Columns - Spring 2015

T H E M AG A Z I N E F O R L O U I S B U R G C O L L E G E A L U M N I & F R I E N D S | S P R I N G 2 0 1 5

The Value of Liberal Arts

Dear Louisburg College . . .

A Letter of Thanks

Student Housing Over the Years

Tar River Center Celebrates Second Anniversary

Vice President for Enrollment Stephanie Tolbert ’97 is a proud alumna of Louisburg College.

She stands here with her father, Stephen Buchanan ’73; her niece, Kaitlin Wakefield ’14; and her son, Jackson, future member of the Class of 2028. We hope that you and your loved ones will consider making Louisburg College a family tradition, too.

Since 1787, Louisburg College has embraced a growing family of learners by engaging each class, nurturing the next generation of leaders and building strong foundations for great futures.

We hope you will tell your Louisburg story. Encourage a young learner to take a look at all that we have to offer, and help us continue to build the Louisburg College legacy.

In This Issue

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24 Great Futures

The Value of Liberal arts

President’s Report

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38 Matt Brown

Campaign Update

Message from the Provost

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College News

Retires

14

Honor Roll of Donors

Features 12

The Evolution of Student Housing

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Atomic City Girl Virginia Spivey Coleman ’42

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Louisburg Implements Green Initiatives

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Financial Update

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A Message from the Alumni Director

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Dear Louisburg College . . . A Letter of Thanks

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Shakespeare Authorship: Is There a Conspiracy?

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Hurricane Athletics: Year in Review

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Class of 2013 Athletes: Where Are They Now?

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Chaplain’s Message: The Value of Faith

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Sandra Beasley Retires

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Class Notes

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In Memoriam

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Tar River Center Celebrates Second Anniversary

The Breeze: An Alum Remembers Al Wright

On the Cover Campus dining will never be the same again! Learn more about the renovation to Duke Dining Center on page 20. Better yet, join us for lunch and see for yourself.

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President’s Cabinet

Marla Gupton Coleman ’62

Dr. Mark La Branche President

William R. Cross ’71 Clyde P. Harris, Jr.

Graphic Designer and Managing Editor

Kurt Carlson Vice President for Institutional Advancement

Assistant Editor

Dr. James Eck Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Columns Staff Executive Editor

Anne Strickland Director of Communications and Marketing

Amy Scoggin Wolfe Director of Publications

Emily Zank Associate Dean for Academic Life

H. John Hatcher, Jr. Emily Hodges Seymour Holt ’49 Lynda W. Hudson ’68

Jonathan Ehrlich Vice President for Finance

Charles Knight ’87

Barry Burger Communications Volunteer

Michael Holloman ’83 Athletics Director

Beth M. Norris

Brittany Hunt ’10 Director of Institutional Effectiveness

Jason Modlin Vice President for Student Life

Charles Rucker ’72 Volunteer Writer

Stephanie Buchanan Tolbert ’97 Vice President for Enrollment

Contributors

Photography

Geoff Neville The Franklin Times Corey Nolen www.coreynolenphoto.com DeShelia Spann www.desheliaspann.com Anne Strickland Louisburg College Amy Wolfe Louisburg College

Questions About This Issue?

Please contact Director of Communications and Marketing Anne Strickland at (919) 497-3330 or astrickland@louisburg.edu.

Columns magazine is published for alumni and friends of Louisburg College annually in the spring by the Office of Communications and Marketing.

Our Mission

Related by faith to The United Methodist Church, Louisburg College is committed to offering a supportive community which nurtures young men and women intellectually, culturally, socially, physically, and spiritually.

As a two-year residential institution, we provide a bridge for students to make a successful transition from high school to senior colleges and universities.

Louisburg College

501 N. Main Street Louisburg, NC 27549 www.louisburg.edu 1 (800) 775-0208 | (919) 496-2521 This institution is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

For more information, please visit www.louisburg.edu/about/equal.html.

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David “Tad” DeBerry ’85

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Alumni Association

Lynda C. Lumpkin Russell Odom ’68 Donald Parrott ’63 Dr. Bobbie Richardson Fred Roberson ’62 Franklin T. Roberts Sue C. Robertson

Alex Cheek ’94 President of the Alumni Association

William C. Shelton ’69

William Hurley ’53 President of the Golden Anniversary Council

John F. Strotmeyer ’68

Board of Trustees

Kimberly D. Spivey C. Boyd Sturges III Roger G. Taylor ’68 Dr. James P. West

Michael W. Boddie ’77 Chairman

Brian Wilder ’94

Ely J. Perry III ’84 Vice Chairman

Ex-Officio Trustees

Lucy T. Allen Secretary John Allen ’85 Anne D. Bowen Dr. W. John Cameron W. Britt Cobb, Jr. ’69

Alex Cheek ’94 President of the Alumni Association Dr. Mark La Branche President of Louisburg College Rev. Jon Strother Capital District Superintendent of the NC Conference of the United Methodist Church

The President’s Report Louisburg College Alum and Trustee Marla Gupton Coleman ’62 recently sent me a picture of a painting she had done, drafted from the earliest archived image of our beloved Main Building. Marla is a gifted artist, and this painting is a beautiful interpretation of a very early time in our 228-year history. It struck me right away that she had entitled her painting with one simple, yet profound word: “Hope.” I asked Marla to tell me what led her to name her painting in this way. Marla shared, “I tried and tried to come up with a name, but the only word that kept shouting at me was ‘Hope.’ Hope is what Louisburg gave me . . . and I could write a book about how long that hope has lasted. So, even though I wrote down several names, only ‘Hope’ stuck. I only wish every student I ever knew would climb those stairs and join in the joy that permeates the place.” What a testimony!

For more than two centuries, Louisburg College has provided a positive path to a preferred future. The lamp of knowledge and the flame of faith have combined to impart wisdom to the world. I ask you, “What could be more valuable than that?”

This spring, we will honor two individuals that found our mission so worthy that they made it their lifework, and now we will celebrate their retirement. Mr. Matt Brown followed his father, James Harvey Brown, who served the College for sixteen years. Matt will retire from the position of division chair for Business Studies and Social Sciences with 32 years of service. Ms. Sandra Beasley, who has been a valuable member of our Registrar’s Office, will retire after forty years of service. Both of these servants to the College will leave an enduring legacy.

“Hope” is just one of the values that define Louisburg College.

This edition of Columns will focus on our core values as a learning community that continue to add tremendous value to the lives of our students, our faculty and staff, and to the world.

For the College,

Mark

“Hope,” an original oil painting of Old Main (as it looked in 1857) by Marla Gupton Coleman ’62

Our Values Community

We embrace the idea that we all have commonalities which bind us together. This leads to self-awareness and a genuine concern and responsibility for the welfare of others.

Excellence

We are committed to excellence in all areas. This commitment calls forth our best efforts at the highest level of our capabilities, challenging us to exceed our own expectations.

Faith

We hold in high regard our relationship with The United Methodist Church. We encourage spiritual exploration by all members of our community, convicted that a foundation of faith enhances learning and personal growth.

Integrity

We value character and high moral standards.

Respect

We embrace the dignity of all members of our community and expect all members of our community to do likewise.

Responsibility

We embrace the responsibility placed on us to provide opportunities for a quality, holistic education to our students. We also believe that the welfare of our community is a shared responsibility and expect our students to be accountable for their actions.

Success

We strive for success in all areas of our work. We embrace the idea that our students’ success is our success and that we must partner with students to achieve it.

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A Trinity of Momentum-Building Initiatives: Affirming What is Best about Louisburg College

by Dr. James Eck, Provost, Title III Project Director and SACS Liaison and Emily Zank, Associate Dean for Academic Life, Title III Project Coordinator and SACS Coordinator

Horizon 2020: The Plan for Louisburg College began its implementation phase during Fall 2013. Over the past two academic years, we have made progress with over 100 tasks detailed in this strategic plan, such as increasing the number of articulation agreements with other private and public four-year colleges, expanding bandwidth and enterprise wireless Internet connectivity across campus, bolstering the percentage of female enrollment, renovating the Hodges Fine Arts Center and elevating the minimum high school grade-point average requirements for the entering class.

Horizon 2020 provides a comprehensive framework for the College to closely monitor key performance and viability indicators, scaffolding necessary actions to ensure the longterm stability and strengthening of America’s premier private two-year college.

The strategic plan also reaffirms our College’s mission, vision and values. The Mission states that “Related by faith to The United Methodist Church, Louisburg College is committed to offering a supportive community which nurtures young men and women intellectually, culturally, socially, physically, and spiritually. As a two-year residential institution, we provide a bridge for students to make a successful transition from high school to senior colleges and universities.” Closely related to the mission statement, the College’s Vision claims “Louisburg College will be the model

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church-related college that prepares students for life and service.” The vision will be brought to fruition through seven distinctive Values: “We approach our mission with integrity; we respect the dignity of each individual; we embrace diverse learning styles; we offer opportunities for all of our students to succeed; we provide a high quality, accessible education; we enable and challenge our students to reach their full potential; and we value our Christian heritage and foster spiritual growth.” Louisburg College is well served by identifying its mission, vision and values and by allowing those beacons to guide us forward as we continuously improve.

The College’s U.S. Department of Education Title III grant, Strengthen Foundations for Great Student Futures, also entered its second year of implementation. The grant has provided funds for improving technology infrastructure and access across campus; increasing technology tools available for student use, instructional methods and datadriven decision-making; expanding academic support opportunities; transforming our library into a collaborative learning commons; and creating full-time professional positions related to institutional effectiveness and faculty professional development. One of the ways Louisburg will solidify its future is through demonstrating that our students master the learning outcomes outlined in the College Catalog, including critical thinking, oral communication,

written communication and quantitative reasoning. The institutional effectiveness director will gather data throughout the academic year, providing clear, assuring evidence of our students’ learning, thereby creating competitive advantage for the College. Learning outcomes will improve as our faculty hone innovative ways to foster student engagement in the classroom; our professional development director will be planning workshops, retreats and peer mentoring opportunities for the faculty throughout the year, providing pathways for each one of us to become master teachers, thereby creating even more competitive advantage for the College.

“Louisburg College is well served by identifying its mission, vision and values and by allowing those beacons to guide us forward as we continuously improve.”

Finally, the College has spent two years planning for and writing its compliance certification for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). Nearly ninety standards require responses in order to prove the College’s compliance.

Approximately 200 pages of narrative and 1,000+ supporting documents later, we have submitted the certification for review by an offsite committee of peers. Following the offsite review in late April, an onsite committee will visit the College in October. We had our reaffirmation narratives and documents scrutinized carefully prior to submission, and the College anticipates a most successful reaffirmation in early June 2016.

External consultants Dr. Paul Bucci and Garnet Persinger, who have not only reviewed the College’s SACSCOC Compliance Certification but also assisted with the College’s Title III grant and Horizon 2020 strategic plan implementation, explain that “Louisburg’s strategic planning process brought the direction and development priorities of the College into sharp focus at all levels and provided the touchstones along the way to keep on track. Strategic planning has guided the College in the establishment of annual goals across campus, fostering a climate of continuous improvement among faculty and staff.

This top to bottom and bottom to top linkage, in alignment with and serving the College’s strategic priorities, has made sustained improvement possible.

The strategic planning initiative has empowered the College community to work together toward agreed upon goals, design a funded $2.25 million Title III Institutional Strengthening

grant and prepare a compelling SACSCOC reaffirmation report.”

Our trinity, the strategic plan, the Title III grant and the SACSCOC compliance certification, has exhausted many keyboards.

These initiatives, however, are not orthogonal; there is a lot of overlap and commonality. The nexus between these three separate projects has resulted in the College developing a quality enhancement plan (QEP) for its next phase of SACSCOC reaffirmation. The QEP, entitled “Engaged Teaching Fosters Engaged Learning,” will create a paradigm wherein Louisburg College will both claim and demonstrate, within the next five years, that we are a premier teaching college. If Horizon 2020 provides the opportunity to continuously monitor a wide range of performance and viability indicators; if our Title III grant provides for an interactive learning commons and strengthens opportunities for faculty to emerge as master teachers; and if our quality enhancement plan provides the pathway for the College to demonstrate that we teach better than our peers (i.e., our students out learn their peers at other twoand four-year colleges), we will have secured this College’s strong foundation for a great future. Be excited about Louisburg College . . .

Let’s soar!

Pictured: The 2014-2015 Honors Program with advisor Candy Jones (center, in green dress)

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Hurricanes Serve Their Community Every year, our students go out into the community and make a difference. Here are a few highlights of their good work. We are proud of our Hurricanes for getting involved—go Canes!

Professor Will Hinton’s Foundation Drawing Class created flower images and stencils, colored them with Alzheimer’s Unit patients at the Franklin Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and transformed a bare 80-foot fence into something beautiful for the residents. The patients now have a gorgeous view!

Students worked together during the United Way Day of Caring to support our local community by making needed improvements to local residences. Two houses benefited from the work of our Louisburg College team.

Members of the Canes Cross County Team and the Louisburg College Running Club participated in the Grace Haven Rock~N~Run this past fall.

Proceeds from this event support Safe Space, which was established to assist domestic violence victims and their children in Franklin County.

Several Hurricane Productions and Hurricanes Outreach students reached out to the Franklin County Animal Shelter to volunteer, spending the afternoon cleaning kennels, visiting with the animals and making new friends.

A Comprehensive World View

Study Abroad Group Headed to the Mediterranean After an English adventure in the United Kingdom, during which a group of LC students visited the Edinburg Castle in Scotland and Buckingham Palace in England, Assistant Professor of English Kris Hoffler began looking for a trip that would capture literature, religion and art. From May 18 to May 28, 2015, eight lucky students have signed up to do just that with a trip to both Italy and Greece.

“A lot of these students have never been on an airplane,” says Hoffler. “Some have barely been out of North Carolina. A trip to New York is one thing . . . going to Rome is a whole other experience. It really changes them.”

Kris Hoffler at Scotland’s Edinburg Castle during last year’s trip.

Some of history’s most well-known artifacts will be highlights on the students’ trip, which includes a tour of Vatican City, a view of Athens with its Olympic Stadium and Temple of Athena, and an opportunity to explore the ruins of Pompeii. A night ferry from Brindisi to Delphi will carry the travelers from Italy to Greece, where students will visit the Oracle famed throughout Greek history and literature. Their trip will end with a view of the cliffside Temple of Poseidon.

Joining Hoffler and students will be Assistant Professor of English Candace Jones, director of both Library Services and the College’s Honors Program. These trips focus on broadening the students culturally and educationally. To this end, Hoffler is already looking forward to Louisburg’s 2016 adventure: “It is between two trips—Germany and France or Germany and Austria.”

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Camping for a Good Cause How a Summer Volunteer Experience Helped Confirm a Career Path for One Louisburg Student

by Anne Strickland, Director of Communications and Marketing

Kenia Roa ’15 spent last summer at Camp Easter Seals (CES). She learned of the opportunity from Great Futures Career and Transfer Coach Marla Peoples and took a chance.

“I thought it’d be a great opportunity to experience something new and decide whether occupational therapy is the career I want to choose for my future,” said Kenia.

“This was a totally different experience for me. Previously, the only interaction I had with children or anyone with a disability had been with my sister, Jasmine, who has Down syndrome. At CES, I was able to work with people who have different kinds of disabilities like cerebral palsy, autism and epilepsy.

We woke up every morning at 7:30, got the campers ready for the day and headed to breakfast. After breakfast, we took care of medications, and then we participated in activities, which varied each day. Each night we had a different program that involved all of the cabins. Overall, we just had fun and entertained everyone.

It was great getting to know the other camp counselors and also bonding with the campers, hearing their stories and learning new things about them each day.”

CES is designed to offer children and adults with disabilities a chance to enjoy fun and challenging activities in a supportive atmosphere. Kenia took advantage of the opportunity to understand more about her campers and also more about herself.

“At camp, I learned that we should value our lives each and every day because there are other people out in the world who have it worse than we do. Campers who were unable to walk or eat without our assistance probably smile more during a day than most of us do.”

Overall, Kenia would absolutely recommend CES to her peers. “It was one of the most wonderful experiences that I’ve ever had. I met some of the greatest people of my life.

Being able to make an impact on someone else’s life in such a positive way was such an amazing feeling, and it’s something I think everyone should experience.”

Reflecting on this opportunity, she says, “I think the ones who ended up impacting the most lives were actually the campers themselves.”

“Being able to make an impact on someone else’s life in such a positive way was such an amazing feeling, and it’s something I think everyone should experience.”

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Class of 2014 -

Our Next Steps

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Living Learning Community Prepares Students for Future Endeavors While most Louisburg students were preparing to go home for a Thanksgiving feast, the residents of the Joyner House were participating in a mock interview activity with College faculty and staff.

This academic year, the Joyner House Living Learning Community has been focused on college transfer success.

All students were enrolled in ACA 122: College Transfer Success, taught by Great Futures Career and Transfer Coach Marla Peoples; the course focused on academic and career goal planning. Students took career interest inventories to determine the right occupations for their personality types, interests and values.

They researched and wrote about their career choices, explaining the duties and responsibilities involved, work conditions, personal qualities, necessary education, job outlook and salary. After this activity, they interviewed professionals working in their areas of interest for advice and additional job-related information.

Subsequently, students researched the best colleges for their majors using

criteria important to them such as location, size, cost and admissions requirements, and then they compared their favorites. Upon identifying their top choices, they shared pertinent information about the colleges in a presentation to the class. They also researched two majors at two different colleges, mapping their academic course plans to earn their degrees.

Then students wrote resumes and “applied” for their dream jobs as if they had completed their degrees. The course culminated in mock interviews; students dressed the part, wearing professional attire and carrying their resumes to present to their interviewers. Most of the residents were nervous before the experience, but they all agreed that it was not as bad as expected and that the feedback they received would help them attain their first professional job.

Participating Joyner House residents included (from top to bottom): Megon Smith, Lauren McTizic, Keisha Foster, Cristal Figueroa, Laura Vega-Maldonado, Ellen Tootoo, Simone Mitchell and Samari Bonilla Turcios.

Interviewers included the following staff and faculty: Dr. Jim Eck, Candace Jones, Kaye Yadusky, Emily Zank, Dr. Kelvin Spragley, Jen Patsy, Fonda Porter and Rev. Shane Benjamin.

During the spring semester, these students participated in even more activities geared toward preparing them for success in future educational and career endeavors.

Learning Partners: A Game Changer Learning Partners, the College’s fee-based academic coaching and tutoring program, provides a strong educational foundation for students with diagnosed learning disabilities. The program’s mission is to provide students the individualized support and coaching they need to develop their learning skills, realize their academic goals and work toward becoming successful Caroline, at her 2014 LC graduation independent with younger brother, Cameron, and learners. parents Charles ’87 and Cathy Knight.

By pairing students with professional learning specialists, Learning Partners creates opportunities for supportive collaboration and facilitates intensive, interactive academic coaching and tutorial sessions. Labs with learning-specific software are accessible to students and help with the program’s mission to promote self-reliance and assist students in acquiring strategy skills for academic success.

Recent graduate Caroline Knight earned her associate of arts degree from Louisburg College in May 2014, after which she transferred to Elon University. While at Louisburg, Caroline resided at the Joyner House, a women’s application-based living and learning community residence reserved for academically qualified sophomore students. Caroline was also voted Ambassador of the Year for her work with the Admissions Office.

“I firmly believe that our Learning Partners Program is a game changer. It gives students an opportunity to work with mentors and advocates who understand the struggles of students with learning differences,” remarked her father, Louisburg College Trustee and Class of ’87 Alumnus Charles Knight. Learning Partners is doing great work, building strong foundations for great futures.

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students in and out of class. Our faculty exemplify what a teaching institution looks like and are thrilled during those most engaging moments when roles reverse— faculty become learners and students become instructors—and members of this collaborative academic community work as one as they strive for success.

Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning

by Emily Zank, Associate Dean for Academic Life, Title III Project Coordinator and SACS Coordinator

When a Louisburg College student is accepted into the College, they join many campus communities: groups in their residence halls, academic and social organizations and athletic teams. As a liberal arts college, the most important membership opportunity Louisburg extends concerns academia, where students can join the ranks of life-long, intrinsically motivated scholars. This group isn’t for the timid. True scholars must find satisfaction in the pursuit of deep understanding and not expect to simply memorize a list of facts; they must eagerly tackle challenges posed with both patience and critical thinking skills, not balking at difficult problems; academics must immerse themselves in study and refuse for anything less than truth and excellence.

Our students’ world is one that has often emphasized standardized tests and choosing routes based on the quickest and simplest way to get from point A to point B with the least amount of effort. How will faculty get students to accept such a daunting invitation to take the longer, yet more enduring and rewarding route?

In order to facilitate this community of scholars, where our professors’ contagious passion ignites students’ curiosity and interest, the Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning was founded. New in the 2014-2015 academic year and funded in its first years by the College’s U.S. Department of Education Title III grant, the Center’s mission is “to provide resources and support that encourage growth in a collaborative environment to achieve excellence in teaching.” Instructors become even more effective when they better understand how their students learn and are willing to vary their teaching strategies. Louisburg’s faculty are dedicated to student success and understand the importance of interaction between themselves and

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The Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning recognizes not only the importance of supporting faculty so they remain experts in their academic disciplines, but also so they have the classroom tools that will result in student attainment of learning outcomes in each course. Under the guidance of a full-time director of professional development and steered by a Professional Development Advisory Committee, the Center offers oneon-one assistance, technology, on-campus and external professional workshops and seminars, lunch and learn presentations, monthly newsletters, a resource library and other tools to instructors, increasing their capabilities and capacities as master teachers. This professional development program will move the college toward upto-date, research-based best practices in education through fostering collaboration, openness, mutual respect and feedback assessments. In subsequent years, the director of professional development will facilitate new faculty orientation, mentoring, peer support and observation and leadership development. Renovations to the Center’s permanent space in the library basement, slated for completion in Summer 2015, will prepare an instructional technology lab, collaborative space and a professional resource library for faculty use.

The Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning aligns well with the College’s quality enhancement plan (QEP), currently being developed as a component of the College’s SACSCOC reaffirmation process. Entitled “Learning Strategies that Foster Student Engagement: Linking the Instructional Landscape to Student Learning Outcomes,” the QEP will provide professional development to faculty about how students learn and different instructional strategies and assessment methods to engage students in the classroom. As faculty employ varied instructional strategies, students will become more invested in course material, and, as a result, their success will increase.

Pictured: Assistant Professor of Business Dr. SangSoon Koh holds Tai Chi classes on the JPAC lawn.

Title III Grant Positions Filled

by Emily Zank, Associate Dean for Academic Life, Title III Project and SACS Coordinator

Louisburg College welcomes Brittany Hunt ’10, Dr. Judy Stover and Ellen Divens to fill key positions funded through the Title III grant.

As the director of institutional effectiveness, Brittany Hunt works with staff and faculty to gather, assess and report data, ensuring that the College makes data-driven decisions and continuously improves programs and services for students. In addition, she plays a key role in assessing the success of the College’s Title III grant activities and coordinates College-wide assessment efforts. After obtaining her AA from Louisburg, Hunt earned her Bachelor of Arts in English from North Carolina State University and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Higher Education at the University of North CarolinaWilmington.

The College’s director of professional development, Dr. Judy Stover, has had a long career in education and was most recently the Franklin County Schools Human Resources Personnel Support Director, charged with directing the system’s Title II grant, supporting teachers, coordinating

evaluation and providing professional development. Dr. Stover earned her BS and MEd degrees from Pennsylvania State University; later, she completed degrees at North Carolina State University, including her PhD in Educational Leadership and Administration. With a wealth of experience as a classroom instructor, a Japan Fulbright Scholar and one of the first National Board certified teachers, Dr. Stover facilitates continuous improvement of teaching effectiveness through her work in the Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning.

Part-time Educational Technologies Librarian Ellen Divens helps faculty and students utilize the latest gadgets in their classes and projects. In collaboration with IT staff, Divens assists with selecting new technology tools and trains faculty and students in their use. In addition, she works closely with the director of professional development, leading workshops and contributing technology news and resources in the Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning’s monthly newsletter.

(From l-r): Dr. Judy Stover, Ellen Divens and Brittany Hunt ’10.

She also works one-on-one with faculty members as they incorporate technology into their courses, design hybrid classes and become familiar with the latest innovations that will engage students and promote learning. Divens earned her Master of Science in Communications and Information Management from Bay Path College, her Master of Science in Adult Education from Buffalo State University, and her Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management from Roberts Wesleyan College.

These positions are initially funded through the College’s Title III grant and will be incrementally encumbered before grant completion in 2018.

Academic Support Center Opens Student success is at the core of all we do at Louisburg College, and we are dedicated to providing students every opportunity at achieving excellence in their academic programs.

To further nurture our students’ growth, the Academic Success Center opened its doors in 2015, (From l-r) Front row: Natalie Manning and Nicholas Skerpon significantly increasing Back Row: Robert Arthur, academic support on Brian Williams, Austin campus. Located in a Crawford and Jacob Proulx. newly-renovated space within the Robbins Library Collaborative Commons, the Academic Success Center is open Sunday through Thursday from 5-10 p.m. Here, all students can receive free tutoring in any academic discipline or seek assistance with test preparation, time management, study strategies and goal

setting. The space is equipped with a computer lab, study materials, technology resources and other tools students might need as they tackle their coursework.

The Center is staffed by peer tutors who are among Louisburg College’s most academically accomplished students and who have a desire to develop professionally while giving back to their classmates. The criteria for this position are highly selective, and tutors receive ongoing training and mentoring from the associate dean for academic life. Six students were selected as the inaugural Academic Success Center staff: Nicholas Skerpon (lead peer tutor), Robert Arthur, Austin Crawford, Natalie Manning, Jacob Proulx and Brian Williams. These campus leaders not only help Louisburg’s student body work toward reaching their potential, but they also remain significantly involved in policy development, marketing and other aspects of managing the Academic Success Center.

The creation of the Academic Success Center was funded by the College’s U.S. Department of Education Title III grant.

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Pictured: Louisburg College students in their dorm room, 1917.

by Jason Modlin, Vice President for Student Life

Since the dawn of higher education, college students have needed a “home away from home.” At Louisburg College, when the first classes were offered at the Franklin Male Academy, students boarded with local residents. Eventually, on-campus student housing was available in dormitories. Today, our students live in modern residence halls replete with opportunities for intellectual and social growth. American higher education was modeled after the English traditions. Gregory Blimling, a noted scholar and author on college residence life, notes that traditionally “college was the place where young men [in the early years only men went to college] not only learned Latin, Greek, mathematics, philosophy and religion, but also developed character and learned values, manners, and deportment [conduct]. . . .”

Holistic education of students has long been a hallmark of higher education, and today’s residence halls play a vital role in student development.

At the outset, Louisburg College students spent approximately $70 per year to live with local residents. These families almost certainly provided them an education about character and values, if only informally, under the watchful eye of “house mothers.” In the mid-1800s, students began living on campus; in the late 1800s, the College employed a “Boarding Department” to oversee residential students. In the early 1900s, the Davis Memorial Building and Pattie Julia Wright

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Memorial Dormitory were constructed and specifically designed (at least in part) for student housing. Four additional dormitories were added in the mid- and late 1900s: Patten, Kenan, Merritt and Hillman-Morris Halls.

Again, house mothers with a strict code of conduct were employed to oversee the students. Using “call-downs” to respond to conduct issues, these house mothers helped to instill in students many of the core values the College holds today, including faith, integrity, respect and community.

With the increase in research on how students develop in college, it became clear that a vital part of the student’s growth at college happened outside of the classroom.

This understanding brought with it a shift in how campus housing was perceived and organized. House mothers gave way to residence (or community) directors, who are trained professionals charged with community building and value development. The term “dormitory,” usually denoting a building where students slept, gave way to “residence hall,” a place where students not only sleep but also live and learn. As Blimling notes, peer interaction has a “particularly strong influence during the first two years of college,” so paraprofessional student staff (resident assistants) were added to residence halls, supporting resident directors and fostering interaction and engagement among resident students.

Today, campus housing looks vastly different than it has at any point in the history of American higher education. Residence halls come complete with social and study lounges, computer labs, wireless internet and even classrooms. Trained, professional residence life staff interact daily with residents and provide guidance, advisement and mentoring. The staff also facilitates programs designed to assist students as they grow and develop into responsible citizens. At Louisburg College, as at many schools, living and learning communities are being developed that merge the classroom and the living space, helping to create a seamless academy for students.

Did you live in a dorm or a residence hall? Did you receive a “call-down” from the house mother or a “write-up” from the resident director? Regardless of how you answer, you most likely owe part of your growth as a person to having lived on campus. The campus “home-away-from-home” will continue to evolve to best meet the needs of students, but, no matter how housing may change, we will always seek to cultivate in students the values we hold dear.

Welcome home.

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students concer ne d n violating a busy sig disturbe d. Anyone w n. will re ceive a call-do CORD PLAY ERS: • RADIOS AN D RE players must be Radios and re cord l times. played quietly at al ve udents may NOT ha • TELEVISIONS: St eir ro oms. television sets in th r ents may have thei • LIGH TS: All stud . lights on until 1 a.m

1- 19 7 2 R u le s fr o m th e 19 7 ok LC St u d e n t H a n d b o

en: Regulations for Wom re the acceptable • Women who igno shall be . . . re quire d standards of dress l times. to wear dresses at al be in their dorms by by • All women must ugh Thur sday and 11 p.m. Sunday thro e er th turday. (Note: 1 a.m. Friday and Sa s for men.) were no similar rule be used between • Typewriters may only by 11 p.m. and 8 a.m.

Counselors. permission of House er?!)

(What is a ty pew rit

1- 2 0 0 2 R u le s fr o m th e 2 0 0 ok LC St u d e n t H a n d b o

ing units are not

ition • Personal air cond sidence halls (Yes—we

Present day Louisburg College students in the Joyner House, a residence hall for honor students.

permitted in the re is!). re ally had to say th t ility of each studen • It is the resp onsib m or herself (Some to clean up after hi !). things never change

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College News College Welcomes Three New Members to the Board Louisburg College is pleased to announce four new appointments to the College’s Board of Trustees, who will serve for a term of four years.

Class of ’87 alumnus Charles Knight is a presales engineer and systems architect for Canon U.S.A. with more than twenty years of experience. A graduate of North Carolina State University, Knight credits the expansive liberal arts education he received from both institutions, preparing him for his career path by sparking a hunger for additional learning while helping him develop creativity and vision. Charles is active with the Louisburg College Alumni Association, a member of the Louisburg College Alumni Board, an advisor to the Donald D. Lynch Family Foundation, a fundraising team leader for several building campaigns for his church and an avid outdoorsman, runner and cyclist.

With more than thirty years in public accounting, Franklin T. Roberts of Batchelor, Tillery & Roberts, LLP, brings extensive experience with nonprofits, agricultural companies, construction and manufacturing corporations, commercial entities and employee benefit plans. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants. He serves on The Center for the Study of Place, Inc. Board of Directors and the Salvation Army of Raleigh Advisory Board. He is an active member of Edenton Street United Methodist Church and

New Trustees (from l-r): Charles Knight ’87, Franklin T. Roberts and W. Britt Cobb, Jr. ’69.

coaches high school track. Franklin received a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar.

Elm City native and Louisburg College Class of ’69 alum W. Britt Cobb, Jr. is a former North Carolina government official. His last position was as chief of staff for North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue until she left office in January 2013. Previously, he had served as her secretary of administration (a member of the Governor’s Cabinet).

Cobb also served as commissioner of agriculture for the state of North Carolina between June 2003 and February 2005. He was appointed to the post following the resignation of Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps and lost a hotly disputed race for the seat in 2004 to Republican Steve Troxler. Cobb is a business administration graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

LC Students Compete in NCICU Ethics Bowl Louisburg College was proud to participate in this February’s NCICU Ethics Bowl. The team, comprised of Terri’ale Hall, Parker Hubbard, Terharen Warren and Amber Gywn, competed well against their opponents Montreat College, Salem College, Meredith College and Johnson C. Smith University—all teams composed primarily of juniors and seniors—with scores separated by only seven points.

(l-r): Wally Hurst, Amber Gywn, Dr. Eck, Parker Hubbard, Terharen Warren, Terri’ale Hall and Dr. Spragley.

Although the team did great work and were praised by all the judging panels, they lost by a close margin each time. The team had a very positive learning experience. It was an impressive showing of our talent and commitment to higher education.

Bringing Color to the Community Louisburg College is working toward bringing art to the downtown community with this wall, featuring our state’s motto Esse Quam Videri: “To be, rather than to seem.” With approval to use the side wall of Bunn’s Heating and Air Conditioning at the corner of Main and West Johnson, the mosaic tile installation uses color to unify our three major communities of Bunn, Franklinton and Louisburg. The college is currently raising funds for this community project; contact Professor of Art Will Hinton at (919) 497-3238 or whinton@louisburg.edu for more information.

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College News De Hart Botanical Gardens Continue to Grow Now that spring has arrived, trees are budding, flowers are blooming and nature’s beauty is visible from every corner of the Gardens. The bits of color emerging are a welcome sight at Louisburg College’s Allen de Hart Gardens, which, like many of us, are recovering from a harsh winter filled with cold rain and snow.

While the Gardens lie in a state of dormancy during the winter, a lot of activity still takes place on the grounds.

The trees and plants may have been taking a break, but Allen de Hart has been quite busy.

If you have had the opportunity to visit the Gardens since late fall, you might have heard the zing of saws and encountered the aroma of fresh cut lumber. No, we’re not taking down trees, but we are excited about the addition of a new structure to the landscape. De Hart has been hard at work directing the construction of a nearly 1,200-square-foot addition to the residence, which will serve as a museum. The purpose is two-fold: not only will the museum serve educational purposes, but it will also chronicle the life and work of Mr. De Hart.

The educational component of the museum will contain samples of soils, rocks, flowers, leaves and mushrooms

and photographs of flowers and animal life from the 91acre Gardens. Artifacts from the former plantation home that once flourished on the site will also be included.

Through the years, De Hart has identified nearly 500 species of plants in the Gardens, and the place is home to fish, turtles, birds, insects and many other woodland creatures. Visiting the museum will enrich the experience of wanderers who walk along the three miles of trails, eager to discover what lies around the next bend.

De Hart’s life can be chronicled as one devoted to the sanctity of nature, setting a powerful example and teaching us all that it is our responsibility to preserve the land on which we live. His philosophy is evident in his personal artifacts, books, art, photography and other collections. It is from these collections—currently occupying three rooms of his home—that the museum will be curated. The College and the community are thrilled that his life’s work and voluminous collection will be housed in the museum for perpetuity.

Displays will fill three gallery spaces, and access will be gained from the main trail upon completion, with an entrance to the north. The current vision is that the museum will be open with a representative present to answer questions or provide discussion on Sunday afternoons. This gift is a great example of De Hart’s desire to share what he has experienced along life’s journey— from mountain trails to his own backyard.

The Gardens border U.S. 401 on the east side, 5 1/2 miles south of Louisburg and a 1/2 mile north of Royal Crossroads. They are open every day to the public from sunrise to sunset. To inquire about holding an event in the Gardens, please contact Allen de Hart at adh4771@aol.com or (919) 496-4771.

Introducing the “Louisburg Legacy Scholarship” The College is proud to announce the introduction of the Louisburg College Legacy Scholarship to our suite of Financial Services scholarship options.

Any student who is the child or grandchild of a Louisburg College alum is eligible for this $1,000 award. We have always prided the College on building a community that feels like family. We’d be honored to welcome your family member to Louisburg College.

Trustee David “Tad” DeBerry ’85 with his daughter, Eleanor (a member of the Louisburg College class of 2016).

For more information, contact the Admissions Office at (919) 496-2521 or admissions@louisburg.edu.

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15

Atomic City Girl

A First-Hand Account of a Young Woman’s Work on the Manhattan Project

by Brittany Hunt ’10, Director of Institutional Effectiveness

“Where are you from?”

The question is a simple one—not altogether uncommon to ask as friendly chatter. For Virginia Coleman ’42, this question was the first asked upon arriving in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Miles away from home, recent college graduates and government workers filed in to work with what, unbeknownst to them at the time, was known as the Manhattan Project. No locals of Oak Ridge were left— not with the need for secrecy and the large military bases being constructed, forcing residents out. Gates were built and access granted only to those working at the three looming plants.

Coleman was originally from Louisburg, one of six children raised by a widowed, single mother. Coleman’s mother regretted so strongly having left high school after eighth grade that she was determined her children would have an opportunity to go further; all six children attended Louisburg College. As one of the twenty percent of her high school classmates who went on to college, Coleman fondly remembers her time at Louisburg.

“I was a day student,” she explains. “I lived a mile from the College and walked to and from classes.” She recalls two teachers specifically, Mr. Taft and Ms. Merritt, as being encouraging mentors to her. The College had only 200 students since most males had already headed off to the war. But the memories are happy ones, experiences that Coleman states were the catalyst for earning her degree. It was at Louisburg that she took the autobus to Raleigh and saw an opera for the first time. “Seeing that opera began to open my world,” she reflects.

The world that Coleman lived in upon graduating from Louisburg with an associate of arts degree was already embroiled in World War II. After transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and entertaining plans to become an English teacher, Coleman found herself bored by the teaching certification courses. Her older sister had completed coursework in chemistry at Chapel Hill, and Coleman had always been intrigued by the sciences. She decided to major in chemistry and began taking accelerated classes created in an effort to award degrees to students wishing to aid the war effort.

Being in one of the first classes to graduate under the accelerated program, Coleman and her fellow chemistry majors were approached by a recruiter from Oak Ridge.

As part of the loan granted to her to attend Chapel Hill, Coleman would be taking a job crucial to the war effort,

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working in the field until the war stopped.

She took a position as a chemist at the Y-12 plant after graduation in March of 1944.

Though surrounded by male peers during the war, Coleman recounts that she faced no unusual challenges from her colleagues. For the most part, war removed society’s reservations surrounding females in science in exchange for the joy of having someone to contribute to the effort. However, Coleman admits, there was one coworker who did casually state that women did not need to go to college and should instead stay home. “His comment made me so angry! But I worked with him and he was a nice man despite that remark.”

Moving to Oak Ridge, Coleman found herself enjoying the town. She still lived in a dormitory, just like she had at Chapel Hill; in many ways, including the rush of young adults working in the area, it felt like an extension of college. Oak Ridge, after all, had one of the youngest populations in the county, with an average age of about 35. She recalls the cattle cars used as buses and how passengers were unable to tell where the bus was stopping until those getting off yelled back to others where they were.

However, traveling away from Oak Ridge meant encountering the surrounding locals, resentful that the Oak Ridge natives had been shoved out. “You knew to take your badges off when shopping. They were suspicious . . . of what was going on. When the news broke, though, there were headlines like ‘We Used to Hate Them, Now We Love Them.’”

The suspicions were no shock. As a government base, Oak Ridge only allowed clearance workers and officials into its walls during WWII. Signs about breaking the natural silence within the plants were posted all around.

One that Coleman remembers vividly displayed the “three wise monkeys” with a warning stating, “What you see here, what you do here, what you hear here, when you leave here, let it stay here.” There were safety videos to reinforce the warnings not to share any information with anyone, not even fellow workers on the base.

And in what may seem hard to believe in the age of instant communication and modern-age connections, there was no talking about what one did at work.

“It is amazing when you think about it,” says Coleman. “We had about 78,000 employees working and keeping their secrets. Friends didn’t talk about their work with each other.

It simply didn’t come up. It was only afterward that some revealed that they had recorded how much uranium came in and out of the facility.”

Though the uranium Coleman and others saw was only called Tubealloy or yellowcake, she knew exactly what they were working with. What she and others could not discern was what it was being brought in and sent out for in relation to the war.

The culmination of the Manhattan Project was the world’s first atomic bombs, which were dropped onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

“Everyone just wanted the war to be over,” said Coleman.

After the war was indeed over, some of the Oak Ridge workers went back home immediately. Others, like Coleman, who had found a home in Tennessee, stayed. Nonetheless, the town’s population dwindled and the bus system that had carried her and so many of her friends outside of Oak Ridge’s walls for shopping and other excursions stopped running. Coleman continued to work at the Y-12 plant for eight years after the war ended. K-25 (the gaseous diffusion plant) has since been demolished, but the Y-12 plant continues to operate, with workers engaging in cutting edge research—even recently producing a 3D automobile.

Coleman married and became a stay-at-home mother to three children while contributing to volunteer work in Oak Ridge. Wanting to go back to school, she decided against pursuing a graduate degree in chemistry. “My husband was a chemist and I didn’t want to compete with him!” So, to avoid competition and to explore how she could further impact others’ as she had before through volunteer work, Coleman majored in clinical social work.

It was not easy, she confides, to return to school after years of being away from textbooks and lectures. Adjusting after taking a few classes, Coleman soon found herself enjoying graduate school and earned her Master of Science in Social Work in 1978 from the University of Tennessee.

With her degree in tow, Coleman began her new career. A conference in Hawaii exposed her to what would eventually be known as Healthy Start. The program was born from research done with families broken by abuse and it provided early intervention, teaching mothers to better care for, communicate and connect with their children. With the program’s 98 percent success rate, Coleman felt instantly driven to Healthy Start.

“That conference was the most exciting and positive that I had ever been to,” she explains. “They were optimistic about the work that they were doing.”

Tennessee gained funding, but it took Anderson County— where Oak Ridge is—three years to secure financial support from a hospital. Healthy Start began and continues to run with the help of volunteers.

As for Coleman, her story—along with nine other women— is shared in Denise Kiernan’s The Girls of Atomic City: The

Untold Story of the Signs about breaking the Women Who Helped Win World War II. The book natural silence within the recounts the story of plants were posted all around. these women as they One that Coleman remembers made their way through the plants of Oak Ridge vividly displayed the “three and into history. Their wise monkeys” with a warning lives and backgrounds stating, “What you see here, varied significantly— what you do here, what you from a chemist and a janitor to a secretary hear here, when you leave and a statisticianhere, let it stay here.” mathematician.

Coleman’s review of Kiernan was glowing. “She was incredible and so friendly. I felt very at ease with her.” Giving attention to Oak Ridge— the town that Coleman had entered as a young adult as an outsider and now regards so fondly—gave her a lot of joy.

Coleman now enjoys classes through the non-profit organization Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning.

This quarter she is taking ten courses, including the History of Venezuela and a course on memoirs. Promoted by Roane State Community College, the program gives Coleman the chance to return to the classroom. “It is nice to be in the college environment with young people again,” she says.

Though her eyesight is no longer what it once was and her ability to enjoy two of her passions, photography and reading, has become difficult, Coleman is persistent.

“My husband built me a dark room after the house was constructed. I am too blind to do photography, but I can still see photos when they are enlarged [digitally] and I enjoy seeing good photos.” She even belongs to two book clubs— one for classic fiction and one for non-fiction—in which she participates via audio books.

She retired from a private practice in 1996. While her love for taking photos and reading continues, many things have changed. Sadly, her husband passed away in 2006, but their three children and grandchildren—two boys and one girl—all bring Coleman joy. The town of Oak Ridge has changed.

Since the gates that held its workers and its secrets were finally open, its population—once a bustling 78,000—has dwindled to 29,000. The residents are no longer as young, with thirty percent of Oak Ridge being over 65. Yet the town stays dear to Coleman’s heart—much lovelier now as it was during the war years. “If it wasn’t for Louisburg College, I may have never left Louisburg,” says Coleman. “Where are you from?” With a life led and a legacy placed in both history and in the lives of those touched by her social work, Louisburg was a pretty great answer.

For more information on Denise Kiernan’s novel—The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II—and Virginia’s story, please visit http://girlsofatomiccity.com/the_girls.html.

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College Implements Environmental Sustainability Initiatives

by Dr. Robert I. Bruck, Visiting Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science

With the support of President La Branche, a campus Sustainability Committee has been established with three important purposes: 1. To make our campus more sustainable by recycling waste, thereby conserving energy and water resources; 2. To educate our students regarding the importance of environmental sustainability and how it will affect their lives and generations to follow; and 3. To help our students learn about the many important and exciting careers associated with environmental sustainability, a field that continues to grow by leaps and bounds.

New to Louisburg College this year is an expanded campus-wide waste reduce/reuse/recycle program. All major buildings, classrooms, faculty and staff offices and dormitories now have blue recycling containers for paper, plastic bottles and cans, as well as centrally located large volume receptacles. A recycling dumpster has been installed on campus, and our housekeeping staff regularly deposits recycled resources. This material is collected and transported to recovery plants where it is turned into new products. By the end of this year, every College facility will house recycling containers.

This initiative, which builds upon the program the College had already established, continues to look at how we can effectively address our energy consumption. As you know, electricity—which is generated from non-renewable fossil fuel resources—costs money. Louisburg has begun a campus-wide campaign to conserve energy, reminding all LC

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citizens to turn off the lights, unplug unnecessary power cords from wall outlets, close interior doors, power down computers and printers when not in use and lower the temperature in buildings when they are not occupied. Many colleges have found that they can lower energy costs by more than 25% simply by using common sense about their energy usage. In fact, Louisburg College recognized a single-month savings of $3,062.93—approximately 24,427 kilowatts—during the 2014-2015 Winter Holiday Energy Savings Initiative, championed by the committee and coordinated in large part through the work of Physical Plant Director Nathan Biegenzahn and his team.

A long-term goal of the College is to establish an environmental science/sustainability academic track, which will articulate with the many bachelor of science degree-granting colleges. This will open a new world of exciting and meaningful careers for Louisburg College students in fields that they may not have considered before. To raise awareness and generate excitement about the field, the College has launched a series of environmental seminars in an effort to educate faculty and students about the real and pressing issues surrounding environmental sustainability affecting our own campus and the entire planet.

Topics from past Lunch n’ Learns include: “The Tragedy of Global Food Insecurity,” “Environmental Hormones in Our Food and Water: What We Aren’t Being Told,” “Biodiversity in the Amazon Rainforest: Why Should We Care?” and “Global Climate Change: The Critical Thinking Factor.” We look forward to continued sessions on topical and pressing issues.

Dr. Robert I. Bruck joined the Louisburg College faculty in Fall 2014 as visiting distinguished professor of environmental science. He received a BS degree in Biology from SUNY Buffalo and two PhDs from Syracuse University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. His research specialty is studying the effects of air pollution and climate change on forest ecosystems. He retired from NC State University in 2013 as distinguished university professor after 35 years of tenure. For the past decade he has been teaching more than 4,000 students a year in Environmental Science, Technology, Management, and Plant Pathology.

In 1997 he was named the laureate of the North Carolina Award for Science, the highest science recognition in the state of North Carolina. During his career he has trained over 40 graduate students and been awarded more than $9 million in competitive research grants. Dr. Bruck is currently teaching Botany and serves as liaison to the De Hart Botanical Gardens. He is also currently part of a taskforce dedicated to developing a new environmental science track for Louisburg College and a partnership with North Carolina State University.

Financial Update

A Year of Growth, Development and Change

by Jonathan Ehrlich, Vice President for Finance

This past year was one of continued investment in the College’s infrastructure, positive growth of the endowment and solid financial performance. It was also one of change in the Financial Services Office as I filled the position vacated by Belinda Faulkner who retired this past October.

Other new faces include Controller Dawn Robinson and Director of Financial Aid Thomas Welch, who had previously been employed in the Admissions Office. With a new team in place, we plan to build on the past work of the office and make it even more effective in managing the finances of the College.

During the most recent fiscal year of 2014, the College showed operating revenues of $16,185,270 and operating expenses of $15,505,163, resulting in an increase of $680,107 in net assets from operating activities. As of May 31, 2014, the College’s total assets were $47,900,000. The value of the College’s endowment was $12,688,265, increasing by approximately 12.2% over the preceding twelve months.

During the year, private gifts and grants (restricted and unrestricted) totaled $2,932,922. Property and equipment, net of depreciation, were valued at $30,300,000. Louisburg College’s longterm obligations at the end of May 2014 were $18,192,727.

This past year the College invested over $4,000,000 in its future by renovating several buildings. The dining hall in the Jordan Student Center saw a complete transformation, while significant improvements were made to the Hodges Fine Arts Building, the Joyner House, the Taylor Athletic Center, the Robbins Library and the Seby B. Jones Performing Arts Center. These projects were financed through a combination of gifts, loans and operating funds.

As in recent years, the main source “We are well of the College’s positioned to revenue was from tuition and maintain a fees; both gross high quality and net tuition academic have continued to increase each program for year. Also, the our students.” College continued to demonstrate its commitment to assisting students with financial need by increasing the amount of institutional funds awarded as financial aid.

We are well positioned to maintain a high quality academic program for our students. By building upon a strong financial base with an eye toward ensuring that sustainable financial practices continue to be followed, our future looks bright.

Jon Ehrlich comes to Louisburg with 28 years of experience in college financial administration, most recently at Warren Wilson College. Originally from Baltimore, he considers Bar Harbor, Maine, home after living there for many years. Jon earned his BA from Middlebury College and holds both an MA from the University of Vermont and an MBA from Rollins College. He also completed NACUBO’s three-year business leadership program. Jon is currently working toward his PhD at UNC-Charlotte.

To him, perfect happiness includes time with his wife of 24 years and his two daughters—one a high school junior, the other a college freshman—at their favorite lake on Mt. Desert Island in Maine.

Jon values patience, understanding and loyalty; he spends his free time swimming, running, gardening, writing, reading or exploring photography. He is pleased to be part of Louisburg College.

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by Anne Strickland, Director of Communications and Marketing

Last spring, the new Duke Dining Center was just a vision. Today, it’s a beautiful reality.

The College took on quite a humongous project to complete in a short amount of time. In fact, President Mark La Branche compares the process to giving birth . . . to an elephant.

“It was a complicated gestation and birth,” he said at the December ribbon cutting as he officially unveiled the major overhaul of the space, speaking not only of the renovation itself but also explaining an entirely new approach to campus dining at Louisburg.

“We delivered an elephant here.”

The facility saw renovations once before in 2004 but not nearly to this magnitude. The College, in collaboration with Chartwells—our partner in campus dining who invested $750,000 to the $1.6 million budget—began the extensive project early in the summer of 2014. The new dining facility encourages an interactive student experience with multiple “action stations,” including:

• My Pantry, featuring fresh waffles and breakfast items; • Fresh Market, serving made-to-order sandwiches and Paninis, as well as a full-service salad bar; • Pizza Oven / The Grill, offering traditional fare and pizza baked in a brick oven; • The Kitchen, serving a buffet of homemade entrées; and • Baker’s Crust, showcasing a variety of desserts and baked goods.

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Additionally, the scope of the renovation provided for kitchen equipment and food storage upgrades; a fully renovated “multipurpose room” designed for student entertainment and expanded seating; new restroom facilities; a covered entrance and upgraded vestibule; the completion of a formal Alumni Dining Room; the inclusion of on-screen menus and multi-media capabilities; and new furnishings and decorations.

Throughout construction, the College never missed a beat.

Students were served in a climatecontrolled outdoor tent, perched upon what is now a large patio overlooking the intramural field.

Every meal was served, without fail, to the same standard that the new facility upholds. The end result is

born of sheer teamwork and serves to benefit not only our students but also our community, who is encouraged to dine with us at Louisburg and tour the new facility.

We’ve come a long way in just a few short months.

Student Jamie Barnes agrees. “I was not here to see the old dining hall,” says the first-year student, “but from what I’ve been told, it’s a phenomenal transformation. I’m excited to see what comes next.”

Led by former Vice President of Finance Belinda Faulkner, the dining facility and the adjacent student lounge are nothing less than impressive, reflecting the remarkable attention to detail from Belinda and our Physical Plant Director Nathan Biegenzahn, who met each challenge with a smart combination of grace

and a can-do attitude, making for a nearly seamless transition.

Those of us who know her can see Belinda’s influence; her uncanny ability to balance style with functionality is apparent. The space is modern and clean from every angle, including new floors, exposed duct work, dropped ceilings, lighting, service space and fixtures.

The completion of the 2014 Duke Dining Center renovation—designed

by Williard Stewart Caliendo Architects, PA (Raleigh)—brings the end of phase one renovations. Phase two, currently in development, will address the adjacent Jordan Student Center.

Reservations for private use of the Alumni Dining Room and MultiPurpose Room are also welcome— contact Student Life Office Manager Robin Johannesen for more information at (919) 497-3247 or rjohannesen@louisburg.edu.

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The Importance of a Liberal Arts Education: From the Acorn Comes the Mighty Oak

by Dr. Jim Eck, Provost; Will Hinton, Professor of Art; Tommy Jenkins, Assistant Professor of English; and Dr. Kelvin Spragley, Assistant Professor of Education and History

M

any colleges claim to offer a pragmatic liberal arts education, but the claim must be supported in measurable ways. Often the return on higher education is not immediate but matures over a lifetime. A liberal arts education requires intellectual engagement, time and a strong work ethic; the more we deposit, the greater our wealth as lifelong learners.

One paradigm of higher education is: let’s educate as many people as we can, as quickly as we can and at the lowest possible cost. Let’s prepare the student for instant gratification with a high paying job, prune the student to be successful within a narrowly defined profession and eliminate those college courses and experiences that do not lead to instant monetary gain. Another paradigm, on the opposite end of the spectrum, is: let’s educate students by creating a deep sense of engagement, design the educational experience to be time- and effort-intensive and ensure that we’re preparing students for useful and meaningful lives extending well beyond their vocations.

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There are many roads to a liberal arts education. Will Hinton, professor of art, reminds us that each student paves his or her own journey towards a pragmatic liberal arts education: “No hay camino; se hace camino al andar” or “There is no road; the road is made by walking.” This line, from a poem by Antonio Machado, is central to both the function of acquiring a liberal arts education at Louisburg College and becoming a lifelong learner.

Our purpose is to equip our students with the tools of focus, knowledge and patience, enabling students to build their lives’ roads in sound and purposeful manners. Once a student commits to this path, an entire stream of events will occur that one simply cannot predict. We would all like to have a guarantee before taking a risk, but the irony is that taking risks is what opens us up to the fate, the “calling” of the purpose of our lives.

The road paved by our educational journey must be wide and allow for intersections. Most employees will transition several times between jobs, and students cannot assume that preparation for one specific job will ensure that they are prepared for any job.

Dr. Kelvin Spragley, assistant professor of education and history, believes a liberal education provides that broad foundation necessary to be successful in a variety of endeavors. The value of a liberal arts education at Louisburg College can be viewed in very pragmatic terms.

For those of us who teach at the institution, we know that students, during their early years, are often not sure of their lives’ intentions.

This is why John Dewey, the pragmatic American psychologist and educator, would likely agree that students should pursue a liberal arts education during their early posthigh school years. The pragmatic view, more than any other theory, assumes that if an individual is

provided a well-rounded set of skills and knowledge, then the student can pursue almost any future endeavor with confidence and competency. At Louisburg College, we argue that the liberal arts education, when earned, provides these necessary skills.

The wide road paved by a liberal education, with appropriate exits, roundabouts and intersections, requires us to engage with illstructured and real-world problems.

Our educational foundation must be strong enough to sustain us, even in new situations when we must make discernments that require critical thinking.

Tommy Jenkins, assistant professor of English, emphasizes the importance of a liberal education as a guiding light. Many of us carry something called a “smart” phone, but such a thing cannot be smart or dumb. It is merely an informationgathering device. Evidence of intelligence is witnessed in how this information is processed, synthesized and, ultimately, used. The inundation of information is now constant, and a liberal arts education best prepares a mind to effectively confront and tailor this stream of messages for constructive implementation. A liberal arts education has never been as valuable as it is now, and this value can only increase as our world shrinks smaller and smaller and we rely on the critical capabilities of our thinking to mold a sterling future. The variety of knowledge and learning taught in a liberal arts education creates people who know the questions to ask and the avenues to discover the answers.

Life is a transforming experience, similar to the transformation that occurs between infancy (i.e., the acorn) and adulthood (the mighty oak). Our educational journey requires our intellectual acumen, our time and our best efforts. No shortcuts exist when it comes to achieving an education that will

guide a person throughout his or her life. Erik Erikson developed a theory of psychosocial development that ultimately leads to a sense of ego or despair. A sense of ego (i.e., self-actualization, or selffulfillment) occurs when a person has prepared for life’s journey broadly, has learned from mistakes (made important discernments) and adjusted his or her path in order to continuously improve upon self-understanding. Despair occurs when people prepare for life’s journey narrowly, underutilize time and exert minimal effort to achieve self-mastery, resulting in a profound sense of emptiness, incessant “if only”/ “what if” thoughts, fear and despondence.

We would all like to have a guarantee before taking a risk, but the irony is that taking risks is what opens us up to the fate, the “calling” of the purpose of our lives.

— Will Hinton, Professor of Art

The road to self-understanding is long and requires the best and worst of us, but the process of discernment and self-understanding is most rewarding in the long-run.

The Via Sapienta (road to wisdom) is a time-intensive, effort-intensive and thinking-intensive journey; a liberal arts education leads toward ego instead of despair.

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Great Futures Campaign Enters its Final Year

by Kurt Carlson, Vice President for Institutional Advancement

The Great Futures Campaign goal of $18 million is well within reach!

As of early April, gifts and pledges from alumni and friends totaled more than $17.7 million. We thank you for your financial support, which has allowed us to build upon our foundation as the nation’s premier private two-year college. As we enter the final phase of the Campaign, please consider making a gift before December 31, 2015. Your generosity will make a significant difference in the lives of our students both in and out of the classroom.

While the Campaign has benefited all areas of campus life, particularly important to our students have been gifts toward capital improvements, such as major renovations to the Taylor Athletic Center, the Hodges Fine Arts Complex, the Joyner Student Residence, the Robbins Library, the Jones Performing Arts Center and significant upgrades to campus technology. Campaign gifts have helped us make our historic campus buildings and grounds even more beautiful, functional and ready to meet the current and future needs of our students, faculty and staff.

The recently-completed renovation of Duke Dining Center, which opened this semester, is perhaps the most visible Campaign accomplishment. Partially supported by a major investment from the College’s food service provider, Chartwells, Inc., along with gifts and grants, we now offer food-court-style dining in a modern and appealing environment.

Another noteworthy addition is a Gardens Museum at the College’s De Hart Botanical Gardens. The building is in

Future renovations to the Hodges Fine Arts Complex include a state-of-the-art music wing.

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the final phase of construction and slated to open this fall. The Gardens continue to offer student learning opportunities and are open year-round to the community.

In total, almost $5 million in Campaign commitments support building renovations, new facilities and technology upgrades. New and renovated facilities help us attract and retain bright and talented students in a very competitive admissions environment.

Another $7 million raised in the Campaign represents bequests and other estate commitments. Approximately $3 million has been received to date, including over $1 million toward student scholarship funds. (Twenty new scholarship endowments have been created during the Campaign so far.) The remaining estate commitments are mostly unrestricted, which will enable the College to designate these funds toward the highest priorities as they are received. Including Louisburg in your estate plan is a wonderful way to say thank you for the impact the College has had on your life. Such planned gifts can be designated for almost any area at the College. Many donors choose to honor a family member or favorite professor with a gift to establish an endowed scholarship fund.

Students, Faculty and Staff enjoy fresh coffee from Perks Cafe, located in the updated lobby of Robbins Library.

The Campaign has also obtained more than $2 million toward College programs and departments. This support benefits athletic teams, the Honors Program, the Tar River Center for History and Culture and initiatives to enhance learning opportunities for students in the classroom, on field trips or as interns in community agencies. Scholarships targeted toward attracting students of academic merit or talent, such as in music, are also included in the total.

Gifts to the Louisburg Fund and the Louisburg Society go toward annual operations and are an important part of the Campaign. Over $3 million has been raised in this category, which helps to support College financial aid, salaries, the Robbins Library, athletic programs and maintenance of the campus. We are pleased that one outcome of the Campaign has been an increase in the number of contributions to the College from the Louisburg Society (which recognizes gifts of $1,000 and more). The largest rise in contributions during the Campaign has come from our Louisburg Fund donors. Not everyone can make a large contribution to the College, so if you haven’t made a gift recently, consider a donation of any amount to the Louisburg Fund as your way of supporting the Campaign.

Duke Dining Hall, before and after renovations of the building’s interior and exterior.

The Alumni Dining Room, before and after renovations.

As we complete the Great Futures Campaign, we have much to be thankful for and much more to accomplish. Among the College’s top funding priorities in the next few years are: • New scholarship endowments, both need- based and talent-based, to ensure Louisburg remains accessible to students from different backgrounds; • Completion of the Music Wing of the Hodges Fine Arts Complex; • An expanded Honors Program for 75 high-achieving students; • A new fitness center in the refurbished Historic Coal Plant (at present, the College has only one small workout area for students); and • Phase II of the Jordan Student Center, which will reconfigure the main hallway to accommodate clubs and organizations and create common spaces for informal learning.

To discuss giving opportunities and ways your contribution or pledge may be recognized, please contact: Vice President for Institutional Advancement Kurt Carlson at (919) 497-3325 or kcarlson@louisburg.edu.

Students chat while waiting for a custom-prepared brick fire oven pizza in the Duke Dining Center.

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Honor Roll of Donors Louisburg alumni and friends generously contributed $2,417,276 to the College between June 1, 2013 and May 31, 2014. Nearly 1,000 donors supported the Louisburg Fund, student scholarships, endowments, academic and athletic programs and improvements to buildings and grounds.

Included in this donor list are 200 members of the Louisburg Society, which recognizes annual gifts of $1,000 or more. The College is also grateful to our new members of the Old Main Society, who have included Louisburg in their estate plans.

Society of 1787 Members of the Society of 1787 have generously contributed $50,000 or more to the College in their lifetime.

Anonymous Aramark Management Services Mr. & Mrs. Paul B. Barringer II Mr. & Mrs. Victor C. Barringer BASF Corporation Mr. & Mrs. Marvin E. Baugh ’53 Mr. & Mrs. B. Mayo Boddie, Jr. ’73 Mr. & Mrs. B. Mayo Boddie, Sr. Mr. & Mrs. Michael W. Boddie ’77 The Nicholas B. Boddie & Lucy Mayo Boddie Foundation Mr. & Mrs. William L. Boddie ’74 Branch Banking & Trust Co. James E. & Mary Z. Bryan Foundation Mr. William H. Bryan Burroughs Wellcome Company Mrs. John L. Cameron The Cannon Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Chandler Chartwells Corporation Coastal Lumber Company Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated Coca-Cola Foundation Ms. Ruth M. Cooke Mr. Bobby Coy Davis ’48* Mr. & Mrs. Charles M. Davis Mr. & Mrs. Arthur DeBerry Mr. & Mrs. D. Tad DeBerry ’85 Mr. Allen de Hart De Hart Botanical Gardens, Inc. Mrs. Frances Boyette Dickson ’35* Mrs. John Lee Edwards ’38 Eli Lilly & Co. Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Lynn W. Eury First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Flagler Systems, Inc. A. J. Fletcher Foundation Franklin Veneers Franklinton United Methodist Church GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Golden Leaf Foundation Mr. Kelmon P. Gomo Mrs. Ann J. Goodwin Felix Harvey Foundation Dr. and Mrs. Donald L. Henson Hodges Insurance Agency, Inc. Ms. Emily Hodges Mr. & Mrs. Frank B. Holding Robert P. Holding Foundation Mr. & Mrs. W. Seymour Holt ’49 Mr. & Mrs. Hugh T. Jones Mr. Robert L. Jones Seby B. Jones Family Foundation Mr. Ben E. Jordan, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. E. Carroll Joyner Mr. Robert L. Luddy Mr. & Mrs. J. Parker Lumpkin II Mr. Willie Lee Lumpkin III The Marshall Group NC Community Foundation North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church North Carolina Independent Colleges & Universities Novo Nordisk BioChem, Inc. Ely J. Perry Foundation Mr. Ely J. Perry III ’84

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Rev. Dr. & Mrs. Reginald W. Ponder Mr. & Mrs. Bland B. Pruitt, Jr. ’62 Pruitt Lumber Company Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Fred Roberson ’62 Ms. Sue C. Robertson Mr. & Mrs. John A. Rogers Sprint Mr. & Mrs. Roger G. Taylor ’68 Tri Properties The United Methodist Church United Methodist Foundation James & Vedna Welch Foundation Mrs. Allison Hodges Westmoreland Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation

Old Main Society The Old Main Society recognizes alumni and friends who will support Louisburg College through an estate gift.

Mr. & Mrs. Paul B. Barringer II Mrs. Mary M. Beauchamp Mrs. Dorothy Midgett Brannan ’48* Mr. Randy L. Brantley ’83 Mr. Richard L. Cannon, Jr. ’52 Mrs. Frances Terrell Cherney ’42 Mr. E. Wilson Clary, Jr. ’74 Mrs. Anne H. Coghill Mrs. Carolyn V. Cotton ’57 Mr. William M. Davis ’61 Mr. J. Jackson Dean Mr. & Mrs. Arthur DeBerry Mr. & Mrs. D. Tad DeBerry ’85 Mr. Allen de Hart Mrs. Frances Boyette Dickson ’35* Mr. William P. Franklin ’52 Mr. Kelmon P. Gomo Mrs. Ann J. Goodwin Mrs. Carol Bessent Hayman ’45 Mr. & Mrs. W. Seymour Holt ’49 Mr.* & Mrs. Hugh T. Jones Mr. & Mrs. Ben E. Jordan, Jr. Rev. Dr. & Mrs. Wallace H. Kirby Mr. & Mrs. J. Parker Lumpkin II Mr. Willie Lee Lumpkin III Mrs. Vivian Proctor Mitchell ’49* Mrs. Beth M. Norris Mr. Thomas Wesley Parson IV ’73 Mrs. Frances Brower Paschal ’39* Mrs. Julia Carroll Paul ’48 Rev. Dr. & Mrs. Reginald W. Ponder Mr. & Mrs. Walter M. Pulliam, Jr. ’63 ’63 Mr. Peter B. Saunders ’80 Mr. & Mrs. Job K. Savage ’36 ’36 Mr. & Mrs. William C. Shelton ’69 Mr. & Mrs. John Clark Shotton ’69 ’69 Dr. Raymond A. Stone ’47 Mr. Howard Tang ’70 Mr. & Mrs. Roger G. Taylor ’68 Dr. Robert Scott Walton ’64 Mr. Benjamin Hicks Whitaker ’86 Mrs. Peggy Lee Wilder ’60

Louisburg Society Charter Members Contributed $1,000 or more annually between June 1, 2009 – May 31, 2011 AXA Foundation Mrs. Janet Gardner Adair Ms. Judith D. Adams

The Hon. Lucy Allen Mr. & Mrs. Glenn Anderson, Jr. Mrs. Carolyn Riddle Armstrong ’66 Mr. & Mrs. S. Thomas Arrington, Jr. ’69 ’71 Mr. & Mrs. Paul Barringer II Mr. & Mrs. Marvin E. Baugh ’53 Mr. Robert E. Beck ’53 Mr. & Mrs. Michael Boddie ’77 Nicholas Bunn Boddie & Lucy Mayo Boddie Sr. Foundation Dr.* & Mrs. Edgar J. Boone Mr. Carl Wood Brown James E. & Mary Z. Bryan Foundation Mr. William H. Bryan Dr. & Mrs. C. Douglas Bryant, Sr. ’47 Bunn Heating & Air Conditioning Mr. Bob Butler Mr. H. Dwight Byrd ’57 Mrs. Beulah Cameron Dr. & Mrs. W. John Cameron Mr. G. Maurice Capps ’57 Mr. Kurt Carlson Mr. & Mrs. Ronald D. Champion Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Chandler Chartwells Corporation Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated Estate of Nathan Cole, Jr. Mr. Bryan W. Compton ’95 Compton Family Foundation Ms. Sheilah R. Cotten Ms. Carolyn V. Cotton ’57 Mr. & Mrs. James B. Cottrell ’61 ’62 County of Franklin Mrs. Susan Gardner Creed Mr. & Mrs. William R. Cross ’71 Mr. & Mrs. Charles M. Davis Mr. William M. Davis ’61 Ms. Tamaya I. Davis Mr. & Mrs. D. Tad DeBerry ’85 Mrs. Frances Boyette Dickson ’35* Mr. & Mrs. William H. Dove Mr.* & Mrs. Edwin M. Driver ’53 ’52 Dr. & Mrs. James C. Eck Mr.* & Mrs. M. Douglas Edwards ’53 Mr. & Mrs. Tim Ehrsam Mr. & Mrs. J. Craig Eller Mr. Douglas M. Epling Mr. & Mrs. Lynn W. Eury Ms. Belinda Faulkner Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Mr. & Mrs. Donald W. Fish ’60 ’59 First United Methodist Church of Cary First United Methodist Men of Cary Mr. Robert Fuller Fleming ’64 Ms. Sarah Foster* Franklin Regional Medical Center, Novant Health The Franklin Times Franklinton United Methodist Church Ms. Betty W. Frazier Mrs. Elaine Weldon Fuller ’39 Mr. & Mrs. David Gardner Mr. & Mrs. W. S. Gardner ’44 ’45 H. Gillis & Associates Mr. Michael J. Gleason Estate of Pearl Gomo ’38 Mr. Peter Goodrich Griffin ’67 Mr.* & Mrs. Johnny Griffin ’64 Mr. Graham P. Grissom ’36 Rev. & Mrs. Rodney Hamm Mr. Gene Hammond Mr. Clyde P. Harris, Jr. Mr. William L. Harris, Jr. ’66 Mr. & Mrs. John Hatcher, Jr. *Deceased

Judge & Mrs. Robert H. Hobgood Hodges Ins. Agency, Inc. Mr.* & Mrs.* Ray Hodges Mr. & Mrs. Frank B. Holding Robert P. Holding Foundation Mr. Alan G. Hollowell Mr. & Mrs. W. Seymour Holt ’49 Hoof Hughes Law, PLLC Mr. Richard E. Hunter, Jr. ’68 Mr. John William Hurley ’53 IBM Matching Grants Arch C. Ingram Revocable Trust Estate of Henry Clayton Jackson Mr. Robert L. Jones Mr. Gary R. Jones ’65 Seby B. Jones Family Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Ben E. Jordan, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. E. Carroll Joyner The Kayne Foundation Mrs. Suzanne Kayne ’66 Kelly Electric Mr. Charles R. Knight ’87 Dr. & Mrs. Mark D. La Branche Ms. Elizabeth Landis Mrs. Jane Austin Lee ’71 Mr. John C. R. Lentz ’87 Eli Lilly & Co. Foundation Mr. W. J. Little, Jr. ’49 Rev. & Mrs. Thomas E. Loftis Mr. Robert L. Luddy Mr. & Mrs. J. Parker Lumpkin II Mr. Willie Lee Lumpkin III Mr. Billy R. Merritt ’53 Mr. Nathan Miller Mixon Construction Company, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. B. H. Mixon, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Jason Modlin Mr. William David Moon ’45 Estate of Roberta B. Morris Mr. & Mrs.* Roger Moulton ’43 Estate of Willie B. Mullen Mrs. Jane Earley Newsome ’64 Mrs. Beth M. Norris North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church North Carolina Independent Colleges & Universities Mr. & Mrs. T. Russell Odom ’68 PJM Interconnection, Matching Grants Mrs. Jean Austin Patterson ’71 Ely J. Perry Foundation Mr. Ely J. Perry III ’84 Pizza Hut of Clinton, Inc. Rev. Dr. & Mrs. Reginald W. Ponder Mr. & Mrs. Bland B. Pruitt Jr. ’62 Estate of Celia Grantham Purdie ’37 Mr. & Mrs. G. Samuel Register ’76 Mrs. Donna Rhoden Mr. & Mrs. Fred Roberson ’62 Ms. Lisa Minton Robert ’90 Ms. Sue C. Robertson Mr. & Mrs. William E. Rodenbeck Mr. & Mrs. John A. Rogers Mr. Jean Paul W. Roy Mrs. Ann Rhem Schwarzmann ’54* Mr. Ronald V. Shearin Mr. Joseph W. Shearon ’51 Mr. & Mrs. William C. Shelton ’69 Mr. Charles Sloan Mrs. Paula Drake Smith ’74 Mr. Emmett Chapman Snead III ’71 Mr. & Mrs. Grady K. Snyder ’50 ’50 Mr. Carl Stafford Mr. & Mrs. Glendel U. Stephenson ’52 Mr. & Mrs. John F. Strotmeyer, Jr. ’69 Stupp Brothers Bridge & Iron Co. Foundation Mr. & Mrs. C. Boyd Sturges Mr. & Mrs. Roger G. Taylor ’68 Mrs. Barbara Johnson Thompson ’62 Mrs. Ruby Chewning Thompson ’59 *Deceased

Mrs. Edith Boone Toussaint ’49 Travelers Motor Club Sales, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Leigh Traylor, Jr. United Methodist Foundation Wachovia Matching Gifts Mr. Carl D. Wagner ’50 Wake Electric Care Tommy Wallace Electrical, Inc. Mr. Theron P. Watson James & Vedna Welch Foundation Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Mrs. Peggy Lee Wilder ’60 Estate of Joyce Hughes Witt ’39 Ms. Cherry Dickson Woodbury Mr. & Mrs. Edwin Woodhouse, Sr. ’56 Mr. & Mrs. James T. Wooters ’42 Mr. & Mrs. Maurice C. York ’73 Otto H. York Foundation

Louisburg Society The College’s premier annual giving program, the Louisburg Society recognizes annual gifts of $1,000 or more in 2013-2014.

Ms. Judith D. Adams Mr. John A. Allen ’85 The Hon. Lucy Allen Mr. Justus M. Ammons Anonymous Mrs. Carolyn Riddle Armstrong ’66 Mr. & Mrs. S. Thomas Arrington, Jr. ’69 ’71 Dr.* & Mrs.* Leonard W. Aurand Mr. Ronald Rucker Bagwell ’66 Mr. Larry Williams Barefoot ’64 Mr. Kenneth Allen Barlow ’56 Mr. & Mrs. Marvin E. Baugh ’53 Mr. Robert E. Beck ’53 Mr. Thomas M. Bell ’67 Mr. B. Mayo Boddie, Sr. Mr. & Mrs. Michael W. Boddie ’77 The Nicholas B. Boddie & Lucy Mayo Boddie Foundation Dr.* & Mrs. Edgar J. Boone Mrs. Anne Dickson Bowen Bridgestone Americas Trust Fund Ms. Katherine S. Burden Mr. & Mrs. K. Wayne Burris ’62 ’62 Mr. Robert A. Butler Dr. & Mrs. W. John Cameron Mr. & Mrs. G. Maurice Capps ’57 Mr. Kurt Carlson Mr. Bryan Dale Carter Mr. James Bryan Cash Mr. & Mrs. Ronald D. Champion Mr. Thomas E. Chandler Chartwells Corporation Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated Coca-Cola Foundation Mrs. Anne H. Coghill Mr. & Mrs. Ned Coleman ’62 ’62 Mr. & Mrs. W. Glenn Coleman III Mr. & Mrs. H. R. Compton Ms. Sheilah Cotten Mrs. Carolyn V. Cotton ’57 Mr. & Mrs. James Bryant Cottrell ’61 ’62 Estate of Bobby Coy Davis ’48 Mr. & Mrs. Charles M. Davis Mr. William M. Davis ’61 Mr. & Mrs. Arthur DeBerry Mr. & Mrs. D. Tad DeBerry ’85 Mr. Allen de Hart Mr. Jimmy Allen Dew ’60 Mr. & Mrs. William H. Dove Mr.* & Mrs. Edwin M. Driver ’53 ’52 Dr. & Mrs. James C. Eck Mrs. Shirley Edwards Element One, Inc.

Mr. & Mrs. J. Craig Eller Mr. Peter Byron Eyer ’67 Ms. Belinda Faulkner Mr. & Mrs. Donald W. Fish ’60 ’59 Mr. Jeffrey Kerr Fleming ’84 Mr. Robert F. Fleming ’64 Ms. Sarah Foster* County of Franklin Ms. Betty W. Frazier Mrs. Elaine Weldon Fuller ’39 Mr. & Mrs. David Gardner Mr. & Mrs. W. S. Gardner ’44 ’45 Mr. Kelman P. Gomo Goodnight Educational Foundation Mr. James Goodnight Mr. Peter H. Green ’91 Mr. & Mrs. Peter G. Griffin ’67 The Sarah Starnes Harris Revocable Trust Mr. William Lee Harris, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. H. John Hatcher High Point Community Foundation Hodges Ins. Agency, Inc. Ms. Emily Hodges Mr. Frank B. Holding Robert P. Holding Foundation Mrs. Hazel Holloman Mr. & Mrs. Michael L. Holloman ’83 ’90 Mr. & Mrs. W. Seymour Holt ’49 Mr. & Mrs. Richard E. Hunter, Jr. ’68 Mr. Gary R. Jones ’65 Dr. John Richard Jones Mr. Robert L. Jones Seby B. Jones Family Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Walter B. Jones, Jr. ’65 Mr. & Mrs. Ben E. Jordan, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. E. Carroll Joyner The Kayne Foundation Mrs. Suzanne Kayne ’66 Mr. Johnny C. King, Jr. Mr. Charles Knight ’87 Ms. Judy K. Kuykendall Dr. & Mrs. Mark D. La Branche Mr. & Mrs. John O. LaGorce Dr. Don Lee Mrs. Jane Austin Lee ’71 Mr. John C. R. Lentz ’87 Mr. & Mrs. John H. Lewis ’69 ’69 Mrs. Jane Moon Linsky ’43 Rev. & Mrs. Thomas E. Loftis Mr. & Mrs. J. Parker Lumpkin II Mr. Willie Lee Lumpkin III Mr. James Edwin Markham ’63 Mrs. Jacquelyn Smith McNamara ’73 Dr. Jane Middleton Mr. Edward Thomas Mizell ’60 Modern Exterminating Co. Inc. Mr. Jason Modlin Mr. & Mrs. William D. Moon ’45 Mr. Roger Moulton NC Community Foundation Ms. Patrice Nealon Mrs. Jane Earley Newsome ’64 Mrs. Beth M. Norris North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church North Carolina Independent Colleges & Universities Mr. & Mrs. T. Russell Odom ’68 Dr. Earl W. Parker Mr. Robert Donald Parrott ’63 Estate of Frances Brower Paschal ’39 Mrs. Jean Austin Patterson ’71 Mr. Ely J. Perry, III ’84 Pizza Hut of Clinton, Inc. Rev. Dr. & Mrs. Reginald W. Ponder Mr. & Mrs. Jason J. Proctor Mr. & Mrs. Bland B. Pruitt, Jr. ’62 Renaissance Charitable Foundation, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Thomas A. Riggan, Sr. ’59

Estate of Dr. Cecil Robbins Mr. & Mrs. Fred Roberson ’62 Ms. Sue C. Robertson Mrs. Julia M. Rodenbeck Mr. & Mrs. John A. Rogers Mrs. Ann Rhem Schwarzmann ’54* Mr. Gary Josh Scull ’54 Mr. Joseph W. Shearon ’51 Mr. & Mrs. William C. Shelton ’69 Mr. Charles Sloan Mrs. Paula Drake Smith ’74 Mr. Warren Woodlief Smith ’75 Mr. Emmett Chapman Snead III ’71 Mr. & Mrs. Grady K. Snyder ’50 ’50 Ms. Kimberly D. Spivey Mr. & Mrs. Glendel U. Stephenson ’52 Mr. & Mrs. John F. Strotmeyer, Jr. ’68 Mr. Donald G. Stroud, Jr. Stupp Brothers Bridge & Iron Co. Foundation Mr. John P. Stupp, Jr. Mr. Howard Tang ’70 Mr. & Mrs. Roger G. Taylor ’68 Roger G. Taylor & Associates United Methodist Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Wilhelm Volk Mrs. Anne Jones Weathersbee ’49 James & Vedna Welch Foundation Mrs. Allison Hodges Westmoreland Mr. Donald Reeves Whitaker, Jr. ’76 Whitaker Distribution, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Barry W. Whitaker Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Mr. Wilton H. Williams ’49 Mr. Paul L. Wilson ’61 Mr. & Mrs. Thomas A. Winstead Mr. & Mrs. Ray H. Womble, Sr. ’48 Mr. & Mrs. Edwin W. Woodhouse, Sr. ’56 Mr. & Mrs. James T. Wooters ’42 Mr. & Mrs. William H. Yarborough Mr. & Mrs. Maurice C. York ’73

$500-$999 Mr. & Mrs. Felix H. Allen ’83 Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Wayne Axselle ’65 Mr. Christopher D. Burns ’74 Mr. H. Dwight Byrd ’57 Mr. Richard L. Cannon, Jr. ’52 Mr. Michael Wayne Chappell ’78 Mr. James E. Compton ’65 Mr. David Michael Dement ’74 Mr. Marion Frank Erwin ’58 Mr. James M. Featherston, Jr. ’42 Mr. & Mrs. John Freeman Mr. & Mrs. Michael J. Gleason Ms. Anne Marie Goyke ’84 Mr.* & Mrs. Johnny Griffin ’64 Mr. Clyde P. Harris, Jr. Hawkins Plastering Service Mrs. Rubie Riggan Hecht ’52 Mr. James Linley Hill ’88 Mrs. Ruby Massenburg Hinson ’42 Mr. Yuille Holt III ’63 Dr. & Mrs. Wilson S. Hoyle, Jr. ’62 ’63 Mrs. Lynda Wooten Hudson ’68 Insurance Services Office, Inc. Dr. Alice Peedin Jacobs ’64 Dr. Raymond E. Joyner ’62 Mrs. Myrtle C. King Dr. SangSoon Koh Ms. Jan L. Linsky Louisburg Baptist Church Mr. and Mrs. D. Michael May ’63 Mr. Jamal Modir ’59 Mr. & Mrs. Lee Nicholson ’72 Nick & Sons Truck Repair, Inc Mr. Richard D. Niedermayer ’65 The North Caroliniana Society SPRING 2015 / COLUMNS

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Northwestern Mutual Foundation Orthopaedic Specialists of NC Mrs. Susan Mixon Parris ’64 Mr. Roger Glenn Penland ’60 Gregory Poole Equipment Mr. Charles Riddick Revelle II ’80 Mrs. Donna Rhoden Dr. Bobbie Richardson Ms. H. Ann Ross ’71 Mr. Richard N. Stabell ’59 Mr. Robert F. Stevens ’66 Dr. W. Trent Strickland ’61 Rev. & Mrs. Jon E. Strother Mr. & Mrs. Conrad B. Sturges, Jr. Mr. Samuel Johnston Sugg ’85 Mrs. Edith Boone Toussaint ’49 The United Methodist Church Mrs. Tracey Walker Whitehouse ’86 Mrs. Louis R. Wilkerson Mrs. Elizabeth L. Williams Ms. Kaye Yadusky

$100 - $499 ABC Sports Camps, LLC Mrs. Mavis McGowan Alder ’40 Mrs. Haven Cooper Allen ’84 Mr. & Mrs. Robert V. Allen Ms. Patricia G. Alston Mr. Robert W. Alston, Jr. ’60 Judge & Mrs. James F. Ammons, Jr. ’75 Shelby & Wanda Amos Foundation Mrs. Ginger McFarland Anderson ’83 Anonymous Mr. Fred S. Ayscue ’62 Mr. John A. Bacik ’85 Mrs. Julie Hinnant Bagley ’80 Mr. & Mrs. Billy A. Baker, Sr. ’55 Mr. Carl Edward Baker ’79 Mrs. Carol Niquette Baker Mr. Felix G. Banks ’43 Mr. Robert Teele Barnhill ’63 Mrs. Emma Deane Bass ’48 Mr. Ellis Beasley Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Ellis Beasley ’70 Mrs. Mary M. Beauchamp Mr. Haskins Rogers Bell ’73 Rev. & Mrs. James D. Bell ’77 Mr. & Mrs. Thomas R. Bender Rev. Shane Benjamin Mrs. Lillian A. Benton Ms. Mary Lynne Benton ’76 Mr. & Mrs.* Wayne D. Benton Mrs. Bobbie Kennedy Berry ’58 Mr. David Blair Mr. Paul Cameron Blalock ’71 Ms. Delano R. Borys Mr. & Mrs. Raymond G. Boutwell Ms. Vickie H. Bowes Mrs. Mary Charles Wheless Boyette ’67 Mr. Glenn D. Brewer ’65 Ms. Susan A. Bridgeman Mr. H. Vinson Bridgers, Jr. ’70 Mr. Edwin L. Brown Mr. & Mrs. Matthew A. Brown ’68 Mrs. Velma Ferrell Brown ’60 Mr. & Mrs. W. Thomas Brown ’62 Dr. & Mrs. C. Douglas Bryant, Sr. ’47 Mr. & Mrs. Jefferson C. Bulluck ’66 ’66 Mr. & Mrs. George P. Bunn ’54 Mr. & Mrs. Charles A. Burns ’55 Mr. Robert C. Byrd ’62 Mrs. Beulah Cameron Mrs. Mary S. Cardozo Dr. Patrick W. Carlton ’57 Mr. Obie Maynard Chambers ’67 Mr. & Mrs. James T. Chandler IV ’67 Mrs. Patricia Burnette Chastain ’80 Mr. Alexander Cheek ’94 Mr. W. Paul Childers, Jr. ’54 Mrs. Gloria Gail Chorey ’72 Mr. Willie R. Clanton

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Mrs. Mary Richardson Clements ’55 Mr. Thomas Gary Cole ’70 Ms. Ruth M. Cooke Mrs. Virginia Brittain Copping ’50 Mrs. Louise Mason Cowart ’42 Mr. W. Dempsey Craig ’62 Mr. & Mrs. William R. Cross ’71 Mrs. Manie Parham Currin ’57 Mr. Tucker D. Daniel ’60 Mrs. Jamie Burnette Davis ’85 Mr. Dean A. DeMasi Mr. & Mrs. William T. Dement, Jr. ’68 Mrs. Lucinda DeMoss Mr. E. Wayland Denton ’75 Mr. & Mrs. J. Mark Dickens ’80 ’83 Mr. & Mrs. Williard Dickerson ’63 ’64 Mrs. Patricia Wilson Dixon ’58 Duke Energy Foundation Mr. Oscar Bradley Eckhoff ’45 Mrs. Jean Ann Edwards ’67 Mr. & Mrs. Talmadge H. Edwards, Jr. Mrs. Meg Davis Ellis Mr. L. Randolph Everett ’95 Mr. Frances F. Falls ’62 Mr. Jerry A. Faulkner ’54 Mr. & Mrs. Matthew B. Faulkner Mr. & Mrs. Michael D. Featham Mr. Charles Ray Felmlee ’64 Dr. Diane Price Fleming Dr. & Mrs. Jimmy W. Foster ’60 ’59 Mr. & Mrs. David L. Foster ’71 Mr. Harry L. Foy, Jr. Franklin Regional Medical Center, Novant Health Mr. William P. Franklin ’52 Mrs. Jo Floyd Frazier Mr. & Mrs. Russell Frazier ’54 ’55 Mrs. Marietta Joliff Garrett ’51 Mr. & Mrs. Ernest P. Gaster, Jr. ’50 ’50 Mr. & Mrs. Pierre L. Giani Dr. & Mrs. Milton H. Gilbert Ms. Leah A. Goodnight Mrs. Ann B. Greene Mr. James K. Gregory, Jr. ’62 Mr. George Livingston Griggs ’61 Mr. Graham Paraham Grissom ’36 Guardian Life Insurance Mrs. Susan M. Guerrant Mr. William Jennings Hair ’48 Mr. Arthur B. Hall Mr. & Mrs. Swayn G. Hamlet ’57 ’56 Dr. Douglas I. Hammer Mrs. Alicia Hardy Mr. Harry J. Harles ’70 Mrs. Martha Foster Harper ’59 Mr. L. Reid Harris ’45 Mr. Robert Ray Harris ’57 Mr. John Stanley Hart ’59 Mr. John Leroy Hatchell, Jr. ’65 Ms. Brenda G. Hawks Mr. & Mrs. Wilson Hayman Mr. & Mrs. Roger E. Heflin ’65 Mr. Richard L. Hibbits Mr. James O. Hillsman ’67 Mr. John Hilpert Mrs. Jean Von Canon Hilton ’39 Mrs. Deborah Stevens Hinkle ’98 Mrs. Patricia Hinton Judge & Mrs. Robert H. Hobgood Dr. & Mrs. Thomas N. Hobgood, Jr. Rev. & Mrs. Hubert H. Hodgin ’54 ’54 Mrs. Edeth Hill Hodnett ’68 Mrs. Celeste Hughes Hoffman ’84 Mrs. Donna Tuttle Holder ’76 Mrs. Blake York Honeycutt ’69 Mr. Lennon W. Hooper, Jr. ’50 Mrs. Donna Ann Horton ’75 Mr. Kevin S. House ’97 Mr. and Mrs. Michael Howell ’78 Mrs. Kathryn B. Hoyle Mr. & Mrs. Daniel A. Hunt Mrs. Alice Faye Hunter Mr. Frank Hunter

Rev. Jack M. Hunter ’62 Mr. J. William Hurley ’53 Ms. Elizabeth Tempie Ijames ’89 Mr. & Mrs. J. Deane Irving ’66 Mr. Hunter Lewis Jacobs ’63 Mr. & Mrs. Horace Jernigan ’47 Mr. Eric Ralph Joerg ’69 Rev. Dr. George W. Johnson Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Johnson ’50 Mr. & Mrs. Robert H. Johnson, Jr. ’46 Mr. & Mrs. Tapley O. Johnson, Jr. ’60 Ms. Carmen S. Johnston ’01 Mrs. Candace Lester Jones ’99 Mr. Robert L. Jones ’66 Mr. & Mrs. Jon C. Judge ’76 Col. & Mrs. Wayne C. Kabat Mr. Frederick L. Katz ’61 Mr. & Mrs. Robert H. Kennedy ’53 Mr. W. H. Kincheloe Mr. Frederick Joseph Kissinger ’63 Mrs. Sara Davis Koontz Mr. J. Holt Kornegay ’74 Mr. Timothy L. Kunkle ’73 Lamm & Lamm Farms Mr. & Mrs. Stephen E. Lamm, Jr. ’65 ’64 Mr. T. Michael Lampros ’71 Lancaster Funeral & Cremations Mr. Roderick E. Lane ’84 Mrs. Gail Fathera Laney ’66 Mr. & Mrs. J. Harry Lange, Jr. ’61 Mrs. Katheryn Coor Lewis Mr. Robert Clay Lewis ’63 Mr. Robert Leggett Littrell ’79* Ms. Mary Louise Lockhart ’71 Mr. & Mrs. Joseph B. Long, Sr. Mr. & Mrs. Billie Loyd Mr. & Mrs. Michael Barry Loyd ’80 ’81 Mr. William Marvin Mangum ’65 Mr. & Mrs. Clarence Marks ’56 Mrs. Veronika Haun Marquoit ’67 Mrs. Rose Woodard Marshall ’56 Mr. Daniel L. Massey ’62 Mrs. Mildred Boney Matthis ’46 Mr. Wilton L. Matthis ’56 Mr. Kendrick W. Mattox Mr. Kenneth Parker McCandless ’67 Mr. Duane N. McDonald ’65 Mr. & Mrs. James L. McFarland ’61 Rev. Dr. Charles Henry Mercer, Sr. ’38 Meritech, Inc. Mr. Billy Ray Merritt ’53 Ms. Gayle H. Michener ’70 Mr. Palmer Scarborough Midgett, Jr. ’61 Dr. D. Edmond Miller Mr. & Mrs. David Miller ’57 Mr. Kelly Edman Miller ’76 Mr. David Minard Dr. Louise B. Mitchum Mr. Joe Alton Mobley ’69 Ms. Rachael A. Modlin ’50 Mr. & Mrs. S. Howard Montague ’72 Gary M. Moretz Masonry Contractor Mr. Barry James Morgan ’70 Mrs. Gwynn Torrence Morris ’58 Estate of Roberta B. Morris* Mrs. Anne Tucker Mulchi ’53 Mr. Paul L. Nevitt ’77 Mrs. Pearl Grant Nunnamaker ’52 Mr. & Mrs. James C. O’Neal ’60 Ms. Jamie Eller Patrick ’84 Mr. & Mrs. John G. Patronis ’60 Pilot Lions Club Mr. Clarence W. Pearce, Jr. ’54 Mr. & Mrs. Louis Pearce Mr. David Arch Perry ’63 Mrs. Mary Anne Peele Petteway ’69 Mr. & Mrs. Elbert H. Phelps ’52 Rev. & Mrs. G. Paul Phillips Dr. Jonathan D. Phillips ’76 Mr. Robert L. Phillips Mr. Frederick W. Pittard ’77 Mr. William G. Pitts ’47 Mr. James H. Poole, Jr. ’65 *Deceased

Practicality Hair & Design Inc. Mr. L. Norwood Prichett Mr. Chester S. Ragland ’73 Ms. Vicki Reid Mr. Bernard Rice Mrs. Strowd Ward Riggsbee ’45 Mr. Mason Rizzo Mr. & Mrs. Willie B. Robertson ’48 Mrs. Margaret Adcock Robinson ’58 Mrs. Dori Liles Rockefeller ’61 Dr. & Mrs. Robert N. Rosenstein ’68 ’68 Mr. & Mrs. L. Graham Royall, Sr. ’67 Mr. Charles Morehead Rucker ’72 Mr. David Abram Tuten Safran ’12 Ms. Elizabeth Denise Sapp ’71 Ms. Janice A. Sapp ’71 Mr. Edward Rhone Sasser ’57 Mr. Alan G. Saunders ’73 Mrs. Martha Cly Shaffner ’65 Mr. Keith Shumate Mr. William Leonard Sikkelee ’62 Mrs. Sue Pleasants Sisson ’79 Mr. Creighton W. Sloan ’66 Mr. & Mrs. A. C. Smith Mr. & Mrs. E. Grover Smith Mr. John W. Smithson ’47 Mr. & Mrs. Julian J. Smith Mr. & Mrs. William R. Spade ’67 ’67 Mr. & Mrs. Emerson L. Spivey ’52 Dr. Kelvin Spragley Rev. & Mrs. Sid Stafford Mr. Dudley B. Stallings ’46 Mr. & Mrs. E. Howard Stallings Mr. & Mrs. Graham Clark Stallings ’57 Mrs. Marcelle K. Stanley ’45 Ms. Rebecca Anne Stephenson ’59 Mr. Wallace C. Stepp ’64 Mr. Gaitley Stevenson-Mathews ’81 Mr. & Mrs. M. Graham Stewart, Sr. ’49 Dr. & Mrs. Paul W. Stewart, Jr. Mr. Andrew Stokes Mr. & Mrs. Charles S. Stringfellow ’71 Mr. Andrew M. Sugg ’89 Mr. Christopher Ray Suggs ’90 Mr. Garland Franklin Swartz ’63 Mr. & Mrs. James G. Tarrant, Jr. ’61 ’62 Mr. & Mrs. Robert Taylor Mrs. Susan Gay Temple ’69 Mr. & Mrs. Larry E. Tetterton ’56 ’56 Ms. Jennith Thomas Mr. & Mrs. Reuben D. Thompson ’66 Mr. & Mrs. Charles M. Timberlake ’64 ’59 Mrs. Charlotte P. Tippett Mr. & Mrs. G. Neal Titus, Jr. ’65 Mrs. Linda Crocker Todd ’64 Mrs. Stephanie Buchanan Tolbert ’97 Toney Lumber Company Mr. Francis M. Toney, Jr. Trinity United Methodist Church Mrs. Delores Cole Tune ’62 Mr. William Troy Turlington ’59 Mr. Robert Harding Turner, Jr. ’64 Mr. Samuel A. Tuten, Jr. ’41 US Trust Mrs. Sandra Garman Vickers ’68 Mr. & Mrs. Thomas L. Walden Mr. & Mrs. William Wall ’47 Mrs. Jane Rosser Warfel ’41 Mr. Charles Hillsman Warren ’69 Ms. Joyce W. Watkins Wells Fargo Foundation Mr. Robert L. Wells ’60 Dr. James P. West Mr. John W. Wheelous III ’69 Mr. James Melton White, Jr. ’76 Ms. Norma G. White Mrs. Dorothy Blalock Whitfield ’61 Mrs. Ann C. Whitley ’92 Mrs. Peggy Lee Wilder ’60 Mr. James A. Williams Mr. Jay R. Williams Mrs. Nellie Stallings Williams ’47 Mr. B. N. Williamson III

*Deceased

Mr. Carlton F. Williamson ’74 Mr. Arnold W. Wilson ’69 Mrs. Nancy Rollins Wilson ’45 Mr. Stephen N. Wilson ’71 Mrs. Jean Cook Woodruff ’58 Mr. Aaron Donald Yarbrough ’56 Mrs. Pamela Cottrell Young ’82 Ms. Emily Zank Mr. James Steven Zuniga

Contributors Mrs. Susan Steed Adcock ’67 Ms. Angela Adkins Mr. Damon Adkins Ms. Genya V. Afanasyeva Mr. & Mrs. Robert Lynn Alexander ’47 ’48 Mrs. Lisa Allen Rev. Gary Edmund Allred ’87 Mrs. Missy Alls Ms. Deloris Ann Alston ’77 Ms. Jessica Anest Anonymous Mrs. Kathleen Britt Arnold ’40 Mr. Theodore Keola Awana ’08 Ms. Jackie Ayscue Mr. Roderick Bailey Mr. Aaron Baker Mr. Graham Baker Mr. Rossie V. Baker, Sr. ’57 Mrs. Dorothy Parvin Balzer ’46 Mr. & Mrs. Wayne M. Barker ’64 Ms. Jane H. Barmer Mr. Andrew Barnhill Mr. Daniel Bartholomew Mr. Rufus A. Bartholomew, Jr. ’61 Mr. Paul G. Bass ’50 Mr. & Mrs. R. Christopher Beck III ’67 ’65 Ms. Maribel C. Beckwith Mr. Curt Bennett Ms. Jeane L. Bentley Mr. Ben Best Mr. Nathan Biegenzahn Ms. Elizabeth A. Blackmore ’10 Mr. & Mrs. David C. Blake ’50 Ms. Teresa Blumenauer Mr. & Mrs. Gordon W. Bohannan ’60 ’62 Ms. Sara Bortscheller Ms. Aimee Lee Bowes Mr. & Mrs. Ronald G. Bowes Mr. Randall H. Bowman ’90 Mr. & Mrs. William Bowman ’51 Dr. Martha Bragg Mrs. Dorothy Midgett Brannan ’48* Ms. Crystal Brantley Mr. Lewis W. Bridgforth III ’90 Mr. & Mrs. Larry H. Britt Mrs. Frank Brooks Ms. Helen Elizabeth Broome ’54 Mr. Charles Broughton Mrs. Betty Lou Williams Brown ’53 Ms. Kelly A. Bryson Ms. Maura Budusky Mr. & Mrs. John W. Buffum ’65 Mr. & Mrs. Donald L. Burgess ’66 Mr. Michael Burnap Ms. Georgette Burnette Mr. J. Hudson Burton III ’66 Mr. & Mrs. Edward L. Callear, Jr. ’67 Mrs. Frances Stephenson Callender ’63 Mr. Thomas A. Calvery Ms. Alice F. Carmichael Mr. & Mrs. James Carnes Ms. Patricia S. Carr Mr. Robert E. Carroll ’02 Ms. Katherine Causby Ms. Rachel S. Chappell Mr. Michael Childs Ms. Sara Elizabeth Christmas ’14 Mr. Jeremiah Church Mr. H. Christopher Clark ’84 Mrs. Virginia Spivey Coleman ’42 Mrs. Hazel Lassiter Collier ’45 Mrs. Emma Snell Coney ’42

Jamie Barnes ’16 Jamie is originally from a family of hot air balloonists in a small town in upstate New York. She chose Louisburg College to be closer to her family in NC. “It felt right in every way when I came for the tour,” she says. She knew Louisburg would offer her a great transition from a small town high school to a small dedicated college where she could get involved in the community. When she’s not finding a way to help her friends and neighbors, she spends time organizing charity work, playing the violin and dreaming about becoming a hot air balloon pilot.

“Enrolling in Louisburg College is a decision that I stand by 100 percent. It has opened me up to a new community and plenty of amazing opportunities.

When I think about my first year as a student here, I think about how amazing my second year will be.”

Jamie is excited about what the future holds, and is looking forward to transitioning to an even larger institution. “Every step of the way I just get more and more excited!”

Ning Wang ’16 Ning Wang came to the United States as an international student from China, attending Friendship Christian High School in Raleigh. The small private school values studentteacher interaction, and fostered a strong relationship with Ning, who appreciated the one-on-one attention. Ning’s host family grandmother Janet Croom Robbins ’61 introduced her to Louisburg; her transition to the College was only natural.

The smaller classes and intimate campus setting makes it easier for her to get involved—which is a big deal since she only returns to China during the summer break.

“The city I am from is the capital of a province. It is also one of the biggest cities in China. Everything is totally different there. Since I only go back home in the summer, it’s easy to get homesick. I miss my family and sometimes the food.”

Ning distracts herself by hanging out with friends and spending holidays in Wake Forest with the Croom family. “For me, the most important thing is not only studying but also learning American culture. There is always time for learning, not just in classes but in everything.”

We are glad she found us, and we welcome her to the Louisburg College family!

SPRING 2015 / COLUMNS

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2015 The Allen de Hart

Concert Series

2016

SEPT. 11

MELISSA MANCHESTER

OCT. 2

THE 5TH DIMENSION

NOV. 13

MARTY STUART & HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES

DEC. 11

THE LETTERMEN CHRISTMAS SHOW

FEB. 12

THE GRASS CATS

MAR. 18

THE CELTIC TENORS

APR. 8

CIRQUE ZUMA ZUMA

www.JPACarts.com

Dr. Diane Cook Mr. Edward T. Cooper ’71 Ms. Leej Copperfield Mrs. Mae Bell Cox ’47 Mr. Guy V. Crawford ’07 Ms. Arlene D. Cundiff Dr. Clifford G. Cutrell ’47 Mr. John Daly Mrs. Mary Ann Markey Daniel ’71 Mr. John M. Daniels ’79 Mr. Fred Blount Davenport ’48 Mr. Steven B. Davis ’72 Mr. R. Grady Dawson, Jr. Mr. Charles W. Day ’67 Mr. & Mrs. Larry S. Dean ’67 Mr. Neil Dixon Mr. A. Bradley Dozier ’60 Dr. Brent Dozier Mr. Gregory Drake Rev. & Mrs. Earl G. Dulaney Ms. Terrie Dunn Mrs. Jennifer Britt Dupree ’94 Ms. Mary Eason Ms. Amy Eaves Mr. Michael D. Eaves ’76 Ms. Sandra W. Elam Mr. Roger V. Elliott Mr. Sam H. Elliott ’52 Ms. Jane S. Falkner Mr. & Mrs. L. Nelson Falkner ’65 Mr. Mercer McArthur Faulkner Rev. & Mrs. Horace T. Ferguson ’60 ’60 Mrs. Elizabeth Cameron Ferreira ’67 Mr. Travis Flewelling Mr. Ethan Pierre Fontaine ’10 Mrs. Lucia Porcelli Forthofer ’57 Ms. Michelle Foster Mr. Donald M. Fox ’79 Mrs. Janet Leister Franklin ’74 Mr. William J. Frazier ’63 Mr. Samuel Freeman Mrs. Pattie Joyner Gambardella ’46 Mrs. Betty Ellis Goodbar ’50 Mr. Robert Anthony Gormly ’60 Mrs. Joyce Parris Grant ’57 Mr. & Mrs. J. W. Grauer, Jr. Mr. James Green Mr. Rob Greene Mr. Jeffrey A. Greentree ’73 Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Grinnan, Jr. ’64 Mr. Scott Grissom Mrs. Brandy L. Gupton Mr. Brett Hall Mr. John L. Hancock ’63 Mr. Theodore L. Hanes Ms. Crystal Harp Ms. Betty Jean Harper ’86 Mr. James A. Harper ’74 Mr. Harvey Douglas Harris ’61 Ms. Stephanie Haskell Ms. Shay Hayes Mr. W. Tate Hayman ’89 Mrs. Elizabeth Troutman Hennings ’56 Mr. Trevor Highfield Mr. William M. Hill, Jr. ’55 Mrs. Barbara Dunn Hilliard ’59 Mr. William J. Hinton, Jr. Mr. Joe B. Hobbs ’61 Mr. Ronald P. Hodul ’78 Mr. Kris Hoffler Mrs. Jane Trump Hohn ’61 Mr. J. Peter Holland IV ’68 Ms. Lou Verta Holman Mrs. Elmar Newton Holmes ’58 Ms. Kailynn Elizabeth Hubbard ’15 Mrs. Danylu Palmer Hundley ’79 Ms. Brittany Leigh Hunt ’10 Mr. Wally Hurst Ms. Phyllis M. Ihrie Mrs. Jean Finch Inscoe ’52 Dr. & Mrs. David J. Irvine Rev. Wilbur Ivan Jackson Mr. Donald Clarence Jaekel ’52 *Deceased

Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Jamerson Mr. Stanley Franklin Jenkins ’81 Ms. Robin Johannesen Ms. Amy Cobb Johnson Mr. James T. Johnson ’67 Mrs. Janie Johnson Ms. Kristen Danielle Johnson ’09 Ms. Martha Sue Johnson ’61 Mr. Stewart Johnson Ms. Virginia D. Johnson Ms. Ruth Jones Mr. Mark L. Joyner Mr. J. Scott Kanich ’92 Mr. Thomas C. Kaufman ’60 Ms. Leewyn Elisabeth Kellam ’96 Mr. & Mrs. Graham C. Kennedy ’52 ’54 Mr. & Mrs. H. Stone Kennett Ms. Amanda Ryan Kiger Mr. & Mrs. W. McDonald King, Jr. ’77 ’77 Ms. Laura L. Kinzinger Mr. W. Gary Kirkman ’76 Ms. Caroline Helen Knight ’14 Ms. Diana Koenig Mr. Jay Koloseus Dr. Tryon Delano Lancaster ’54 Mrs. Sharon Turner Landreth ’67 Mrs. Nancy Sisson Langford ’63 Mrs. Phama Larsen-Johnston ’78 Mr. John Winbon Laughter ’60 Ms. Sarah C. Le Sueur ’10 Mrs. Tony Gupton LeTrent Jones ’70 Mr. Robert Wilkins Lindsay ’51 Mr. & Mrs. Glenn S. Linsky Little River Corporation Mrs. Carol Myrick Long ’69 Ms. Karen Martin ’00 Mr. Kenneth W. Mauck ’60 Mr. John M. May ’69 Mr. W. Charles May ’75 Mr. John McArthur, Jr. ’63 Mrs. Barbara Hudson McCoy ’64 Mr. John Manly McDaniel ’70 Mr. Charles L. McKee ’67 Mrs. Melinda McKee Mr. Ross Leaman Mecham, Jr. ’65 Mrs. Ruth Scholar Medley ’45 Mr. & Mrs. David A. Michael ’69 Dr. Linda L. Miles ’73 Mr. William L. Mitchell III Ms. Edna Mobley Mr. Bentley Jones Mohorn Ms. M. Sharon Moore ’71 ’87 Mr. P. Wayne Moore ’68 Mrs. Regina Creech Morgan ’81 Mr. Cristian Neagu Mr. & Mrs. C. Hartwell Newton, Jr. ’61 ’68 Mr. Jeffrey V. Olbrys Mr. Charles W. Oliver ’03 Ms. Christie M. Oliver Mrs. Tracy P. O’Neal Mr. Mark O’Sullivan Mr. Gilliam Bryan Parham ’75 Mr. Josh Parrott Mr. Jason Patrick Ms. Jennifer Patsy Mr. Brett F. Patton ’85 Mrs. Kathryn Ward Paul ’51 Mr. & Mrs. Irvin A. Pearce Ms. Claudia Z. Peele Ms. Samantha Celeste Pendergraft ’10 Mrs. Marla R. Peoples Mr. Clay Perdue ’68 Mr. & Mrs. Sam N. Perdue ’66 Mr. Kyle Perkins ’07 Mr. Thomas W. Peterkin, Jr. ’66 Mr. W. Horace Petty ’46 Mr. Louis A. Pittard Mrs. Patricia Parrish Pollock ’73 Mr. Robert Poole Mrs. Fonda Porter Mrs. Tracy N. Potter ’13 Mrs. Iris C. Powell Mr. Shaun Price

Mrs. Gwen Puges Mr. Mark Queen Dr. Mialy Rabe Ms. Wendy Randall Mrs. Barbara Medlin Raynor ’58 Mr. & Mrs. Robert Edward Reeve ’85 ’85 Mrs. Earline Whitehurst Revelle ’45 Mr. & Mrs. Jack O. Reynaert, Jr. Mrs. Barbara Rice ’54 Ms. Courtney Richardson Ms. Suzanne Riley Mrs. Janet Croom Robbins ’61 Mrs. Jessica Roberson Mrs. Betsy Brodie Roberts ’75 Ms. Linda Robertson Mrs. Nancy Garner Robertson ‘59 Mr. Robert Rogers Mr. & Mrs.* Charles A. Royal Jr. ’50 ’51 Ms. Susan Marie Rush ’76 Ms. Erin Rutledge Ms. Sequoia Sady Mr. John Sala Ms. Tracey Sala Ms. Anika L. Sanders Mr. Brian W. Sanders Mr. Kenneth K. Schowald ’77 Ms. Diane L. Schultz ’69 Mr. & Mrs. Charles J. Schweikert ’50 Ms. Anne V. Scoggin Mrs. Mae Asbell Shaw ’40 Mrs. Alice Mustian Short ’72 Mr. Brandon Simmons Mr. Chase Slinkard Mr. & Mrs. Ted N. Sloan ’60 ’60 Ms. Allison H. Smith ’02 Mr. Darrell Smith Ms. Mary Charles Smith ’98 Mr. & Mrs. Marvin W. Smith, Jr. ’59 Mr. Michael Paul Smith ’85 Mrs. Stella L. Smith Mrs. Susan Ray Smith ’73 Mrs. Virginia Carter Smith ’51 Ms. Linda T. Soles Ms. Shekanah Elisa Solomon ’10 Mr. Donald Parker Southerland ’97 Mr. Richard Thomas Spain III ’72 Mr. Stephen Eugene Spainhour ’70 Mr. J. Gilbert Stallings Ms. Japlyne G. Stallings ’46 Ms. Alice F. Stanfield Ms. Nicolette Stanfill Mr. Sam Stilley Dr. Paul S. Stone ’52 Dr. Raymond A. Stone ’47 Ms. Ashley Stopa Mr. Donald Stopa Ms. Nicole Stovall Mrs. Carolyn Woods Stratford ’60 Mr. & Mrs. Jimmie A. Strickland Mr. Robert Perry Strickland ’82 Mr. Stephen R. Swain Mr. & Mrs. Howard Tang ’70 Ms. Sue D. Teachey Rev. & Mrs. Marty S. Tew Mr. Gene Tharrington Mrs. Juanita C. Thomas Ms. Beverly Trimmer Mr. Johnny Turnage Mrs. Evelyn Smithwick Turner ’43 Dr. & Mrs. Harrison D. Turner Ms. Karen Turner Mr. Mark Vanderslice Mr. Daniel Varela Mr. David A. Vaughan ’76 Mrs. Gail M. Vella Ms. Neelu Vig ’96 Mr. Adam Wade Mr. & Mrs. C. Norman Wagoner Mr. Rickie Logan Wagstaff ’77 Mr. Thomas E. Wardrick ’90 *Deceased

Mr. Robert G. Warner Mr. M. David Watson ’69 Ms. Lucy Weathersbee Mrs. Carol Dement Weeks ’65 Ms. Pamela Wells Mrs. Rebecca W. Wells Mr. Robert Wells Mr. & Mrs. Louis A. Wheless ’59 ’66 Mrs. Phyllis Bailey Whitaker ‘53 Mrs. Connie Womack Wicker ’70 Mr. & Mrs. Robert V. Wilkinson ’66 Mr. Curtis R. Williams Mr. & Mrs. Douglas P. Williams ’66 Mr. Gary Williams Mr. Gregory A. Williams ’69 Rev. Dr. & Mrs. Larry Williams Mrs. Louise McCullen Williams ’55 Mrs. Helen Mansfield Willie ’46 Ms. Patricia Ann Willis ’68 Ms. Allison Wirth Mrs. Amy Scoggin Wolfe Mrs. June Ritner Wollett ’71 Mr. & Mrs. James Floyd Womble ’54 Mrs. Delores Jean Woodard ’64 Mrs. Grace Hayes Woodlief ’48 Mrs. Betty Wrenn Mr. Steven B. Wright ’77 Mrs. Terry Ball Wright ’87 Mr. Lewis G. Young ’69 Ms. Catherine Ziencik Ms. Kim A. Zuniga

Estates Estate of Bobby Coy Davis ’48 Estate of Frances Boyette Dickson ’35 Estate of Roberta Morris Estate of Frances Brower Paschal ’39 Estate of Dr. Cecil Robbins

Corporations, Foundations & Matching Gi Fts ABC Sports Camps, LLC Shelby & Wanda Amos Foundation The Nicholas B. Boddie & Lucy Mayo Boddie Foundation Bridgestone Americas Trust Fund Chartwells Corporation Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated Coca-Cola Foundation Duke Energy Foundation Element One, Inc. Franklin Regional Medical Center, Novant Health Goodnight Educational Foundation Guardian Life Insurance Hawkins Plastering Service High Point Community Foundation Hodges Insurance Agency, Inc. Robert P. Holding Foundation Insurance Services Office, Inc. Johnny Bull’s Steakhouse Seby B. Jones Family Foundation The Kayne Foundation Lamm & Lamm Farms Lancaster Funeral & Cremations Little River Corporation Meritech, Inc. Modern Exterminating Co. Inc. Gary M. Moretz Masonry Contractor NC Community Foundation Nick & Sons Truck Repair, Inc North Carolina Independent Colleges & Universities Northwestern Mutual Foundation Pizza Hut of Clinton, Inc. Gregory Poole Equipment Practicality Hair & Design, Inc.

Renaissance Charitable Foundation, Inc. Wallace C. Stepp Associates, Inc. Paul W. Stewart, Jr. DDS, PA Stupp Brothers Bridge & Iron Co. Foundation Toney Lumber Company United Methodist Foundation US Trust James & Vedna Welch Foundation Wells Fargo Foundation Whitaker Distribution, Inc. Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation

Louisburg College Endowment Mr. James A. Harper ’74 Mr. Palmer S. Midgett, Jr. ’61

Donors to Endowed Funds

William Moon & Jane Moon Linsky Scholarship Mr. & Mrs. Glenn Linsky Ms. Jan L. Linsky Mrs. Jane Moon Linsky ’43 Mr. William David Moon ’45

Alumni Appreciation Scholarship Estate of Roberta B. Morris

Blanche Hooper and Earl R. Meekins Scholarship Mrs. Mary M. Beauchamp Mercer Scholarship Rev. Charles Henry Mercer, Sr. ’38 Herbert & Elsie Miller Scholarship Dr. D. Edmond Miller

Dr. Thomas Aurand Scholarship Dr.* & Mrs.* Leonard W. Aurand

Blair Tucker Scholarship Mr. & Mrs. H. John Hatcher, Jr.

Ronald R. Bagwell Scholarship Ronald R. Bagwell ’66

John B. York Athletic Scholarship Mr. & Mrs. Maurice Clifton York ’73

Marvin & Mary Jo Baugh Scholarship Mr. & Mrs. Marvin E. Baugh ’53

Hurricane Club

John L. Cameron Athletic Scholarship Dr. & Mrs. John Cameron Mr. & Mrs. Irvin Pearce Peter A. Carlton Memorial Scholarship Dr. Patrick W. Carlton ’57 Renee Jones Carter Memorial Scholarship Mr. Bryan D. Carter Coltrane-Robertson-Coleman Scholarship Ms. Sue C. Robertson Coor Family Scholarship Mrs. Katheryn Coor Lewis Allen de Hart Endowment Mr. Emmett Chapman Snead III ’71 Frances Boyette Dickson Endowment Estate of Frances Boyette Dickson ’35 Coach J. Enid Drake Basketball Scholarship Mrs. Rebecca Drake Allen ’83 Mrs. Paula Drake Smith ’74 Mr. Warren Woodlief Smith ’75 Mr. Emmett Chapman Snead III ’71 Sarah Foster* Music Endowment Mr. Paul Lewis Wilson ’61 Bessie Arrington Gupton Endowment Mr. James M. Featherston, Jr. ’42 R. Edward & Louise Hunter Scholarship Mr. Frank Hunter Mr. Richard E. Hunter, Jr. ’68 Anne Jones Christian Leadership Scholarship Mrs. Anne Jones Weathersbee ’49

Mr. Robert W. Alston, Jr. ’60 Mr. James Thomas Chandler IV ’67 Mr. Michael Wayne Chappell ’78 Coca-Cola Foundation Dr. & Mrs. James C. Eck Mr. & Mrs. Michael L. Holloman ’83 ’90 Ms. Lynda Wooten Hudson’68 Mr. Charles R. Knight ’87 Dr. & Mrs. Mark D. La Branche Mr. John C.R. Lentz ’87 Mr. Daniel L. Massey ’62 Nick & Sons Truck Repair, Inc. Orthopaedic Specialists of NC Mrs. Mary Anne Peele Petteway ’69 Mr. & Mrs. William E. Rodenbeck Mr. Charles Morehead Rucker ’72 Mr. & Mrs. William C. Shelton ’69 Dr. W. Trent Strickland ’61 Mr. & Mrs. Howard Tang ’70 Mr. & Mrs. Thomas A. Winstead Mr. & Mrs. Maurice C. York ’73

Churches General Board of Higher Education & Ministry Louisburg Baptist Church North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church Trinity United Methodist Church

Friends of the Arts Mr. & Mrs. Robert V. Allen Anonymous Mr. Graham Baker Mr. & Mrs.* Wayne Benton Mr. Ben Best Ms. Delano R. Borys Mr. Charles Broughton Mr. Bob Butler Mr. James Carnes Ms. Katherine Causby Mr. & Mrs. Ronald D. Champion Ms. Rachel S. Chappell Mr. William Paul Childers ’54 County of Franklin Mr. Allen de Hart Dr. & Mrs. James C. Eck Mr. & Mrs. T. H. Edwards Mr. & Mrs. J. Craig Eller Dr. Diane Price Fleming Mr. John Freeman Mr. & Mrs. David Gardner Mr. & Mrs. Pierre Giani SPRING 2015 / COLUMNS

31

Mrs. Ann B. Greene Mr. Arthur B. Hall Ms. Judy Kuykendall Dr. & Mrs. Mark D. La Branche Mr. & Mrs. Joseph B. Long Mr. & Mrs. J. Parker Lumpkin II Dr. Jane Middleton Mr. James Howard Poole, Jr. ’65 Mr. Norwood Pritchett Mrs. Gwen Puges Mr. & Mrs. John A. Rogers Mr. Joseph W. Shearon ’51 Mr. Darrell Smith Mr. & Mrs. Julian J. Smith Mr. & Mrs. Graham Clark Stallings ’57 Mr. & Mrs. Howard Stallings Dr. & Mrs. Paul W. Stewart, Jr. Dr. & Mrs. Raymond Allen Stone ’47 Mr. & Mrs. Larry Tetterton ’56 ’56 Mrs. Juanita C. Thomas Ms. Karen Turner Mr. & Mrs. Thomas L. Walden Mrs. Rebecca W. Wells Mrs. Peggy Ann Wilder ’60 Rev. Dr. & Mrs. Larry Williams

Bravo Society Blonde Buttercup Franklin Regional Medical Center, Novant Health Johnny Bull’s Steakhouse Lancaster Funeral & Cremations Dr. Don Lee Moore Printing & Graphics Our State Magazine

Golden Anniversary Club Mrs. Mavis McGowan Alder ’40 Mr. & Mrs. Robert Lynn Alexander ’47 ’48 Mr. Robert W. Alston, Jr. ’60 Mrs. Kathleen Britt Arnold ’40 Mr. Fred S. Ayscue ’62 Mr. & Mrs. Billy A. Baker, Sr. ’55 Mr. Rossie V. Baker, Sr. ’57 Mrs. Dorothy Parvin Balzer ’46 Mr. Felix G. Banks ’43 Mr. Kenneth Allen Barlow ’56 Mr. Robert Teele Barnhill ’63 Mr. Rufus A. Bartholomew, Jr. ’61 Mrs. Emma Deane Bass ’48 Mr. Paul G. Bass ’50 Mr. & Mrs. Marvin E. Baugh ’53 Mr. Robert E. Beck ’53 Mrs. Bobbie Kennedy Berry ’58 Mr. & Mrs. David C. Blake ’50 Mr. & Mrs. Gordon W. Bohannan ’60 ’62 Mrs. Dorothy Midgett Brannan ’48* Ms. Helen Elizabeth Broome ’54 Mrs. Betty Lou Williams Brown ’53 Mrs. Velma Ferrell Brown ’60 Dr. & Mrs. C. Douglas Bryant, Sr. ’47 Mr. & Mrs. George P. Bunn ’54 Mr. H. Dwight Byrd ’57 Mr. Robert C. Byrd ’62 Mrs. Frances Stephenson Callender ’63 Mr. Richard L. Cannon, Jr. ’52 Mr. & Mrs. G. Maurice Capps ’57 Dr. Patrick W. Carlton ’57 Mr. W. Paul Childers, Jr. ’54 Mrs. Mary Richardson Clements ’55 Mr. & Mrs. Ned Coleman ’62 ’62 Mrs. Virginia Spivey Coleman ’42 Mrs. Hazel Lassiter Collier ’45 Mrs. Emma Snell Coney ’42 Mrs. Virginia Brittain Copping ’50 Mrs. Carolyn V. Cotton ’57 Mr. & Mrs. James Bryant Cottrell ’61 ’62 Mrs. Louise Mason Cowart ’42 Mrs. Mae Bell Cox ’47 Mr. W. Dempsey Craig ’62 Dr. Clifford G. Cutrell ’47 Mr. Tucker D. Daniel ’60

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Mr. Fred Blount Davenport ’48 Mr. William M. Davis ’61 Mr. Jimmy Allen Dew ’60 Mr. & Mrs. Williard Dickerson ’63 ’64 Mrs. Patricia Wilson Dixon ’58 Mr. A. Bradley Dozier ’60 Mr.* & Mrs. Edwin M. Driver ’53 ’52 Mr. Oscar Bradley Eckhoff ’45 Mr. Sam H. Elliott ’52 Mr. Marion Frank Erwin ’58 Mr. Frances F. Falls ’62 Mr. Jerry A. Faulkner ’54 Mr. James M. Featherston, Jr. ’42 Rev. & Mrs. Horace T. Ferguson ’60 ’60 Mr. & Mrs. Donald W. Fish ’60 ’59 Mrs. Lucia Porcelli Forthofer ’57 Dr. & Mrs. Jimmy W. Foster ’60 ’59 Mr. William P. Franklin ’52 Mrs. Jo Floyd Frazier Mr. & Mrs. Russell Frazier ’54 ’55 Mr. William J. Frazier ’63 Mrs. Elaine Weldon Fuller ’39 Mrs. Pattie Joyner Gambardella ’46 Mr. & Mrs. W. S. Gardner ’44 ’45 Mrs. Marietta Joliff Garrett ’51 Mr. & Mrs. Ernest P. Gaster, Jr. ’50 ’50 Mrs. Betty Ellis Goodbar ’50 Mr. Robert Anthony Gormly ’60 Mrs. Joyce Parris Grant ’57 Mr. James K. Gregory, Jr. ’62 Mr. George Livingston Griggs Mr. Graham Paraham Grissom ’36 Mr. William Jennings Hair ’48 Mr. & Mrs. Swayn G. Hamlet ’57 ’56 Mr. John L. Hancock ’63 Mrs. Martha Foster Harper ’59 Mr. Harvey Douglas Harris ’61 Mr. L. Reid Harris ’45 Mr. John Stanley Hart ’59 Mrs. Rubie Riggan Hecht ’52 Mrs. Elizabeth Troutman Hennings ’56 Mr. William M. Hill, Jr. ’55 Mrs. Barbara Dunn Hilliard ’59 Mrs. Jean Von Canon Hilton ’39 Mrs. Ruby Massenburg Hinson ’42 Mr. Joe B. Hobbs ’61 Rev. & Mrs. Hubert H. Hodgin ’54 ’54 Mrs. Jane Trump Hohn ’61 Mrs. Elmar Newton Holmes ’58 Mr. & Mrs. W. Seymour Holt ’49 Mr. Yuille Holt III ’63 Mr. Lennon W. Hooper, Jr. ’50 Dr. & Mrs. Wilson S. Hoyle, Jr. ’62 ’63 Rev. Jack M. Hunter ’62 Mr. J. William Hurley ’53 Mrs. Jean Finch Inscoe ’52 Mr. Hunter Lewis Jacobs ’63 Mr. Donald Clarence Jaekel ’52 Mr. & Mrs. Horace Jernigan ’47 Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Johnson ’50 Ms. Martha Sue Johnson ’61 Mr. & Mrs. Tapley O. Johnson, Jr. ’60 Dr. Raymond E. Joyner ’62 Mr. Frederick L. Katz ’61 Mr. Thomas C. Kaufman ’60 Mr. & Mrs. Graham C. Kennedy ’52 ’54 Mr. Frederick Joseph Kissinger ’63 Dr. Tryon Delano Lancaster ’54 Mr. & Mrs. J. Harry Lange, Jr. ’61 Mrs. Nancy Sisson Langford ’63 Mr. John Winbon Laughter ’60 Mr. Robert Clay Lewis ’63 Mr. Robert Wilkins Lindsay ’51 Mrs. Jane Moon Linsky ’43 Mrs. Manie Parham Currin ’57 Mr. James Edwin Markham ’63 Mr. & Mrs. Clarence Marks ’56 Mrs. Rose Woodard Marshall ’56 Mr. Daniel L. Massey ’62 Mrs. Mildred Boney Matthis ’46 Mr. Wilton L. Matthis ’56 Mr. Kenneth W. Mauck ’60 Mr. John McArthur, Jr. ’63

Mr. & Mrs. James L. McFarland ’61 Mrs. Ruth Scholar Medley ’45 Rev. Dr. Charles Henry Mercer, Sr. ’38 Mr. Palmer Scarborough Midgett, Jr. ’61 Mr. & Mrs. David Miller ’57 Mr. Edward Thomas Mizell ’60 Mr. Jamal Modir ’59 Ms. Rachael A. Modlin ’50 Mr. & Mrs. William D. Moon ’45 Mrs. Gwynn Torrence Morris ’58 Mrs. Anne Tucker Mulchi ’53 Mrs. Pearl Grant Nunnamaker ’52 Mr. Robert Donald Parrott ’63 Mrs. Kathryn Ward Paul ’51 Mr. Clarence W. Pearce, Jr. ’54 Mr. Roger Glenn Penland ’60 Mr. David Arch Perry ’63 Mr. W. Horace Petty ’46 Mr. & Mrs. Elbert H. Phelps ’52 Mr. William G. Pitts ’47 Mrs. Barbara Medlin Raynor ’58 Mrs. Earline Whitehurst Revelle ’45 Mrs. Barbara Rice ’54 Mr. & Mrs. Thomas A. Riggan, Sr. ’59 Mrs. Strowd Ward Riggsbee ’45 Mrs. Janet Croom Robbins ’61 Mr. & Mrs. Fred Roberson ’62 Mrs. Nancy Garner Robertson ’59 Mrs. Margaret Adcock Robinson ’58 Mrs. Dori Liles Rockefeller ’61 Mr. & Mrs.* Charles A. Royal, Jr. ’50 ’51 Mr. Edward Rhone Sasser ’57 Mrs. Ann Rhem Schwarzmann ’54* Mr. & Mrs. Charles J. Schweikert ’50 Mr. Gary Josh Scull ’54 Mrs. Mae Asbell Shaw ’40 Mr. Joseph W. Shearon ’51 Mr. William Leonard Sikkelee ’62 Mr. & Mrs. Ted N. Sloan ’60 ’60 Mr. & Mrs. Marvin W. Smith, Jr. ’59 Mrs. Virginia Carter Smith ’51 Mr. John W. Smithson ’47 Mr. & Mrs. Grady K. Snyder ’50 ’50 Mr. & Mrs. Emerson L. Spivey ’52 Mr. Richard N. Stabell ’59 Mr. Dudley B. Stallings ’46 Mr. & Mrs. Graham Clark Stallings ’57 Ms. Japlyne G. Stallings ’46 Mrs. Marcelle K. Stanley ’45 Mr. & Mrs. Glendel U. Stephenson ’52 Ms. Rebecca Anne Stephenson ’59 Mr. & Mrs. M. Graham Stewart, Sr. ’49 Dr. Paul S. Stone ’52 Dr. Raymond A. Stone ’47 Mrs. Carolyn Woods Stratford ’60 Dr. W. Trent Strickland ’61 Mr. Garland Franklin Swartz ’63 Mr. & Mrs. James G. Tarrant, Jr. ’61 ’62 Mr. & Mrs. Larry E. Tetterton ’56 ’56 Mr. & Mrs. Charles M. Timberlake ’64 ’59 Mrs. Edith Boone Toussaint ’49 Mrs. Delores Cole Tune ’62 Mr. William Troy Turlington ’59 Mrs. Evelyn Smithwick Turner ’43 Mr. Samuel A. Tuten, Jr. ’41 Mr. & Mrs. William Wall ’47 Mrs. Jane Rosser Warfel ’41 Mrs. Anne Jones Weathersbee ’49 Mr. Robert L. Wells ’60 Mrs. Phyllis Bailey Whitaker ’53 Mrs. Dorothy Blalock Whitfield ’61 Mrs. Peggy Lee Wilder ’60 Mrs. Louise McCullen Williams ’55 Mrs. Nellie Stallings Williams ’47 Mr. Wilton H. Williams ’49 Mrs. Helen Mansfield Willie ’46 Mrs. Nancy Rollins Wilson ’45 Mr. Paul L. Wilson ’61 Mr. & Mrs. Ray H. Womble, Sr. ’48 Mr. & Mrs. Edwin W. Woodhouse, Sr. ’56 Mrs. Grace Hayes Woodlief ’48 Mrs. Jean Cook Woodruff ’58 Mr. & Mrs. James T. Wooters ’42 Mr. Aaron Donald Yarbrough ’56 *Deceased

Memorial Gifts Were Made in Honor of the Following Alumni & Friends Mrs. Star Cardwell Abbott ’75 Mr. Austin Ayscue Mrs. Jemima Williams Barefoot ’27 Mr. B. C. Bean Mrs. Sue Bollinger Bennett ’72 Mr. Robert Graham Berry ’57 Mr. Nicholas M. Bliley Mr. Scott Boyd Mr. Frank Brooks Mrs. Nellie Loftis Bryan Mrs. Nancy McCrary Burgess ’66 Mr. John L. Cameron Mr. Harold Carawan Mrs. Mary Lib Loftis Cobb Mr. John David Cothran ’64 Mr. Worth Cotton ’57 Mr. Wellington W. Cottrell Ms. Katherine Davis ’39 Mrs. Virginia Leonard Dement ’43 Mrs. Frances Boyette Dickson ’35 Ms. Sarah Foster Mr. Paul Eugene Freeman ’40 Mr. Appleton Fryer Ms. Cameron Kathleen Gallagher Mrs. Emily T. Gardner ’46 Mrs. Pearl Harris Gomo ’38 Mr. Willis Gupton ’42 Mr. Gordon E. Hawthorne Mr. Joseph Hicks ’41 Mr. & Mrs. Ray Hodges Mrs. Lillie Beatrice Bone Johnson ’42 Mr. Robert Hawes Johnson ’46 Mr. Marvin Lawrence Jordan ’53 Mr. Benedict Joseph Kavanaugh ’89 Mrs. Julia Kornegay Mr. Charles B. Loftis Mrs. Alma Ozment Mrs. Madaline K. Person Mr. J. Knott Proctor Mrs. Mildred Smith Mrs. Yang Bae Soon Mr. Hilton Tetterton, Sr. Mr. Harvey Lee Tippett ’53 Mrs. Pearle Gatling Williams Mr. Stokes Williams Mr. John York

Honorary Gifts Were Made in Recognition of These Individuals Ms. Elizabeth Jane Bender ’03 Mr. Earl Beshears Mr. Clyde Brooks Dr. & Mrs. C. Edward Brown Ms. Ruth Cooke Mr. J. Enid Drake Mr. & Mrs. Russell W. Frazier ’54 ’55 Mrs. Rebecca Ferrell Goodwin ’73 Mr. Will Hinton Rev. Wil Jackson Mr. Don L. Jenkins Mrs. Myrtle King Rev. Dr. Wallace Kirby Mr. Jamey Winn Koenig ’09 Ms. Jan L. Linsky Ms. Jane Moon Linsky ’43 Mr. C. S. Loftis, Jr. Rev. & Mrs. Thomas Loftis Mr. John Estes McAllister ’73 Mr. & Mrs. William D. Moon ’45 Mrs. Mary Johnson Spivey ’73 Mrs. Audrey Allen Taylor ’59 Mr. Morris Wray *Deceased

Jomaica Johnson ’95 Jomaica Johnson recently achieved a coveted position as an emergency management public assistance infrastructure branch director in FEMA Region VI, which oversees Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and 68 federally recognized tribal nations.

She relocated to Denton, Texas, and works out of the FEMA regional headquarters there.

Jomaica is an unstoppable spirit.

“It was while attending Louisburg College on a softball scholarship that I sharpened the skills that I would ultimately apply as an emergency management specialist and incident management assistance team member,” says Jomaica.

As a victim of abuse, she struggled with the prospect of living in the unfamiliar environment of a college campus. “I felt my challenges would have prohibited me from succeeding in life,” she explained. She credits her head softball coach, Sheilah Cotten, with guiding her to find direction and purpose in her life. With Cotten’s help, Jomaica built up her self-esteem and developed a foundation of integrity, which—along with her education and skills—have allowed her to contribute to society in a profoundly meaningful way.

Her Louisburg professors were also instrumental in helping her make a successful transition to college life. “The Louisburg College faculty and staff assisted me every step of the way and made my educational career planning fairly quick and painless,” she says.

After a short time at Louisburg, Jomaica began focusing primarily on her education.

She received an Associate of Art in General College from Louisburg, a BA and MA in Criminal Justice from Southern University A&M College and graduated in December 2014 with her PhD in Public Policy and Administration (Emergency Management, Law and Public Policy) from Walden University. Traveling a long road of reintegration, Jomaica said that her anxiety and culture shock were lessened by her experience as a student at Louisburg.

While pursuing her PhD, she accepted a position as hazard mitigation team leader on a FEMA reservist management team.

After three years of school, extracurricular study and thousands of hours of volunteer

Dr. Johnson’s Education AA in General College Louisburg College, 1995 MS in Criminal Justice BS in Criminal Justice (Investigation) Southern University A&M College, 2007 & 2009 PhD in Public Policy and Administration (Emergency Management, Law & Public Policy) Walden University, 2014

service, she landed a job with FEMA. “The selection process for the public assistance infrastructure branch director position was arduous, consisting of an online application where I was one of 3,000, a phone interview, a board interview, a written test / evaluation, a background screening and a seemingly endless onslaught of federal forms to validate.” This process culminated in a two-day evaluation that vetted a candidate pool of 200 to fill eight positions around the country. Referencing the application process, Jomaica says, “I made sure to highlight the relevant realworld experience that I gained from my educational background, which was often directly related and equivalent to the requirements of the position.”

Jomaica’s advice for the next generation of graduates begins with a clearly identified objective. “Figure out exactly what career you want to have—down to the type of position and location—and then make a plan to accomplish it.

Never lose sight of the objective and never quit. It is not easy, but persistence will pay off. Reach out to leaders at Louisburg College and find a mentor—someone who can assist you in navigating the waters of entry into your field. Find a way to identify the direct relationship between your educational career and your professional career; then, work to articulate it.”

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A Message from the Alumni Director

by Jamie Eller Patrick ’84, Director of Annual Giving & Alumni Relations

As an alumnus, you will always have a home at Louisburg College!

You’re among more than 15,000 alumni living all over the globe whose ongoing support and participation have made a world of difference. Your unique Louisburg story makes you a powerful ambassador for the College, so we hope that you’ll stay in touch.

Louisburg College recently reached thousands of alumni by phone, many of whom expressed enthusiasm, loyalty and an interest in somehow giving back to their alma mater. If you were contacted, thank you for speaking with the student caller from Louisburg. If you didn’t receive a call, I’d love to hear from you anytime by phone at (919) 497-3245 or by email at jpatrick@louisburg.edu. You are a valued member of our alumni community, and we’re eager to help you renew friendships, connect with alumni in your area or find a fellow alumnus wherever your travels lead.

Pictured: Director of Annual Giving & Alumni Relations Jamie Patrick, her son Noah and her husband, LC Maintenance Supervisor Jason (far right) enjoy the Homecoming 2014 post-game reception at Person Place with fellow alumni.

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Here are some inspiring and helpful ways to strengthen or renew your ties: • Become a class agent for your classmates • Refer prospective students • Mentor a current student • Send an annual gift to the Louisburg Fund • Remember Louisburg College in your will and estate plans • Maintain contact with professors who made a difference in your life • Visit campus for events and reunions • Plan an alumni event in your area

TO MAKE A GIFT TO THE COLLEGE ONLINE: www.louisburg.edu/giving l BY PHONE: (919) 497-3437

BY MAIL: Louisburg College, 501 N. Main Street, Louisburg, NC 27549

Homecoming 2014: Restoration & Rejuvenation Our celebration kicked off with the “Super Summer” Party at Historic Person Place, just in time for all to catch up before joining the College at the Seby B. Jones Performing Arts Center for a performance by The Band of Oz. Saturday opened with the annual Alumni Awards Brunch and College Update, and festivities continued all day. The Canes played hard, but lost to Dean College.

After the game, alumni gathered for refreshments, many touring the new Hodges Fine Arts Complex, the Jordan Student Center and the Robbins Library—all of which saw major renovations in the past year.

Make plans to join us this fall. You won’t believe how much has changed!

The 5th

Dimension on Friday, October 2nd

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2014 Alumni Award Recipients As part of the College’s 2014 Homecoming celebration, five outstanding citizens were honored at the 2014 Alumni Awards Brunch. The awards celebrate the successes of alumni in their professional and civic service work, and they also recognize significant contributions to Louisburg College.

Bill Hurley ’53 received the Allen de Hart Humanitarian Award which recognizes a visionary alum or member of the community who is renowned for a breadth of creative endeavors and lasting accomplishments that serve and uplift humanity.

contributions as a social worker and as an outstanding citizen in her local community.

Louisburg faculty member Candace (Candy) Jones ’99 received the Henry Douglass “Doug” Lindsay III ’66 Young Alumnus Service Award. This special presidential service award honors an alum who has graduated within the past twenty years and has demonstrated extraordinary service to Louisburg College through the commitment of time and effort on its behalf.

Congratulations to all!

Professor of Art Will Hinton received this year’s Cecil W. Robbins Public Service Award in recognition of his exceptional dedication to Louisburg College.

Carol Weeks ’65 received the Distinguished Alumnus Award, given to an alum who is an outstanding ambassador for Louisburg College.

Christy Knight ’90 received the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award due to her significant Award Recipients (l-r): Will Hinton, Bill Hurley ’53, Alumni Board President Alex Cheek ’94, Christy Knight ’90, Carol Weeks ’65 and Candace Jones ’99.

Make a Difference in the Lives

That Follow.

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For more information about leaving a bequest to Louisburg, contact Vice President for Institutional Advancement Kurt Carlson at (919) 497-3325 or kcarlson@louisburg.edu.

Dear Louisburg College

by Nicholas Skerpon ’15

A Letter of Thanks from the Athlete Who Came to Play Ball and the Scholar Who Found So Much More Where do I even begin to talk about a program that has changed not only my academic experience but also my life?

I began my college journey during the fall of 2013, bringing with me only a bat, a glove and the hope to do something great on the baseball field. What I didn’t realize was that Louisburg College offers much more than just great athletic teams. It isn’t just a college; it is a second home where the feeling of belonging and encouragement is around every corner.

I owe the world to our Honors Program director and my advisor, Mrs. Candace Jones, for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime. I can honestly say that the Honors Program made me feel that my aspirations were within reach. It brought me together with many like-minded individuals whose dreams are beautiful, and I have met friends that I will have for a long time. The program provided us with the opportunity to take honors classes where students engage in rigorous coursework. These classes will give us greater confidence at our future four-year schools. Although they were more time consuming and our workload was greatly increased, these classes showed us what we could really accomplish.

I also got the opportunity to serve as a peer tutor. I feel honored to be able to help my peers not only with homework or papers but also to help them see what education can do for them when they work hard. I would not have this position if it was not for Ms. Emily Zank. Knowing she “It isn’t just a believed in me enough to have me college; it is a help lead her team of peer tutors has increased my confidence to second home become a great leader.

where the feeling of belonging and encouragement is around every corner.”

Another opportunity that this wonderful College has afforded me is to intern with Mr. Joseph Olivieri, an attorney in Louisburg.

It is a wonderful feeling to intern for a man who shows a great deal of interest in helping me learn and understand what being a lawyer entails. My excitement only increases after each day with him. He gives me responsibilities that I would not have thought he would entrust to an intern.

Another thing that I would say about Louisburg College is that whatever I have asked for, academically speaking, I have received. The College has offered me the best support.

When I have asked for help in finding an internship, completing college applications or planning for my future, I

Nicholas (center) with Attorney Joseph Olivieri and Honors Program Director Candace Jones.

was never told “No.” I was only asked questions that helped me determine who I am as a person and where I want to go in this remarkable thing we call life. Being able to sit down with Provost Eck and talk about my future college plans has been invaluable. It is reassuring to know that, right now, I am in the greatest imaginable place in my life, surrounded by people who really care.

In closing, I can’t help but thank you, Mrs. Jones. On behalf of the Honors Program, we cannot think of a better person who is more loving and caring than you—someone who honestly cares so much for us and wants the best for our lives. We appreciate that more than you’ll ever know. For the trips we have all taken together that have shown us what is out there in this world and for the memories that will never fade away, we thank you. When I look back on these two years at Louisburg College and the Honors Program, I will be forever grateful for the program, the people at Louisburg and Mrs. Jones who has taught us all how to be better individuals in every aspect of life.

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Matthew Brown ’68

by Laura Kinzinger, Professor of English

Last May, Matt, as faculty chair, eloquently talked to our students about the values of the American artist, writer and thinker Eric Sloane, the values of what Sloane called “Awareness”: the deep awareness of both the present and past, heightened sense of Nature and the physical world surrounding us, hard work towards permanence and excellence, personal integrity in thought and deed and the utter contentment that derives from “doing for oneself” while working steadfastly for the good of the community.

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As I listened, I softly gasped. Afterwards, I told him how thrilled I was that he shared these values with our students, that he reminded me of the Sloane books on my bookshelf and my father’s deep love of Sloane. At that moment, lost amidst the resonance of Sloane and these values, I realized that the quiet man with whom I spoke, Matt Brown, was indeed Sloane’s “Aware Man.” When Matt entered Louisburg College in the autumn of 1966, I have no doubt that his professors quickly recognized how exceptional this quiet, unassuming young man was. Working with and knowing every faculty member depicted in our “Legendary Professors of Louisburg College” 2014 calendar, he has described his two years here as such an inspiring time, but the inspiration surely was reciprocal. Students felt the same, for Matt served on the Student Government Association as the commuting student representative as a freshman; the next year, his peers elected him president of the Class of 1968.

for the ultimate goal of improving people’s lives.

Louisburg prepared Matt well for his continuing scholarship. After graduation, he earned the BS degree in civil engineering and then the Master of Civil Engineering with a major in transportation engineering from North Carolina State University where he was also a graduate student instructor in civil engineering classes. Moving to Atlanta and doing engineering consulting work, he qualified for his Professional Engineering license (which he has maintained to the present) and completed his MBA at Georgia State University.

After returning to North Carolina as a transportation consultant, Matt came to Louisburg College in 1983, joining the faculty when we instituted a computer-programming degree program and were reinstating the discontinued pre-engineering program. Teaching in both areas, Matt continued his Awareness, his singular devotion to craft and excellence. With an Aware Man’s vision during a time of swift technical advances, he supported computerization on campus on many levels during the years prior to the existence of formal IT staff support. As a leader, he served as chair of the Business Department and is currently chair of the Business Studies and Social Science Division.

He is a recipient of Matt, in 2004, cruising in his 1973 Triumph TR-6 the prestigious Naomi while donning his iconic deerstalker cap.

Dickens Shaw Award for Teaching Excellence, and This young Matt Brown was an Aware his colleagues have chosen him as wayfarer. Enrolling in Louisburg’s faculty chair for a total of four years, pre-engineering degree program acknowledging this quiet, unassuming (and taking engineering graphics man’s extraordinary qualities. and descriptive geometry taught by Such a brief summary does not do his father, Capt. James H. Brown), he justice to Matt’s essential qualities as mastered not only the initial technical an “Aware Man” that inform our daily skills and analytic thinking necessary lives. As a leader, he is exceptionally to understand the physical world but meticulous, paying attention to also further developed his ability to each detail, as befits his engineering visualize complexities, the need for training. He listens carefully and practical ingenuity, the dedication to speaks deliberately, with an almostmove from concepts to creation, all preternatural sensitivity to others’

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feelings and the effect his words will have (blurting is anathema to Matt’s innate self!); we all listen attentively to Matt’s quiet, always-thoughtful words. Matt is a gentle man and a gentleman; he is extraordinarily kind and patient. Always humble and never arrogant or denigrating of others, he possesses absolute integrity and dignity. We like this good man so much. We often smile as we spy Matt wearing one of his jaunty caps or roaming Taft hallways with advisee folders in hand, on a focused mission to register his quarry (I always imagine him wearing a Holmesian deerstalker); his reputation as an academic advisor nonpareil is legendary! Also, Matt has a delightful sense of humor; often, if I encounter Matt and comment, “Ah, Matt, we have made it to Friday,” he will stop, deliberate for a moment, tilt his head, and slowly reply with a smile, “You know, Laura, that very thought has not escaped me either.” Daily, Matt quietly commands our sincere affection and the deepest respect.

Later this spring, Matt will retire, and, as we look backwards and forwards, our bittersweet feelings must parallel those felt in 1968. Now, we simply wish to offer tribute to our remarkable colleague, as best we can, for we know that Matt is a modest man, always eschewing the spotlight, always content to work quietly for the common good.

Retirement will not change Matt; he will remain himself as he listens to NPR and old-time music and reads histories of technology and Sherlock Holmes stories. He will continue to work on mechanical things (such as his beloved red Mazda Miata). He will garden, bird-watch (goldfinches swarm to his feeders now), and enjoy trips to the mountains with his wife George-Anne. He will continue to be guided by that deep-rooted Awareness which Sloane so simply but eloquently described as “wonderful satisfaction that comes with personal accomplishment . . . an extraordinary awareness of life . . . so grateful for life and all that went with it.”

Matt, we honor you and your life, and we are so deeply grateful for you.

The Breeze

by Charles Rucker ’72

Everybody thinks Mr. Wright was blind.

I do not.

Please allow me to explain.

In 1971, Mr. Wright lived alone in a small white clapboard house at the end of a driveway. It was sort of a mother-in-law cottage that stood next to a really big house, obviously on the same property. The campus sat conveniently about a hundred yards away. Because of an accident in his early teens involving cleaning chemicals which took his sight, Mr. Wright didn’t turn on the lights in his house unless he was expecting company. It just made sense. He loved visitors, and even though his place might be dark inside, if his tape recorder or radio could be heard, you knew he was still up. Louisburg was where I first discovered pleasure in learning, and Al Wright was largely responsible.

He was born in the quiet village of Weaverville, just outside Asheville. For decades his profession kept him in the sandy flatlands of Franklin County, but I always felt that his heart was still somewhere in the hills.

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I had Mr. Wright for English literature both semesters of my second year. Through him I felt the pain, love, hate and desperation of each piece of great writing. Because his class had spoken to me in real life experience, I felt it had value. And because of this, it was interesting and I did well. I never made the experiment of seeing how far I could bluff him by not reading and understanding the material; I saved that for Art History.

He tested his students with oral exams—direct questioning

by Mr. Wright—usually in his office on the second floor of the old A-C Building. He kept it all in his head . . . volumes of literature from every great writer, grades and who had taken what test. It was also known by a few that these exams could be taken after hours at his home as well.

English was my best subject, and I could sense that I had earned a fair amount of intellectual respect from him. I treasured this. He referred to me simply as “Rucker.”

One evening I was in the Robbins Mr. Wright was aware studying Library at one of the of everything that large round tables on the ground floor. It was big had happened. More enough to comfortably accommodate six or than everything. maybe eight scholars, Disgusted, he finally but I shared the table with only one other ended Steve’s guy, a sophomore suffering with, “Get whom I’ll call Steve.

I knew him from the out of here, and gym. I hung out in the weight room and he don’t come back shot a lot of basketball. until you’ve read and Even still, our paths understood the work.” occasionally crossed.

He was not a friend; And then he followed but he seemed okay.

He was concentrating up incredibly with, on something and I “Oh, and take Rucker asked him what he was doing. He said that he with you. . . .” was going over to Mr. Wright’s to take a test on Moby Dick. Little did he know it is one of the most complex literary works of the nineteenth century. I said, “You better be ready. He loves anything by Melville, and he thinks you should, too.” To that he replied, “I don’t have to be ready. . . .” Then he showed me what he had been working on. It was a piece of toilet paper about two feet long and on it he had written with a fine-tipped Pentel marker all the information that he thought would get him through the test. He used the thin tissue for its silence.

It was an amazing document, and I must admit I was intrigued, and in a sick way, impressed. His writing was microscopic. Finally he said, “Okay, I’m ready. Hey, let’s go together. It’ll be a breeze. . . .”

I was excited to watch this cocky jock execute his audacious plan. We left the library and crossed the campus towards Mr. Wright’s house. The night was cold, clear and

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still. It was only 7:00 or so, but it was already dark. Just before we arrived, I cautioned, “Remember . . . Moby’s the whale. . . .” He smirked, “Very funny.” We could hear the radio playing in the darkness. We crossed the little screened porch and Steve knocked on one of the glass panes of the wooden door. In a few seconds a light turned on. Mr. Wright asked who it was, and Steve said that he was there to take the test on Moby Dick. The professor declared, “Greetings! Do come in. . . .”

Steve entered and I followed. He sat across from Mr. Wright at a table cluttered with braille materials and reels of magnetic recording tapes. Mr. Wright had a grand library of books and music on tapes—maybe a couple of thousand reels. In the corner leaned his trusty Yamaha steel string. Hanging on the door knob was his thin white cane. I crossed over to the couch and settled down as silently as a pinch of lint. None the wiser, Mr. Wright began the test optimistically with easily expected questions regarding the author and the general shape of the work.

So far, so good. Things were going well for Steve, and I was actually strangely proud of him. This took guts. Then a couple of questions later, everything started to crumble.

Apparently, Steve didn’t know that the titled whale was white, which was the one detail that anyone who actually read the novel would remember. How quickly fortunes turn. Then Mr. Wright cleverly launched an inquiry to probe the depth of this kid’s ignorance. He asked a series of routine questions, each of which was followed only by an uncomfortable pause. The air felt strange. Sometimes humor overtakes me when confronted in a stressful situation, but I knew any sound that I made would be the beginning of something terrible. All packed together in a tiny house was a blind professor, a cheating student and a soundless, uninvited guest . . . what a strange collection for a dark November night.

It had all become slightly perverse. I was silently laughing so hard that I could feel the whole couch shaking—a breeze, indeed. The questions then became so difficult that even I had no idea as to how they should be answered.

After each one Steve feverishly scanned his scroll for any clues. Twice he desperately glanced in my direction as if I might come to his rescue. Behind his dark glasses Mr. Wright maintained a perfect deadpan stare. Then I noticed him ever so slightly raise his right eyebrow and he became formal, almost cold. This was not good. Even his tone changed. Mr. Wright had quietly caught on to Steve’s cheap trick, and was now toying with this knave.

Locked on, he even began to smile. Remember, this was a man who could flawlessly recite virtually any great work in the language. I sat fascinated watching this punk get slowly grilled by the blind Ninja master of English literature. Oh, what a tangled web we weave. . . . And then something clicked and Mr. Wright came into his own.

With each succeeding question he reminded me of a champion welter-weight boxer, dancing around, taunting his adversary with his chin stuck out and both hands down at his sides—until he decided to strike with a lightning fast double-pop to his drowsy opponent’s fading brain. He had become a paradox of strange beauty: behind those blind eyes was a brilliant mind of crystal clarity.

Mr. Wright was aware of everything that had happened.

More than everything. Disgusted, he finally ended Steve’s suffering with, “Get out of here, and don’t come back until you’ve read and understood the work.” And then he followed up incredibly with, “Oh, and take Rucker with you. . . .” Instantly my mouth flew open, my eyes bugged out praying mantis style, and hot blood shot into my head.

And now, the stink was on me too. Did he think I was part of this deception, and would he consider that I might have been doing this same stuff as well? I said nothing but left trying my best to become invisible as well as weightless.

And by the way I felt, I probably could have done it. Steve and I silently left Mr. Wright’s home. When I was sure that we were safely out of earshot, I blasted, “Well, Hammerhead, just think how badly that could have gone. . . . ” My mouth was dry and I felt like I had just been in a fight. Steve sat on the front steps to Franklin, blinking and shaking his head. His stupid scroll was still wadded up in his hand. I was already dreading my next test.

I didn’t sleep a wink for the next four nights. The thing that had just happened kept playing itself out in an endless loop whenever my mind found itself idle. Mr. Wright’s classes weren’t so bad because unless I volunteered an opinion there was little chance I’d be isolated in an exchange with him. But I was sure he was aware that I was sitting somewhere in his classroom and I wondered how his take on me had changed. I felt like I had lost something of great value.

Back then I had a habit of whistling when I thought I was alone. I got it from my Dad. He was a very good whistler.

About a week after the incident I was leaving the A-C Building and somehow Mr. Wright had managed to tap his way up behind me. He was a legendary whistler himself, and from thirty yards away he asked, “Who whistles there?” I said nothing, but he kept coming. I thought about disappearing, but then, I’d have to live with that, too.

He was well known for hitching rides from the nearest passing student. He caught up with me at the Confederate monument while I was waiting for traffic to clear. Then he asked in his wonderful way, “Would you be kind enough to lend me a shoulder?” I answered, “Yes, Sir. . . .” He held on and we began our painful journey. Then after a few steps he smiled and inquired elegantly, “And just who might you be?” Several seconds passed. “I might be Rucker,” I offered tentatively. He detonated, “Rucker! Of all the shoulders, it had to be you!” I pleaded, “Mr. Wright, I swear I had no part of what happened last week. I looked and he was slightly smiling. Then he shook his head as though he had just heard a good joke and said, “Rucker, you’re something.

Really something. . . . Are you headed towards Main?” Of course I said, “Yes, Sir.” “Good. I want to check my mail.”

He hung his cane from his wrist. The day was cold, the sky was blue and the sun was bright. Other students passed us, and many greeted him with warmth and respect. There was hardly anyone who had not had him for a course. We continued down the old walkway of uneven bricks and passed under the great silent oaks. Neither of us spoke.

Finally we arrived at the post office and the mistress saw Mr. Wright and handed him several letters and a couple

of magazines. He had a student who read to him and handled his correspondence. Then Clara Frazier, who taught Chemistry, just materialized with a ton of cheer and her sincere sweetness. She was tall and pretty. The room brightened. We both loved her. She took his hand off my shoulder and held it in hers. She said something and they both laughed. Mercifully, I had become irrelevant. I was walking away and had almost made it back outside when Mr. Wright called out, “Rucker!”

I flinched, then turned and answered. He was smiling and with a slight nod said simply, “Thank You. . . .”

I knew then that everything would be okay between us. I was rich again.

A couple of weeks later I ran into Steve at the gym.

He had become very humble, and had learned some kind of lesson that wasn’t about English. I asked him if he had prepared a tissue for his next test. He didn’t laugh and he wouldn’t speak about The Breeze. He was not that smart, but he had become quite wise. That’s almost as good. Apparently Louisburg tailors its curriculum to fit the unique needs of each student. It was nice to see someone getting his money’s worth.

Mr. Wright died in 2011. Fittingly, he was buried on the side of a windy mountain in Weaverville. A lost son had come home.

In the forty-three years that have passed since The Breeze, I am still perplexed at how Mr. Wright knew that I was in that room on that night. I think it may have had something to do with perspective or his acute sensibility—for the truth is simple; it is the lie that is complicated. And by the tone he used, he didn’t think . . . he knew I was there. I also suspect that if I could ask him about it now he would answer with a non-answer by saying, “Rucker, you’re something. Really something. . . .” Then he would laugh as only a man who lives in defiance of the odds can laugh.

The joke was on the Devil. But this much is certain: Mr. Wright had figured something out. He lived as though he knew a secret. I believe he managed to untie the knot of doubt that most of us carry in our heads all our lives.

He not only eclipsed a world of darkness, but he did it with confidence, brightness and optimism. He may be the bravest man I ever knew. And I’ve never met anyone like him since. Yeah, what he figured out was this little matter called . . . life.

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Shakespeare and the Mystery of Authorship: Is There a Controversy Here?

by Wally Hurst, Norris Theatre Director

Shakespeare, alone of all the great writers in Western civilization, presents a unique enigma.

Despite well over 200 years of scholarly attempts to establish the Stratford man’s credentials, doubts about the author’s identity refuse to go away. As Henry James said, “The facts of Stratford do not ‘square’ with the plays of genius. . . .”

William Shakespeare, the greatest author in the history of the English language—and perhaps any language—remains a shadow figure against the backdrop of Elizabethan London. Was it the man from Stratford-Upon-Avon who spelled his name differently every time he signed a document? (He never spelled it “Shakespeare.”) Let us, therefore, for the purposes of this article, separate the author/ playwright Shakespeare and the Stratford man Shakspere.

Despite a massive manhunt going back more than three centuries, not a single letter written in his hand or book he owned has ever been found. Conditions for the survival of books, manuscripts or other documents could not have been

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more ideal: New Place, his family home, remained in the hands of Shakspere’s descendants until the 1670s. Shakspere’s will, noteworthy for its detailed disposal of household items, contains no mention of books, manuscripts, desk, shelves, pens, paper or anything suggesting literary interest. The only specimens of William Shakspere’s handwriting are six almost illegible signatures (see sidebar) each formed differently, and each from the latter period of his life (none earlier than 1612).

Three of these signatures are on his will, one is on a deposition in someone else’s lawsuit and two are on property documents. Also, Shakspere of Stratford did not educate his children; his daughters were illiterate. In an age of copious eulogies, none was forthcoming when Shakspere died in Stratford.

These signatures depict the life of someone who was fully engaged in business matters and moneylending, but make no reference to writing.

The author of Shakespeare’s works was familiar with a wide body of knowledge for his time—law (he accurately employs as many as 600 legal terms), music, foreign languages, the classics, the land and culture of Italy and France and aristocratic manners and sports.

There is no documentation that William Shakspere of Stratford had access to such information. Unlike almost all other major playwrights of the period, he did not attend college or receive legal training.

The life documented in conventional biographies is inconsistent with the life revealed in the plays and poems.

William Shakspere of Stratford was a successful businessman, a man of worldly wealth and upward mobility. The plays express a consistent pattern of contempt for the values and attitudes necessary for success in the social milieu in which the alleged author lived.

Instead they reflect a distinctively aristocratic social view, as Walt Whitman recognized when he postulated that “one of the Wolfish earls” would seem to be the true author of the history plays.

The case for Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as “Shakespeare” Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was a recognized poet and playwright of great talent, and a patron of literature, the theatre and music. He was at the center of English literary life and a close acquaintance with all of the personalities whose brilliance infuses the Shakespearean canon with its own distinctive Elizabethan character.

Although a short summary will not do justice to the myriad reasons why the Folger Shakespeare Library has concluded that Oxford is the most plausible alternative candidate for Shakespeare’s identity, many informed and independent thinkers have concluded that he was, in fact, the true mind behind the mask of the bard.

In the Renaissance period in England a powerful stigma was attached to the publication of poetry and, especially, drama by courtiers—this was an unwritten honor code of the court.

The use of pseudonyms and other forms of veiled publication was very common during the period in question, both because of the stigma associated with print and because publication of controversial material constituted a political risk.

Oxford was known in the Elizabethan court as a prominent patron of the theatre.

He was also known as a closeted poet and playwright, “the best for comedy,” as Francis Meres describes him in 1598.

The Arte of English Poesie, the leading (and anonymous) work of literary criticism of the Elizabethan reign, lists Oxford first in a list of Noblemen “who have written commendably well as it would appear if their doings could be found out and made public with the rest.” No play bearing his name survives.

Ten plays take place in Italy. Shakespeare describes Italy in great detail, and just like the law and so many other subjects, gets it right—brilliantly.

What does all of this mean? It means that we need to enlist the help of historians, paleographers and archaeologists in unraveling this fascinating mystery.

Many “Shakespeare Experts” of academia and much of theatre as well are wedded to the powerful, faith-like pull of the Stratford myth, which may impede rational or unbiased investigation. Perhaps we will uncover a letter, a report or, however improbable it may seem, an original manuscript by Shakespeare. That would settle the issue and we could move on to other endeavors. At this moment, however, I maintain that if we “tried the Stratford for writing the plays,” a resounding “Not Guilty” verdict would be the result. Having been raised in an orthodox household and ingrained academically in the notion that the genius of Stratford-Upon-Avon wrote the plays, I was just as surprised as anyone to learn the truth about the Shakespeare authorship question. It is a real issue and deserves the attention of academia.

(Thanks to the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship for much of the prose used in this article.)

The Shakespeare plays and poems show that the author had specific knowledge of certain works of literature, prominent persons and events in Elizabeth’s court, of which de Vere also had intimate knowledge. In fact, the details of Hamlet, one of “Shakespeare’s” greatest achievements, are so similar to those of Oxford’s life that scholars regard the play as inherently autobiographical.

Like Hamlet, Oxford was even abducted by pirates and “set naked” on the shore! As Washington Post reporter Don Oldenburg wrote, Oxford’s life reads like a “rough draft” of Hamlet.

For a controversial author-courtier such as Oxford, writing scandalous satiric drama for the public stage, a pseudonym would have been essential. Consider the name: “William Shake-speare,” and how fitting it was as a nom de plume for Oxford. Pallas Athena, patron goddess of ancient Athens, home of Greek theatre and Renaissance goddess of the arts and literature, was associated in Renaissance Europe with the action of “spear-shaking.” At court, Oxford was known as “Spearshaker” because of his skill at tournaments and his crest showing a lion brandishing a spear. In a 1578 address to Oxford in front of the court, Gabriel Harvey refers to him as one whose “vultus tela vibrat”—one whose “will shakes speares.”

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Jerry “Twig” Wood ’75 Jerry “Twig” Wood, Class of ’75, came to Louisburg College from Siler City, a quaint, rural town of approximately 5,000 people. He attended Jordan Matthews High School, the smallest 2A school in the state. When looking at college options, he felt that the smaller setting of Louisburg College would better suit him. His love of golf and the opportunity to play for Jim Lanier sealed the deal.

Twig’s first days at Louisburg were definitely an unexpected and pleasant experience, especially for someone leaving home for the first time.

Everyone he encountered was friendly and helpful, and he immediately felt a sense of family as he acclimated to his new surroundings.

He also found the faculty to be excellent resources with a genuine interest in helping students excel. “They put forth extra effort to assist you in understanding subject matter for their classes,” he says.

When he thinks about his time at Louisburg, he is prompted to remind our current students to “Cherish your time at Louisburg and do not take it for granted. Realize what a special place it really is. I know this is hard for 18- or 19-year-olds, but it will hit home as you get older and begin to reflect back on your experiences.” Twig was honest about the fact that if he could have a “do over,” he would practice what he preaches—he did not realize the opportunity that Louisburg had provided him until he was about to graduate.

Even though he is an avid Tar Heel fan, Twig attended NC State University and received a degree in food science.

Upon graduation, he joined the family business, Chatham Foods. At that time, he was the third generation to have the opportunity to work in the meat business on a full-time basis. “When you grow up in the meat business, it gets in your blood. There was really nothing else I wanted to do.”

Twig brought an eagerness to learn and quickly established a quality control program for their product line, which at that time consisted of franks, bologna and smoked sausage.

The next year, the plant manager retired and Twig assumed the leadership role; he continued to work in that capacity until the facility closed in 1996. “I encountered the typical ‘boss’s son’ stereotyping and prejudice that only hard work and leadership can overcome,” he explains. In 1978, Twig, his brother and his father formed Brookwood Farms, Inc. This fledgling endeavor expanded over the years, and, in 1982 was transformed into an old-fashioned “pit cooked” barbeque company. “After we made this decision, our little company sprouted wings and began to take off. We now serve the entire United States, distributing our products to grocery stores, foodservice warehouses and school systems.”

The company has experienced many expansions. Currently, their more than 200 yards of pit cookers and 600 yards

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by Barry Burger, Communications Volunteer

of cooking space consume approximately 40,000 pounds of hickory charcoal per week. He attributes the success of their business to the method by which they cook their pork, beef and chicken products. Competitors produce their products with automated systems that result in bland meat bases, flavored with various sauces . . . and then they call it barbeque. Brookwood Farms, on the other hand, pit cooks their products over hickory charcoal so customers can taste the real smoke flavor, which is then complimented by one of nine different sauce profiles. The pork is actually hand pulled, gently mixed and hand packed—all 11,000 pounds annually produced—to keep the meat’s texture as close to an at-home backyard experience as possible. Twig firmly believes that their method is what separates Brookwood from their competitors.

His advice for others who might consider joining a family business is to, “Cherish the thought. This country was founded more on family businesses and farms than anything else, and I personally believe it is still the backbone of who we are as a country. Carry on your family legacy, concentrate on quality and you will be rewarded.”

The next time you are in a Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Walmart—and the list goes on—take a look in the meat section. You will find Brookwood barbeque, pork ribs, Brunswick stew and even country ham, just to name a few products. If that’s not enough to convince you, Brookwood Farms was recently named by CNN as “The 6th Best Eats” in twenty of the country’s busiest airports.

Twig is appreciative of the education he received at Louisburg College and the manner in which it helped him in his success, both at NCSU and in his business. To show that appreciation, he and his wife established the Jerry and Betty Wood Scholarship in 2006 to provide financial assistance to a student from Chatham County or from Eastern North Carolina. Indeed, it is this kind of support that makes Louisburg College a thriving institution of higher learning.

“This country was founded more on family businesses and farms than anything else, and I personally believe it is still the backbone of who we are as a country. Carry on your family legacy, concentrate on quality and you will be rewarded.”

Outside of work, Twig enjoys spending time with his wife Betty, their son Burton and his wife Ashley, and their son Stephen and his girlfriend Brianna. Both sons are part of the fourth generation to join the business. When not with his family, Twig can be found on the golf course with his buddies. We bet that a Brookwood Farms feast follows many of their golf outings.

Hurricane Athletics: Year in Review

by Mike Holloman ’83, Director of Athletics

2104 was a notable year for Louisburg College Athletics as it brought the rebirth of our men’s and women’s cross country teams and witnessed six of our athletic teams appearing in the NJCAA Weekly National Rankings.

Leading the way was men’s basketball with a #1 National Ranking for several weeks during the season. Also appearing in the NJCAA rankings were: men’s soccer (4th), women’s basketball (12th), men’s cross country (15th) and women’s cross country (21st).

Cross country had an outstanding inaugural year under first-year Head Coach Jay Koloseus that was capitulated with both teams participating in the NJCAA Cross

Country National Tournament. Not only were these teams outstanding on the running course but they were also prominent in the classroom.

Thirteen of the team’s members were awarded academic merit scholarships upon enrolling at Louisburg College and, as you might expect, they have shown outstanding academic performance, accumulating a 3.45 GPA for the women’s team and a 3.05 GPA for the men’s team.

Other highlights have included our baseball team, which advanced to the region tournament finals; our men’s soccer team, which won the region tournament championship and advanced to the NJCAA National Tournament; and the men’s basketball team, which finished first

in region during regular season play and lost by only three points in the Region Tournament Championship.

Our other programs all won games within their respective region tournaments.

Our student athletes continue to contribute to our college athletically and academically, as is always evident at our annual Hurricane Scholar-Athlete Awards Program.

Our most recent ceremony saw 122 current student athletes receive awards for achieving 3.0 GPAs or higher during the past fall or spring semesters.

Canes Athletics continue to bring excitement and pride to our campus.

To follow the Canes, visit their website at www.lchurricanes.com.

The 2014 Scholar-Athletes at the awards ceremony. 122 student athletes received awards for achieving 3.0+ GPAs during the past fall and / or spring semesters.

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Baseball

Women’s Basketball

S p ri ng 2 01 4

20 1 4- 20 1 5 S ea s o n

Despite much success, Hurricanes Baseball closed last season with a loss, defeated 4-2 in the Region X Tournament championship game. The Fire Ants of USC-Sumter got the best of the Canes for the second day in a row, capping the Canes’ season at 27-23, 8-16 conference. Fifty games produced 25 home runs, 253 runs total.

Coach Shay Hayes, in her second year with the Lady Hurricanes, ended another spectacular season, seeded third in the semifinals of the Region X Women’s Basketball Tournament at the campus of Brunswick Community College, and was defeated by No. 2 seed Cape Fear Community College, with a final score of 6957.

Last season also brought forward Cedric Mullins (Snellville, GA), who added 2014 NJCAA All-American to a long list of accomplishments during his time at Louisburg. Cedric was also the Region X Player of the Year and Louisburg College Male Student-Athlete of the Year for 2014. Mullins is currently continuing his athletic and academic success at Campbell University.

This loss to Cape Fear Community College was the third this year as the Lady Canes ended the season at 21-7.

Outstanding players in the game include sophomore Cam Palmer (Milledgeville, GA) and freshman Ambryia Davis (Fayetteville, NC), with 12 points each; following closely behind with 10 points is sophomore Genea Penick (Amherst, VA.), who led the team with 314 total points this season. Just the day before, the team had taken the quarterfinals with a season sweep of Lenoir Community College, 76-45.

Men’s Basketball 2 0 1 4-2 01 5 Se as on Louisburg College played host this year to the NJCAA Region X Men’s Basketball Tournament, giving us the home court advantage through the first round where we knocked out #4 Pitt Community College, 94-70.

The first-seeded men’s team had its sights set on nationals as they took on #2 Richard Bland in the second game. Leading by as many as 13 points in the first half, the Hurricanes held on tight until a last minute 8-point surge from Richard Bland ended our season, closing with a 26-4 record.

Just a 3-point margin separated us from the national tournament; the game closed at 80-77.

Season high scorers include freshman Jamarcus Hairston (Danville, VA) and sophomore Camden Scott (Raleigh, NC) with 369 and 366 points, respectively.

Coach Mark Vanderslice, in his fifth season with the Hurricanes, has compiled an impressive 125-16 (89%) overall mark and 75-7 (91.4%) conference record.

Vanderslice has become one of the only coaches in NJCAA history to have three consecutive 30-win seasons. Our Hurricanes—who led the conference as first seed for the majority of the season—will certainly get another chance at nationals in the year to come.

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Cheerleading Congratulations to the Louisburg College Cheerleading Team for competing in the Cheer Ltd. Nationals at CANAM and finishing as champions in their division. To watch their winning performance, visit www.lchurricanes.com.

Cross Country Fa ll 20 1 4 Coach Jay Koloseus arrived Fall 2013 to reboot the College’s Cross Country program—and that he did. After a particularly successful season right out of the gate as Men’s Region X Champions, Koloseus earned Region X Coach of the Year, taking honors for both men’s and women’s cross country.

Men’s cross country took 21st at nationals, closing a record-setting season for the College with Haben Zemichael (Tigray, Ethiopia) just missing All-American honors with a 46th place finish. Women’s cross country, who missed a win at regionals, took the opportunity to gain nationals experience and placed 24th overall.

Cross country is one to watch this year, having recently signed a duo of seniors from Southview High School; Michael Staples and Joseph Moody are among North Carolina’s elite track and cross country athletes. Both helped their high school team finish as the state runner-up in the 4A State Championship, and with all-state and many individual honors, these runners will surely have an impact at Louisburg. Adding these two to an already all-star team almost guarantees another bid at nationals in the fall.

Football Fa l l 2 01 4 Hurricanes Football continues to encourage players to prove themselves as all-stars on and off the field, closing a tough season with a 5-4 record. The team truly lives by their motto: Character First. The team undertook several service projects this year, including mentoring young athletes in Wake Forest and visiting the Boy’s and Girl’s Club on Halloween, where they demonstrated the importance of daily physical activity by playing various games with the kids and talking to them about the importance of staying in school and finding positive role models to ensure success.

We’re eager to see these Hurricanes off to a great start this fall, as the leadership team has undergone multiple changes in the last few months. Congratulations are due to former Defensive and Recruiting Coordinator Trevor Highfield, who has agreed to lead the football program as head coach after the departure of Coach Sala, who has taken a position with Anderson University. Highfield has added two staff members to his team, Offensive Coordinator Will Orbin and Recruiting Coordinator and Linebacker Coach Chris Tolbert.

Coach Orbin brings 22 years of coaching experience, including tenure as a high school head football coach, and as offensive coordinator and coach in two Division I FCS college football programs: Indiana State University (offensive line coach) and Elon University (defensive line coach). Orbin has also served as head football coach (2004) at East Rowan High School in NC and was honored as the North Piedmont 3A Conference Coach of the Year and Rowan County Coach of the Year. He began his career in football as a player at Waynesburg College, where, after an injury, he became a student assistant coach under Ty Clarke before transferring to NC State to finish his degree. Orbin is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps where he served in Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm and Operation Just Cause.

He holds post-baccalaureate certifications from NC State University and the University of Georgia.

Coach Tolbert has been a coach in the Raleigh, NC, area for the last five years, with stops at Wake Forest High School, Cardinal Gibbons and Ravenscroft. Tolbert’s resume also includes time spent at Christopher Newport University, Copiah Lincoln Junior College and Mississippi State University. He is a graduate of Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Physical Science.

GOLF The 2013-14 golf season saw a reduced team of only four individual golfers representing Louisburg College in various Region X golf tournaments. In November, two golfers finished well in the Region X Fall Championship at Belmont Preserve Golf Club in Rocky Mount, NC, with a 4th place and 10th place finish, leading the team to a 5th place overall finish. In the Region X Division III Championships in April at the Emerald Golf Course in New Bern, NC, three individuals finished the season in 5th, 9th and 12th place.

Men’s Soccer Fa ll 20 1 4 Nationally ranked #4 Hurricanes Men’s Soccer ended with a 4-2 victory against Northeast Texas at the NJCAA National Tournament in Arizona where sophomore forward Nigel Robinson (Woodbridge, VA) earned an NCJAA All-Tournament nod. The victory wasn’t enough to push the team past the first round, ending the season 20-2-2 overall.

It was a spectacular fall for first-year Head Coach Dell Martin, who was also awarded the NJCAA District Coach of the Year. Coach Martin, originally from Hertfordshire County, England, has over 25 years of coaching experience in high school, collegiate and professional levels. He served as the varsity coach and physical education teacher of the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C.; the director of youth development for the Richmond Kickers Professional Soccer Club; head coach of the Richmond Kickers Future Premier Development League Team—which compiled more than fifty wins under Coach Martin’s leadership over five seasons; and in the Olympic Development Program. He also brings with him experience as the assistant men’s soccer coach for Randolph-Macon College and the varsity girl’s head coach for Manchester High School; the director of coaching for the Richmond Strikers Girls Travel Program and for the Richmond Capitals Soccer Club; and as an assistant coach for the USL-Nashville Metros. We are glad to have Coach Martin join us.

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Women’s Soccer Fa ll 201 4 Women’s soccer finished the 2014 season in second place, hosting the Region X Tournament on campus where they battled Cape Fear Community College. Our Lady Canes just couldn’t get a goal past the Sea Devils, losing 2-0 and finishing 11-5-1 overall 9-2-1 in the conference semi-finals.

Abigail Ross (Rocky Mount, NC) posted 10 shutouts for the season, earning All-Region Goal Keeper with Carisa Jones (Glen Burnie, MD) and NJCAA 1st Team AllAmerican Sam Rowland (London, England) also earning All-Region. Overall, the Lady Canes finished 13th in the nation offensively with a scoring average of 4.4 goals per game; the team conceded only 16 goals the entire season.

This was the sixth season for Coach Andy Stokes, who has a team of which he can be proud. A leading Hurricane this year includes sophomore forward Sam Rowland with 40 goals. All in all, the team played well and we look forward to another successful Lady Canes season with Coach Stokes.

Softball S p ri ng 2 01 4 Coach Don Stopa ended his second season at the College hosting the Region X Tournament, where the Lady Canes took on Pitt Community College with a swing and a miss, ending the season 20-21.

Coach Stopa moved on to coach the University of Minnesota Crookston Eagles in mid-summer 2014. His departure brought Hope Creasy to Louisburg; she had previously worked at Wittenberg University as the Tigers’ assistant softball coach and athletics facilities coordinator.

Prior to moving to Ohio, Creasy spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Georgia Southern University.

While there, she assisted with all aspects of the softball program, including organizing practice sessions, creating scouting reports, fundraising, recruiting and organizing community service activities as the team won regular season and tournament Southern Conference championships and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

Her coaching success followed on the heels of Creasy’s tremendous collegiate career at Radford University. A four-year starter in the outfield for the Highlanders, Creasy was a First-Team All-Conference honoree two times and a member of the Big South All-Academic Team in 2008. She earned All-Virginia honors three times, and she capped her career with first-team NFCA All-MidAtlantic Region honors and Big South Conference Woman of the Year in 2010.

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During her career at Radford, Creasy helped the Highlanders to their first two Big South regular season and tournament championships in 2009 and 2010, and the program broke new ground for the university with a berth in the 2010 Athens Regional Championship. She still ranks in the top 10 in program history for career home runs, slugging percentage, hits, doubles, RBIs, total bases, games played, starts and sacrifice flies.

Creasy earned her Bachelor of Science in Sports Administration from Radford in 2010 and her Master of Science in Sports Management from Georgia Southern in 2012. She is currently serving Louisburg as head softball coach and sports information director.

This year’s Lady Canes are on a roll—follow them as they wrap up a winning season at lchurricanes.com/sports/sball.

Volleyball Fa ll 20 1 4 These Lady Hurricanes appear to have the makings of a Region X powerhouse—and they’re a team to watch next year. Sophomore setter Ellen Tootoo (Wilmington, NC), who earned an All-Conference nod for her 2014 efforts, was again a sharp competitor for the College with 304 assists, averaging 12 per set.

The team pulls from a great deal of talent, coming out of their 28-match season with a 12-16 record and closing the year in tournament play with a 3-1 loss against Wake Technical Community College. This is the first season for Coach Caitlin Withers, who joined the Hurricane family after a brief stint as head coach at Franklinton High School (NC). While at the helm of the Rams, Coach Withers earned Northern Carolina Conference Coach of the Year for the 2012 season.

Withers played collegiate volleyball at the University of South Carolina, where she also earned her Bachelor of Arts in History. After attending South Carolina, she earned a Masters of Arts in History from Brooklyn College and she also recently earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from University of Southern California.

Born and raised in San Marino, CA, Withers excelled in both club and high school volleyball. She played varsity volleyball at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, earning All-Conference, First Team All-Area, and Best Defensive Player honors. She played club volleyball for six years at San Gabriel Volleyball.

In addition to her duties on the court, Withers has assumed the duties of Louisburg’s NJCAA Compliance Representative. She continues to coach with the Triangle Volleyball Club, an elite youth club based out of Raleigh.

Athletic Facilities Updates This year saw many changes and improvements for our athletic facilities.

Frazier Field has seen numerous facilities updates this fall; we’re proud to showcase new windscreens, fencing, and padding behind home plate. The upgrades are due to the generous support of alumni friends, with a special thank you to Don Fish ’60, who spearheaded the project. We know that our players will enjoy the upgraded field amenities; we hope that the fans will as well.

Softball saw the addition of the Winstead Training Facility, made possible by a gift from Thomas A. and Peggy Winstead. The new space, adjacent to Cotten Field, features a covered warm-up and training area where our Lady Canes can run drills in all seasons, and it also comes complete with a team locker room, including restroom and laundry facilities. “We are blessed to have a facility like this to call home. Our players recognize that it’s rare to have a resource like this in a school our size—and in larger four-year institutions for that matter. It’s an incredible asset to our players and to our program; we are grateful for it,” says Coach Hope Creasy. The Hurricanes celebrated the dedication with a double-header win played against a traveling club team.

Completed renovations over the past several years at the Roger G. Taylor Athletic Center brought the installation of an industrial HVAC system to Historic Holton Gymnasium this past summer, a new roof, refinished floors and bleachers, new paint and new offices. Over the summer, new windows were installed, completing a series of major improvements that will serve the College for years to come.

Frazier Field renovations came just in time for the spring season to kick off.

State-of-the-art Winstead Training Facility completes the landscape at Cotten Field.

Fans and fellow travelers alike will take notice of our Hurricanes as they travel to and from away games in their new bus.

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Class of 2013 Athletes Where Are They Now? Jasmine Phillips 2012’s NJCAA All-American First Team Jasmine Phillips is still hitting the court hard.

At Louisburg, she joined the Canes Women’s Basketball Team and averaged 16.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game. That year, our Lady Hurricanes closed the season with a 31-2 record. While she was at Louisburg, Jasmine also played middle blocker for our volleyball team.

The University of Tennessee Women’s Basketball program picked up Jasmine after her first season with the Hurricanes, making her the fourth junior college player in nearly forty years to sign with the Lady Volunteers. With Tennessee, she was part of a team that played in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Elite Eight where they lost to the Louisville Cardinals. Not seeing as much court time in Tennessee, Jasmine transferred to East Carolina University. Jasmine is still an athlete to watch—we look forward to seeing her play another season with the Pirates and wish her much success as her career progresses.

Abdul Caesar A scholar-athlete, Abdul Caesar played football during his two years at Louisburg.

He delivered the student commencement address at the 2013 graduation ceremony.

He is currently a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill majoring in philosophy and minoring in math. He finds the workload and the grading to be challenging, but appreciates the abstract/esoteric aspects of the major. Abdul’s future aspirations include furthering his education with perhaps another undergraduate degree, obtaining a master’s and eventually teaching philosophy in a smaller educational institution. He is on target to graduate this year.

Olivia Gaines Named Junior Community College Player of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association as a sophomore at Louisburg, Olivia is part of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks team that played in this year’s NCAA Final Four. In her last year as a Hurricane, Olivia averaged 18.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.5 steals.

Antonio Robinson Antonio Robinson is majoring in communications at East Carolina University where he has made a name for himself on the basketball court. Currently, he is third in the conference in steals and #1 in assists on turnovers. Antonio has several plans in the works after graduation; his first plan is to hopefully sign with an agent and participate in some NBA workouts to see if any teams are interested in signing him. If this plan doesn’t come to fruition, he may consider going overseas to play basketball. Once he hangs up the basketball shoes, Antonio plans to attend a culinary arts school and turn his passion for cooking into a career.

He stated that none of what he has accomplished to date would have been possible without the support he received at Louisburg. “I want to thank all the Louisburg College staff, coaches, friends, students, cafeteria workers, janitors and the community as a whole who helped me get to where I am today. Now, look at me: in a couple of months I’ll be getting my degree in communications from a four-year institution.”

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The Value of Faith

by Rev. Shane Benjamin, Louisburg College Chaplain

On March 24 of this year, Louisburg College was treated to a presentation on the Prosperity Gospel by Dr. Kate Bowler of Duke Divinity School. Dr. Bowler spoke as part of the Glendora Powell Lecture Series and she highlighted several of this relatively new movement’s key characteristics, as well as some of the beliefs held by a fast-growing, diverse and worldwide body of adherents.

One unsurprising characteristic is how the movement in America is not a counter-cultural force. To the contrary, the Prosperity Gospel Movement works very successfully within American consumer culture and, as a whole, promotes itself rather well thanks to a marketing savvy that could be the envy of some of the country’s larger corporations. In fact, several of the mega churches promoting the Prosperity Gospel are considered large corporations by the average mainstream church-goer.

And, speaking of mainline denominations and their church-goers, a majority consider the Prosperity Gospel to be no real gospel at all. To put it in theological terms, it is heresy or, at the very least, “material” heresy—the uninformed and ignorant rejection of revealed truth (dogma) traditionally accepted as normative in Christian thought. That said, it continues to be proclaimed by disciples who hail from all walks of life.

Another curious yet alluring characteristic highlighted by Bowler are the views of Prosperity Gospel believers and their use of faith: • A Christian should be wealthy or financially comfortable at the very least.

• A Christian should be healthy—free of disease of body and malady of mind.

•

There is no room in a Christian’s life for negative confessions, only positive ones. For example, if one is sick with cancer, being faithful means never acknowledging the presence of the cancer, only being cured of it. In essence, through positive confession we create our realities simply by speaking them into

existence.

• Christians can wield a tool that procures what they need or want out of life. In short, faith is power.

My first experience with the Prosperity Gospel and the Positive Confession Movement was in the early 1980s.

It has never resonated within me, likely because of my orthodox upbringing and background. However, I have admired the ferocious zeal of its devoted practitioners on occasion. Still, upon reflecting on Bowler’s gracious, nonjudgmental and descriptive presentation, which gave her audience a working vocabulary of this modern day phenomenon by self-professing Christians, I continue to see much of what they embrace as a misunderstanding if not a devaluing of faith as found in historical Christian

thought. In their “faithing” or the very act of applying their trust or assent (fides qua creditor) in any given situation, there is operating what I consider to be a “willing suspension of disbelief.” In my opinion, there appears to be an over emphasis of putting faith in faith to “fix” a situation. I fear many times this brand of theological thinking ends up promoting a type of escapism or even denial of reality.

But enough of my negativity toward the Positive Confession and the Prosperity Gospel promoters. For me, the value or importance of faith is rooted in the fact that it is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). As such, faith is to be valued as the reminder that, as the beneficiaries of something so wonderful, we can consider ourselves as being loved unconditionally. That gives me hope— the kind that generates and leads to a love for God and neighbor in return.

Rather than view faith mainly as a tool of power by which I am able to obtain things for myself or have my way in this world, I’ll continue seeing it as a primary way in which I can give myself to God and God’s work. By faith I answer the call to respond to a loving God in grateful service to his people and to work here at Louisburg College and beyond.

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

So, whether I am wealthy or poor, God loves me. Whether I am healthy or sick, God loves me. When I confess something negative, for example, my sin, I can take comfort in knowing that the love of God will grant me forgiveness.

Faith, hope and love are the three main theological virtues - Ephesians 2 8:9 (NIV) in Christian thinking relative to the mighty acts of God’s salvation. They have kept the people of God standing in good times and in bad. In saying we are “related by faith to the United Methodist Church,” in our mission statement, we acknowledge that faith was essential in the founding of Louisburg College and it remains necessary for our ongoing witness to God’s loving presence.

Since Louisburg College is a testimony to faith and has touched so many lives for so long—and in so many powerful, positive ways—we give back to it as a show of our own faith in what God is doing here in our midst.

When we do, we are simply saying that the value of faith is invaluable.

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Service and a Smile Sandra Beasley’s Forty-Year Legacy of Cheerful Dedication to the College

by Dr. James Eck, Provost

I watch the 1964 claymation version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer annually.

One of my favorite characters is Sam the snowman, as he (i.e., Burl Ives) narrates the story with a smile on his face and a sense of optimism, joy and goodwill in his heart. During our time on Earth, we may be fortunate to come across a few individuals who also convey those same sentiments of optimism, joy and goodwill. Ms. Sandra Beasley has epitomized those exemplars throughout her forty-year tenure at Louisburg College.

Ms. Beasley Serving as Secretary to the Registrar, 1978.

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Ms. Beasley ends the Spring 2015 semester as our assistant registrar.

Every time you see her, you can count on a warm smile, a gentle and humble spirit and a desire to extend excellent customer service. Too often we focus on efficiency and take the least amount of time possible to interact with our colleagues and students. Ms. Beasley, however, shares her most valuable asset— her time—with each person who visits the Registrar’s Office, and she never conveys the sense that you need to rush, or that she is too busy to extend to you her undivided attention. What a treasure of goodwill, coupled with a strong work ethic, this gem has been in the life of Louisburg College.

Ms. Beasley has mentored so many of us at Louisburg College, and her impact at the College will last well into the future. Her colleagues in the Registrar’s Office know how essential she has been to the Office’s success: As the face of the Registrar’s Office, Sandra’s kind spirit, passion to assist students and love for her position have made the Registrar’s Office a pleasant and welcoming professional work environment for all employees, students and community members. She has dedicated many successful years to administrative responsibilities; through her years of experience, she has always been so willing to share her knowledge with employees at the College. The Registrar’s Office staff has been on the front-end of receiving this knowledge, and, for that, we are forever grateful.

Sandra Beasley is one of the kindest, most gentle people I have ever known. She possesses infinite amounts of cheerfulness and patience.

Whether she is talking with a student in the Registrar’s Office or a faculty/staff member on the phone, it is as though your concern is the most important thing going on in the universe at that moment and she gives you her full attention. I am proud to count Sandra as both a co-worker and a friend.

– Dr. Martha Bragg, Professor of Mathematics There is a universal opinion about the value Ms. Sandra Beasley has added to Louisburg College: it has been immeasurably good.

Congratulations, Ms. Beasley, as you commence the next season of life; there are still an untold number of lives for you to positively impact, and you have earned the sincere admiration and respect of the entire Louisburg College community. Our College’s strong foundation for a great future is a tribute, in large measure, to you.

In addition to her knowledge and experience, Ms. Beasley has a deep sense of integrity and calmness about her, essential for someone charged with protecting the accuracy and security of students’ records. Ms. Beasley’s faculty colleagues indicate: Sandra Beasley’s voice has always been a soothing presence in the hectic pace of work in our Louisburg College Registrar’s Office. Her answers to questions I have posed concerning students’ records have always been delivered with a calm dignity and respect. For me, she has been the embodiment of the nurturing environment which is the best of what our College has to offer.

– Will Hinton, Professor of Art In August 1977, I joined the faculty of Louisburg College as a young, naïve coach and physical education instructor in the Athletics Department.

It was not long at all before I was introduced to Sandra Beasley in the Registrar’s Office. She always had time for me. With a caring smile, patience and a sincere desire and willingness to help . . . I knew I had a friend and confidant in Ms. Beasley. She was always willing to listen and turned what seemed to be insurmountable obstacles into easy tasks we could resolve together.

For that I shall be forever grateful. She has been a ray of sunshine and joy throughout her time at the College. She will be missed, never to be forgotten and always remembered as a treasured gift to all of us who came to know and love her. Thank you, Sandra, for your service to Louisburg College and may God continue to bless you and your family.

– Sheilah Cotten, Professor of Sociology

Ms. Beasley is es pecially loved by her colleagues in the Registrar’s Office, Registra r Catherine Zienc and Associate ik Registrar Tracey Sala. Catherine Tracey wrote a and poem in Ms. Be asley’s honor. It as follows: reads “Sandra Beasley” Working with stu dents, staff and faculty alike Wanting to have everything done just right Emails, phone ca lls, faxes all day Needing a snac k and “Co-Cola” to see the way.

Breaks are few an d far between Being straightforw ard and firm while trying not to appear too m ean FERPA, AACRAO , SACRAO, CAC RA O and CAMS Rules, regulations , guidelines all fa ll in her hands.

Late nights at w ork so much to do Remembering ar ound 8 p.m. she has a life, too.

Dedicated to he r work for forty ye ars Enjoying each da y chatting with pe ers Taking a deep br eath and saying the phrase “Long-story shor t,” those were th e days. . . .

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Tommy Edwards ’65 Bluesman, Storyteller, Teacher

by Barry Burger, Communications Volunteer

The name Tommy Edwards is synonymous with bluegrass music. A ’65 graduate, he came to Louisburg for a number of reasons—family connections, the need for individual academic attention—but most importantly because of the reputation Louisburg College has concerning the preparation of students for transfer to good four-year schools.

At Louisburg, he gained the success that had always eluded him academically, socially and in other ways. “I am ‘number dyslexic’—or as a nationally-recognized authority on learning differences once told me, I have ‘sequencing problems.’ This greatly affected my abilities in math and science, so I was afraid to attend a large, impersonal institution.”

He is the product of a musical family: his mother and two of his aunts played piano and sang. In addition to being a good tap dancer, his father was also a lead singer who harmonized with a quartet. Tommy started playing bluegrass in high school. He landed his first paying gig while at Louisburg College, but, as he says, “That’s a whole ’nother story.”

Bluegrass was a natural progression from the popular or (faux) folk music of the day, which was what he learned first. As he became more proficient with his music, it opened a plethora of doors that likely would have remained closed to him otherwise. Tommy has played thousands of shows; toured all over the eastern United States; met and performed with superstars from several genres; performed in Finland and Northern Ireland, where he learned about the roots of bluegrass music; recorded nine albums; and has his own radio show.

Edwards admires many musicians, but explains that Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson and Clarence White were “absolute masters of their instruments and I admire their virtuosity and dedication to their music.” He learned a great deal from them, as well as Edd Mayfield, Gene Meade and two great friends and mentors from his home town of Siler City, Jerry Stuart and the late Paul Beane.

Primarily a guitarist, he is known as a flat picker, but he plays fingerstyle as well. Tommy celebrated the 40th anniversary of his main band The Bluegrass Experience in 2012; he’s also in a second band, Carolina Lightning.

While accomplishing these musical achievements, he balanced a teaching career—a profession that he enjoyed for thirty years. He credits his success to having the good fortune of working with understanding school administrators who were helpful in arranging for him to be away from his classroom a couple of days a year and an understanding wife, who was also quite comfortable with making his dual career work. Cynthia, to whom he has been

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married for 36 years, is “his rock, his inspiration and his guide.” She is a retired antiques dealer, a former president of the North Carolina Antiques Dealers Association, the former director of the North Carolina Arts Incubator, a respected authority on North Carolina traditional pottery and a tireless worker for causes she believes in. “All of my friends agree I married up,” he says.

“I’m always trying out new ‘licks’ and looking for ways the instrument helps me tell the story in the song.”

Recalling some of his fondest memories, Tommy says there are far too many to count, but high on the list is a concert at the University of Tennessee where he played with John Hartford. He also says the Union Grove Fiddlers’ Convention in 1971 where his pick flew out of his hand and into the crowd at the end of his guitar solo will stay with him forever.

He continues to practice at least two hours a day and does so in an unstructured way, playing what he feels like. “I’m always trying out new ‘licks’ and looking for ways the instrument helps me tell the story in the song.”

As far as advice for students and aspiring musicians, Tommy encourages all to “concentrate and do your best.

When you make a mistake, you keep playing. Sometimes the audience is not aware and other times it is obvious. You just laugh it off and play the next tune. Even Babe Ruth struck out a lot of times.”

William Bowers ’39 has spent most of the last year

writing a book about his experiences during World War II while serving in the Navy, beginning with training and travel from May 1944 through his discharge in January 1946. “Don’t tell me that you can’t do something new in your 93rd year,” William says. The book, entitled Memoirs of a World War II Destroyer Escort Sailor, is available on Amazon.

Dr. P. Talmadge Lancaster ’45 believes that

Louisburg opened the door to a long and successful career for him. After receiving his PhD from Duke University, he worked overseas for twenty years as a superintendent of schools with the U.S. Department of Defense in Germany, France, Italy and in the Middle East. Dr. Talmadge returned to the United States so that his children could experience a university education. Here he served as the Camp Lejeune Superintendent of Schools until being invited back to Iran to serve as the head of the American schools. “Our life’s path was a great learning experience for us. We thank God for leading us in that direction.

Truly, God has touched Louisburg College, which gave me a light to the future.”

Eula Miller ’51 has retired from her work as a clinical nurse specialist.

W. (Bill) Horace Baker ’52 recently lost his wife

of 52 years. He is currently residing between Wake and Pender Counties.

Sam Elliott ’52 retired at the end of January 2014 at

the age of 81. Sam has had four very rewarding careers, serving the U.S. Public Health Service (in two different fields), the Texas Mental Health System and with a private counseling practice. He credits Louisburg College for being the “launching pad” of his entire adventure.

Glendel Stephenson ’52 became a great grandfather for the second time this past year and is in his 31st year as mayor of Mebane, NC. He expects to file for another term this summer, and, he says, “Life is good.”

Donald Fish ’60 retired as Liggett Group Vice

President of Marketing after 33 years, which included launching SkyBox, a marketing company for sports trading cards. He now serves as the executive director of the NC Sports Hall of Fame, which is celebrating fifty years of inductions (www.ncshof.org). He also serves as a member of the North Carolina Golf Panel that plays and rates the top 100 courses in our state each year.

Don has contributed greatly to the Louisburg Athletics Department, raising money and contributing to provide upgrades to the athletic complex (for more, see page 51).

He has big plans to continue supporting the Hurricanes in

the coming year with landscaping and possibly a car for the coaches to use while recruiting. He and his wife, Alice (Strickland) ’59, travel internationally each year and spend time at North Myrtle Beach playing golf at the surf club and walking beside the waves. Eight grandchildren—from California to North Carolina—keep them busy. His favorite time in life was at Louisburg College, playing basketball and dating Alice. “Thanks to Walter McDonald, I made it through College and was prepared to face the challenges of life. Life is a paradise when you love and do many things with a passion.”

Ned and Marla Gupton Coleman ’62 will

celebrate their 50th anniversary in August with a trip to Jackson Hole with their two daughters, their daughters’ spouses and their eight grandchildren.

John Flowers III ’62 left Louisburg College and

headed for the University of South Carolina at Columbia to major in history when the Vietnam War interrupted his education. John joined the U.S. Air Force and served in the Medical Corps for four years. In 1968, he returned to North Carolina and attended East Carolina University to earn his degree in history, after which he joined the staff of the famed North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill as assistant curator under distinguished historian William S. Powell. John went on to become the first executive director of the state’s (and the nation’s!) first center for the teaching of historic preservation at the Stagville Center in Durham.

He was later named vice president of St. Andrew’s College (now St. Andrew’s University) in Laurinburg, and retired as vice president for University Advancement at Augusta State University in Augusta, GA. John was a founding member of the North Caroliniana Society, has held many civic leadership roles and is a widely-published scholar. He was named by Queen Elizabeth II to the Venerable Order of St. John in 1993 for his many years of work in BritishAmerican cultural exchange, and he earned the privilege of being the first Tar Heel to receive the National Tartan Day Award in 2013 (pictured, above, on the left).

Walt Pulliam, Jr. ’63 is serving as president of

the Virginia Governmental Employees Association’s Richmond Retirees Chapter. The VGEA voices concerns and advocates solutions on issues affecting state workers and retirees. His wife, Carolyn Binns Pulliam ’63, is a retired middle school teacher.

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Judge James Floyd Ammons, Jr. ’75 has been presented with The Order of the Long Leaf Pine by Governor Pat McCrory.

He followed in his father’s footsteps by attending Louisburg College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the UNC School of Law. After passing the bar exam, he proudly joined his father, Floyd, in private practice for two years. Judge Ammons has served the state of North Carolina since 1982, first as an assistant district attorney (’82-’88), as a district court judge (’88-’98), as a superior court judge (since ’98) and currently as the senior resident superior court judge in Cumberland County (since ’13). He taught business law and criminal justice courses at Fayetteville Technical Community College and courtroom testifying and legal vocabulary classes at the Fayetteville Police Academy. He has served as a group facilitator for the National Judicial College and as a guest instructor at the North Carolina Judicial College.

Judge Ammons has been a lifelong member of Haymount United Methodist Church. He and his wife Sandy have been married for nearly 23 years and have two children, Jamie and Sarah (pictured above).

Nelson D. Whitley ’63 has

been enjoying retirement since 2013.

After Louisburg, he attended and graduated from the University of Georgia in 1967. Nelson also served in the NC National Guard from 1964 to 1970. He retired from the world of insurance in 2013 where he worked regulating insurance for licensed insurance companies in the state with the Department of Insurance in Raleigh. His specialty involved the regulation of property and casualty lines. Nelson spent fifteen years on the regulatory side and thirty years in the private sector as an underwriter, marketing representative, manager and insurance agent. His retirement years, he says, entail doing “absolutely whatever he wishes.”

His main interests involve model railroading, watching TV and reading. His wife, Mary Frances “Fran” Whitley ’87 joined him in retirement this year after 37 years of working for the NC Real Estate Commission. They plan to travel throughout the United States and overseas in the coming years.

Carolyn Armstrong ’65,

married to George Herring Armstrong, is the proud mother of daughter Melissa Patterson, with grandchildren Elizabeth, Allison and Dylan; son Brian (Katherine), with grandchildren Clara and Anna; and son Michael (Amy), with grandchildren Cailum and AdleyRai. Carolyn is great-grandmother to one, Eli. Sadly, her mother, March Floyd Riddle, passed away on March 7, 2015.

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Alicia Eller ’65 (pictured

below in 2013 and in 1964) came to Louisburg College from Chile.

She says the move changed her life completely—not only educationally and spiritually but also personally.

Alicia made Louisburg her home when she married and had a son and daughter; later she welcomed a grandson and granddaughter.

She is married to her second husband LC Faculty Emeritus Craig Eller and has a stepdaughter, sonin-law and grandson.

The religious influences that she received at Louisburg and later at Meredith (where she graduated Cum Laude with a major in Spanish and a minor in art) were essential in molding her Christian life, she says.

Alicia taught fourth grade for four years and Spanish at Louisburg High School for 27 years. When she retired in 2001 from the Franklin County School System, she came to the College to teach Spanish and worked part-time for The Franklin Times as a lifestyle correspondent covering multi-cultural and local events—which she still does from time to time. Alicia says, “My story reflects on how important people’s influences are in our lives. You have made me feel at home 5,000 miles

away from my childhood home, and that is incredible. The adaptation to life at Louisburg College came very quickly, and when, to my surprise, I was elected May Queen in 1964, it was an unexpected victory with a touch of culture from two continents. Thank you for your super hospitality, and may God bless you and the U.S.A.”

John Briggs, Jr. ’67 was a senior

business executive by age thirty, working with several companies whose scope ranged from large international firms to smaller, closely-held corporations. His primary responsibilities were in marketing and sales management with an emphasis in company turnarounds and business expansion.

In his early 40s, he left the corporate business world to purchase and manage a light manufacturing company in Richmond. Recently retired from the day-to-day rigors of managing a business, John chose to pursue his call to full-time pastoral ministry by attending Duke Divinity School. His background in business management provided a unique foundation for his interest in church revitalization, so he formed a partnership through Faithful Journey, LLC, writing Does Your Church Have a Prayer in 2008.

John has since retired from the Virginia Annual Conference after serving sixteen years of pastoral appointments and in various leadership roles, including the Board of Directors of the Virginia United Methodist Union, the Virginia United

Methodist Pension and the Virginia Conference Common Table. He and his wife Norma have been married for 44 years and they have two children and four grandchildren.

John DiStefano ’67 has been inducted into the

Dutchess County Baseball Hall of Fame (NY) for his contributions to the sport and his efforts on the field.

Sandy Vickers ’68 retired in April 2014 from the

Federal Government after 45 years of service. She started her career with the Department of State in Washington, D.C., and later worked for the Social Security Administration in Winchester, VA, and Dover DE, before retiring from the Georgetown, DE, office. Sandy lives in Delmar, DE, with her husband, Ed. They have two children: Todd, a teacher and coach in Seaford, DE, and Tara, a corporate events specialist near Charlotte. Sandy looks forward to spending more time with her family and friends, going to the beach, traveling (cruising) and enjoying life. “I loved my days at Louisburg and hope to get a visit in soon!”

Pamela Barefoot ’69 (pictured

Photo by Kindra Clineff

left) was at Louisburg for just one year, but she fondly remembers being known to many as the “Grit Hippie.” She resides on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where she founded Blue Crab Bay Co. (www.bluecrabbay.com) in 1985.

She enjoys fishing, crabbing, camping and a rural coastal lifestyle.

Phil Gray ’69 has been inducted into the Randleman

High School Hall of Fame, where he lettered in football, basketball and baseball and served as the 1967 Randleman High School Athlete of the Year. “The first thing I thought was that I certainly wasn’t deserving, I really didn’t do anything,” Gray says. “I played a little ball about fifty years ago. But I’m very appreciative of the honor.”

Walter Anderson ’70 has “retired from a paycheck”

and opened a small B&B surrounded by paddle creeks and swamps around NC 252, also known as “Down East” where they still think of bourbon as the new wine. Louisburg College in ’69 was a place and time that has worked its way up the ladder to the “A List.” Walter remembers his time at the College “during the era of women’s lib and Woodstock just like it was yesterday.”

Carol Pickett Howard ’70 recently retired from

Oregon Public Broadcasting after 14 years managing PR and promotions.

Dr. Karen Sue Bailey ’71 studied pediatric medicine,

which she practiced for almost thirty years. A near-fatal infection contracted during spinal surgery in 2006 left her disabled and has forced her to postpone most physical activity. Up until that point, she was a member of the LPGA.

Wilson Allen Driver, Jr. ’72 is currently serving as chief financial officer for Ashe Pediatrics, PLLC in West Jefferson, NC.

Gloria Bone Gunther ’73 completed her degree in physical therapy at ECU and started Matthews Physical Therapy Services in Matthews after spending five years working at a local hospital. As a driven entrepreneur, Gloria quickly developed the practice into Matthews Rehabilitation Services, offering physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech and language pathology services before selling the company to a national provider in 2001. Gloria married Ed Gunther and splits her time between Pinehurst and Wilmington, representing both buyers and sellers in the real estate market. “I have fond memories of my time at ‘Lou U’ and feel that I received a very good education there. Many great people stand out in my mind, but Dr. C. Ray Pruette, head of the Chemistry Department, was one of the most impressive. His passion for helping students learn was unsurpassed.”

Jim Sineath ’73, president of Sineath Real Estate Solutions, Inc., is active in commercial real estate with offices in Raleigh, as well as in Melborne, Cocoa Beach and Canaveral, Florida. After Louisburg, he continued his education at Indiana University and has since received a Master of Arts in Religious Studies and Biblical studies from Southern California Seminary, as well as a Master of Theology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Jim is currently finishing his Doctor of Ministry at Knox Seminary in Fort Lauderdale. He has been married now for forty years and has five grown children, and a wonderful son- and daughter-in-law and one grandpuppy.

Shirley Snidow ’74, a partially retired teacher, became a grandmother for the second time this past fall.

Glenn Steven Rosso ’75 has been hard at work in the mortgage business. Glenn is the proud owner of Group Homes of Virginia, which houses intellectually disabled adults.

Jon C. Judge ’76 retired last June from his position as chair of the Social Studies Department, economics instructor and varsity head coach of the girls’ tennis team at Kennett High School in North Conway, NH. The retirement lasted all of nine days before he returned to the school as the interim athletic director. He then took a job for Westat, a data collection agency hired by the Department of Education to conduct assessments of 4th, 8th and 12th graders across the country to be compiled for “The Report Card on America.” His summers are still occupied teaching tennis for New England Tennis Holidays, which he has been doing for the past 28 years in various locations in New Hampshire and Vermont.

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Bill Boyette ’78 coaches men’s basketball at Terry

Sanford High School in Fayetteville. This spring, his team won the Class 3-A North Carolina High School Athletic Association Men’s Basketball Championship against Gastonia Ashebrook by seven points. Bill played basketball for both Louisburg and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Homer Michael Frye ’79 attended Louisburg

while working part-time on his father-in-law’s dairy farm, which was known by locals as “Little Egypt.” If you were a biology student, you may have visited the nearly 200-foot cypress tree on the farm near the Tar River with Dr. Washburn or saw the eagles fly there. He has spent 25 years building and designing log homes (libertylogandtimberhomes.com) and writing Maelstrom, a series of poems published and available on Amazon. “Wolf Pit Creek, Four Bridges, the Tar River and Sheep’s Hill are some of the places that make my poetry come alive with wonderful memories. My fondest memories of the College center around a man I considered a great educator and a good friend, Dr. Rose. He taught Human Anatomy and Zoology, and I was one of the fortunate students who got to participate in the work-study program at his veterinary clinic. Hands-on learning is always the best.”

Robert Littrell ’79 (pictured, below, on far left)

served last year as a chef for the Wilderness First Aid course at Camp Campbell for the Occoneechee Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He also served as a chaplain for the Boy Scouts and conducted church services while at the camp. (We are sad to report that Mr. Littrell passed away on July 13, 2014.)

Thomas White ’80 is a retired automotive specialist

based out of Gray’s Creek. His 39 years in auto racing include winning a pro-stadium United States Hot Rod Association (USHRA) Championship race in 1999. Thomas is still actively involved with USHRA, where he serves as a commentator and announcer for fast track motorsports.

“Louisburg College was a big inspiration to me—I think about my experience there all the time.”

Courtney Lancaster ’82 was recently promoted

to transmission work management relay planner for the Carolinas at Duke Energy, where she has worked for thirty years.

Tim Washburn ’82 has been ordering and stocking

medical supplies for Duke Hospital since 1993. His website, WashburnElectronics.com, is a much more recent venture. It was launched at the beginning of February and supports an affiliate relationship with Amazon, where Tim promotes items that are sold through their marketplace—

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including all types of electronics and accessories, cell phones, security cameras and RC helicopters. In 20062007, Tim enrolled in classes at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies, where he made several short videos.

You can take a look at one featuring his father, Seth Washburn, who taught Botany at the College, at www.vimeo.com/92200712.

Candace Adcock ’86 received her bachelors in

education and masters in literacy and culture after leaving Louisburg. She taught elementary school for 25 years and has been a college English instructor at her local community college for the last six years. She is very active in her church as a youth leader and looks back on her time at Louisburg with fond memories. “I am truly blessed to have met and spent time with some amazing people. Each person—teacher or fellow student—who I formed relationships with helped shape who I am today and how I teach and treat others. The small community atmosphere was perfect for me at the time, but I have only come to appreciate it more now that I see my own son in college. I learned so much more than what was in the textbooks. The most important lessons I learned came while swinging in front of Merritt Hall. I will always be grateful for the priceless memories, staff relations and the life experiences I gained from Louisburg College. Thanks for the memories!”

Michelle A. Michael ’86 has joined the Town of Wake Forest as its historic preservation planner.

Sally Pinnix ’87 (pictured right)

spent over thirty years teaching elementary school while also raising two children to adulthood. Since retiring, she has volunteered her time with the National Inclusion Project, planning fundraisers and conferences, among other duties.

Her work with the organization earned her the News & Observer’s “Tar Heel of the Week” for the week of March 28, 2015.

Brian Lancaster ’88 lives in Lexington, NC, with

his wife Beth and their three school-age children. He was recently appointed to the Lexington City Board of Education as the Ward 6 representative. Brian, who earned a degree in sociology from UNC-Asheville, will serve a three-year term. He sees this opportunity as “a way to be more involved in making a difference in the community.”

Brian is no stranger to the community, having coached basketball at the J. Smith Young YMCA and baseball with the American Legion program. Professionally, he is the sales manager for Carolina Drawers and he attends First Baptist Church in Lexington.

Chad Fonville ’92 was drafted out of college in 1992 by the San Francisco Giants in the minor leagues, where he played for the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals). He was picked up by the Dodgers, and traded

(From l-r): Teresa Currin ’78, Cindy Green Debnam Phelps ’78, Carolyn Nabors Willis ’78, Ellen Rose Vick Norris ’78 and Pamela Anderson ’77 at Laurel Mill in Louisburg.

Last august, Fred Roberson ’62 played golf for eight consecutive days in Scotland. He and his wife, Connie, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on March 27, 2015. Pictured (From l-r): John McCallie, Vernon Averett, Fred Roberson ’62 and Rick Stallings on the Sulkin Bridge at the 18th hole on the Old Course of St. Andrews, Scotland, the birthplace of golf.

by and played for numerous teams, including the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Chad has returned to North Carolina to coach the Lejeune High School Varsity Baseball Team and serve as a special education teacher’s assistant. “Baseball has given me a lot, and now it’s my turn to give back in any way I can,” says Chad.

American Academy of Pediatrics—as program coordinator, and then as event and membership manager. Her husband, Ron, is a high school teacher, driver’s education instructor and football coach at Broughton High School in Raleigh.

They have two children, Jack and Molly.

Hugh Bonner ’97 will see you at the box office! He’s

Angeles—and many places in between and overseas.

He has held a myriad of jobs, including entertaining at Disneyland and serving as a living statue in Rome.

“Louisburg College helped to open the door that led to these different experiences plus many, many more. I greatly value my time at the College and the friends I made.” Gavin currently lives in Chesapeake, VA, where he owns and operates a business called Cloud9, a cutting edge trampoline arena.

currently living in Wilmington and working on a slate of films that will take him from California to Louisiana and then back through Georgia.

Jennifer Mitchell Wheeler ’97 (pictured below

with her family) was hired June 2, 2014, for the position of Louisburg College’s Executive Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Board of Trustees. After earning her degree at Louisburg College in 1997, Jennifer went on to earn her bachelor’s degree from Peace College.

She worked for eight years in admissions at Barton College and Peace College before joining the staff at the North Carolina Pediatric Society—the state chapter of the

Gavin Grissom ’98 has lived in New York and Los

Aaron Perkins ’04 has been named director of

Brunswick County’s Parks and Recreation. Perkins attended Louisburg College on a baseball scholarship and later completed a degree in recreation at UNC-Pembroke.

Liz Perry ’09 has relocated to Boston, MA, having

graduated with a BA in Criminal Justice. She is currently working at a youth homelessness program in the city and following a passion that Louisburg nurtured—motivational speaking. Liz is scheduled to make a commencement speech this June.

Awa Jagne ’11 has completed a six-month internship at Femmes Africa Solidarité and recently relocated to Scotland to complete a masters in African and international development from the University of Edinburgh.

If you would like to see your news in next year’s Class Notes, please visit www.louisburg.edu/alumni/classnotes or email the Communications Office at astrickland@louisburg.edu.

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In Memoriam 1930 Mable Crickmore Sloan December 18, 2014

Lois Mary Pickerling Perry February 25, 2014

1933 Roy Ellsworth Wilder, Jr. March 25, 2012

1942 Frances Cutchins Hartung January 10, 2015

Elizabeth Harris Gazda April 7, 2007

Murphy Eugene Holder April 11, 2014

Archie Dail Cooke January 21, 2015

Doris Suits Harper May 23, 2008

Philip Ennis Meekins, Sr. January 6, 2015

Alice Jones Keeter January 4, 2014

Josephine Hight Harris December 22, 2006

O. C. Melton, Jr. April 11, 2014

Lawrence Gray Barefoot May 22, 2014

Peggy Brooks Hester December 16, 2014

Jennie Warren Hood June 30, 2004

Virginia Deibel Lundell August 11, 2013

Eleanor Phillips Smith April 29, 2014

Wilba Carr Sutton July 28, 2002

1948 Dorothy Midgett Brannan February 15, 2015

Carl Bryant Richardson, Jr. October 1, 2011

Caroline Singletary August 2, 2010

Catherine Lewis Tew February 14, 2014

Janet Griffin Turner November 4, 2013

1935 Iola Florence Pritchard October 17, 2012

1943 Dorothy Grady Alphin January 16, 1913

Elizabeth Hodges Watson March 17, 2010

1937 Sybil Neal Flavel August 21, 2013

Pattie Hanes Ammons July 11, 2012

Margery Pope High September 30, 2014

Elaine Smith Burns February 7, 2014

1945 Elizabeth Beasley “Beth” Dickerson September 29, 2014

Bernard A. Phelps, Jr. April 8, 2013

Margaret Braswell Doughtie February 9, 2015

1934 Margaret Knight Dillion February 11, 2013

Charles Fred Carty, Jr. February 17, 2014

1958 Ted Franklin Latta December 4, 2014

Ray Chandler Wilson April 4, 2014

Charles Linwood Little May 1, 2014

1949 Vivian Proctor Mitchell July 7, 2014

Jimmy Hayes Seagroves January 6, 2011

Merle Summerlin Lewis July 15, 2014

1959 Charles Harry Boettger November 16, 2012

Dorothy Kennedy Honeycutt July 23, 2014

1951 Harvey Layton Bedsole April 7, 2014

Roy Thomas Kemp March 21, 2015

Elva Young Koutnik August 15, 2012

Carrie Compton Lloyd February 6, 2015

Charles Edwin Robertson February 13, 2013

Lucy Nance Willey February 22, 2014

Harold Roland Parrish March 10, 2004 1952 Max Lindy Avery August 8, 2011

1938 Susie Dunn Coleman March 13, 2014

Ellen Todd Eakes May 6, 2008

Avis Shearon McKeithan August 29, 2013

Vermell Wheeler Harris May 25, 2004

William Hollowell Pierce November 24, 2013

Edith Cone Hellman August 8, 2004

1946 Marjorie Gibbs Bowen November 29, 2003

Ira Lander Helms, Jr. September 22, 2014

Dallas Bridgers May 11, 2001

Leonard E. Mayo January 13, 2010

Camille Hicks Powell May 31, 2013

Helen Harris Kemp April 7, 2014

Shirley Jones Callis May 5, 2003

Mary Lyttle Smith December 12, 2014

Dennis E. Dickerson August 8, 2001

1953 Edwin Moore Driver July 1, 2014

1961 Joseph Sterett Powell April 28, 2008

Elizabeth Corbett Rountree January 17, 2013 1939 Carolyn Southerland Britt June 14, 2014 Marie Gupton Currin August 25, 2014 John Malcolm Lewis August 27, 2014 1940 Fonnie Edmundson Higgs April 4, 2014 William Talmadge Sellers, Sr. August 3, 2006 Claire Hill Shaw March 31, 2014 1941 Jeanette Amick Kale April 5, 2011

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Marie Tyson Mann October 13, 2002 Maurice Cary Powers June 30, 2012 Nannie Fraser Shannon June 27, 2002 Claude Stainback Sharpe April 20, 2014 Lena Windsor Utterback October 17, 2013 Dorothy Savage West June 15, 2000 Gloria Stanfield Woody September 16, 2014 1944 Virginia Floyd Cranford June 12, 2007

Anna Tadlock Heinly February 19, 2014 Robert Hawes Johnson, Jr. April 8, 2014

1954 Robert “Maurice” Adcock July 24, 2011

1960 Joseph Albert Carden, Jr. March 15, 2013 Hugh Donald Hicks January 1, 2011

1962 Charles Howard Cooke June 18, 2009 Glenn Bates Everett October 29, 2914

Ruth “Marie” Gupton August 28, 2014

Anne Broaddus Harris February 2, 2014

Edna Lewis Looney March 10, 2001

Ann Fordham Schwarzmann October 16, 2014

Irwin Allen Heller May 11, 2014

Ruth Tucker Martin October 13, 2008

Harvey Ray Strother, Jr. April 29, 2014

Edith Ricks Vinson October 22, 2013

1956 Edward Travis Pope February 27, 2014

Ernest Clyde Kelly October 14, 2002

1947 Rachel Haithcock Havnaer May 4, 2014

1957 Reuben Fox Cannady December 20, 2013

Robin Aycock King February 8, 2014 Donald Dailey Kintz November 25, 2004 Ernest Renwood Lacy May 14, 2013 John David Lloyd July 12, 2011

Louisburg Marks the Loss of Noted Educator Ed Boone It is with sadness that we mark the passing of longtime College Trustee Dr. Edgar Jon “Ed” Boone on February 26, 2015. Among many projects, Dr. Boone led and chaired the Presidential Search Committee in 2008.

“I will never forget my first conversation with him when he called to encourage me to consider applying,” said Dr. Mark La Branche. “His encouragement continued and has been a real anchor for me. I am one of many leaders that Dr. Boone encouraged and mentored. Higher Education in North Carolina has Ed Boone’s mark all over it.”

Dr. Boone and his family came to Raleigh in 1963, where he became the associate director in Cooperative Extension Services, and where he also founded and became the head of the Department of Adult and Community College Education at NC State University. He developed and validated a systems-oriented programming process that is being used by adult educators around the world in planning, designing, implementing and evaluating adult education programs. The students often referred to his course as “Booneology.” Those students often went on to be deans, presidents and vice presidents of community colleges and universities nationwide.

He published multiple books and other materials on adult education during his career and received numerous awards, including the Order of the Longleaf Pine and the national service Ruby Award connected with the extension service from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

1963 Charles Alden Featherston February 17, 2015 John Robert Poe March 1, 2014

Richard Lawrence Carver January 6, 2007

1983 Gregory Neil Hight March 11, 2012

Johnnie Sinclair Huggins March 18, 2005

1975 Ann S. Ballance December 5, 2008

Cynthia Morris Howard June 25, 2014

1968 Sarah Reams Shearin January 12, 2012

Preston Allen Moody July 18, 2013

1969 Mary Whitehurst Anderson April 24, 2010

1965 Richard H. Greene January 19, 2006 Nancy Gormours Grizzard December 2, 2014 1966 Linda Stephens Herring September 27, 2012

James Albertus Griffin IV January 22, 2010

1964 Sarah Langston Jenkins October 10, 2013

Janet Leonard Wester February 3, 2015

Upon retirement, he stayed on and established a pilot community college leadership program (ACCLAIM) at NC State University. PostPresident Mark La Branche retirement, he continued (l) presenting Dr. Boone with the Presidential Medal to work with many during the 2013 commencement students in order to help ceremonies. them complete doctoral and masters programs in adult education. In his spare time, Ed loved to garden, travel, read history, visit the beach and follow the NC State Wolfpack in their sporting endeavors.

He had a strong work ethic and loved his family and students dearly. His students remember him as a professor who went to all lengths to assist them at being successful.

Dr. Boone joined the College’s Board in 1999. He was awarded the Louisburg College Presidential Medal at commencement ceremonies in 2013 and was granted Trustee Emeritus status in the fall of 2013 for his fourteen years of exemplary service on the Board.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Ethel B. Boone; sons, John B. Boone and his wife, Sonya, and David W. Boone and his wife, Susan; grandchildren Matthew D. Boone, Allison E. Boone and Sabrina M. Boone; and his brother, Hayward D. Boone and his wife, Dorothea, sister-in-law Jayne Garber, and by many loving nieces and nephews.

His presence at the College will be greatly missed.

Richard Thomas Davis September 23, 2013 1971 Walter Scott McLean October 19, 2013 1972 Stephen Wayne Harkins July 9, 2010

Marjorie Jones Liston May 24, 2007

1973 Myrtle Oliver Floyd June 23, 2014

1967 Fay Horton Goodwin January 1, 2014

1974 Malcolm Graham Allison May 24, 2014

1976 Michael Demetrius Cannady November 23, 2014 1979 Jerry Thomas Allen May 16, 2014 Robert Leggett Littrell July 13, 2014 Virgil Steven Williams December 19, 2014 1981 Robin Drake Adams December 23, 2014 Jeffery David Cox July 12, 2008 Shelton Leroy Hunter April 6, 2013

Robert Mitchell Thomas November 16, 2006 1984 Anita Leonard Jones May 4, 2011 Thomas Allen Lyndon October 22, 2006 1987 Emma Jean Green October 9, 2006 1990 Benjamin C. Mulligan March 12, 2010 1998 Matthew Robert Davis December 17, 2012 2008 Brandon Thomas Davis January 10, 2008

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by Brittany Hunt ’10, Director of Institutional Effectiveness

Celebrating two years since its inception, Tar River Center for History and Culture (TRCHC) Director Maury York ’73 has much to be proud of as he reflects on the Center’s accomplishments.

With support from Franklin County and the town of Louisburg in the form of a grant, the non-profit organization came to fruition. York, who began working at the Center in 2013, credits President La Branche as the brainchild behind the Center.

“He thought of the Center as a way to bring people in this region together around a sense of shared history.”

The TRCHC works with local governments, private organizations, educational institutions and individuals to retain and restore the region’s historical and cultural assets. In doing so, the Center fosters economic development while promoting knowledge of the past.

It is important to note that the Foundation is entirely separate from the College. “It is managed by a board of directors,” York explains.

“Felix Allen is the current chair of the Foundation.”

Kicking off a public meeting during September 2013 in downtown Louisburg, the Foundation asked locals what they wanted from the Center. Over sixty residents from local counties, including Granville, Vance, Wake and Franklin, attended.

From this and subsequent meetings, York formed a three-year strategic plan specifically tailored to the Center. The plan includes six goals: promote knowledge of the Upper Tar River region’s history and culture; promote heritage tourism; foster

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long-term financial stability of the TRCHC; undertake planning to assess the best means of developing a repository for collecting, preserving, displaying and providing access to family and local history materials documenting Franklin County and the Upper Tar River region; and serve as a consultant to Franklin County and the Town of Louisburg as needed.

The full strategic plan is online at www.louisburg.edu/tarrivercenter.

Since 2013, York and the Foundation have worked to make the Center blossom. The TRCHC hosts and promotes a four-part lecture series each year—two events in the fall and two more in the spring. This past year’s lecture series covered the early development of the Upper Tar River region of North Carolina and the eighteenth-century architecture of the region. The latter drew in 85 people spanning seven counties.

Future lecture series events may focus on the tobacco industry and its impact upon local counties.

The public has also had the chance to learn about the historical roots of the region through more than thirty columns written by York and published in The Franklin Times and on the TRCHC website. Also online is a burgeoning Facebook page started in 2014 that keeps the community abreast of upcoming events.

Plans for the future show how dedicated and focused the Center is on preserving the area’s rich past.

“Currently the Foundation is working with an architect and contractor to determine the feasibility of restoring the old jail in downtown Louisburg, which dates to 1875,” says York. “The goal would be to save this historic

building and to re-purpose it for productive use so that it would become an asset for the town and county.”

Another project in production is a comprehensive survey of all the various historic architecture in Franklin County—a project sparked by the initial meeting held to promote the Center. This spring, with funds provided by the Tourism Development Authority, the first phase of the project will begin. Upon completion, an electronic database will be made available, detailing all of the county’s historic buildings, including residences, country stores, schools, churches, outbuildings and more. This database will also include photographs, offering visual assistance for tourists as they drive through the county.

In relation to tourism, York is currently proofing a 34-page walking tour booklet of the Louisburg Historic District. Funds for this project came from several donors, including the Franklin County Tourism Development Authority, the Town of Louisburg, Franklin County and private donors. “By the time this article appears,” York explains, “we will have received 7,000 copies of the booklet and distributed many of them to tourist destinations outside of Franklin County.” Additional copies will be available to public schools with aims to promote a monthly walking tour of the Historic District, which is slated to begin this spring.

The Foundation serves current and future generations of students and educators. On one end of the educational spectrum, Dr. Peggy McGhee, Franklinton resident and

retired school administrator, is working with York on “Bringing History Home”—a project tying into the lesson plans of the state’s social studies curriculum for eighth grade students.

In this project, retired teachers will utilize content developed by York in his LC North Carolina History classes to create lesson plans for current teachers in the public school system. The connection from higher education to high schools is an especially powerful one that merits nurturing.

York finds teaching a course in North Carolina History at Louisburg College very rewarding. In addition to his role as director and instructor, York is also an engaging speaker. In 2014, he discussed the history of the Cooperative Extension Service in Franklin County in celebration of the organization’s centennial anniversary.

History, after all, is shaped by the people who live it. Thus, it is only natural that York will soon be working on an oral history project with a committee of local residents as well as Louisburg College faculty. This history will focus on the 1960s desegregation of schools in Franklin County. Through interviews of a dozen contributors—former teachers, administrators, students, parents and advisory committee members—transcripts will be rendered and added to the TRCHC website.

York is already looking ahead to the fall of

“18th Century Architecture in the Upper Tar River Valley” The Annual Joseph E. Elmore Lecture was given on January 29, 2015, by Michael Southern, senior architectural historian and GIS coordinator for the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office.

2015 with plans for a public program showcasing the results of the project, proving diligent work is currently being done to preserve the past.

Main Street, Louisburg, NC, 1960s (Photo courtesy of the Edwards Louisburg College Archives)

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