NEWS OF ALUMNI 2014–15 Gina Gandy recently received the Graduate of the Year Award from the Career Colleges and Schools of Texas. She is a 2014 graduate of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Dallas. Markus and Ashley LaFleur Haeusler are in Starkville with their children, Alex, Ave, and Addi. Ashley works at the Palmer Home for Children. Peyton Hays completed a fellowship in orthopedic hand and upper extremity at Harvard-Beth Israel Deaconess in 2013. He joined ProHEALTH Care Associates in Manhasset, Long Island, as an orthopedic hand specialist. Peyton married Matthew Axe of Suffolk, England, on May 19, 2014. Matthew is the former vice president creative director of Martha Stewart Living and now works as a freelance creative director in New York City. They live in Jackson Heights, N.Y. Drew and Laura Hendon welcomed a daughter, Caroline, on April 22, 2015. Drew is a pharmacist at St. Dominic Hospital. They live in Madison. Larry and Honey Witt May live in Jackson. She and Larry welcomed a daughter, Lila Witt, on April 17, 2015. Honey is retiring from Ann Smith Elementary, and Larry is a CPA. Rick McKnight is engaged to marry Jessica Zamora. Mick and Emily Bush O’Grady welcomed a daughter, Eloise Maeve, on August 21, 2014. They live in Nashville.
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Chase and Lauren Newton Roady and sons, Whit and Woods, welcomed another son, Worth, on September 23, 2014. They live in Oxford where Lauren is a pharmaceutical rep and Chase works for USI Insurance in Memphis. Don and Courtney Ross live in Oxford with their two sons. Don is the community and college pastor for the Orchard Church.
Class of 1998 Clayton and Christine Allen welcomed a son, Joseph, on June 2, 2014. Clayton was chief resident in the internal medicine department at the University of Virginia Medical Center and now is in a residency at Vanderbilt University. He graduated from UMMC in 2010. Katie Peterson Elliott is the English lab director for the Rankin campus of Hinds Community College. Daniel is a vice president and senior lender in the Midsouth Metro Market for BancorpSouth. They have two children at JA, Carter and Addie. Carrie and David Howie live in Jackson with their four children, Aubrey, Jude, Alaina Ruth, and Mary Frances. David is in commercial real estate. Betsy Woods Martin has recently become a full-time English instructor for Hinds Community College. For several years she worked as the 6:00 p.m. TV news
producer for WLBT in Jackson. At Mississippi College, Betsy received a bachelor’s in English in 2002 and then completed a master’s in communications in 2003. Her husband, Larry, also teaches English at Hinds Community College. Their daughter, Emily, is a JA first grader. Chad and Kendall Phillips Mitchell and daughter, Annabelle, welcomed a son, Mayes Clark, on December 14, 2014. They live in Collierville, Tenn. Mitch Peters attended Radford University on a soccer scholarship and works with Peters Real Estate in Jackson in commercial properties. He and Ceejaye have two daughters. Anna Powers is a defense mortgage attorney at Baker Donelson. Bryant Walker graduated from medical school at UMMC in 2006. He stayed at UMMC for general surgery training and graduated in 2011. He and his family moved to St. Louis where he started plastic surgery training in 2011. He completed his training at UMMC in June 2014. He opened a solo practice, Allure Plastics, in November 2014 at the Renaissance. Allure is adjacent to Aqua Day Spa and Barnette’s Salon. He and Irina have two children, Daniella and Nicholas. They live on the reservoir. In May 2015, Patrick Welsh traveled with former President Bill Clinton and his delegation to projects in Africa as part of the Clinton Global Initiative. He was among 20 delegation members, about 15 Clinton staff, and several press members who reviewed supported projects