth-grader, the youngest student, and seven Erskine students. The oldest student was Associate Professor of Philosophy Dr. John Wingard, returning to piano study after a 17-year hiatus.

Wingard asked Manwarren whether he would be willing to take him on as a student. “I love piano music, I love playing the piano, and I love the way Matt plays the piano,” he said.

Delighted that Manwarren agreed to teach him, Wingard took up an avocation

piano lessons through my senior year, and even some while in seminary.”

For the next 17 years, Wingard had no ready access to a piano, so he set his music aside. When an opportunity arose to accompany 2004 graduate Amanda Jackson for her senior violin recital, he decided to resume formal study.

and poets would meet to discuss and share their works,” she said.

Thirty-three students participated in the Sunday recital. There were four judges — Associate Professor of Mathematics Dr. Kokou Abalo, Professor of English Dr. Brad Christie, Associate Professor of Modern Languages Dr. Esperanza Granados and Associate Professor of Modern Languages Dr. Carlos Mentley — and at least 10 to 15 spectators. Dr. John Wingard

Lessons have been so rewarding for Wingard that he is teaching his children.

Studying piano the second time around differs somewhat from Wingard’s youthful experience. He discovered at his recent recital that he just wasn’t as nervous as he used to be when performing.

Another aspect of renewed piano study for Wingard is his enthusiasm for music after a long spell without it. And he has enjoyed benefiting from Manwarren’s teaching gifts.

“For me, formal, disciplined piano study is filling a hole that I had in my life for about 17 years,” he said. “I enjoy playing the piano immensely anyway. But with the sort of instruction Matt provides, I’m able to enjoy it so much more.”

Students recite French poetry in public setting

A group of more than 30 students gathered in the Hangar at Erskine College April 10 to recite poetry in French.

Dr. Lisa Signori, assistant professor of modern languages, said the idea for the event — part of students’ final examination — came to her last fall when she had students recite, in groups of two, a poem in front of their classmates as part of an in-class exercise.

“I thought, ‘Why not replace the final oral interview — where each student comes individually to my office and answers a series of questions in French — with a poetry declamation event?’” Signori said.

Students detail Spring Break mission trips

More than 30 Erskine College and Seminary students spent their Spring Break reaching out to others.

Erskine Chaplain Paul Patrick said there were three Spring Break mission efforts—locally, to the Widow’s Ministry; in Pittsburgh, Pa.; and in Wales.

Two of the groups made presentations about their trips and shared their experiences,encouraging others to participate in missions and ministries.

The Wales group included—Erskine College students Renee Bozard, Elizabeth Hyman, Davey Morgan, Meredith Neville, Whitney Shumake and Daniel Wells; seminary students Will Barron, Erin Hopkins, John Paul Marr and wife Melanie, and Ruth Wilson of World Witness. Jennifer Fairbairn led the trip.

The group ministered to middle and high school students each day in schools and at youth meetings at night. Hopkins noted that fewer than 2 percent of people in Wales go to church.

She said the group chose “In Christ Alone My Hope is Found” as its theme song. They sang that hymn during a slide show of their trip at convocation.

The Pittsburgh, Pa., group included Erskine Baptist Campus Ministries Director “Tree” Akers; Erskine students Elizabeth Bishop, Polly Brown, Jaharia Filmore, Rachel Geoghegan, Tiffany Harris, Nicki Johnson and Rachel Vanderbeek; and Michael Johnson of Greenwood.

begun in third grade when his mother, a piano teacher, introduced him to the instrument, and then turned him over to another instructor. That study nearly led Wingard into a musical career.

“I continued to study through high school, and had a number of teachers along the way,” he said. He went on to become a piano performance major at Belhaven College.

“Unfortunately, because of a back problem that resulted in surgery, I had to change majors midway through my junior year,” he explained. “I continued to take

She said the move not only freed up the two class periods during which the individual interviews took place, but took the language out of the classroom.

“This is a time-honored tradition in French education,” Signori said. “Beginning in the French equivalent of first grade, students learn to recite from memory. In this way, they develop a consciousness of literature throughout their academic careers.”

The professor said the Hangar is the “perfect venue” for such an exercise.

“I wanted to recapture the ambiance of a French literary café where writers

Vanderbeek and Filmore narrated a slide show about their trip. Based out of Living Water Community Church in Pittsburgh, they ministered to Geneva College and University of Pittsburgh students.

Vanderbeek said the Pittsburgh trip convicted her of the need to “reach out to our own communities.”

The group’s service projects included handing out hot chocolate and Easter eggs containing Bible verses and taking out students’ trash from dormitories.

They led the Cross Seekers ministry, and assisted with a tutoring program called “Seeds of Hope.”

Filmore said she plans to return to Pittsburgh this summer to intern for the tutoring program.

Alumni Day 2005

Alumni weekend draws crowd to Erskine campus

Dr. D. Parker Young, a 1955 Erskine College graduate, received the Alumni Distinguished Service Award, the highest award given to an individual by the Erskine Alumni Association, and a number of alumni and friends were also honored as part of Alumni Weekend 2005, which brought hundreds of alumni, family members and friends to Due West beginning April 22-23.

Young retired from the University of Georgia in 1997 as Professor Emeritus of Higher Education and lives in Flat Rock, N.C., with wife Joy Parrish Young ‘56. He is a longtime active member of the Alumni Association and has served on the Board of Trustees, the Board of Counselors, the Alumni Board and the Flying Fleet Board, and also as a class agent, class president and co-chairman of the Annual Fund. Erskine awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2003.

“Anything I’ve ever done for Erskine has been a labor of love,” Young said. “It’s imperative that we give back to this institution that has given so much to us.”

Mary Lou Whitesides Pearson ‘50 and Robert Mack Robinson Jr. ‘39 received the New York Southern Society’s Sullivan Awards, given to a man and woman who have “shown a spirit of love for a helpfulness to their fellow human beings.”

Pearson, of Gastonia, N.C., received the Mary Mildred Sullivan Award. A mother of four who has volunteered with the Junior League and Crisis Assistance Ministry, she is active in the First ARP Church, has served on the Board of Trustees and is a member of the Steering Committee for the Gold Campaign.“It’s gratifying to me to know that the Erskine College I knew and loved 55 years ago is alive and well,” she said.

Robinson, who now lives in Due West with wife Ann, received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award. He served from 1946-49 as dean of men and chemistry instructor at Erskine College. Retired in 1985 as a vice president with ScheringPlough Corp., he has worked with Erskine’s Living Endowment, now the Annual Fund, and has served on the Board of Trustees and the Board of Counselors.“It’s been my pleasure to have been a part of the dreams, desires, activities and to some extent the accomplishments here,” Robinson said. “I thank you for recognizing me, but I also want to recognize you as alumni.”

The Outstanding Young Alumni Award, recognizing Erskine alumni who have graduated within the last 15 years and have begun making significant accomplishments in the workplace, church, and community, was given to Dr. Mark A. Dodd ‘92, who practices medicine in Mt. Airy, N.C., where he lives with his wife Lisa Eliott Dodd ‘93 and their three children.

“I’d like to share this honor with my wife Lisa,” Dodd said. “She’s been my best friend —without her support and the hard work she does I could not do my work.”

Named honorary alumni were Welch Bostick of Greenville, treasurer of the Gold Campaign; Dot Carter of Due West, retired director of admissions and financial aid; and Emmett Davis of Greenwood, founder, CEO and chairman of Davis & Floyd Inc.,who serves on the Drummond Center Founders Board and has established a scholarship at Erskine in honor of his father.

Bostick was unable to attend.

Carter said, “My greatest reward is seeing all you graduates come back and learning how successful you’ve been—I’m proud of every one of you.”

“This is an honor I will always cherish,” Davis said. “I am proud to consider myself a part of this institution.”

Erskine Volunteer Awards went to Carolyn Griffith Allen ‘57 of Due West; Alexander Orr V ‘85 of Mount Pleasant; and R. Leonard Price ‘66 and Linda Young Price ‘68 of Greenville.

Linda Price, who with her husband will serve as co-chairman of the Annual Fund next year, said, “When you are working with Erskine or for Erskine, it’s not work, it’s a blessing.”

Outgoing Alumni Board members were Jan Saul ‘81 and Genie McDill ‘72, both of Greenwood; Buddy Ferguson ‘82, Gastonia, N.C.; Roger Burnett ‘67, Belton; Mindy Douglas Adams ‘91, Chapel Hill, N.C.; and Lori Duffle ‘99, Due West.

Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Affairs Ralph Patterson reported that the Annual Fund stands at $1.3 million of its $1.6 million goal, which he would like to exceed.

Patterson recognized Richard Taylor ‘69 and wife Janet Fellars Taylor ‘68 of Greenville, Annual Fund co-chairs with 1988 graduates Andy and Tyree Byrd of Spartanburg.

Weekend events included class dinners and parties in addition to the alumni association meeting and luncheon. Inflatable games were set up for children of alumni and friends.

The Class of 1955, celebratied its 50th reunion Friday with a reception in Watkins Student Center and dinner in the Founders Room of Moffatt Dining Hall.

Red Eye Run winners were cross country coach Jeff Schrage (18:55) and Ralph Polson Jr. ‘80 of Charleston (19:59). Senior Esther Udall of Lindon, Utah, led the women at 20:04, followed by Sports Information Director Tiffany Mast ‘03 at 23:16.

At the alumni association meeting, the Rev. Neely Gaston, executive vice president of Erskine Theological Seminary, cited the Institute for Reformed Worship; a contract to train military chaplains; McQuiston Hall renovations; and a partnership with African Presbyterians to bring two students each year to study at Erskine Seminary for three years.

Erskine President Dr. John L. Carson focused on enrollment gains and efforts to raise funds for Memorial Hall renovation and expansion. He spoke of plans to build a plaza outside Lesesne Auditorium; a Chesnut Room upgrade; conversion of the ARP print shop into an art studio; a softball field house and facilities management building; and the Due West Streetscape project.

Outgoing Alumni Association President Eleanor Chesnut Richardson of Flat Rock, N.C., passed the gavel to presidentelect Westley McAllister of Mt. Carmel.

An Alumni Board election was conducted by McAllister, with Steve Southwell ‘80 chosen as president-elect; Jane Holladay ‘69 named secretary; and Mindy Douglas Adams ‘91, Jennifer Moore Brown ‘04, Web Curry ‘62, Buddy Ferguson ‘82, Guy H. Smith Jr. ‘61 and Joy Young ‘56 elected as board members.

A number of classes held reunion gatherings on Saturday. including the “Senior Class,” comprising classes prior to and including the Class of 1945.

“It’s been my pleasure to have been a part of the dreams, desires, activities and to some extent the accomplishments here.”

-Mack Robinson Jr. Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award

CHAMPS

Erskine women’s tennis team wins CVAC regular season, tournament titles

Erskine, Spring 2005

Dawson,right, wiith teammates.

he Erskine College women’s tennis team capped a magnificent 2004-05 season with a trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament.

The Flying Fleet fell to Columbus State in the first round of the NCAA tournament, but completed the year with a 22-2 overall mark, 9-0 in CarolinasVirginia Athletic Conference play.

Erskine, coached by fifth-year mentor Calhoun Parr, won its first 19 matches but lost to Presbyterian College in the regular season finale.

The team bounced back quickly and captured Erskine’s first CVAC women’s tennis tournament title.

Erskine dominated its opponents, losing three matches to a rival only once (Francis Marion) and defeating nine teams by a 9-0 score.

During an April banquet in honor of the team, Erskine Athletic Director Mark Peeler presented players with T-shirts carrying the label, “Simply the Best.”

Parr’s brother-in-law, Gordon Query, said he was “overjoyed” by the team’s success, saying there were a number of people involved in that success, but credit goes to the Almighty.

“This team, this institution are a means to God’s end,” said Query, a member of the Erskine College and Seminary Board of Trustees. “To bring honor and worship to the everlasting Father.”

Query presented two posters to the team, one of which will remain on permanent display in the athletic department. He gave copies of the displayed poster to each team member.

Parr said the season has been exciting and “God’s blessed us.”

“We’ve had one team rule,” the coach said. “Don’t do anything that’s detrimental to yourself, because it will be detrimental to the team and the college.”

The team was made up of young women from three countries—India, Bosnia and the United States—and five states—South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Indiana and New Jersey.

Team members were senior Radha Bharathi, junior co-captains Katie Chester and Chrissy Taylor, sophomores Ellen Dawson, Kimmons Kiser, Julie Mages and Miroslava Stojkovic, and freshmen Jennifer Gennaoui, Katie Holmes and Jenna Tudor.

Bharathi, Chester and Taylor spoke during the banquet.

A native of India, Bharathi said she became a Christian her sophomore year and “found out what a miracle it was for me to be here.”

She credited her teammates with keeping her focused. “In a team environment, everybody’s supporting each other,” Bharathi said. “I’m thankful for my teammates and to Coach Parr for giving me the opportunity.”

Chester said when Parr was recruiting her, he prayed with her. “Not that I’d come to Erskine, but that God would lead me to the right school — that blew me away,” she said.

She also spoke of the support Parr provides for the team. “He believes in us no matter what,” Chester said. “He encourages us spiritually and academically.”

Taylor described Parr as a “very persistent” recruiter. “He makes you feel wanted and comfortable.” She said the coach doesn’t just recruit players – he recruits people.

“Coach sets the example,” Taylor said. “The team is so close and we pray together.”

Erskine experienced its first national ranking in women’s tennis this year and was ranked 18th in NCAA Division II.

From

Above, freshman. Jennifer Gennaoui. Left, sophomore Ellen Dawson. Below, freshman Katie Holmes.

left, junior co-captain Katie Chester and sophomore Julie Mages.

Athl Athletics

Erskine baseball, softball teams enjoy successful seasons

he Flying Fleet baseball and softball teams enjoyed banner seasons this past spring, while the Erskine men’s tennis team tried to compensate for the absence of its top player, sidelined for most of the season.

Erskine’s baseball team, coached by Kevin Nichols, finished a strong second in the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference regular season race with a 14-7 mark and completed the season with a 38-17 overall record.

The Fleet started off strong, winning 18 of its first 22 games and becoming the first Erskine baseball team to be ranked by the NCAA. In March, the team broke into the national sportswriters’ poll at 23rd in the nation.

Casey Smith was voted CVAC Player of the Year and Antonio Sabatini, Shelton Cisson, Ben Blumenthal, Russell Reid and Juan Saenz received All-CVAC honors. Smith also was named All-South Region Player of the Year and joined Sabatini on the All-South Region First Team. Cisson made the All-South Region Second Team.

The team broke the season wins record for the third straight year, improving from 30 in 2003 to 32 in 2004 and this year’s 38.

Smith led the squad with a .448 average, slugged 18 home runs (second on the team to Sabatini’s 19) and drove home 83 runs.

Erskine batted .357 as a team during the season and hit 86 home runs. he Flying Fleet softball team, coached by Alleen Hawkins, also finished second in the CVAC, compiling a 13-5 conference mark, 24-19 overall.

The team occupied first place for the season’s last three weeks until a heartbreaking loss to Coker, the conference regular season and conference champs.

Ashlee LaFontaine was named CVAC Freshman of the Year and earned a spot on the All-CVAC First Team, while senior Kim Gunter was named to the All-CVAC Second Team.

LaFontaine was the hitting star with a .387 average. She also hit 4 home runs and 18 RBI. Rebecca Clontz led the team in RBI with 25.

The Erskine men’s tennis team struggled in 2004-05, completing the season with a 5-17 overall mark. The Fleet won four of its 10 conference matches, however, and finished eighth in the CVAC standings during the regular season and eighth in the conference tournament.

The already inexperienced Erskine team felt its biggest blow early, when junior Billy Lambon, the team’s number one player, seriously injured his knee and was gone for the season.

“Even though he was able to compete in only three matches, he had already defeated two of the top players in the conference,” Erskine Coach Vardon Cox said, “and he and his doubles partner, John Jayakumar, were one of the best doubles teams in the conference and would have been nationally ranked.”

competitive schedule of nine matches against the top-ranked teams in the region and two Division I opponents made for an uphill battle for the Flying Fleet.

Despite those obstacles, Cox said the team “competed valiantly and improved very much through the course of the season.”

Above, Erskine softball players huddle during a brief break. Below, from left, Rebecca Clontz and Kim Gunter.

he Erskine College men’s and women’s basketball teams exceeded preseason expectations during the 2004-05 season.

The men’s team, coached by Mark Peeler, was picked to finish seventh in the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference before the season, but the Fleet was a force throughout the schedule and wound up fourth.

Erskine, which had never finished higher than seventh in the league, won a record 10 CVAC games. The team also advanced to the CVAC tournament quarterfinals.

Overall, the Fleet captured 14 wins during the season—the third straight season Erskine has compiled that number of victories. Two of Erskine’s 15 losses came at the hands of NCAA Division I foes (Appalachian State and Wofford).

Erskine was at the top of numerous CVAC statistical categories. The Fleet topped the league in assists, fewest turn-

overs per game and points allowed per game. The team was second in the league in field goal percentage defense and field goal percentage offense. Erskine also ranked among national leaders in NCAA Division II in field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage.

Sophomores Craig Williams and Matt Odom were individually ranked nationally in offensive categories. Williams was named All-CVAC First Team and fellow sophomore Reed Long was named Honorable Mention AllCVAC.

T.J. Taylor was selected as the league’s “Freshman of the Year.” n the women’s side, Coach Maggie Peeler led her squad to a 1712 overall mark, 11-9 in CVAC play, which was good for fourth place in the league standings. The 17 wins marked the most

Above, #3 J. J. Newman congratulates a runner during a Coker game. Below, Melissa Woods.

victories by an Erskine women’s basketball team in 10 years.

The Fleet defeated Belmont Abbey for the first time in women’s basketball since Erskine joined the league. Erskine advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament.

Sophomore Lisa Jackson led the team in scoring, rebounding and steals and was voted All-CVAC Second Team. Others leading the Fleet were juniors Anita Owens, Melissa Woods and Chacee Whittington. Owens was awarded AllCVAC Honorable Mention.

uniors Chris Pack and Stephanie Jenkins also made significant contributions to the team. Pack was a key leader on the team, while Jenkins was the team’s most consistent player.

A footnote to the exceptional season turned in by Erskine’s women’s basketball team is that before the season started, two players who were to be heavily counted on, Garreth Smoak and Karen Anger, were lost to season-ending injuries.

Below, 2005 Erskine Men’s team.

Men’s, women’s basketball teams exceed expectations

Alumni Board announces progress toward scholarship

Erskine Alumni Association President Eleanor Richardson ‘59 of Flat Rock, N.C., conducted a meeting of the Alumni Board Feb. 26 in which members heard remarks from Erskine President Dr. John Carson; received reports on the Gold Campaign, the Annual Fund and the Flying Fleet Club; learned that funds raised for the planned Erskine Alumni Association Scholarship now exceed $10,000; received a nominating committee report; and voted to form a committee to identify possible campus projects to receive support from the board’s discretionary fund.

Carson distributed a list of campus highlights that included items on enrollment, recent gifts received for campus construction projects, seminary news, and the presidential search committee.

Noting that 485 people were taking classes at the seminary during spring term, he said, “When I came to teach at the seminary, there were 185.”

College enrollment has also grown, and Carson pointed out Erskine’s high retention rate. “Admissions is targeting people who will be a good fit for Erskine.”

Richardson told Carson, “It’s been a distinct pleasure to work with you over the past several years,” and the board gave the president a standing ovation.

Vice President for Development Lee Logan reported on the Gold Campaign, which has raised more than $25.5 million in total pledges of its $36.8 million goal, and noted the success of the Annual Fund, saying, “The energy of the Alumni Association has reached an all-time high.”

Ralph Patterson, director of annual giving and alumni affairs, said contributions to this year’s Annual Fund goal of $1.6 million are running about $100,000 ahead of gifts last year at this time, with the total to date standing at $1,122,003. He praised Annual Fund Co-Chairs Dr. Richard and Janet Taylor of Greenville, who were present at the meeting, and Andy and Tyree Byrd of Spartanburg.

Patterson said, “Small gifts help us get other gifts,” noting that percentage of giving among alumni and members of boards is a key factor in receiving foundation grants. “Our percentages are going up,” he said.

Steve Southwell ‘80 of Rock Hill, president of the Flying Fleet Club, reported on

new members coming into the club. “John Carson’s been a big supporter of Erskine athletics,” he said.

A copy of the proposed agreement for the Erskine Alumni Association Scholarship was distributed to the board, and Richardson announced that funds raised have now exceeded the $10,000 necessary to begin awarding the scholarship. Funds will continue to be raised from the sale of Erskine license plates. The agreement will be presented for approval at the next Board of Trustees meeting.

President-Elect Wes McAllister ‘89 of Mt. Carmel offered a nominating committee report.

Dr. Richard Taylor agreed to head a committee to look at possible projects to be allotted a portion of the Alumni Board’s discretionary fund, supplied by income from the Erskine credit card program and royalties from alumni directory sales.

The next Alumni Board meeting was set for July 23.

Pond scum pays off for 2002 biology graduate

Graduate student and research assistant Sarah Habrun, who received her Erskine College diploma in 2002, recently achieved a measure of fame for her work with “pond scum.”

Habrun, credited with isolating an alga that is suspected of poisoning bald eagles, has been working with Dr. Susan Wilde, an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina, while pursuing environmental science studies at the College of Charleston.

“I was actually lucky enough to be able to incorporate my research at work into my master’s thesis,” said Habrun.

Habrun and Wilde are conducting research at the Hollings Marine Laboratory on James Island. Their work, which may help fight a disease that has killed half

the nesting population of bald eagles in the Thurmond Reservoir, was spotlighted in a Jan. 11 story by Bo Petersen in the Charleston Post and Courier.

Wilde, an algae specialist nicknamed “the pond scum expert” by her in-laws, gained the Erskine biology graduate’s assistance when Habrun, who was starting her master’s degree program, applied for a job at the Hollings facility.

Habrun helped Wilde follow up on what the experienced scientist considered “the really long shot” that some unknown algae toxin might be afflicting the birds with “avian vacuolar myelinopathy,” or AVM, a brain-eating disease.

Habrun’s challenge was to grow a pond scum culture of the suspect alga and avoid having it crowded out by other algae blooms in her lab samples.

“It took almost a year to finally get the species into a monospecific culture,” Habrun said. “Now that I have it in culture, the research can take off.”

Habrun recalls her college lab work and has relied on it. “It’s funny, because I swore I would never use some of the techniques I learned in labs at Erskine,” she said. “I didn’t enjoy them at the time.”

But now she is grateful for that handson undergraduate experience. “Dr. (Jan) Haldeman’s microbiology class taught me the proper techniques of culturing microorganisms.”

Haldeman and Professor of Biology Dr. David Ritland were her greatest influences at Erskine, Habrun says, and showed her the importance of enjoying her work. “Both are so excited about what they teach you that you can’t help but enjoy the classes.”

All that enjoyment seems to have benefited Habrun, who graduated in May. “Erskine does an amazing job of preparing students for graduate school,” she said. “I have not found a class yet that left me feeling overwhelmed and unprepared.”

Habrun said now that the alga has been isolated, she and Wilde hope the culture will lead them to a determination of the causative agent of AVM. They will also study its characteristics in order to describe and name the species.

Naming a new species is not something every graduate student gets to do, but it’s part of an experience of work and study that Habrun has found rewarding.

Habrun said she and Wilde attended the Sixth International Conference on Toxic Cyanobacteria in Norway in the summer of 2004, where Habrun presented her thesis work, and Wilde presented more of the pair’s research.

Sarah Habrun

Music graduate wins international organ competition

David Coleman, a 2002 summa cum laude graduate of Erskine College, won first prize in the Miami International Organ Competition Feb. 18. Coleman, whose winning performance included works by Durufle, Bruhns, Sowerby, and Langlais, received a cash award and will offer a fulllength recital at the Church of the Epiphany in South Miami in the 2005-06 “Great Music for a Great Space” concert series.

The competition, sponsored by Fratelli Ruffatti organ builders of Padua, Italy, and the Church of the Epiphany, aims to promote young concert organists who have the potential for a significant professional career.

Selected as one of three finalists from a pool of international candidates to present a 30-minute program in a concert setting, Coleman was judged on the basis of musicality, use of the instrument, creativity of programming and overall performance.

“This is a wonderful accomplishment for David, and it shows that graduates from our department are doing great things, for which we are proud,” said Professor of Music Dr. Matthew Manwarren.

The Rev. Robert Glick, associate professor of church music and worship at Erskine Seminary and adjunct associate professor of music at Erskine College, said, “He is as genuinely humble as he is gifted,” Glick said. “He understands that his abilities are a gift from God.”

At Erskine, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in organ and piano performance, Coleman’s primary instructors were Glick (organ) and Manwarren (piano). He received pre-college piano instruction from Erskine Professor Emerita Shirley Lampton.

Graduate provides for future Erskine students

Erskine College alumnus Dr. Robert W. Miller completed his degree in 1939 and 65 years later, he continues to give back to his alma mater.

A native of Chester, the 86-year-old Miller has chosen a charitable gift annuity as his contribution to the college.

“It is a way in which donors can benefit Erskine while they themselves receive a steady income and incredible gift tax deductions,” said Bobby McDonald, director of major gift planning.

McDonald said the gift is typical of Miller’s loyalty and support of Erskine through the years.

“When someone speaks to Bob Miller, eventually the conversation will move to Erskine,” McDonald said. “For more than 50 years, he has remained a pillar of the Erskine family, serving the institution in almost every possible capacity. His service to Erskine is part of his heritage.”

Miller said he and wife Doris had always planned to leave a bequest to Erskine and had some funds that needed investing.

“The return on the charitable gift annuity plan was very attractive for our ages and the residual would go to the Miller Scholarship fund, providing benefits to future students in perpetuity,” he said.

McDonald said Miller “embodies the ideals of Erskine” and wants others to experience what the institution has to offer.

“Dr. Miller’s vision to share Erskine’s ideals is made a reality through the Miller Family Scholarship established by his family,” McDonald said. “Through his gift, his influence and impact on this campus will continue for generations to come.”

Miller came to Erskine after finishing Chester High School in 1935.“With both grandfathers and both parents being Erskine graduates, it never occurred to me to consider any other college than Erskine,” he said.

His connection to Erskine has grown through the years. His wife, Doris (’42), is also an Erskine graduate, as are four of his five brothers, three of his four children and a grandson.

Miller said three of the six Miller brothers found their wives at Erskine and all have celebrated at least 50 years together. Miller and his wife will mark 62 years together in May.

He remembers fondly his time in Due West. “A unique thing about attending Erskine is that you become a part of a ‘family,’” he said. “This never seems to happen at large schools and rarely at small ones. We are still close friends with many former college mates.”

A chemistry major, Miller said he was influenced by several Erskine professors, including Dr. E.L. Reid (“a stern but capa-

ble teacher”), Dr. Tommy Long (English), Dr. E.B. Kennedy (French) and Professor Thomas Jefferson Leslie (math).

He was a member of the Double Octet, the predecessor to the Choraleers.

Miller received a doctorate from the University of North Carolina in 1948. He served in the U.S. Naval Reserve, was attached to the Naval Research Laboratory from 1943-46, and was decommissioned as a lieutenant. He was a longtime employee of Eastman Chemical Company.

He was president of the Alumni Association, chairman of the Board of Counselors and co-chairman of the Living Endowment (now the Annual Fund),and received the Alumni Distinguished Service and Algernon Sydney Sullivan awards.

Besides choral singing, which Miller has been doing for almost 70 years after he began singing in the Due West ARP Church Choir in 1935, he also likes to play bridge, work crossword puzzles and enjoys traveling and hiking. He has traveled to Europe, Canada, the Far East and the South Pacific.

Miller’s hiking exploits have included climbing Mount Whitney in California, Ayers Rock in Australia and Ben Nevis in Scotland. He recently took his 11th trip to Switzerland.

He is a charter member of Preston Hill Presbyterian Church, where he has served as an elder, Clerk of Session, Sunday school teacher and a member of the choir.

School building named in honor of Erskine

alumnus

A building at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Ga., has been named in honor of Dr. Reginald N. Ramsey ’62.

The Christian preparatory institution dedicated the Ramsey Exploratorium, located on Westminster’s high school campus, earlier this year.

President William Clarkson IV said the facility was “designed to provide students with state-of-the-art technology integrated with the existing science curriculum.”

The Ramsey Exploratorium was given to the school by Emeritus Trustee M. Edward Ralston and his wife, Sybil Ralston, Ward Ralston, Libby Ralston Ingram and Charles Ralston, in honor of Ramsey’s “commitment to and love for Westminster, our students and the science department,” Clarkson said.

Ramsey taught at Westminster from 1970-2000, where he helped develop its prefect system; worked on research for the builiding that houses the exploratorium; oversaw and maintained it while chairman of the science department; and worked to establish the Marine Science Institute and Summer Geology Institute.

David Coleman

Cardwell lecturer says connectedness is the key to learning

Anne Forrest Curran Prim ’91, an instructor in health and physical education at North Georgia College & State University, spoke to Erskine students March 17 as this year’s Cardwell lecturer.

Prim spoke about the “relational learning” she experienced at Erskine and said the foundation for that learning was “a sense of connectedness to others.”

“It is our connectedness to others that encourages us in the process of selfdevelopment,” Prim said. “It is also this connectedness to others that helps us to know that we matter — that what we think matters, what we value matters, what we question matters.”

Prim, married to a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Robert Prim, and mother of a 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, said when she was asked to deliver this year’s lecture, she looked at accounts of previous Cardwell Lectures.

“In a way that was a mistake,” she said. “I’m no neurosurgeon, I don’t have a Ph.D., I haven’t lived a long life devoted to teaching or working in a children’s home.”

Prim said her mother and a colleague had each asked her why she had been chosen as Cardwell Lecturer. “My answer was, ‘I don’t know,’” she said.

So she decided to speak to students “from the perspective that I’m pretty ordinary at this point in my life.”

For Prim, ordinary life means following the call she received at Erskine “to move along the path to be my best self.”

On her first visit to the Erskine campus at age 16, Prim and a friend from high school arrived on a dreary day in February. “Elena and I announced about the time we passed the Circle that we weren’t going to get out of the car,” she said.

“We were from a high school that had

more students in it than the whole town of Due West had on Erskine Alumni Day.”

A stern look from Prim’s mother prevailed, and the two friends left the car. On the Erskine campus that day, Prim discovered “genuine interest in who I was and what I wanted in a college,” beginning with a greeting from a passing student.

“I had on that day discovered my next home, a home like no other I had known before,” she said, adding that as a freshman, she had an immediate “sense of connectedness with others.”

Prim said that as a student she did not always make wise choices. “College is a time like no other — a time for experimentation in self-development, which, for me, had mixed results,” she said.

“I am sure several of my mentors, many of whom are sitting here today, saw me make poor choices and come out on the other side,” she said. “They cared for me through that process, staying in relationship with me, and encouraging and supporting me.”

Prim said a sermon in which her husband spoke about honoring one’s parents applies also to honoring teachers. “His point was that we do not honor them by being just like them,” she said. “We honor them by becoming more and more ourselves, and it’s a lifelong becoming.”

Her Erskine experience, in which learning was linked to relationships with others, continues to inspire Prim as she works with students.

“Good teachers and coaches help us acquire the tools to grow beyond the knowledge they teach,” she said. “The relational teaching and coaching I experienced helped develop in me the tools to continue my growth beyond Erskine.”

Prim expressed gratitude for the relationships that influenced her at Erskine. “I encourage you to look for opportunities for relationships, to initiate them, and to be willing to enter into them,” she told students. “If you do, I believe your Erskine experience will be an even richer one, one that will continually make more of you.”

At Erskine student, Prim was listed in Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges ; was president of Omicron Delta Kappa; served as a Student Life Assistant; played on the women’s soccer and tennis teams; and was vice president of her senior class.

In 1999, she received a master’s degree in health and physical education from North Georgia College & State University, where she helped implement the Teacher Leadership Exchange Program. She was a physical education teacher in the Lumpkin County Kindergarten Extension from 1998-2001.

The Frances Cardwell Lecture series brings successful alumnae to the Erskine campus annually to speak to students and faculty. The lectures honor the memory of Dr. Frances Livingston Cardwell, dean of women, academic counselor, and professor of English at Erskine from 1953-1977.

Former basketball player earns pro bono award

Erskine College alumnus Stuart M. Andrews Jr., a partner in the Columbia office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, looks back on his days as a student athlete, when Men’s Basketball Coach Red Myers called him “hard-nosed,” and thinks about why he went into the work that earned him the South Carolina Bar’s 2004 Pro Bono Award.

Myers called him “hard-nosed” because, although he was not a great shooter, “I was foolish enough to stand in front of guys twice my size running at me full speed and take a charge for the team,” Andrews said.

What does that have to do with the practice of law?

“When I started law school, that’s sort of how I envisioned the job I wanted to have representing poor people,” he said. “You could say I went to law school to learn how to take a different kind of charge.”

Just as he confronted bigger players on the basketball court, “I wanted to step in between my clients and the slumlord, the loan shark and the insensitive bureaucrat compounding the difficulties in their difficult lives,” Andrews said.

So, after receiving his law degree from the University of South Carolina in 1978, Andrews began taking that “different kind of charge.”

“After law school, I worked for legal aid programs for nine years,” he said. The largest law firm in South Carolina took note of Andrews’ work, and in 1988, he was recruited by Nelson Mullins to help establish and operate a formal pro bono program.

“As a result of the leadership of many wonderful people committed to having our firm make a substantial contribution to the communities where we practice, our pro bono program was named by the American Bar Association as the Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year for the nation in 1992,” he said.

Sue Berkowitz, director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, nominated Andrews for the Pro Bono Award. The award was presented at the South Carolina Bar House of Delegates meeting Jan. 20 in Charleston.

“Stuart has been an advocate and voice for the poor for over 25 years throughout his career in public interest law and private practice,” Berkowitz said. “His impact has been felt by those he represents individually and in the low income community as a whole.”

At Erskine, Andrews majored in American history and, in addition to playing on the men’s basketball team, was inducted into the leadership honor society Omicron Delta Kappa, served as sports editor of

Anne Forrest Curran Prim

“Stuart’s leadership at Erskine reflected the highest ideals of Christian commitment,” McDonald-Boswell Professor of History Dr. James Gettys said. “He was a student-athlete and emerged during the tumultuous 1960s as a campus leader.”

Gettys also recalls that although Andrews was not a basketball star, he supported the team by setting up others to score.

“As an Erskine student Stuart Andrews exhibited the genuine concern for others that is reflected in his latest honor,” Gettys said, noting that Andrews “helped the first African-American students become members of the Erskine family.”

Before going to law school, Andrews attended Princeton Theological Seminary. “As I was preparing to leave Erskine in 1972, changes in the world were occurring at what seemed to be warp speed,” he said. “I wanted to help shape that change and, along with two good Erskine friends, Sam Cooper and Joe Bixler, enrolled in seminary with more naiveté than ideas about how to do that.”

Entering seminary was an expression of the idealism that Andrews eventually channeled into his work as an attorney. “After a year in seminary, I realized that I didn’t have the patience for the pulpit,” he said.

Recalling the concerns so important to him as a 21-year-old, Andrews said he still believes what he did then. “I had no doubt that God wanted poverty rates to decline, health conditions to improve, slum properties to be replaced with safe and sanitary homes, and the death penalty repealed,” he said.

“Although in some respects it’s less clear to me today how to accomplish those changes than it seemed 30 years ago, I am no less convinced that God expects folks like us, like the Erskine family, to commit ourselves to seek justice in matters large and small.”

Erskine graduate’s “got game” at 87

Why would an 87-year-old man bother with playing competitive tennis?

Wade “Boots” MacDonald, a 1939 Erskine graduate, has been doing more than playing — he’s been winning in a big way.

MacDonald, who lives in Durham, N.C., and his partner, Jim Chavesse of Raleigh, N.C., teamed up to win the USTA National Men’s 85 Clay Court Championships in Pinehurst, N.C. It was the first USTA “gold ball” for both players.

Ironically, MacDonald played baseball and basketball on a scholarship that paid for half of his tuition at Erskine and wasn’t allowed to play tennis because it conflicted with baseball.

MacDonald was a first baseman and third baseman for Erskine. And he was inducted into the Flying Fleet Hall of Fame in 1987 for his exploits on the basketball court.

MacDonald said he enjoyed his years at Erskine, having come here at the suggestion of his high school principal and coach, who were both Erskine graduates.

He said he initially wanted to attend the University of North Carolina and went to visit there, but he wanted to play basketball and no coach was available to talk to him.

“They gave me some paperwork to fill out,” MacDonald said. “But I wasn’t much for paperwork, so I didn’t fill it out.”

He said his principal and coach encouraged him to attend Erskine and he never regretted it. “I enjoyed playing ball there,” he said. “I was a country boy and (Erskine) was out in the country, so it was a good experience.”

After graduating from Erskine, MacDonald taught school in South Carolina for three years before heading back to his family’s home in Virginia to teach at a small private school.

MacDonald enlisted in the U.S. Navy shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He served four years (1942-46) and worked in communications. MacDonald was part of the Utah Beach landing, but missed the Allies’ invasion of Europe by one day when a boom broke on his ship, delaying his arrival.

After the war, MacDonald was shipped to Pensacola, Fla., where he played baseball on a naval base with Boston Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams, whose Hall of Fame career was interrupted by military service.

MacDonald left the Navy shortly after his stay in Pensacola and headed to Durham, where he went to work in a department store owned by one of his uncles. He worked there for three years, but eventually got back into teaching and coaching.

Then he decided to continue his edu-

cation, attending the University of North Carolina for four summers while teaching during the fall and winter.

MacDonald was married for 49-plus years to Barbara, also known as Mimi, who died in August 2003. Their three sons — Wade Jr., Roy and Stephen — all graduated from N.C. State. MacDonald also has six grandchildren.

MacDonald and Chavesse have been playing partners at times for the better part of the last 20 years, but they had to find new partners when MacDonald aged into the 85-and-over category. Players can play in the 85s if they are going to turn 85 at any time during that year, so Chavesse’s Dec. 29 birthday allowed him to team up with MacDonald for the Pinehurst tournament.

A playground designed to be fully accessible to children of all abilities is planned for construction in Tennessee at a projected cost of $1.3 million and named in memory of Darrell Rice, a member of the Erskine College Class of 1953 who died Jan. 30, 2004. “Darrell’s Dream,” based on an idea conceived by Rice, will be one of only a handful of such playgrounds in the United States.

“The idea for the project was started by Darrell Rice several years ago,” said Robert W. Miller of Kingsport, Tenn., a member of the Class of 1939. “However, Darrell died before the plan got very far along.”

“I am not really sure where Dad got the idea, but I know he wanted a place where all children, regardless of their physical circumstances, could play,” said Tim Rice of Greer, a member of the Class of 1983. “He talked about the project to me and my family. Greer has a similar playground called Kids Planet, and he went there to look at it for some ideas.”

Miller said local residents Betty Devinney and Mary Steadman “took up the reins and have done a good job in promoting it.”

Steadman, of Blountville, Tenn., said the project began with the Friends of Warriors Path State Park, a group started by Rice. “The Friends (organization) was created to mobilize volunteers to assist staff in the preservation and perpetuation of Warriors Path State Park, one of the most visited state parks in Tennessee,” she said.

“As we were searching the Internet, we came across an organization called ‘Boundless Playgrounds,’ their goal being to help communities develop universally accessible playgrounds for children of all abilities,” said Steadman.

“The committee led by Darrell Rice felt we needed to go the extra mile to cre-

the Erskine Arrow and was chairman of the Honor Council.

“Darrell’s Dream” planned as memorial to Erskine alumnus

Stuart M. Andrews Jr.

ERSKINE livens up Alumni gatherings graduate

The Erskine College Alumni Office has been trying a different approach to its chapter meetings. And in this case, it has been a laughing matter, according to Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Affairs Ralph Patterson, at least at the Greenville and Columbia chapter meetings during the fall.

Roddy Gray of Abbeville, a 1964 Erskine College graduate, has given generously of his talent to “entertain, spin old Erskine tales in his own way, as only he can do,” Patterson said.

Gray, a former admissions counselor and director of admissions at Erskine, is also a former high school teacher, served as director of the dislocated workers program and director of distance learning at Piedmont Tech in Greenwood, was director of the Governor’s Initiative for Workforce Excellence, and was director of production and distance learning at the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities.

He also directed and hosted a cable television show for three years, was a newspaper columnist for seven years, and has appeared in television commercials and a movie, “Gift of Love,” starring Andy Griffith.

Gray is active in community theater and has had articles published in national magazines. He is assembling his favorite columns for publication in a future book.

Perhaps best known for his work as a humorist and motivational speaker, Gray calls his presentations “Ponderings & Wonderings: Wit with a Message.”

Gray said he took a different approach with his alumni meeting appearances.

“My job, as I see it, is to bring some fun into the concept of fundraising,” he said. “I travel coast to coast as a humorist and motivational speaker, but for these alumni meetings, I am only wearing my humorist’s cap. “

Patterson said Gray brings a unique perspective to the alumni meetings. “He not only went to school here, but he worked

here,” the alumni director said. “He (reminds) people of the impact of four years at Erskine.”

Gray said he was recently reminded of that Erskine experience.

“While looking through my mother’s Erskine yearbooks and reading the notes that her friends left, I was prompted to bring out my own yearbooks,” he said. “As I looked at each of those four yearbooks I was flooded with memories of those wonderful years and even more wonderful friends.”

Gray joked about why he agreed to appear at the meetings. “When Ralph Patterson asked me to speak at some alumni meetings, I realized that he had obviously installed listening devices throughout my home and not knowing what else had been recorded, I said, ‘Yes!’”

That wasn’t the only enticement Patterson used to secure his services, Gray said. “Ralph also gave me a cap – that really sealed the deal!”

Patterson said Gray will follow up his fall chapter meeting performances with an appearance at the Erskine Open June 21 at Hunter’s Creek Golf and Country Club, offering entertainment at the meal after the tournament.

To learn more about Roddy Gray, see his Web site at: www.roddyg.com

“While looking through my mother’s Erskine yearbooks and reading the notes that her friends left, I was prompted to bring out my own yearbooks. As I looked at each of those four yearbooks I was flooded with memories of those wonderful years and even more wonderful friends.”

Roddy Gray

Roddy Gray

wife, Virginia, and one brother, Robert Edwards.

2004.

Class of 1948

Class of 1939

Clarence Alexander Boswell, 102, a 1924 graduate of Erskine College and the oldest practicing attorney in Florida, died Feb. 22, 2005.

Dr. John Carroll “Dr. Jack” Scurry, 86, died March 12, 2005.

The son of a judge, Boswell received his law degree from the University of Florida in 1924, the same year he was admitted to the Florida Bar. With 81 years, he was the Bar’s senior member.

Boswell was born in Bartow on Dec. 6, 1902. He graduated from Summerlin Institute, now Bartow High School. He attended Erskine and the University of Virginia before receiving his law degree in Florida.

Survivors include two daughters, Jane S. Kiser and Harriet Johnson, two sons, John C. Scurry Jr. and Wick Porter Scurry, a sister, Elizabeth S. “Gay” Charles, 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Julia Porter Scurry.

Evelyn Coward Allen, 77, died Feb. 20, 2005. Survivors include her husband, Julian B. Allen, four daughters, Julie Allen, Katie A. Hutchens ‘76, Beth A. Edwards and Janie A. Kirkland, and six grandchildren.

The Rev. James H. Boyce Jr., 86, died Feb. 21, 2005. Survivors include his wife, Margaret S. Boyce, two sons, James N. Boyce ‘75 and John L. Boyce ‘76, three daughters, Dr. Trudy N. Boyce ‘68, the Rev. Bonnie S. Boyce ‘72 and Elizabeth A. S’Ann Boyce ‘82, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Class of 1940

During his legal tenure, Boswell counseled the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad as it expanded through the state and guided the Polk County School Board through the difficult early days of desegregation. Boswell’s tenure with the School Board began in 1939 and spanned 40 years.

Ruth Thomson Black, 83, died June 1, 2004.

Away from his law practice, Boswell was a member of the Bartow Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, serving as an elder emeritus. Nationally, he served as a trustee for ARP-affiliated Erskine College and was chairman of that board. In 1982, the ARP church elected him to a one-year term as moderator of the denomination’s Synod.

Survivors include one son, Clarence Boswell Jr., one daughter, Jane Boswell McDonald ‘53, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Margaret Phillips, who died in 1988.

Class of 1922

Helen Macaulay Floyd, 84, died March 10, 2005. Survivors include three daughters, Susie Floyd Jackson, Jane Elizabeth Floyd and Mary Floyd Cook ‘76, and five grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Emory Lovelle Floyd and four brothers, John Cameron Macaulay, Hugh Lee Macaulay, Arthur Beard Macaulay and Wilburn Allen Macaulay.

Roberta Brown Wilson, 87, died Dec. 18, 2004. Survivors include one daughter, Lydia W. Daugherty, and one grandchild. She was preceded in death by her husband, Edgar M. Wilson.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Edward Haywood McKinnon Jr.

Helen Clary Smith, 102, died Jan. 9, 2005. Survivors include a son, John Earle Smith, one grandchild and one great-grandchild. She was preceded in

Class of 1931

Class of 1942

B.B. Stinson, 83, died Jan. 17, 2004. Survivors include his wife, Jean Brown Stinson, two daughters, Elaine White and Linda Kirks, one son, Larry Stinson, one sister, Lucille Ward, one brother, Willie Stinson, and six grandchildren.

The Rev. Dr. Mark Elias Gutzke, 78, died Feb. 17, 2005. Survivors include his wife, Mildred Cooper Gutzke, three daughters, Elise Gutzke Carlson, Elaine Gutzke Johnson and Ruth Gutzke Hurst, one son, Walter Gutzke ‘77, two sisters, Dr. Miriam G. Burke and Elizabeth G. Grier ‘50, one brother, John H. Gutzke ‘48, 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his brother, Peter Daniel Gutzke.

Emily Joyce Freeman Reed, 77, died March 14, 2005. Survivors include her husband, Alfred Douglas Reed ‘49, five sons, Roy Frederick, Robert Douglas, David Clark, Timothy Wayne and Joseph William, three sisters, Vivian Dorgay ‘46, Marilyn Bowen and Wilma JoBeth Shaw.

Class of 1949

Isabel Pressly Hunt, 95, died Feb. 26, 2005. Survivors include three sons, John R. Hunt ‘65, Dr. William P. Hunt ‘66, and the Rev. James A. Hunt ‘68, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by three brothers, Dr. James B. Pressly ‘38, John L. Pressly ‘36 and the Rev. Frank Y. Pressly ‘40.

Class of 1934

Class of 1943

Lawrence Samuel “Eel” Weir, 91, died April 5, 2005. Survivors include his wife, Margaret Atkinson “Stuart” Weir ’36, one son, Lawrence Samuel Weir Jr., three daughters, Margaret Weir Revels ‘60, Linda Weir Giltner ‘67 and Martha Weir Stevenson ‘76, one sister, Annie Mae Weir Ford ‘40, 12 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Class of 1937

John A. Cheshire Jr. died April 24, 2004. Survivors include his wife, Phyllis Patterson Cheshire ’42.

Mary Ruth Cooper Holladay, 91, died Oct. 21, 2004.Survivors include one daughter, Jane Holladay ’69.

Class of 1935

Thomas Rabb Wilkerson, 83, died Dec. 1, 2004. Survivors include his wife, Mable, a son, Thomas R. Wilkerson Jr., a daughter, Pam Mahoney, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Class of 1944

Lola Virginia Berry Barnett, 90, died Nov. 26, 2004. Survivors include one daughter, Ginger Israel, one grandchild and two great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, W. Worth Barnett.

Class of 1936

Sidney Robinson Lyle, 90, died Jan. 29, 2005. Survivors include his wife, Charlotte Shoaf Lyle, a son, Sidney Robinson Lyle Jr., a sister, Catharine Lyle Smith, and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two brothers, Lafayette Strait Lyle Jr. and John David Lyle, and a sister, Frances Lyle Sample.

Class of 1938

Helen Ratchford Culp, 87, died Feb. 6, 2005. Survivors include her husband, William Reid Culp Sr., a son, William Reid Culp Jr., a daughter, Nancy Ann Culp, and four grandchildren. She was preceded in death by a brother, William C. Ratchford.

Eula Young Oates, 80, died March 16, 2005. Survivors include two daughters, Lisa Oates Todd and Jackie Oates Thompson ‘71, one son, Dr. Thomas M. Oates Jr. ‘76, one sister, Eloise Aultman, one brother, Dr. Reynolds Young, nine grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas M. Oates.

Joseph Andrew Franza, 80, died Feb. 11, 2005. Survivors include his wife, Shirley, two daughters, Georgia Franza Murdock ’70 and Susan Buelow, one son, Joe Franza, one sister, Juanita Todd, eight grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

Class of 1950

William E. Jones, 77, died Dec. 9, 2004. Survivors include his wife, Molly McGregor Jones, two sons, W. Ellison Jr. and George M. Jones, a daughter, Margaret J. Garvin, a sister, Isabelle J. Young, and four grandchildren.

Frances Blanchett McLeod, 76, died Oct. 26, 2004. Survivors include two sons, Larry R. McLeod and Tim W. McLeod, two daughters, Patsy M. Bane and Joy M. Johnson, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth R. McLeod ‘49, one brother, Milton Prue Blanchett, two sisters, Mamie Blanchett and Ruth B. Grubb, and one granddaughter.

Class of 1945

Helen Hooten McKinnon, 90, died Aug. 29, 2004. Survivors include one son, Edward Haywood McKinnon III, one daughter, Jenny McKinnon Wright, one sister, Bertha Couch, and two grandchildren.

Peter P. Watson, 81, died Sept. 23,

Lyle Roddey Edwards Sr., 87, died Nov. 10, 2004. Survivors include one son, Roddey Edwards, one brother, Erskine Edwards ‘38, two sisters, Margret Pursley ‘34 and Jean Jackson ‘43, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his

William L. Stogner, 76, died March 21, 2005. Survivors include his wife, Ingrid Clay Wells Stogner, four sons, W. Tracy Stogner, USCG Iain M. Wells, USAF Maj. Clay E. Wells, and Adam C. Stogner, two daughters, Amy Wells Roseman and Wren Stogner Bunch, and nine grandchildren.

Class of 1951

Elizabeth Crisp Epps, 75, died March 8, 2005. Survivors include three sons, Daniel McKay Epps Jr., Dean Epps and Thomas Darin Epps, one daughter, Deidria Epps, and three grandchildren.

Class of 1953

Shirley Sellers Covington died April 2, 2005. Survivors include three sons, Robert Covington, Phil Covington and Dave Covington, one brother, Dr. Frank Sellers ‘55, and five grandchildren.

Lynda Johnson Neil, 72, died Feb. 19, 2005. Survivors include her husband, Frank Neil ’53, a son, Frank Neil Jr., and a daughter, Lyn Neil ’75.

Marion Cantey Watkins, 72, died Aug. 26, 2004. Survivors include her husband, R. Yancey Watkins ‘50, two daughters, Wendy W. Gerken and Roxanne W. Tindall, a brother, Robert Christopher Cantey, and two grandchildren.

Class of 1955

Class of 1983

A son, Clayton James Spencer, to Deborah Downs Spencer and L. James Spencer ’83, Aug. 4, 2003.

Class of 1987

A son, Andrew Buczkowski, to Jacqueline Smith Buczkowski ’87 and Thomas Buczkowski, Nov. 12, 2002 (adopted April 2004).

Class of 1990 (Seminary)

A son, Paul Aiden Hering, to Jay Hering ’90 and Kerstin Hering, Nov. 4, 2004.

Class of 1992

A son, Benjamin Carew Bates, to Millie Marcengill Bates ’92 and Jefferson B. Bates, Oct. 16, 2004. He joins brother Blakely.

Joseph “Joe” John Mancino, 74, died Nov. 13, 2004. Survivors include his wife, Lynn Mosley Mancino, a sister, Inez Nicoletta, and a brother, Sal Mancino. He was preceded in death by a sister, Betty Maiorana, and a brother, Gene Mancino.

Class of 1958

Bobby E. Herring, 69, died Jan. 31, 2005. Survivors include his wife, Martha LeCroy Herring, one son, Lance E. Herring, two daughters, Anne-Marie Moore and Patti Whims, one brother, Alan Herring, one sister, Faye Herring Hallman ’60, and four grandchildren.

Class of 1959

Annette Rhodes Howell, 67, died Nov. 7, 2004. Survivors include her husband, Ralph “Sonny” Howell, four sons, Ruck Barnes, Marty Barnes, Lee Howell and Andy Howell, her mother, Hazel Annette Rucker Rhodes, a brother, Steve Rhodes, a caregiver, Beulah Wallace, and seven grandchildren.

Class of 1960

Phyllis Odom McKie, 66, died Nov. 10, 2004. Survivors include her husband, Henry McKie, one son, Tony McKie ‘91, and her mother, Doris C. Odom.

Class of 1972

William L. Morrison, 54, died March 12, 2005. Survivors include his parents, Finley Forest Morrison Jr. and Betty Gene Galloway Morrison, two brothers, Finley F. (Bubba) Morrison and Frankie Lee Morrison, and two sisters, Kay Mercer and Robin Dale Hudson.

James Lloyd Smith, 65, died March 10, 2005. Survivors include his wife, Barrie C. Smith, two daughters, Suzanne Smith and Kelly Smith, his mother, Evelyn K. Smith, one sister, Annette Porter, one brother, Donny Smith, and one grandchild.

Class of 1987

Fox Beattie Cahaly Jr., 45, died Oct. 21, 2004. Survivors include his wife, Donna, his mother, Elise Crane Cahaly, and one sister, Sharon Mullikin.

Class of 1993 (Seminary)

The Rev. Dr. Samuel Mason Hughes, 91, died Dec. 2, 2004. Survivors include his wife, Kate Settle Hughes, a son, B. Mason Hughes, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Friends

The Rev. Dr. John H. Ball III, 50, former member of the Erskine College and Seminary Board of Trustees, died Jan. 28, 2005. Survivors include his wife, Phyllis Ball, two daughters, Laura Baine and Martha L. Ball, his father, John H. Ball Jr., one brother, David C. Ball, and three grandchildren.

Gladys P. Kennedy, 88, a resident of Due West Retirement Center, died March 17, 2005. Survivors include one son, Barron D. Kennedy III, and two grandchildren.

Honorary Alumni

Dr. J. Calvin “Cal” Koonts, 80, who developed and headed the education department at Erskine College for many years, died March 4, 2005. Survivors

Class of 1979

Becky Gaston Mitchell ’79 to Brian Whilden, June 13, 2004.

Class of 1996

Christopher Alton Majure ’96 to Anna Moore Todd, Nov. 20, 2004.

Class of 1997

Rachel Suzanne Mantooth ’97 to Bradley L. Griggs, Dec. 11, 2004.

Bradley H. Oates ’97 to Rebecca Amanda Raines, Dec. 11, 2004.

A daughter, Neely Elizabeth Bell, to Jeanne Neely Bell ’92 and Paul Bell ’84, Feb. 8, 2005.

Class of 1993

A son, Hank Elias Bridwell, to Selena Hanks Bridwell ’93 and Blake Bridwell, Aug. 8, 2003.

A son, Caleb Warren Smith, to Mike H. Smith ’93 and Jessica Smith, Jan. 9, 2005.

Class of 1994

A daughter, Matilyn Ann Cox, to Reagan Shirley Cox and Matthew V. Cox ’94, Feb. 7, 2005.

Class of 1995

A son, Alex Tyler Nation, to Leslie Sutton Nation ’95 and Mark Nation, July 8, 2004. He joins sister Madeline.

Class of 1996

A daughter, Anna Wallace Cheek, to Kelly Funderburk Cheek ’96 and Bill Cheek ’96, Dec. 12, 2003.

A daughter, Carrenna Adriana Spann, to Felicia Donaldson Spann ’96 and Adrian M. Spann, Feb. 16, 2005.

Class of 1997

A daughter, Michaela Christine Lanier, to Jennifer Conway Lanier ’97 and Devin Lanier ’97, Feb. 7, 2004.

Class of 1998

A son, Carson Wilmot Pike, to Emily Carson Pike ’98 and Colby Pike ’99, Dec. 19, 2004.

A son, Brice Matthew Woodhouse, to Ju-

lie Brice Woodhouse ’98 and Scott Matthew Woodhouse ’96, Dec. 30, 2004.

Class of 1999

A son, John Parker Wingate, to Erica Gamble Wingate ’99 and John G. Wingate, Feb. 18, 2004.

Class of 2002

A daughter, Emma Annette Mitchell, to James F. Mitchell ’02 and Crystal Mitchell, Dec. 22, 2004.

A son, John Alexander Nicholson, to Cyndi Bell Nicholson ’02 and James Nicholson, Jan. 21, 2005.

Class of 2002

Class of 1998

Susan Melinda Chandler ’98 to Brian Steven Albon, Dec. 29, 2004.

Lori Alicia Hardin ’98 to Steven Todd Wall, Jan. 8, 2005.

Angie Merriman ’98 to Scott Bain, Dec. 2, 2004.

Amy Kathryn Robertson ’98 to Timothy Stephen Conner, March 12, 2005.

Class of 1999

Ryan Elic Cann ’99 to Amy Leann Kennedy, Jan. 22, 2005.

Dorothy

Nov. 20, 2004.

Class of 1999 (Seminary)

Randall Anthony Hardy ’99 to Loranne Leslie Hester, Dec. 31, 2004.

Class of 2000

Meredith Marie Sexton ’00 to Thomas Edward Moore, Jan. 16, 2005.

Class of 2001

Heather Denean Ghent ’01 to Chad L. Amidon ’02, Oct. 16, 2004.

Joy Lynne Shuck ’02 to Logan Spoon ’04, Sept. 4, 2004.

Class of 2004

Whitney Holland Gaillard ’04 to Benjamin Lee Williams, Dec. 18, 2004.

Jenny Lee Trammell ’04 to Trevor Wayne Tyler ’03, Dec. 18, 2004.

Brunson Robinson ’99 to Sean Arthur Milligan,

Class of 1950

Sara Covin Jueengsst was the featured speaker at the annual American Association of University Women Student Recognition Banquet in Due West.

Class of 1962

Dr. Reginald N Raamseey y was honored by The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Ga., when the Ramsey Exploratorium was dedicated earlier this year. It was given by Emeritus Trustee M. Edward Ralston and his wife, Sybil Ralston, Ward Ralston, Libby Ralston Ingram and Charles Ralston, in honor of Ramsey’s “commitment to and love for Westminster, our students and the science department,” said President William Clarkson IV. During his career at Wesminster, he taught chemistry and physics, developed a prefect system, began research and design for Robinson Hall, developed the Marine Science Institute, and worked to establish the Summer Geology Institute.

Class of 1963

Ralph C. McCCulllouggh II was named provost of the Charleston School of Law. He served as a faculty member at the University of South Carolina School of Law from 1968-2002, and is one of the founders of the Charleston School of Law.

Class of 1964

Thomas C “Buudddy” S Styeers was featured in the January 2005 issue of the Coastal Carolina Business Journal. A story by Laura Edwards pays tribute to his work with the Myrtle Beach Redevelopment Authority (RDA) and traces his life and career. As a result of RDA efforts, led by Styers and others, 800 civilian jobs lost when the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base closed have been replaced and 500 more have been created. Styers calls his Erskine education “a major contributor in the life successes I have enjoyed.”

Class of 1965

James Bighaam, a celebrated organist, performed the Grand Concerto for Organ and Orchestra as part of the celebration of the 125th anniversary of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Buffalo, N.Y.

Ralph K. Ostrom of Irmo had a couple of significant events occur in his life during 2004 — he completed his Ph.D and became a grandfather.

Class of 1966

H. Paul Dove Jr., Dean of the Library and Professor at Francis Marion University in Florence, formerly head librarian at Erskine, was featured in a story in the Francis Marion View about the James A. Rogers Library. The magazine also featured a story about his fondness for motorcycles.

Class of 1967

James Eugene Smmith retired from the Defense Information Systems Agency in February. He is planning to move to Central Florida in a few months after his retirement.

Class of 1975

W. Townes Jonees IV V stepped down as solicitor of the Eighth Judicial Circuit after a 20-year career. Local lawyers, law enforcement officials, politicians, friends and family members gathered to bid Jones farewell at the Greenwood County Courthouse.

Class of 1977

Rebecca “Beeckyy” M Miller r was named South Carolina’s Physician Assistant of the Year in 2004 by the South Carolina Academy of Physician Assistants, a state chapter of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

Class of 1980

John Blythe of Abbeville, an independent historical researcher and consultant for the Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation, was featured in The Index-Journal’s Newsmaker Profile series.

Janet Herndoon J Jenkkins was awarded the Outstanding Service Award by the S.C. Association of Pre-trial Intervention Programs at the 2004 Solicitors Conference. He is Pre-trial Intervention/Alcohol Diversion Program Coordinator for the Second Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office.

Class of 1983

Paul Agnew, who was elected to the S.C. House of Representatives in November 2004, was featured in a story published in The Index-Journal in Greenwood in February 2005.

Class of 1984

Katherine MccGiill Tayloor moved to Bulgaria with her family to work with a church-planting team.

Class of 1990

Amy Merrill W Willis now lives in Spokane, Wash., with husband Steve and she is an instructor in religious studies at Gonzaga University.

Mary E li za b be th h “LLib b by y ” Wi ilso on n Ston e recently became coordinator of library services for the Lincoln campus at Gaston College. She and husband Scott, married for 15 years, have two sons, Ethan and Jacob.

Class of 1993

Selena Hanks s Brridwwell owns Southern Designs of the Carolinas Inc. and designs homes for individuals and builders in the Columbia area. She is married to Blake Bridwell and they have two children, Liv and Hank.

Class of 1996

Felicia Donaldsoon Spannn received her master’s in education administration degree in 2003 from the University of South Carolina.

Class of 1997

Jennifer Conwaay Lanier passed her national boards for science education and became a National Board Certified teacher in November 2004.

Class of 1999

Heather R. Johnsoon of North Augusta, S.C., is the first and only foreign teacher in a public school in Yamagata City, Japan. She went to Japan in 1999 with the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program. Sponsored by the Japanese government, JET employs some 6,000 assistant language teachers a year from all over the world.

Class of 2001

Crystal M. Coopper has joined Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough in the law firm’s Columbia office. She practicies in the areas of business litigation, product liability and technology law and litigation. She received a juris doctor cum laude from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2004.

Kate Hinchey y Wenger was named Teacher of the Year at Sullivans Island Elementary School for 2005 and was recognized by the Charleston County School District as one of its top 10 teachers. She and her husband, David ’00, have a son, Joseph.

Class of 2002

Joy Lynne Shhucck S Spoon is working as an evaluation specialist at Thornwell Home and School for Children in Clinton, where she lives with her husband, Logan Spoon ’04, who works for Carolina First Bank in Clinton.

Class of 2002 (Seminary)

The Rev. Chaarles s A “Dreew” ” Coollins s Jr. was commissioned a Kentucky Colonel, the highest honor awarded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, by Gov. Ernie Fletcher on Feb. 2, 2005. Kentucky Colonels are the Commonwealth’s amabassadors of goodwill and fellowship around the world. Collins serves as Assisting Presbyter at New Israel Reformed Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.

Carson, who will step down from the post June 30, chose not to mention his departure during his speech to the 142 graduates, but rather to urge graduates and all those present to make three commitments.

He encouraged those gathered to “commit yourself to a cause larger than yourself.”

The president said that during four years at Erskine, graduates have been surrounded by people who illustrate how one is supposed to live.

Carson, a 1967 graduate of Erskine, recalled four of his own mentors — Dr. Calvin Koonts, an educator, poet and encourager; Dr. Tunis Romein, a philosopher, musician and publisher of the Village Observer; Dr. William Kuykendall, a biblical scholar who found time to do income tax forms for the poor; and Dr. Gordon Parkinson, an educator and missionary who also served as the college’s dean of men.

Dr. John L. Carson gave his final formal public address May 14 as Erskine College and Seminary president during the 160th college commencement.

“The reason they were such great people was because they committed themselves to a cause larger than themselves,” Carson said. “They first committed to a God who is larger than themselves.”

The term “professional” was first used in religious orders, he said, when people were first required to “profess” who they were before they could be admitted to the order.

Second, he encouraged his audience to “partner with people better than yourself” in all areas of life, particularly in marriage and work.

He said people should seek a company, a boss, and fellow workers who are better than they are.”Always spend your life with people better than yourself,” Carson said. “Marry someone who is better than yourself.”

He said he certainly did that when he married wife Sarah Ellen.

“I did not exactly have my head screwed on right in college, but thankfully, God was looking after me when he led me to my wife,” Carson said. “Whether I’ve been pastoring a church or serving at Erskine, I’m sure that the fact that ‘Carson may not be much, but he sure has a sweet wife’ has saved me more than once.”

Third, Carson urged people to put service before self.

Leadership, he said, is about serving, not about having all the power or making all the choices. Those who don’t think that have never led people, he said.

Carson said leadership means showing up, giving up and keeping up, and the standard for leadership is established by Jesus, who said if anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last and the servant of all.

“I think heaven’s inner circle will not be peopled with names widely known — pastors, evangelists and presidents — but with those who have toiled selflessly in quiet obscurity for the benefit of ‘the least of these,’” he said.

Carson said God has taught him a great lesson through his seven years as Erskine’s president, a job he said he would never do because he doesn’t like administration and the job was “too big” for him.

But he knew God was calling him to do it.

“The question was whether I loved God,” Carson said. “God does not need us, but sometimes he uses us.”

Rachel Morgan of Groveland, Fla., had the highest average among graduates and was given the honor of responding to Carson’s speech.

She agreed with the Erskine president that it is important

to partner with other people and commit to a cause bigger than yourself.

Morgan read several verses from 2 Peter 1, in which seven virtues are listed — moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness and love.

She told her fellow graduates that after college, the going might be rough at the beginning, but she encouraged them to persevere in all they do.

Westley McAllister of Mount Carmel, president of the Alumni Association, officially inducted the graduates into the association.

“Embrace this moment,” McAllister said. “Remember you can come home again, home to Due West with the Erskine family at Erskine College.”

Senior Class President Mike Todd of Gastonia, N.C., presented the college with the senior gift — a fire pit to be built behind Robinson Dormitory for “bonfires and fellowship.”

Honorary degrees were presented to Charles Carlisle of Due West and C. Jan Westmoreland of Waynesville, N.C. Both were awarded doctor of humanities degrees.

Above, graduates applaud during the commencement ceremony. Below, from left, Cory Chapman and Brandon Auten. Left, Nikki Knox gives Dr. John L. Carson a hug after receiving her diploma.

Carlisle is a graduate of Newberry College who served Erskine first as an assistant professor of history, then for 35 years as chief financial officer, helping to guide three capital campaigns. His extensive community service includes planning and fund-raising for the Due West Retirement Center, where a nursing center was named in his honor in 1999.

Westmoreland, a native of Greer, is a 1959 graduate of Erskine College who achieved distinction in a career in public affairs with Pfizer Inc., retiring in 1993. In 1997, he established the Westmoreland Performing Artist Program at Erskine and now serves as honorary chairman of the Memorial Hall project to renovate and expand Erskine’s music facility. The Memorial Hall project is part of the Gold Campaign, Erskine’s current capital campaign.

Seminary celebrates achievements at Commencement

Erskine Theological Seminary conferred 66 degrees on graduates in seven degree programs and an honorary degree was conferred on Dr. Luder G. Whitlock, former president of Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Fla., during commencement Sunday at the Due West Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Commencement speaker was Dr. Thomas W. Gillespie, president and professor of New Testament emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Erskine College and Seminary president Dr. John L. Carson welcomed the graduates, families and friends. A mem-

Seminary from 1973-78. He served Princeton Theological Seminary as president and professor of New Testament from 1983-2004.

In a commencement sermon titled “Ministry as Witness,” Gillespie told of a conversation he had with a German pastor’s wife not long after the fall of the Berlin Wall. She and her husband had served for many years at a church in a tiny East German village, despite attendance figures that would discourage many American pastors — fewer than 20 on a good Sunday. The family had also endured discrimination because they were Christians, including having their high-achieving sons barred from admission to university. “God called us here as witnesses,” the woman said.

and worship at Erskine Seminary, and Kelly Gallamore, vocalist, a graduating student, provided music.

Westley McAllister of Mount Carmel, president of the Erskine Alumni Association, led the induction of graduates into the association, and urged them to “Remember Erskine,

ber of the seminary faculty from 1985-94, Carson is Erskine’s 13th president and has announced he will step down June 30.

Chairman John T. Moore of Columbia brought greetings from the Erskine Board of Trustees, and the Rev. H. Neely Gaston, executive vice president of Erskine Seminary, introduced the commencement speaker.

Gillespie served as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Garden Grove, Calif., from 1954-66 and as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Burlingame, Calif., from 1966-83. He was adjunct professor at San Francisco Theological Seminary from 1972-73 and at Fuller Theological

Citing French theologian Paul Ricoeur’s contention that witnesses are called to testify that something is a fact, but are also called to testify for one side or the other, Gillespie said, “You’re going out into a culture that is not going to support your ministry.”

He told the graduates the postmodern world they are entering is like a carnival, with carnival barkers hawking various entertainments. Christians can offer something that is not available anywhere else at the carnival. “I can be at the carnival and I can be a barker and I can witness for Jesus Christ,” he said.

“I commit you to the ministry of witness,” Gillespie said.

The Rev. Robert Glick, organist, who is associate professor of church music

of spring semester

Erskine Theological Seminary Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology Dr. Merwyn S. Johnson will step down from his full-time post at the end of the spring semester, but is not ending his 25year association with the school.

Johnson, who lives in Due West with wife Bev, plans to move to Charlotte, N.C., but will teach one course per semester at the seminary and will serve as liaison between the seminary and the Foothills and Trinity Presbyteries.

The seminary’s senior faculty member said his time at the school has “been a great ride.”

When Johnson arrived at the seminary in 1980, the school had one building, five faculty members and 40 students. “Now we have two buildings, the second of which is twice as large as the first, 14 faculty members and more than 400 students,” he said. “The budget has at least quadrupled.”

The seminary had one degree program, its “bread and butter” master of divinity program, and now offers seven degree programs.

“There have been some wonderful people to ride with,” Johnson said.

He fondly remembers the decade of the 1980s, when the seminary experienced its major spike in growth.

“We built a lot of things on the basis of extension work,” Johnson said.

He said the salaries weren’t high then, but “we knew we were building something.”

Johnson said there was a strong sense of teamwork and camaraderie at the seminary at that time and he gives much of the credit for that to Dr. Randall T. Ruble, who

and lead others here.” Student Body President Terry Roof accepted membership on behalf of the graduates.

The Leon McDill Allison Award for Excellence in Teaching was given to Associate Professor of Historical Theology and

Professor to retire from post at end

Seminary dean returns from Iraq

Erskine Theological Seminary Dean R.J. Gore has a new office in Bowie Divinity Hall and is stacking his volumes on spanking new shelves. When you have as many books as Gore does, that might be a challenge.

But for Gore, who returned from a year as an Army chaplain in Iraq just before Christmas, shelving books is a piece of cake.

“I’m still getting used to it,” Gore said. “When the abnormal becomes normal for so long, normal feels funny for a while.”

The trip back to Due West from Iraq was an adventure in itself.

Gore said his unit flew out of Iraq about 4 a.m. Dec. 17 in the belly of a C130. There were stopovers in Kuwait, Ireland and JFK International Airport in New York and stories connected with each stop until his arrival in Due West Dec. 23.

“I was just very thankful to get here because the next day (Christmas Eve), everything went crazy (with air travel),” he said. “It was kind of an adventure just to get back here, between government bureaucrats and cracked planes.”

Gore might tell the story of the cracked plane to interested friends.

At Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, it appeared the soldiers would be delayed getting home because they hadn’t had their tuberculosis tests and there was a 48-hour waiting period to get test results.

After spending a year in Iraq, where Americans, Iraqis and others are being killed and wounded every day, the soldiers were not willing to miss Christmas with their families because of a TB test.

The officials at Fort Sam Houston were convinced to allow the soldiers to get their tests done when they returned home and send the results in.

“Other than that, the folks at Fort Sam were very helpful,” Gore said.

A chaplain for the 172nd Corps Support Group, Gore was mobilized in December 2003 and ordered to active duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He arrived at Camp Anaconda, a former Iraqi air force base at Balad, on Jan. 25, 2004. A little more than two weeks into his tour, he assumed responsibilities as group chaplain.

Gore said what one typically thinks about a war zone is not the norm.

“Much of what goes in a war zone is boredom,” he said.

“I had a lot more time for reading, thinking, praying. I probably had more time for prayer than I’ve had in years — of course, I had a lot more reason to pray.”

As a group chaplain, Gore’s primary responsibility was to minister to chaplains at the battalion level and assist them in ministering to soldiers in the field.

One of his chaplains, a young Baptist minister, conducted nine memorial services for fallen soldiers in a year, and Gore served as a pastor to him. “He’ll never be the same,” Gore said. “I’ve spent the last year helping others like him and keeping them on track.”

He said he made a lot of good friendships in Iraq and there were positive thoughts of the time he spent there, but he said his most enduring memory of Iraq is the deaths of 10 soldiers in his group.

“The oldest was about 35, but most were 21, 22,” Gore said. “Every kid who got killed was a reminder that that was someone’s son, someone’s grandson, someone who would never finish college or get married or have children.”

Since Gore has sons who are 18 and 22, respectively, the young lives lost struck particularly close to home for him.

He said thoughts of the “human loss” in Iraq will stick with him, as he recalls “the lives of our soldiers being lost, those incapacitated and the Iraqis themselves.”

He spoke of visiting an Iraqi child being treated in an American hospital. The child was near death, severely injured by an explosive fired by one of his people.

Gore said he was fortunate to be in a support and supply unit that was for the

most part shielded from the death and destruction. “Most of tragedy went on outside the wire,” he said. “What I saw was a smattering of what others saw.”

Gore said he knows that what is being done in Iraq has to be done. “The war on terrorism is not optional,” he said. “Others forced it on us. We can either ignore or die in pockets.”

But he is not sure the strategy being used is optimal and conducive to victory in Iraq. “We’ve used way too many halfmeasures,” he said. “So many of the casualties we’ve sustained have been because we’ve tried to minimize collateral damage at the cost of the American soldier.”

Gore said he is glad to be home.

“It’s been good — not a bad transition,” he said. “I’m still having trouble sleeping but eating real food has been wonderful. It’s been good to get back to the seminary.”

The most important lesson Gore thinks he learned from his tour in Iraq involves his family.

Extension site could award degrees in the near future

A $1.5 million pledge from First Presbyterian Church of Columbia to establish a faculty chair is another in a series of events that could result in the Columbia Erskine Seminary extension site awarding degrees to students.

The seminary marked the opening of the Columbia site with a celebration in January. During the convocation event, Associate Professor of Theology Dr. Mark E. Ross was installed as first resident professor at the site.

Executive Vice President for the Seminary the Rev. H. Neely Gaston said plans call for the Columbia extension site to be a degree-granting site by the year 2010 in the master of divinity and master of arts in practical ministry programs.

The master’s in practical ministry degree is a scaled-back version of what has been known as the master’s in pastoral ministry, Gaston said.

“We should be able to get provisional acceptance of the degree by Fall 2005,” he said. One of the seminary’s accrediting agencies, the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), has to approve the change.

Gaston said when discussions started with First Presbyterian officials about establishing a Columbia extension site, he explained that doing so would require funding.

“The idea is to provide for professors’ salaries, benefits and research money,” he said. “The $1.5 million will do all that.”

First Presbyterian of Columbia has already paid $250,000 toward its pledge.

R.J. Gore

Slip, Sliding Away...

Students take a break from the heat of exams and the sun. From left, Katherine Evans, Rebecca Jones, Katie Bumgarner, Amanda Musielak, Shawn Marler and Radha Bharathi.